"Emma! "Ten year old exclaimed as he burst through his sister Sarah's bedroom door. "Her name's Emma!" He panted in the doorway.
"What? Who's name is Emma?" Sarah asked from the top of her book.
"Our mom! I found her! Her name is Emma she lives…" Oh brother not this again. Sarah sighed. "Henry I thought we agreed to let this go. Regina is our mother. She raised us, she picked us. Whoever this 'Emma' person is didn't want us. So why should we go looking for her?"
"Maybe she didn't want to give us up. Maybe she had to because something or someone else. It could all be part of the curse!" Henry tried again to make his sister see the truth he already knew.
"Of course the curse!" Sarah rolled her eyes at her twin and turned back to her book. Ever since their fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Blanchard, had given Henry a fairy tale book; he had dedicated all of his free time trying to convince Sarah that everyone in town was effected by and evil curse. A curse which supposedly was cast by their adopted mother Regina.
The crusade first began a week ago when Sarah and Henry fought over who's turn it was to do the dishes. Frustrated with her children Regina told both children do complete the chore together.
"It doesn't matter any way." Henry had said once his mother was out of earshot. "She's evil." He added very seriously before filling the sink.
"Well she didn't have to take away dessert, but I don't think she's evil." Sarah defended as she laid a towel out under the dish drying rack.
"It's not that I think it. I know it." Henry stated plainly.
"And how do you know?" Sarah questioned, placing her hands on her hips.
"I read it in a book." He answered as he scrubbed pasta sauce off a bowl.
"And what book would that be." Henry smiled to himself knowing full well that his sister had just narrowed her eye suspiciously.
"A book Mrs. Blanchard gave me at school yesterday."
"Mrs. Blanchard gave you a book that says our mom is evil?" Of all the stories that Henry had dreamed up over the years this was his most farfetched.
"Well not exactly. Help me get this done and I'll show you!" Sarah skillfully caught the drying towel Henry tossed at her.
A week had passed and Sarah had read Henry's book twice over and while the book presented convincing evidence, she was not as willing to believe as Henry was. This caused friction between the two siblings and Henry was determined to prove his sister wrong.
"Look," he said sitting on Sarah's bed. She reluctantly looked up from her book one last time. "I know you don't believe me, but maybe if we meet her, just once…please?"
"Ok I'll bite." Sarah growled. "How exactly do you plan on finding our…Emma?" knowing that he'd won his sister over Henry pulled his face into a broad grin.
"I've already got us two bus tickets to Boston!" He whispered so that only his sister could hear. "We'll leave tomorrow after school."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sarah asked for the hundredth time that afternoon.
"Come on you promised to come along just get on the bus!" Henry hissed as he shovel her onto the bus.
"I promised to come along but I didn't promise not to complain about it." Sarah answered sharply. The rest of the bus ride was spent with Henry diving deep into his story book while Sarah worried. She worried what exactly Henry planned to say to Emma, she worried what they were going to tell Regina when they got home, but mostly she worried about what Emma was going to say about meeting her kids for the first time. "Um Henry I think we're here." Sarah tapped her brother's shoulder as the bus called out the name of their stop.
"Let's go!" Henry nodded eagerly pulling his sister off the bus. The boy dragged his sister four or five blocks before stopping in front of a large apartment complex.
"How exactly do you know your way around the city?" Sarah questioned as Henry searched the list of apartment residents.
"I studied maps I found on the internet…" The boy answered not looking away from the list. "Here it is, Swan. E. Swan that has to be her. Her apartment is 12B."
"Hey uh Henry…" Sarah stopped her brother at the base of the stairs. "Look before we go up there I just want to say…" What Sarah wanted to say was that Emma might have a family of her own, that she probably wanted nothing to do with the twins, and that there was probably a reason why Emma Swan asked for a closed adoption. She wanted to say all of that but at the same time she didn't want to ruin this moment for him. Henry had always fantasized about them having a big family and despite Sarah's usual realism she couldn't shake the hope that maybe Emma Swan would be happy to see them too.