Stuck In My Neighbour's House VII free porn video

It was December 2003, back when I was still living with my parents in the house across the street from Kirsty's. I must have been nine or ten at the time, an age where most children would still believe in Santa Claus, but not me. I was only allowed one present from Santa each year, and in 2003 I asked for a Playstation 2. I had wanted a gaming console all year, and had been on my best behaviour every day in the hopes that I would be rewarded at Christmas. I wrote down 'Playstation 2' on a small piece of paper, and then went down stairs to the lounge, where I knew I would find my Dad. He was sitting on the white leather couch smoking a cigar and watching the news, a sight I had seen so many times. Dad had grown chubby, lazy and most of all grumpy since he was denied a promotion at work. I nervously pushed the door open and stepped into the room, just as Dad breathed out a load of smoke. He gave me a tiresome look and angrily muttered, "What do you want?" "I decided what I want for Christmas, Dad," I stuttered out, holding the small piece of paper in front of me. Dad looked at me and grunted. "Give it here" he said. I carefully navigated the large white leather footstall that sat in front of the couch, then handed Dad the little piece of paper. I stood nervously on the spot, surrounded by the couch on one side and the footstall on the other. Dad examined the paper for more than a few seconds, he grunted at the words. I stood frozen, my father gave me a piercing stare and I could feel his rage reaching boiling point. "Do you have any idea how much this will cost me?" He shouted at me in his booming voice. I took a step back, trying to recover enough to look at him again but I could only stare down at my feet. "But it wont cost you Dad, Santa will have to pay for it," I said. "No son, I have to pay for it. Every year you ask for something, every year its something cheap, but not this," Dad said, clenching his fist. "The sooner you learn that there is no Santa, the better. People do not just give you presents, you must work for them, and you must deserve them!" Dad shouted. "B-but it's Christmas," I stuttered out whilst slowly raising my tear filled eyes to look him in the face. "What did you say?" Dad shouted louder than he had before, perhaps loud enough for the whole cul-de-sac to hear. He rose from the couch and raised a fist, his cigar in his other hand. I moved my hands up to my face and stepped back to defend myself, but in my terrified state I had forgotten about the footstall close beside me. I ended up falling back over the footstall, rolling upside down and then landing on my back. I struggled to my feet, my back and shoulders aching from the fall. Dad was laughing his head of and had already sat back down on the couch, his cigar smoking like the barrel of a gun. I stumbled out the door and slammed it shut, furious with myself, with my Dad, with everyone. I turned to look down the hallway, and saw my Mum washing dishes in the sink. I knew she had heard everything, but she didn't do anything, she rarely did anything except housework. She had tried to help Dad get through losing his promotion, but she just ended up as grumpy as he was. The next day Kirsty told me she had heard it all, and let me play on her Playstation 2 when she got it for Christmas that year, but that didn't make me feel any better. After that event, Christmas didn't exist in my house anymore. That yearly tradition had been thrown in the bin just like New Years, Easter, Halloween and my birthday. *** The closing of Mrs Logan's office door brought me back to the present. After I told her that I thought the girl in the picture was me, Mrs Logan had made several phone calls to other organisations. She asked Suzanne questions about how she had come to find me, where I was found and if I was with anyone. Suzanne gave her some answers whilst I remained mostly quiet, and then after about half an hour the meeting was over. What Suzanne and Mrs Logan had talked about had mostly gone straight over my head, I just remembered zoning out, falling into a daydream as soon as I said the words "I think it's me." Saying those words, it was like making it official, all of this was now real. I had become Lauren, and my mind just decided to remind me of one of my worst memories, as if it was saying, "this is what you're leaving behind." What little I did remember of the conversation between Suzanne and Mrs Logan included the repeated use of the name 'Lucy' and the words 'desperate search' and 'her sister'. I struggled to piece together the facts, but Suzanne was quick to summarise my situation as we walked, hand in hand, back through the offices and to the car. "So are you excited about meeting your sister?" Suzanne asked as we walked through the exit and into the car park. "We're meeting Kirsty?" I asked. "No silly, weren't you listening in there? Your -real- sister," Suzanne said, with emphasis on 'real'. "My real sister?" I asked. I guess I had missed a lot in that meeting. "You don't remember any of this do you dear?" Suzanne smirked down at me as she opened the passenger door of the car. I shrugged at her. "Not really," I said as I climbed into the passenger seat in the front, Suzanne was quick to buckle my seatbelt for me. She kissed me on the forehead and gently said "Poor thing." Suzanne closed my door and walked around the car to her side, and when we were finally both in the car and on the way home she began to elaborate. "The police have been looking for you, little miss Dawson, and so has your big sister Lucy," Suzanne said. "Lucy?" I asked. "Yes, ever since you and your parents disappeared, she's been desperate to find you. Now she has," Suzanne said. "What will happen now?" I asked. "Well we'll head home, have some lunch, pickup Kirsty, and then go meet your sister. After that sweetheart, I'm not sure," Suzanne said, frowning. "You'll probably be taken back with your sister and put in a foster home, back in London." "What about you and Kirsty?" I asked, my voice sounding nervous. "We'll still be here, and we'll come visit you when we can," Suzanne said, her voice slowly sounding more and more upset. I felt a cold chill run down my spine as I thought about it. The thought of living in London, moving away from my only friends and living the life of someone else, with people I didn't know. The mere thought of all that was enough to make me start crying. Before there was always a way out, but there wasn't anymore. I said a couple of words without realising what they would mean when I said them, and had been sucked into the life of