(Okay. I edited a picture to go with this story. This story comes before the other one. Not sure how I'll order the book. Putting events into chronological order is tricky since I tell the story from Julie's point of view, and Julie has no sense of time. She relies - somewhat grudgingly - on her Lemons to tell her the time and date. She finds it hard to take in the information, but it makes sense to her in a way the information never could to a rational mind. Anyways, I know the grammar needs some editing, but here it is. Enjoy.)
Guess Who?"Skip, skip, Uno, snap!" I said, piling one Uno card upon another. A blue skip, a blue reverse (which acts as a skip when there are only two players), and another blue reverse. "I win!"
"You're a real shark at this game." said Charles, smiling one of his winning plastic smiles.
"Sharky!" I giggled, putting my hands together atop my head as a shark fin and humming the Jaws sequence. Being mad has its perks - you can be downright silly and all you get is that condesending smile.
"Again?!" I asked excitedly when I had finished my display.
"How about we play a different game this time?" the Lemon said.
My joy at victory faded, and my guard came back up. I narrowed my eyes at him in suspicion and asked carefully "Which game?"
"How about... Guess Who?" he said slyly.
An alarm went off inside of me.
"We've played that game too much already." I said offhandedly.
"Not nearly as much as we've played Uno." he said, quite reasonably.
"I like Uno!" I whined pathetically.
"And I like Guess Who. How about this - we play one more game of Uno, then we play Guess Who."
I couldn't really argue with that without letting on my discomfort. The last thing you want is for a Lemon to know you're uncomfortable. Once they know how you feel, they can manipulate you until your own fear and rage takes over and you are as malleable as clay. It has happened to me before. Bloody Lemons. At this thought, anger surged in my belly, but I let it die. Anger only helped the Lemons to get their way.
"Okay." I said after a moment. We began to play Uno once again. As we did so, I let myself get caught up in the thrill of the game. I beat him easily, finishing the game with a wild card. When the game was over, I let myself become wary again. Charles took out the shabby Guess Who box and opened it, then placed one of the plastic boards in front of me. I noticed he did not take out a board for himself, nor did he take the cards out. Confused, I moved to take the rest of the things out of the box, but he grabbed my hand.
"We're going to play the game a bit differently today." he said.
"Oh... Okay." I said, helpless. Charles took the board and tilted it so all the little faces popped up, then placed the board back on the table in front of me. I scanned my eyes across the cartoon faces in front of me. The first row was normal, as was most of the second, but the last face on the second row - Emily - was different.
I thought that face looked familiar, but the familiarity struck a warning bell and I stopped thinking just short of recognition.
"This time," said Charles "I have picked a face, and you have to guess which one it is. When you get it right, I'll tell you a secret."
"Okay." I said, now quite reluctantly intrigued. "Is your person female?" I asked.
"Yes."
"Does she wear glasses?"
"Yes."
"Does she have white hair?"
"Yes."
"Is she Emily?"
"Yes. Very good."
"I had a friend named Emily once." I smiled at the memory, but then my mood and expression soured. "Once." I repeated.
"Well, that's Emily there."
"The same Emily?"
"The very same."
"She's far too old to be Emily."
"You've been here for quite a long time."
"Oh... Really? Oh. Okay. Why is she wearing a crown?"
"Well, she's a queen now."
I snorted. "Emily? A queen?"
"It turns out her family are the true royal bloodline. Anyways, her and her new family live in a big fancy house."
"Her new family?"
"After her family died in a freak accident, your old family adopted her."
"They
what?!" I said, outraged.
"Well, it was a perfect arrangement. They had just lost you, she had lost her family."
"And she's living with them in
my house?"
"Yes... Yes, your house."
"They finished building it and nobody told me? How could you not tell me this
Charles?"
"Well, see, I didn't want to upset you." he said smoothly
"But you upset me
now?"
"My point is, your family have replaced you."
The pain of that last finally came through to me. "They replaced me?" I said, hurt.
"Yes Julie-"
"
Don't say that name!"
"Right. Sorry. In any case, you have indeed been replaced."
Suddenly I was angry again. "I loved them, and just when I need them most they betray me for... for
Emily!"
"Do you want to be with your family again Jul- Miss Evans?"
"More than anything."
"And you know what stands in your way?"
A dark look came over my face as I imbued one name with the menace of newfound hatred.
"Emily."
Reply
