13 years ago today
Yao held hand Ivan's tightly, he took deep and labored breaths to try and ease the coursing pain that was going through him. He had just given birth to their first child, and was now delivering their second.
"You're almost done…" The doctor said. Yao screamed and swore in his native tongue, as he pushed. His screams where then matched with a higher pitched wail.
"It's a girl!" The doctor said happily. He held up the tiny infant.
Both girls were washed and got their umbilical cords cut before each daughter was placed in either Yao or Ivan's arms.
Ivan looked down and saw the sweet and innocent faces of his daughters. He felt a tugging in his chest and warm liquid began to fall from his eyes. He was crying.
Yao and Ivan's families had been watching from the door. They watched as the newly found family held their daughters. Shockingly, Belarus was the first to bring herself to cry, followed by Ukraine and soon enough both families were shedding tears of joy.
"They look like me." Was all Ivan could bring himself to say.
Yao softly laughed, he had also been crying. He reached into a brown paper bag that he had brought with him to the hospital. He took out a hand made Panda bear, and set it next to the squirming little girl. Ivan also reached into the bag, his sister had made a scarf almost exactly like his except on one end, a tiny Panda bear holding a sunflower was stitched into the fabric. He wrapped it around the other daughter. It fit like a blanket around her, needless to say it was adorable.
Yao fell back on the bed; exhausted. As he felt himself give way from the exhaustion, the last thing he saw were the both of his daughters being taken away.
Present day
Two young girls lay in newly fallen snow with their fingers intertwined. They watched as the tiny little puffballs they were so familiar with, descended from the sky. The wind nipping and biting at them through their thin sun dresses clearly not the appropriate weather attire. The girls however, didn't mind or notice the frigid cold. They just watched as the little bits of fluffy crystals fell from the sky; enchanted.
"Girls! Girls!" Yelled a voice semi familiar to the twins.
Simultaneously, both sat up and looked in the direction of where the voice hollered. It was their recent foster mother. She looked frustrated (and a little bit funny) in her bright pink winter-coat, her freckled cheeks bright red from the wind. She signaled for the two to get into the house. Sighing they stood and calmly walked over to the red-headed women.
"Look at you two!" She yelled.
"You're dressed in nothing, but light summer gowns in the midst of a snow storm. Do you want to get ammonia?" She scolded. The girls shrugged.
"Not to mention you have an interview with a potential couple in an hour!" She continued.
The girls just looked back to the women, not much of what she said really mattered to them. They had been bounced from foster home to foster home all over the country for as long as they could remember. They had been interviewed and questioned from over a thousand couples, none of them even bothering to get to know them.
"Well don't just stand there! Get into the house so I can make you look presentable."
The girls nodded and mumbled a faint "Yes ma'am."
Both girls fiddled with their thumbs nervously, they could hear the couple talking in the other room. One girl watched as the other nervously played with her pale dirty blonde hair. She looked down examining each of their outfits and body structures. The out fits were basically the same only with different color dresses to distinguish which twin from which.
Their light pale, dirty blond hair, were tied into French braids. One twin wore a bright red sun dress the other a bright yellow one. The dresses had ruffles at the bottom of them and were spaghetti strapped. The dresses would have looked cuter if they weren't so uh… large in the chest. They had gotten big over the summer and were gradually getting bigger. If they didn't stop soon they would be double D's by the end of winter. Looking down they realized it wasn't only their chest that seemed more mature then there age, it was their entire bodies. From their curvy hips, to their long legs it seemed as though the girls where at least two years older than they claimed to be.
The younger of the girls crossed their arms and legs. She hoped that the couple wouldn't notice their self-harm scars. She felt a hand on her arm and looked up to see the reassuring face of her sister.
"Okay Mr. and Mrs. Boventre, the last of the children are the uh… twins." Their foster mother said with something close to disgust and fear in her voice.
"Well how old are they?" the women asked, clearly not noticing the displease in the red-headed women's voice.
"13."
"Little bit old for what we're looking for." the man said. That made the oldest twin angry. They talked about them as if they were buying a car.
"State says I have to show you them…" she said. It felt forced, like she wished she didn't need to let the couple see the two… and for various reasons.
The door opened and the couple stepped in. They took one look at the two identical twins and a wave of discomfort and fear hit them. They started shaking as the sisters smiled, sending out a creepy aura.
"It's nice to meet you, da." They said in unison. It wasn't often that the sisters had accents, only when they felt strong emotions, like nervousness or joy that it seemed to slip.
The married couple shook with fear. They didn't want to be alone with the set of twins. They hadn't even been formally introduced to the girls, but both mentally agreed that they would not raise these two children.