a real girl called Lauren Dawson. "I don't want to live in London!" I screamed through my tears Suzanne tried to comfort me by placing a soft hand on my nylon-clad knee, but I didn't stop crying. When we reached a red traffic light, she pulled her arms around me and held me tight, but I still didn't stop. Eventually she had to pull over on a busy road and lift me from my seat and onto her lap, where she cradled me against her shoulder like a little baby. I guess since I was crying like a little baby, she thought the only way to stop me was by treating me like a little baby. When we got home, I ran up to Hayley's bedroom and closed the door. This time I used the chest of drawers to block the door, instead of the small chair that had failed so miserably before. I sat down on Hayley's bed with her many stuffed animals surrounding me, like some girlish wall that had been built to keep me stuck in this new life of mine. I thought to myself, "It's not too late, it's not too late," I could still get out of this mess, all I had to do was tell someone the truth. I had gone along with everything too easily, letting Kirsty change me as she liked, letting Suzanne treat me like her daughter. I had only done it because I thought it was a certainty that my parents would be coming back, but now it was like they were never going to come at all. I had to make a decision, to say something and get out before it was too late. But every time I thought of doing something, I couldn't muster the courage to do it. Living with my parents was enough to suck all the courage out of me, and I had become a weak and cowardly person because of them. I kept thinking that the consequences of revealing myself were much worse than continuing to be Lauren. I mean, I had stolen somebody's identity. Wasn't that enough to go to jail? I didn't want to go to jail. "But if you go back to your parents, you'll only have to live with them until you move out, and you'll be a boy again," one side of me thought. "But staying with Kirsty and Suzanne is so much better than staying with my parents," The other side of me thought. "But you'll have to be a girl," my left leg thought. "Being a girl here is better than being a boy there," my right arm argued. "But you're not a girl!" my left shoulder screamed. "They wont have to know that, we could hide it, until you're old enough to move out. Kirsty would help with that," my right foot shouted back. "Lauren, lunch is ready," Kirsty said in a gentle voice from the other side of the door. "SHUT UP!" I shouted aloud, at nobody in particular. Kirsty's voice had sounded just like all the other voices swirling around in my head, telling me what to do. My mind was split up into so many different opinions that I just had to scream at them to finally get some silence. "Lauren?" Kirsty asked more cautiously. "I'm okay!" I replied quickly, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "Well, lunch is ready," Kirsty repeated. "I'll be down in a minute," I said as I pulled myself up from the bed, multitudes of stuffed animals losing their balance and falling over as I did so. "This decision is too hard to make..." I muttered to myself. *** LUCY For the last three weeks, since my parents and my little sister went missing, I had been living in a foster home in London. It was a comfortable little house, and a nice family, but I struggled to get used to it, spending my days crying in my room or contemplating...well, bad things. When the social worker assigned to my case arrived at my house, three days after I had reported my family missing, she brought me the worst news I had ever received. My parents and my little sister had gone on a trip to our hometown, whilst I was in France on a two weeklong school trip with my friends. When I returned home, there was no sign of my parents or my little sister, so I contacted the police and they began a search operation that covered the whole of southern England. My social worker, Emily, had come on that morning three days later, to tell me that both my parents had been found dead in their room, at a bed and breakfast. When Emily told me the news, I collapsed to my knees and started crying my eyes out, overcome by the sudden shock to my life. It was as if my whole world came crashing down around me as Emily told me the news. She held me close for at least an hour or two as I cried, struggling to say anything, but when I calmed down, she gave me a comforting smile. "There is some good news, Lucy," she whispered in my ear. "What can be good about this?" I asked. "Only two bodies were found, and both were adults. For all we know, Lauren might still be alive," Emily said, giving me a gentle squeeze for some encouragement. After Emily had left several hours later, I began my own search. I had to find Lauren, whether she was dead in a ditch or alive in the woods, I had to find her. The police were continuing their search of the local area, and I knew they would probably find Lauren before I did, but I felt like I had to do something myself. I searched the area with online maps and read every story written about my parents' death, in the hope of finding clues. I spent days trying to work out where Lauren might have gone if she was alive, and hours sitting by the phone waiting for the police to call with any new discoveries. It wasn't until three weeks later, when I had almost given up hope of seeing my little sister again, that the police phoned me. They told me that Lauren had been found by a single mother and her daughter, and had been living with them for several days. I couldn't describe how happy I was to learn that Lauren had survived, but I was almost happy enough to forget that our parents were now dead. Emily told me that Lauren was probably suffering from short-term memory loss, which explained why she hadn't contacted anyone after she went missing. "She probably doesn't even remember what happened to your parents or how she didn't end up dead, but at least she's alive," Emily said as she pulled my denim jacket over my shoulders. I slid my arms into the sleeves. Emily had made several phone calls that day, and had arranged a small reunion for Lauren and myself, at a roadside restaurant a few hours away. We would be meeting her as well as the woman who had taken care of her, and one of the woman's daughters who had apparently become Lauren's best friend. I hoped that Lauren and her new friends were not too close, since I would hate to be the reason why she would have to leave them. The government wouldn't dare split us up once we were reunited, so I expected to see Lauren moving in with my foster parents and me. Emily had