When she opens her eyes, she sees her Aunt Liv sitting on the edge of the bed next to her, staring at her. Well, she looks like her Aunt Liv but she's not the same. She doesn't have the same hair. But she looks like her. And she says nothing; she's just watching her.
"You're already back from work, Aunt Liv?"
"I couldn't wait to see you, Ella."
She does have the same voice as her Aunt Liv.
"What did you do to your hair?"
She smiles mischievously, like her Aunt Liv, and asks her if she likes it. She doesn't want to hurt her feelings so she says yes, but she liked it better before.
"What about some breakfast? What would you like?"
Aunt Liv knows she always has cereal with fresh milk and a small glass of orange juice. Maybe she's tired. She's working hard. So she tells her again.
In the kitchen, Mom and Aunt Liv are chatting. She climbs up onto a chair, watches them, listens to them, all while playing with the cross her aunt gave her. Mom seems relieved about something. She looks calmer; yesterday she was almost scared.
She looks at her Aunt Liv's new hair again. She opens the wrong cupboard to take a glass. She hands her a glass full of orange juice, and she frowns. Aunt Liv gave her a plain glass, not even a nice colourful one.
"Why do I have a grown-up glass?" she asks, really astonished.
"Come on, Ella, what does it matter?" Mom answers.
It does matter to her, and it certainly matters to her Aunt Liv.
She looks at the hair a little longer and still thinks it's weird. Her Aunt Liv would never have gone to the wrong cupboard or given her the wrong glass. Mom hasn't noticed. But Ella's quite sure.
She is not her Aunt Liv.
End