I DO NOT OWN THE TWILIGHT SAGA
I chew on my bottom lip as I read the letter over one last time before I seal it into the envelope and send it off to Tabitha. Over the last few days, I've written and rewritten this letter, not knowing exactly what to say. Should I keep it short and simple? Should I make it longer and tell her about myself? After the fifth letter, Archer got tired of me agonizing over it and told me that he'd give me one more piece of paper, and then he hid every paper and napkin so I wouldn't be tempted to rewrite it again. But that's okay. I think I did okay. It reads as follows:
Dear Tabitha,
I've written and rewritten this letter a bunch of times wondering if I was writing down the right words. But then I realized that there are no right words to get across the fact that I'm your twin sister. I have no idea if your parents told you that you have a twin or if you even know you're adopted. If you don't know, then it must be pretty strange to hear through a letter from a stranger. But if you need any proof, I've attached a recent picture of myself along with my friend, Archer, so you know that I didn't just photoshop a picture of you.
And if you have known about me all this time and are wondering why I haven't contacted you until now, I want you to know that it wasn't by choice. My mom—our mom? I don't know—kept you a secret from me for my entire life. I just found out about you a little under a month ago. Both her and my grandma kept you a secret until I found my birth certificate and found that it stated that I was a twin.
I don't know that, when you read this letter, you'll want to see me or even write back to me. I wouldn't blame you if you didn't. I mean, you have a life, parents, maybe even more siblings. You might not feel the need to contact me because your life is full. But I hope you do.
You see…I'm currently five months pregnant. I know how that sounds. I'm only seventeen and yet I'm pregnant. A pregnant teenager, just like our mother. I didn't plan for this, obviously. I'm having a boy. And I've been having a hard time with everything. At first, I thought that I was going to keep him. I wanted him so bad. But now…I'm having second thoughts. I'm not talking to my mom or grandma, and I really need somebody to talk to. I think that maybe if I talk to someone who's been adopted, I'd be able to see things more clearly. That it'd help me decide. And don't get me wrong, I don't just want to meet you for that reason. I genuinely want to get to know you and find out what we have in common.
But if you decide to not write back, I figure that you should know some stuff about your birth family. So, here it goes.
Our grandmother—I call her Nana—Li Zhi Ruo was born in China in 1939. She didn't have the best relationship with her parents and wanted to make a better life for herself. So, in 1958, she moved to Orlando, Florida and changed her name to Andrea Hope Lee. She tried out modeling for a while but found that she didn't really like it. Still, she kept it up to pay her way through college and became a teacher. In 1971 she met our grandfather, Vincent Gonzalez, and they quickly fell in love. They soon found out that they were expecting a baby, but Gramps died in a car accident before mom, Angela Hope Lee, was born in 1973.
Mom was a popular girl in school, the kind of popular you only see in movies or tv shows. And she met our father, Mark, in high school. He's a year older than her, and they started dating when she was a freshman. In her sophomore year, she found out she was pregnant and the whole school, including her "friends" slut shamed her and her and Nana were forced to moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where we were born. After we were born and you were placed for adoption, Mom managed to finish high school. Though she took a few years off after that to work, and she mostly partied and went out with her friends. I feel like I was the adult more than she was in that time. But she eventually went to school and became a nurse and now she's mostly responsible…when she's not hiding one daughter from the other.
As for me, well…I'm a senior in high school. I don't know what I want to do with my life yet, but I'm hoping I'll be able to find that out soon. I currently have four good friends. Archer, Marnie, Jade, and Paul. And I work as a waitress at Paul's mom's café. I'm good at singing, love Harry Potter, and I'm scared of the ocean for some odd reason.
I hope to at least receive a letter from you, as I want to know some stuff about you, too. And even if you choose not to, just know that I'm thinking about you, and that I wish nothing but the best for you.
Love
(Your Sister) Autumn Hope Lee
I feel good about the letter. I don't think I gave too much…at least I think I didn't. I seal the envelope and walk down to the lobby of Archer's apartment. I look at the letter for a long moment. And then I hold my breath as I drop the envelope through the little slot in the mailbox. And at that exact moment, Peanut chooses to kick, and I know that I made the right choice.
A/N: What did you guys think? Please review!
~Gina