also tried to phone my foster parents, to try and make arrangements for fostering another girl, but she was unable to get any certain replies. What was certain was that I was going to see my little sister after three weeks of thinking I would never see her again, and nothing was going to get in the way of that. "Are you sure you want to meet her Lucy?" Emily asked. "Why wouldn't I want to meet her?" I asked back. "We don't know if it's really her, Lucy, she may be an impostor," Emily said. "I saw the photo, it's her. I know it," I replied, determinedly. The local council that had found Lauren had sent me CCTV images showing her entering the council building, and those images were enough to make me believe that Lauren had been found. She was exactly like I last saw her in person, with her long and constantly immaculate blonde hair, her large and lively blue eyes, her walk was the same and her smile was the same. I knew it was her. "She said in the interview that she's Lauren, and I believe her," I said as we got into Emily's car. "We can still test her DNA, ask her more questions, and prove that it's really her," Emily said. "I know its her, Emily," I said. "Besides, Lauren hates needles just as much as I do." "If you're sure Lucy. I don't want you getting upset," Emily said as she turned the key in the ignition, sparking her old Ford into life. As we drove down the motorway from my foster home in London, I couldn't stop thinking about how Lauren would react to seeing me. Emily had said that Lauren couldn't remember what happened during the crash, but she didn't say if Lauren remembered life before the crash. Will she even recognise me? I wondered. "What should I do if she doesn't recognise me?" I asked Emily. "If she's your sister she'll recognise you, maybe not straight away, but she will," Emily said. "Her memories will come back to her in time." "What if they don't?" I asked. "Time will tell," Emily said in a wise old woman tone, even though she was 26. If Lauren doesn't remember me, it won't matter. We'll still be sisters and it'll be a new start for both of us, a second chance to try and be the best big sister in the world. *** LAUREN Lunch with Suzanne and Kirsty had been quick. Suzanne had made quite a few ham & cheese sandwiches, enough for another garden party at least. We only got the chance to eat one sandwich before Suzanne declared that it was time to leave, and began wrapping the remaining sandwiches in small plastic bags, for us to eat during the car journey. It was obvious to me that Suzanne was quite excited about meeting 'my real' sister Lucy, since it was all she was talking about. She was saying things like "We're in for a treat if she's anything like you" and "It'll be like seeing the future you." We were all in the car within the next few minutes after lunch, and none of us had any time to change. I was still wearing my knitted black dress. Kirsty was wearing a tight red vest and the same denim skirt that I wore on my first night as Lauren. Suzanne was wearing cropped jeans and a casual top with a brightly coloured polka dot pattern. She was wearing ballet flats like I was, but everything else was definitely summer clothing and it was the same for Kirsty. Both of them had dressed for the summer, whilst I slowly realised what I was wearing was more for the winter or spring. The car journey took about two or three hours, which was torture for me. Stuck in my knitted black dress and tights, and sitting inside a car under the afternoon sun like a lobster in the boiling pot. I couldn't tell if I was sweating because I was nervous, or because I was boiling, either way I knew that the next person to hug me would feel like they are hugging a wet sponge. We were heading to a roadside McDonalds restaurant, where we would meet Lucy and her social worker to be reunited and to sort something out. The car journey was fairly quiet, since neither Kirsty nor myself could think of anything to say, so I had peace and quiet to figure out what was going to happen. We had been told to be on the lookout for a woman in her late twenties and a 15-year-old girl with long light brown hair similar to my own, who would be wearing a blue denim jacket. When we located them, I expected things would play out just like in the movies, when two people are reunited. You know, when they run towards each other in slow motion and hug or kiss each other passionately, with romantic or dramatic music playing in the background. I knew that wasn't how it would happen, since I would probably just stand on the spot whilst Lucy ran towards me. Kirsty would probably urge me to run towards my sister and jump into her arms, but I hoped I wouldn't have to do that. I was really hoping that Lucy would spot us first, then sneak up on us to the point where we were to close to run towards each other dramatically, but that wasn't exactly how it turned out. Suzanne turned around a corner, off the motorway and into the busy car park. We all immediately saw the large yellow 'M' in the distance, and we were soon driving towards the McDonalds meeting point. "Can you see them?" Suzanne asked repeatedly. We were all searching, scanning the car park, and looking over the roofs of the many cars that were parked. We had not been told to look for a specific car, only two people. I knew however that it would be easy to see a person in a blue denim jacket, since most of the colours in the car park were the grey of the tarmac, the black and silver of a few cars, and the bright red and yellow of the McDonalds restaurant. "I can't see them," I said, somewhat relieved. "Me neither," Kirsty added, also sounding relieved. "Maybe they're running a bit late," Suzanne said. Kristy and I both knew that Suzanne was refusing to admit that we had arrived an hour early. Suzanne parked the car just outside McDonalds, where we would later be eating, but for now we just waited. We sat in the car for a few minutes, but eventually we all unbuckled our seatbelts and decided to wait outside where it cooler. "Getting nervous Lauren?" Suzanne asked whilst looking curiously at my forehead, which was covered in a thin layer of sweat. "I guess I'm just nervous about moving away," I said as I dried my forehead with the sleeve of my dress. The sun was still glaring down on us and reflecting off the cars around us, making it hard to look anywhere without having bright rays of light shot into my eyes. "Nothing is certain yet, you might get to stay with us," Kirsty said. She gave my shoulder a gently squeeze. We stood in the McDonalds car park with our backs to the car, with me in the middle, Kirsty on my left and Suzanne