Everything belongs to Once Upon A Time except for a couple of the ideas and two characters. Dialogue is a mix of theirs and mine.
It all started one day when a little boy knocked on my door. It was my birthday and I'd just wished that I wasn't alone on my birthday. I opened the door, and at first I didn't see anyone but then I noticed a kid, looking completely confused.
"Eva! What are you doing here? I saw you this morning and you never said you were leaving!" The kid said.
"What are you talking about? My name's Emma." I replied.
"You're Emma Swan?!" He asks awed and happy, if still looking slightly confused.
"Yeah, who are you?" I asked, confused as to how the kid knew my name, especially since a minute ago he thought I was someone named Eva.
"My name's Henry and I'm your son." He said confidently and walked into the apartment.
"Whoa. Hey, kid. Kid. Kid! I don't have a son. Where are your parents?" I replied, aiming for the same amount of confidence even as my brain was finding similarities between him and Neal, even between him and me.
"Ten years ago, did you give a baby up for adoption? That was me." I was really worried now, there's no way he could know that, not unless he was my kid because I didn't think random ten year olds looked at adoption records that were supposed to be sealed trying to find ways to scare some kid's birth mother out of their wits.
"Give me a minute." I said, walking straight into the bathroom, trying to recover.
"Hey, you have any juice?" I hear the kid yell. "Never mind. Found some." Follows a minute later.
I walk out to find him drinking the juice, straight from the bottle. He sighs. "You know, we should probably get going."
"Going where?" I ask, no longer having any idea what to do.
"I want you to come home with me." He replies with a smile.
"Okay, kid. I'm calling the cops." I say, desperately trying to gain control of the situation.
"Then I'll tell them you kidnapped me." He says.
"And they'll believe you because I'm your birth mother." I reply.
"Yep." He says with a smirk.
"You're not gonna do that." I say, testing him."
"Try me." He says.
"You're pretty good, but here's the thing. There's not a lot I'm great at in life, but I have one skill. Let's call it a superpower. I can tell when anyone is lying, and you, kid, are." It's at times like these where I'm extremely thankful for my superpower.
"Wait. Please don't call the cops. Please. Come home with me." He says, a little desperately.
"Where's home?" I say. "Storybrooke, Maine." He replies, and some of that glimmer of hope comes back into his eyes. "Storybrooke? Seriously?" Because really, what place is called Storybrooke.
"Mm-hmm."
I sigh. "All righty then. Let's get you back to Storybrooke."
"I'm hungry, do you want to stop somewhere?" He asks, after we've been in the car a while.
"This is not a road trip. We're not stopping for snacks." I say, because I know I cannot let myself get attached to this kid, or let him get attached to me, not when he has his own family.
"Why not?" He asks, curiously.
"Quit complaining, kid." I say, avoiding the question because I know I can't tell him the real reason. "Remember, I could have put your butt on a bus. I still could." I try and change the topic.
"You know, I have a name. It's Henry." He says, which I know perfectly well. As if I would've forgotten his name. I just couldn't use it, because with names comes nicknames and that shows attachment which I couldn't let happen.
"Speaking of names, why did you think my name was Eva? Especially after you definitely knew who I was once I gave you my real name." It had been on my mind for most of the car ride but I hadn't known how to bring it up.
"I just wasn't expecting to know my mom's identical twin." "What? Who? I don't have a twin!" I exclaim, I wasn't ready for two life-changing discoveries in one day. "Use your superpower. See if I'm lying." He says with a grin.
"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true. Lots of people look alike, or maybe she's just my doppelgänger." I dismissed, trying to convince myself for the second time that day that he was lying.
"What's a doppelgänger? Never mind, trust me, she's your twin."
His confidence sent my overwhelm into a full-blown freak-out. If she really was my twin, why weren't we found together, we should've gone through the system together. Then, another terrifying thought came over me. Was I given up and her kept because our parents didn't want twins, did she have the life I'd always dreamed of, the perfect family? I finally managed to calm myself down with a confusing question that distracted me, why was she in Storybrooke and how did Henry know her? I looked over at him, he was staring intensely at what looked like an old storybook.
"What's that?" I asked.
"I'm not sure you're ready." He replied, as if I wasn't confused enough.
"Ready for some fairy tales?" I ask him, jokingly.
"They're not fairy tales. They're true. Every story in this book actually happened." He replies, looking completely serious.
"Of course it did." I reply a little sarcastically because I figured that agreeing was probably my best option.
"Use your superpower. See if I'm lying." Apparently, at age ten you can see through sarcasm. Though, apparently he didn't have the best memory since I'd just told him that when you believe something's true I can't tell if you're lying.
"I know you said earlier that believing that something's true doesn't make it true but that's exactly what makes it true. You should know more than anyone."
"Why is that?" I ask since I personally think I could win an award for least amount of hope and belief.
"Because you're in this book." He tells me, and now I'm starting to get worried, at age ten are kids supposed to believe that they're related to fairy tale characters.
"Oh, kid. You've got problems." I end up saying, since I really have no idea what else would be better.
"Yep, and you're gonna fix 'em." It's actually terrifying how much he believes in me. We roll into Storybrooke.
"Okay, kid. How about an address?" I ask, not wanting him to have a chance to spring some other life-changing revelation on me.