The twins sat in their room, if that was what you called it. When they got to the foster home the parents were afraid that if the kept them with the other children that they would harm them in some way. So for "safety" purposes, they cleared out enough space for a bed in the basement and kept the twins away from the other children.
"50 states, we've been through all 50 states and not a single couple from one of them has even thought of adopting us." The youngest twin said.
She clutched her hand made Panda bear. The tattered stuffed animal was her birthday present given to her 13 years ago, the only thing that she had from her birth-parents. The oldest came and sat next her sister. She pulled her close and set her head onto her lap.
"Why didn't they want us?" She asked.
The oldest began to stroke her sister's hair. The list of reasons for why a person wouldn't want children was vast, it could literally be anything.
"I don't know. Maybe we scared them."
"They could have at least had the common courtesy to name us." The sister laughed and nodded her head.
"Maybe we should just name ourselves." She continued. The oldest looked down at her sister.
"What do you want to be named?" She asked.
The youngest began to think about it. She turned over so she was looking at her sister.
"I want you to name me." She said.
The sister was shocked, and honored. She never gave a lot of thought to naming someone, let alone her younger sister.
"Skylar is a pretty name…" she said after giving it some thought.
"Skylar… I like it." The girl sat up and looked at her sister.
"Now it's my turn to name you." She said. She looked closely at her sister trying to decipher a name good enough.
"Well-" She began.
"Your protective and nice, you have really good art skills, you suck at sewing, and can be extremely stubborn and heard headed." She said as she listed the things that made up her sister.
"Hey!" She said defensively, she watched as her sister giggled. She playfully pushed her.
"But you're also goofy and fun and enjoy the same things as me." She continued. The girl looked closer, but couldn't find a name good enough for her sister. She huffed and crossed her arms; frustrated.
"This would be easier if I knew something about our heritage." She said with a sigh. The oldest rolled her eyes.
"That's easy." She began as she walked over to where her coat and scarf were hanging.
"We're American. You know land of the brave, home of the free." She said as she slugged her coat on, and wrapped the well-loved scarf around her neck, she traced the stitching of the small panda bear holding a sunflower with her thumb.
"Yeah, I remember. And just where the hell are you going?" The younger said with a hue of sass to her voice.
"The liquor store. Today is a day worth celebrating, and what better way to spend it then with the mother of all alcoholic beverages." She said in an upbeat tone. The youngest smiled excitedly, then remembered that they were broke and didn't have any money. Her smile faded.
"We don't have money." She said disappointed. The oldest twin smiled, and pulled out two wallets.
"Or do we...?"
"You… pit-pocketed them?" The young twin said, amused. The oldest shrugged.
"They pissed me, off." The young twin began laugh.
"You're insane!"
"That's me, baby!" The twin shook her head and reached under the bed for the fake I.D. She tossed it to her sister.
"Be back soon okay. And try not to get arrested while you're at it." She said. She smiled and began to climb out the window with the least amount of snow in front of it.
"Big sister!" she called out. The twin poked her head back through the window.
"Da?"
The young twin smiled at her older sister.
"Happy birthday, aru!" she happily exclaimed. The older sister felt her lips turn up to a smile.
"Happy birthday, little sister." She said good bye and began to walk away. The youngest rushed to the window, remembering to tell her sister something.
"Also, don't get that crap birthday cake Vodka like you did last time! I want the original… unless they have blue raspberry then in that case go all out." She called to her sister. The oldest shook her head as she walked, a smile illuminating her face.
America walked through the little town, smiling. Sometimes he forgot about all small places that made up his great nation. It was nice to just walk through little markets and locally owned shops every once and a while.
It was also nice to be reminded that not only New York City is in New York State. Upstate New York was beautiful in the winter, and since it was so close to the Canadian border he could visit his brother often.
"Let go of me!" a voice cried out. The American shot his head to where the screech came from.
A drunken man was pressing himself against a seemingly young girl. His hands were pulling her dress up, and she was struggling to get out of his grip.
"Come on; don't act like you don't want it." He raised his hands higher up.
"Get off of me you creep!" She yelled as she tried to push him off of her. This was getting too far.
"Hey!" America yelled as ran over to the guy. The drunk turned his head away from the girl irritated.
"Wha-" He was cut off by America's fist, slamming into his nose, sending him straight to the ground. He clutched his nose as blood began gushing out. His nose defiantly was broken.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you to respect women?" America said triumphantly. He looked back to the girl, she was shaking in fear and looked like she was about to cry. America grabbed her and took her in for a hug. She tightly wrapped her arms around him and began to cry.