on my right. I was the smallest by far "I can't see over the cars," I said disappointedly, as if I was missing out. "Well we'll have to fix that wont we?" Suzanne said with a grin on her face. Expecting Suzanne to pull a pair of high-heeled shoes out of the car, or a pair of stilts, or a stepladder, I was somewhat surprised when she grabbed me under my armpits and lifted me up. "Better?" Suzanne asked as she lowered my bum onto the back of the car. I nodded slowly with a weak smirk on my face, hiding the fact that the heated metal of the car was slowly roasting my behind. We waited for fifteen minutes before we saw any movement, it was Kirsty pushing herself up onto the car and sitting beside me. Suzanne got tired of standing and decided to sit in the car with the door open, and eventually she fell asleep. "Do you think Mum knows we came an hour early?" I asked Kirsty. "I think so, but she wont admit it," Kirsty said with a smirk. "Mum likes to think that coming two hours early is actually on time, so I guess that means that we are the ones who are late." We both giggled at that, both with the same high pitched girly giggle, as if that was now my default reaction to something funny. Kirsty eventually got bored as well, and joined her mother inside the car with her door open. I think the heat was getting to everyone except me, making other people tired whilst it just made me more nervous. I was as bored as Kirsty and Suzanne, but far too nervous to fall asleep. I would never be able to sleep, knowing that I was going to be sucked into a whole new life in less than an hour. So I sat there and waited, sitting uncomfortably on top of the car boot, my bum roasting and my skin itching beneath my black knitted dress that seemed to absorb more and more heat by the second. I could've slid down off the car and joined my fake sister and fake mother inside it, but I would still be uncomfortable, if not more uncomfortable than I already was. Besides I had to appear eager to see my sister again, so I had to stay where I was and wait until I saw a woman in her late twenties and a fifteen year old girl with hair like mine, wearing a blue denim jacket. I always fidgeted when I was nervous, and it was the same on this occasion as I began to tug, pinch and pull at the nylon tights that had the feeling of being vacuum wrapped around my legs. I amused myself for ages just by pinching the material and then letting it snap back into position against my leg, the feeling of the slightly moist nylon slapping my hairless legs sent shivers across my body. Playing with my tights was enough to distract me for a few moments, meaning I didn't pay much attention to the car that was slowly making its way through the car park and heading towards me. Cars had passed us several times before in the last hour, but none of them had stopped in front of us, or parked nearby, or the people driving them weren't the ones we were supposed to be looking for. So many cars had passed us, so I assumed this blue Ford was just going to continue on down the main route through the car park, but it turned straight into the aisle that we had parked in. I looked up from my tights for a moment to watch the car, trying to see if there was a fifteen-year-old girl inside it, but I didn't realise that I was still pinching the nylon material and holding it much farther away from my leg than before. Suddenly, the passenger side door of the blue Ford swung open as the car was still moving, and two long legs covered by skinny jeans and tipped with black Converses poked out. I was startled by the sight of seeing someone about to jump out of a car just like that, so startled that I rather stupidly let go of the nylon pinched between my fingers! I was able to see the two feet land on the ground and head covered in long brown hair poke out the car, before a stab of burning pain hit on my upper left leg where the nylon had landed. I heard the sound of shoes slapping against the tarmac, someone shouting "Lucy!" and the figure of a girl running towards me in the corner of my eye, but she was on me before I could get a good look. I had lurched over my leg when that stab of pain hit, so I was already off balance enough to fall into the girl's arms just as she reached me. The blue Ford screeched to a halt just in front of me, and a twenty- something woman stepped out from the drivers seat and came rushing around to us. The teenage girl wrapped her arms around me, her heavy breathing filled my ears. She wasn't wearing a denim jacket, but I was pretty quick to understand that this was Lucy, my new older sister. Lucy lifted me off the car and span us around, overjoyed. "You're alive! You're alive!" she shouted. Instead of my legs being left to swing about limply, they instinctively wrapped themselves around Lucy's waist and my arms did the same. I was just trying to hold on and not be thrown a thousand miles, but to Lucy it must have looked like I was as excited as she was to be seeing her sister again. "I'm alive!" I shouted back. Lucy stopped spinning around and tightened her arms around me, squeezing me much more than Suzanne or Kirsty ever did. I tried my best to match Lucy's squeeze, but her grasp tightened even more whenever I moved. Lucy was really, really happy to have her sister back, but does she really think I'm her? Am I actually her sister? I was getting so wrapped up in this fake story that I was starting to believe it was true. Maybe Lucy was squeezing the reality out of me, or maybe it was just the effect of pretending to be someone else for so long, but I started to think that I was really Lauren. Maybe it was the feeling of Lucy's breath against my neck, or her tears touching my skin. Whatever it was, being that close to someone who loved and cared so much for me, or Lauren, was making me feel like I wasn't just playing a character anymore. I had felt it before, when Suzanne was hugging me, or when I was giggling with Kirsty, the feeling of being in a family that loves me. I tried to tell myself that it was wrong, but to be honest, I wished it would never end. *** LUCY I knew it was her as soon as we spotted her. She was sitting on the back of a silver Vauxhall, wearing a cute knitted dress that I'd never seen before. I thought it was quite strange to be wearing something like that on a warm summers day, I guess she must have worn it for a cold morning and didn't get any time to change. I knew she would be back in a skirt, or her favourite short shorts and vest as soon as she had her own wardrobe again. I had kind of hoped to bring her whole wardrobe with me to the reunion, just so she would be that