"44 I'm-not-telling-you Street" He replies, annoyingly.
"Look, it's been a long night, and it's almost… 8:15?" I question, getting out of the car and looking at the clock tower and I get confused once again.
"That clock hasn't moved in my whole life. Time's frozen here." He says and I start to worry again, I'd nearly forgotten about the stupid fairy tale thing.
"Excuse me?" I say, trying to act confused which wasn't hard.
"The Evil Queen did it with her curse. She sent everyone from the Enchanted Forest here." He explains I decide to play along.
"Hang on. An evil queen sent a bunch of fairy tale characters here?" I ask.
"Yeah, and now they're trapped." He actually seems kind've sad for them.
"Frozen in time and stuck in Storybrooke, Maine - that's what you're going with?" I decide to make it clear that I don't believe him.
"It's true."
"Then why doesn't everybody just leave?" I'm curious to see what his answer for that is.
"They can't. If they try bad things happen."
"Henry. What are you doing here? Is everything alright?" I hear a stranger's voice say.
"I'm fine, Archie." Henry replies, clearly he knows the man, and his dog.
"Who is this?" Archie asks, looking at me.
"Just someone trying to give him a ride home." I explain, not wanting to get into the details with a man I just met.
"Oh, she's my mom, Archie." Henry just has to explain.
"Oh, I see." He replies looking all of a sudden really interested. It's starting to get awkward.
"Do you know where he lives?" I ask the man, Archie.
"Uh, yeah, sure. Just, uh, right up on Mifflin Street. The mayor's house is the biggest one on the block." He says.
"You're the mayor's kid? I ask turning to Henry.
"Uh, maybe." He replies staring at the ground.
"Hey, where were you today, Henry? 'Cause you missed our session." Archie suddenly asks.
"Oh, well, I forgot to tell you, I went on a field trip." This time, Henry's attempt to lie is really clear. Archie kneels down.
"Henry… What did I tell you about lying? Giving into one's dark side never accomplishes anything." That's why you need to become a better liar, I think to myself.
"Okay. Well, I really should be getting him home." I reply wanting to get out of this town as soon as possible. "Yeah, sure. Well, listen, um, have a good night, and, uh, you be good, Henry."
"Yeah." I say, glad to see him go, the less interactions, the less people to ask Henry who I was.
"So that's your shrink?" I ask Henry since it was incredibly obvious.
"I'm not crazy." He replies.
"Didn't say that. Just… he doesn't seem cursed to me. Maybe he's just trying to help you." I say, distracting him with a topic change.
"He's the one who needs help, because he doesn't know."
"That he's a fairy tale character?" I ask, trying to follow along.
"None of them do. They don't remember who they are." I sigh.
"Convenient. All right. I'll play. Who's he supposed to be?"
"Jiminy Cricket."
"Right. The lying thing. I thought your nose grew a little bit." I say, proving how much I know about fairy tales.
"I'm not Pinocchio." He replies, indignant.
"Of course you're not, 'cause that would be ridiculous." I say, giving up and getting into the car.
"Please don't take me back there." He says, like I have a choice.
"I have to. I'm sure your parents are worried sick about you." Wondering what that would've been like.
"I don't have parents - just a mom and she's evil."
"Evil? That's a bit extreme isn't it?"
"She is. She doesn't love me. She only pretends to." I feel bad, even though I'm sure it's not true, it's not good that he feels this way. I sigh.
"Kid. I'm sure that's not true, now go ahead, I'm sure your mom doesn't want to see me now, after you left her, to come find me. Though, don't think I'm not watching to make sure you go in there." He sighs.
"Fine, bye." He closes the door, I didn't tell him that the real reason I didn't go in was because I didn't want a reasonable adult telling me that I have an identical twin.
I watched as Henry's mom came out, looking worried and so relieved to see him. What was Henry talking about? His mom definitely loved him. I got back into my car and headed back home, right at the town line I changed my mind. I needed to check and make sure that my twin didn't exist. I walked through the bushes into Granny's Bed & Breakfast.
"You're out all night, and now you're going out again."
"I should've moved to Boston!"
"I'm sorry that my heart attack interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard."
Two women are in the middle of an argument. I interrupt them.
"Excuse me? I'd like a room."
"Really? Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally, there's an upgrade fee for the square, but as rent is due, I'll waive it."
The older woman, probably Granny, looks surprised and I wonder how many visitors they have.
"Square is fine." I reply with a small smile.
"Now… what's the name?"
"Swan. Emma Swan."
"Emma. What a lovely name." I hear yet another voice behind me.
"Thanks." I say. The older lady leans over the desk with a wad of cash and gives it to the man.
"It's all here." She says.
"Yes, yes, of course. Yes, dear, thank you. You enjoy your stay… Emma." I decide that he's rather creepy.
"Who's that?" I ask the older lady.
"Mr. Gold. He owns the place." The younger girl replies from behind me while staring out the window.
"The inn?" I ask.
"No. The town." The older woman says. I can't wait to confirm that I don't have an identical twin and get out of here. The whole town is starting to creep me out.
"So how long will you be with us?" The older woman continues.
"A week. Just a week."
"Great. Welcome to Storybrooke." She hands me a key.