much happier to see me, but Emily said she couldn't fit that much into her car before we had to leave. I was out of the car seconds after spotting her there, Emily shouted at me to stay but I couldn't wait any longer. Emily turned the car into the aisle where Lauren was waiting, and she was driving slow enough for me to just swing the door open and get out without needing much courage. Lauren had noticed me, but that wasn't a surprise. I had hoped to sneak up on her, but who doesn't notice someone getting out of a car that's still moving? Besides if getting out of a moving car didn't get Lauren's attention, Emily screaming my name would have. Her scream was loud enough to burst eardrums, louder than someone on a megaphone, but I didn't care, I was out of the car before she could grab me. Even with the dramatic spectacle going on not far from where she was sitting, Lauren's attention had shifted back to her lap. She was clutching her nylon-clad leg with a pained look on her face. The silly girl had always liked to fidget with her clothes when she was nervous or bored, and I imagined she had just experienced how elastic tights can be. I wanted to grin and giggle at her, but I was too busy running. I was filled with an overpowering urge to wrap my arms around her and take her home. When I reached her, she was still clutching her leg, her forehead had a light sheen to it, and her delightful coconut scent was filling my nose. I couldn't think of what to say when I reached her, all the planning I did in the car, thinking about what I was going to say to Lauren, all of it had disappeared and my mind had gone blank. I flung my arms around Lauren and lifted her up off the car, shouting, "You're alive!" repeatedly. My heart was beating so fast, I was breathing heavily, almost exhausted, but I couldn't figure out why. I guess seeing my sister again was just enough to push all of the air from my lungs, that must have been what its like to see someone 'breathtakingly' beautiful. "I'm alive!" Lauren shouted into my ear. I felt her legs and arms wrap themselves around me, squeezing me almost as much as I was squeezing her. It was just like the times we used to play wrestle with each other as kids, or when we were being dramatic and pretended to hate each other. She must have remembered that instantly, as we were both trying to squeeze each other into submission. I span around, like an overjoyed princess who just got a puppy for her birthday, but instead of a puppy, I got my sister back. I was so exhausted after that, with my emotions in more of a mess than ever, that I just fell to my knees, tears rolling down my cheeks. Lauren was almost silent, her head nuzzled into my neck and her limbs clinging to my body like barnacles on a ship. I couldn't tell if she was crying too, but I imagined she was. I had grown accustomed to calling her a "little cry baby" when we were younger, since she would always go running to Mum and Dad, crying her eyes out whenever... well, whenever. I felt her grasp around me loosen, the barnacles were falling off. A tall, curvy woman with head of dark brown tousled hair was pulling Lauren away, and my legs weren't working quick enough to push me back to my feet and fight back. "No!" I shouted out, whilst desperately reaching out for Lauren, who had a miserable look on her face as the woman put her arm around her. The woman gave me an evil look, as if I was some sort of criminal. She wrapped her arms tightly around Lauren, as if she was protecting her. "Who are you?" the woman shouted. Emily stepped up to my side and put her hand on my shoulder. "Mrs Allingham?" Emily asked patiently, trying to calm things down. "Yes?" The woman replied, more relaxed. "I'm Emily Conquelin, Lucy's and now Lauren's social worker," Emily said, stamping her authority as politely as she could. The woman's arms loosened around my poor little sister, and her mood lightened slightly, but I could tell that she was a bit embarrassed. "Oh, forgive me... we were looking out for a blue jacket. When I didn't see one, I thought you were trying to kidnap her..." Mrs Allingham said, and gave us both a nervous smile. I guess that was my fault, I had decided to take my jacket off during the ride over, and, strangely enough, I forgot to bring it with me when I jumped out of the car. Lauren sprinted forward and flung her arms around me once again, which somehow made me even happier than I already was. I now knew that she remembered me, that she loved me. In the car I was thinking I'd be lucky if she didn't try to run away from me, but this was so much more than I expected. She must be remembering everything, I thought. Maybe Emily was wrong about the memory loss? It must have been like 'that one magical kiss' that brought the princess back to life, except this time it was a magical hug that brought all her memories back. We all took a few moments to calm down, until it was all smiles between us. Lauren introduced her new best friend Kirsty, a fourteen-year-old girl not much younger than me, with dark blonde, almost brown hair. She looked a bit like me in a way, which made me wonder if that was why Lauren liked her so much. Lauren then introduced Mrs Allingham as "Mum" and there was an immediate awkward silence. I stared at my little sister for a moment, wondering if she knew what happened to our real Mum. I could feel my eyes welling up again as I thought about it, was she trying to replace Mum already? I put my arm around her and rubbed her back gently, and then Mrs Allingham spoke. "Just a nickname dear, you can call me Suzanne if you like," Suzanne said with a hint of disappointment. We shook hands and smiled at each other, but I could tell that I wasn't going to get along with Suzanne at all, not for a while at least. With Kirsty, things were different. I quickly realised why Lauren liked her so much, she was funny, smart, pretty and had a good fashion sense. She was like my twin, and Lauren was looking up to her. Once everyone was introduced to each other, we had a lunch in the nearby McDonalds. I ordered for Lauren as I always did when we went out together, since I always knew what she wanted, a cheeseburger and a ton of fries. Lauren always loved that meal, she would almost cry for it whenever we went past a McDonalds restaurant. In fact I don't think we ever continued walking, every time we would stop and go inside to get Lauren her precious cheeseburger. Our parents and I didn't really mind her moaning for a cheeseburger, we just loved to see her post-cheeseburger happiness. Lauren wasn't spoilt, but we never denied her a cheeseburger when she wanted one. Eventually it got to the point where we would buy the meal before she even asked for it. We sat ourselves in one of the booths inside the restaurant, and I continued to talk with Lauren and Kirsty, whilst Suzanne and Emily were talking legal stuff. Lauren was quiet, but she was also busy eating her cheeseburger, but between the large unladylike bites that she took (another thing about Lauren that just made me grin stupidly) Lauren explained that she didn't remember anything from before she met Kirsty. Her memory was still a bit hazy, she remembered who I was, our parents, our house in London, the school that she went to. She was a bit vague with her answers, saying only a few words like "I remember her" or "I remember that place." I didn't really think much of that though. I decided she had been through a lot and would remember everything with time, just as long as I reminded her about places and people, gave her names to remember and what people were like. I think I spent most of that meal reminding her of the people in her past, she didn't seem to remember anyone of her friends from school. She thought the only friends she had were Suzanne and Kirsty, but that was soon going to change. Towards the end of our meal, the conversation between Suzanne and Emily sounded louder, and it caught the attention of both Kirsty and Lauren, who looked as intrigued as I was. "Where will Lauren be going?" asked Suzanne. "Well I've been phoning Lucy's foster parents all day, and they've finally replied," Emily said. In that moment, I could have sworn I heard a drum roll. Everyone except Emily seemed to lean forward in anticipation. "They don't have room for another child, their house just isn't big enough," Emily said disappointedly. "At the time Lucy was given to them, there was only one child to foster, they could only take one foster child." Emily and Suzanne didn't seem to notice that the three teen girls next to them had stopped eating, and were listening to them intently. "Lucy and Lauren don't have anywhere else to go, so our only option is to put them in your care for the time being," Emily finished and shared a brief smile with Suzanne, who was playing it cool on the surface, but underneath she had just exploded with joy. From what I'd learned through speaking with Lauren and Kirsty, and from my own observations, Suzanne was desperate to keep Lauren. Now she was going to have the both of us, and I would be stuck with her. I hoped that I would learn to love her just like Lauren does, and soon. Suzanne signed a few forms to make things official, and with that we paid the bill, left McDonalds and walked hand in hand through the car park. I specifically positioned myself so that I was on the end of the line, with Lauren and Kirsty between Suzanne and me, not knowing that I would be sitting in the front of the car with Suzanne for the whole journey back to my new home. Emily pulled my suitcase out from the back of her Ford and placed it in the back of Suzanne's Vauxhall, then organised a few important dates for the future with Suzanne. From what I heard, she would be sending a van filled with the rest of my things and all of Lauren's things to Suzanne's house as soon as possible, and she would be coming over in a week or so to check up on us. The rest of the documents that Suzanne would be required to sign would be sent in the post. Just before Emily left, she sneakily gathered Lauren and myself and made sure Suzanne and Kirsty weren't looking. "Now girls, I want you to call me if you get uncomfortable living with Mrs Allingham. I'll always be available on this number," Emily said quietly and handed me her business card. I ushered Lauren closer with my arm around her shoulders and we both gave the card long glances, memorising the number. "She's not an experienced foster parent, but I'm going to trust her based on what Lauren thinks of her," Emily said, giving Lauren an appraising look. "She treats me like her own daughter," Lauren said in a whispered tone, smiling up at me. I smirked down at her, even though I didn't like how close Suzanne was with my sister. I couldn't bring myself to tell her what happened to Mum, so I kept quiet and nodded along. "That's good, dear, but you know where to reach me if she starts treating you differently, alright?" Emily said in the same whispered tone as Lauren. We both nodded and smiled, and then Emily said her goodbyes and left. Thankfully Suzanne didn't ask many questions on the drive home, so sitting in the front of the car with her wasn't so bad. We were both pretty quiet after Suzanne noticed that both Kirsty and Lauren had fallen asleep behind us, but they both woke up when the sounds of a distant celebration started to fill their ears. We started seeing signs for a local festival taking place over the next few days, and the sounds of music, people cheering, dancing and laughing was filling our ears. Suzanne suggested that we visit the festival for an hour or two just to celebrate Lauren and me being back together, and everyone agreed except for Lauren. Lauren had always been afraid of the clowns, with their painted faces and big red noses. She often screamed when they came near her, and I suspected she didn't want to ruin her day by seeing a clown. Lauren wanted to go home, but she finally agreed to come along when Kirsty said it might be fun. *** LAUREN I groaned loudly as we turned into the entrance of the festival, which was marked by a huge archway made of balloons. I just wanted to go home and fall into a bed, but I was outnumbered three to one, so I had to go with them. Even if I said no, they'd still drag me along anyway. Lucy kept turning around in her chair and saying, "Don't worry about the clowns Lauren, I'll fight them off" and then would grin at me as if I knew what she meant. I had had to pretend to know what she meant quite a lot during the day, whenever she mentioned people from 'my' past or places from 'my' past I had to try and play along. I could only really answer with a yes or a no, maybe or sort of. She had believed me enough to not get suspicious, and the more she believed me, the more I doubted who I was. How could I be a boy if Lucy truly believes I'm her sister? Suzanne finally parked the car after struggling for ages to find a space, since the festival was packed with visitors. As we stepped out, I noticed it was getting dark. The festival was lit up by thousands of lights in so many different colours, but in the surrounding forest it was almost pitch black. Hundreds of people were passing around us as we walked slowly past different tents and entertainers, their faces illuminated by almost every possible colour. Some faces were bright, others were dark, there were so many of them that they just seemed to blur together into one giant mush of colours and people. Lucy grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me closer to her side, she was about a foot taller than me, and a couple of inches taller than Kirsty, but the clown that walked past us on stilts was much taller than any of us. Lucy turned us in a different direction just as the clown passed, and we began walking down another long row of small tents and stalls, where people were juggling flaming torches or blowing fire. Before we left, Lucy had time to buy me a giant brown teddy bear, just as tall as I was, with a pink bow around its neck. Suzanne then insisted that I buy my sister something in return, and gave me twenty pounds to spend. I thought about buying a small necklace, or sweets, but then I saw a stall where they were selling giant stuffed pandas, and decided if I was going to carry around a giant teddy bear for hours, Lucy can carry around a giant panda. I held Lucy by the hand and pulled her through a crowd of people walking through the center of the festival, and arrived in front of a stall which was low enough for my head and shoulders to just poke over the top. Hayley would have loved that stall, since it was filled with dozens and dozens of stuffed animals in all shapes, breeds and sizes. A woman who must have been in her early twenties, with her short hair dyed a dark glowing purple, came up to me and asked, "What can I do for you little miss?" and smiled from ear to ear. "I'd like to buy that giant panda," I said in the most adult voice I could muster, hoping I'd make the woman feel stupid for calling me a 'little miss' as if I was a baby. The woman grinned at me and looked over her shoulder, then pointed at the one giant panda that was left. "That giant panda?" she asked. "Yeah," I said, getting irritated. "Okey dokey," she said in a cheerful and childish tone and turned around to pickup the panda. I looked up at Lucy and she was smirking down at me. "What?" I asked her quietly as the purple haired woman took a few seconds to pull the panda from the hook it was hanging on. "You're buying another giant stuffed animal, does little princess not like her cute bear?" Lucy asked in a sarcastic, childish tone. "No silly I'm buying it for you!" I blurted out. Lucy's cheeks reddened and we both grinned. Serves her right for calling me a little princess. I handed the purple haired woman the money and she decided to hand the giant panda to Lucy, since she noticed I was already struggling to wrap my arm around one giant stuffed animal. We walked back to where Suzanne and Kirsty were browsing a stall of jewellery, and then, after a couple of minutes of watching Lucy, Kirsty and Suzanne buy plastic jewels, beads earrings and necklaces, we were finally on our way to the exit. The giant archway built out of balloons was in sight, but we stopped again when Lucy's attention turned to a line of children, who were queuing up in front of three tables, where three women were sitting. "Hey, let's get our faces painted!" Lucy said excitedly as she began tugging my arm towards the queue. "Yeah, why not?" Kirsty said and began to follow us. I pulled back on Lucy's arm desperately. "Can't we just go home?" I whined at her. "Come on, sis, it'll be fun!" Lucy said, and then gave me a less than gentle tug and before I knew it, I was standing in line to get my face painted. At least we didn't have to hold our giant stuffed animals, since we had left those with Suzanne. After ten minutes of waiting, Kirsty turned around and asked, "Why don't we all get the same?" Lucy nodded excitedly, but before I could answer, one of the women spoke loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Are you three together?" the woman sitting at the middle table asked. I noticed that we were now at the front of the queue, the three chairs were empty, and the woman was talking to us. "Yeah, we're sisters," Lucy said, a proud smile on her face. So now she was pretending to have fake relatives, great. Lucy nudged me forward and the one who spoke ushered me into a small chair in front of her face painting station, Kirsty and Lucy sat at the stations either side of me. "Can we all get the same?" Kirsty asked from my left. "Butterflies?" Lucy asked from my right. The three face painting women nodded and smiled at us, and then all I could do before they said, "Close your eyes, honey," was let out a quiet and nervous, "Eeek." The woman placed her hand on top of my head and gently tilted it back, and then I felt a sponge like material spreading a creamy liquid all over my face. She rubbed the sponge from my nose out to the edge of my face, and repeated that until it felt like my whole face was covered in a thin layer of the strange liquid, which quickly dried. Next I felt a thin brush sliding along my nose, leaving behind a cold trail of more creamy liquid. The same brush continued around my eyes, then towards my ears and back again. She kept changing brushes, from large to small, thin to thick, rough to smooth, painting lines across my face here and there, colouring bits and then painting more lines. I was never allowed to open my opens, "Not until I'm finished dear," she said, so I would have to wait. I had to stop myself from giggling as the woman used a thin brush to paint more thin lines, this time under my chin and jaw. "Hold still" she said when I was starting to smirk, whilst trying my best not to start laughing. Then once again I felt the familiar feeling of something sliding along my lips. She was painting my lips with paint this time, not lip-gloss. "There, all done, and don't you look pretty?" the woman smirked at me whilst I nervously opened my eyes. She held up a small mirror and there I was, with a giant butterfly painted on my now slightly whiter face. The body of the insect was painted on the bridge of my nose in black, and a black dot between my eyebrows represented its head. Two black lines on my forehead, which went up and then curled around in circles, were the butterfly's antennas. The wings were coloured in light and dark shades of sky blue, and spread across my cheeks, over my eyes and almost to my ears. The woman had added glitter to the wings, to make sparkle and shine whenever light shined on my face. Thin black lines split the wings up into sections, just like the leaves of a plant, and white dots were added here and there to make matching patterns on each wing. Around my chin she had painted the thin green stem of a plant, which grew from the tip of my chin to the tips of my newly pierced ears, and was sprouting flowers in colours ranging from sky blue, to pink, yellow and red. And lastly my lips were painted in the same sky blue as the wings of the butterfly. I looked at myself in the mirror and pouted, the woman who had painted me didn't seem to care much about my upset expression, and soon Lucy and Kirsty were paying her as well as their own face painters. Lucy and Kirsty both had the same butterfly pattern painted on their faces, just in different colours. Lucy's wings were pink, and instead of flowers around her chin, she had yellow stars. Kirsty's wings were yellow, and she had fairies flying around on her chin and jaw. When we got back to Suzanne, she initially thought I was Kirsty, and ended up giving the stuffed giant bear to Kirsty instead of me. That would have been fine by me since I wouldn't have to carry it, but Kirsty quickly told her mother that she was in fact her real daughter, and then handed me the bear. Suzanne told us all how beautiful we were, which made Kirsty and Lucy both giggle, whilst I faked a smile and looked away. Lucy was soon holding my hand and leading me to the car, and this time I was able to get in and buckle my seatbelt by myself, and this time without getting a kiss on the forehead. After a few minutes drive, I fell asleep once again, wishing the festival hadn't waked me up in the first place. I must have slept for a while, at least a couple of hours, since we were home as soon as I woke up. But this time I was woken up by flashing lights and sirens, blue lights spinning around the cul-de-sac so fast that it made me dizzy if I watched them for too long. There were three police cars parked in the cul-de-sac, two of them were in the driveway of my old house, and the third was parked in front of Sami and Terry's house. Police officers wearing high visibility jackets were standing around, a couple were looking in bushes whilst some were talking to the neighbours. Suzanne parked the car and carried the two giant stuffed animals inside, whilst Lucy, Kirsty and myself stepped closer to find out what was going on. My steps were definitely more the nervous and slower steps out of the three of us, since I knew what was happening. They were looking for me. I was expecting them to come at some point, but I'd totally forgotten about my real parents over the course of the day. The three of us stood on the edge of my old driveway, the lights from the police cars were illuminating our faces along with what little natural light was remaining. A large, burly male police officer walked towards us casually, holding a thin piece of paper in his hand. He examined each of us from head to toe, his eyes lingering on me for a few moments longer than they did on my 'sisters'. "What's going on?" Lucy asked. "We're looking for a missing boy, have you seen him?" the police officer said in a grumpy voice that sounded just like my Dad. He held up the thin piece of paper that turned out to be a photo of me! Well it was a photo of me from two years ago, my school photo from when I was ten, but it still looked like me back when I was a boy. Lucy shook her head, Kirsty shook her head, but I just remained still, terrified of being recognised. The police officer seemed to think I hadn't seen me either, since he just nodded slowly and walked away, not bothering to ask why I didn't answer him. We waited for another few minutes, Kirsty and Lucy were holding my hands and they wanted to see if anything happened, so I had to stay too. Soon two adults came towards us, wearing casual clothes, it was hard to see who they were without the high visibility clothing. My parents! My real parents! My Dad was apparently quite drunk, but spoke in his familiar grumpy voice, "Have you seen my son?" he asked, then held up the same photo the police officer showed us. It was strange that he didn't seem to recognise me straight away, I mean, I was standing right in front of him wasn't I? Kirsty and Lucy shook their heads again, and then my Mum stepped forward and looked down her long nose at us, eyeing each of us suspiciously. Once again her eyes lingered on me even longer, they narrowed slightly. I stood there silently, half hoping she would recognise me, and half hoping she wouldn't. But if I wanted her to recognise me, why didn't I just tell her myself? My mother stepped back and shook her head, looking neither sad nor happy, then gave my Dad a firm slap on the shoulder. "Let's go, he's not here," She said, and they both got into their car and drove off, leaving the police to continue their search. They didn't even recognise me when I was standing right in front of them? How can these people be my real parents? Part of me was heartbroken, part of me was overjoyed, but I knew after that what I was going to do. My parents had abandoned me twice and now I was going to abandon them forever whether they liked it or not, but I doubt they even cared. "I've made my decision," I thought to myself as Kirsty, Lucy, Suzanne and I ate our dinner. "I may not like living as a girl, but at least here I'm loved and looked after every day. Living life as Lauren is better than my life as Ian," I thought to myself as I pulled the bed sheets over my body, and Suzanne turned off the light. *** When I woke up the next morning, I felt so much better. I wasn't thinking about when my parents where going to come back, or if I was going to be caught. I was starting a new life, and everything was changing. I had been woken by the sound of trucks and mechanical lifts, the loud beeping of a vehicle reversing. I knew what it was instantly, and apparently Suzanne and Kirsty did too, since they were standing in the lounge looking through the front window. Lucy came down soon after me, wearing one of those pink snuggies. We explained to her that the new neighbours were moving in, and she nodded along slowly before walking into the kitchen. I stepped closer to the window to try and figure out which one of the families we met was moving in, and after a few seconds I realised who it was. A girl with long black hair, wearing a loose fitting t-shirt, skinny blue jeans and converses, turned towards our house. She spotted me looking through the large front window, and I waved excitedly at her, Poppy waved back just as excitedly and we grinned wickedly at each other. "A new family, and a new best friend," I thought to myself. NOTE: I know this story has always been from Ian/Lauren's point of view, but I thought writing a couple of pages from Lucy's perspective would be a nice way to introduce her as a new main character. What did you think of seeing things from Lucy's POV?