I don't remember it perfectly but there are some things about that night I will never forget. I know I was six years old. Me and Henry were each in our beds. I had new sheets, blue of course. It was really cold. Despite it being bedtime I was not tired at all.

I asked my mom to tell us a story. She began talking about a kingdom. A land filled with magic. There was an evil woman who used her magic to trap her daughter in the castle. There was a princess who loved riding horses. But that wasn't what stuck with me. It was the hero that stood out.

She talked about a hero named Daniel. A peasant boy who rode his horse to the castle and saved the princess. Daniel was a hero.

I wanted to be just like Daniel.

—

Only two days later comes a moment my mind won't let me forget.

"Mom guess what?" I yell at her while she is making breakfast.

Startled, she replies "Sweetheart, no yelling inside," before turning back to the toaster.

I remember trying hard not to yell, being too excited to hold it in, before finally shouting, "I'm a boy!"

The silence didn't worry me. I was too young to be afraid, too naive about what that meant.

She gives a quick chuck and sighs, "No Sophie, you are a girl."

"No, I'm a boy!"

Without a pause she replies, "I know you like to be just like Henry but you are a girl. Just because you two like to play pirates and you wear some of his clothes, it doesn't make you a boy."

My naïve confidence drained, I quietly asked "But what if I want to be a boy?"

Finally turning around to look at me she tells me that I will always be a girl. She continues and says other things but I don't remember. Even back then I don't know if I registered anything beyond the words "always be a girl".

At six years old I learned how the word worked. I learned my place in it. So from that day on I made rules. Inside my sparkly first grade notebook I wrote down the rules for my life.

Be a girl and act like it

Keep my hair long

Wear dresses

Never tell anyone again

I never broke a rule, I was the perfect girl, the perfect daughter.

Until I was ten.

—

"Daniel please come with me," Henry begs at seven o'clock in the morning. It was far too early to be awake, much less planning to skip school.

Not joking in the slightest, I answer, "Mom will murder us." Only my brother would want to skip school right after he ran away. At least he got some sleep in before he ran away again.

"You can skip by yourself if you want but I'm not coming," I say indignantly, not leaving it up for debate.

Henry, with a hint of hesitation in his expression, "I… I want to find out more about Mom. Our birth mom."

I can't help but blink at him, the sleepiness temporarily pushed aside by the unexpected declaration. "What?"

"Yeah," he continues, more confident now. "I mean, we've found her, but we know nothing about her. I want to learn about her, about us."

Internally I debated. One one hand, skipping school isn't allowed. Skipping would be breaking my "don't be late" rule and my "attend everything you are supposed to" rule, not to mention all of my moms rules. But on the other hand, Henry's begging face makes me want to bend the rules.

Yeah just Henry's face. That's all. No part of me wants to know about Emma. None.

Reluctantly I reply, "Fine, but we should split up so we can find the most information."

"You have a plan to find stuff out?" Henry ask excited but clearing confused about me not only being on board but also forming a plan.

"I have an idea of who I can talk to. Don't worry about me though. As for you, you should go hang out at your castle. I have a feeling Mom is going to have Emma help looking for us. And mom doesn't know about your castle."

"So go to the castle and hope Emma comes to find me? That's way better than school!"

I have a feeling that is going to be a long shot but I feel pretty confident about my source of information.

—

A bell rings as I open the door

"Shouldn't you be at school dearie?" Mr. Gold asks while cleaning an object behind the counter. Despite the question he looks like he was expecting me.

Walking up to him, my eyes drifted to the various clutter around the shop. Quickly answering his question I reply, "Unimportant. I have a question for you."

He has an amused look on his face. I have a feeling I am one of the only people in the world that's seen that look. It feels like his mask slips off when it is just me and him.

"Ask way. Must be important if you were willing to miss your education for it."

Testing the waters, I ask, "What do you know about Emma Swan?"

Gold continues to polish the object. Someone else might think he doesn't care or that he isn't listening but I know better. Sligly, he responds, "Why would I know anything about a lady who has only been in town for one day?"

Laughing out loud I respond, "Don't play dumb with me you know everything about everyone. There is no way mom adopted us without you knowing something about it." The idea that gold doesn't know something is silly, laughable.

"Sounds like you're after some knowledge that I might have. But it will cost you." Gold responds, playing the act of the mysterious shop keeper.

"Dusting after school for a week," I quickly offer up.

I help Gold out in the shop a lot. Sometimes he pays me, sometimes it's in exchange for a favor. Mom hates it. The first time I brought it up with her about two years ago her response was "absolutely not". After I gave a great speech about how character building it would be to volunteer at a small business and how it will improve my character and future, she caved. I help Gold out a lot now.

Gold ponders than replies, "It's a deal. So what do you know?"

"Anything about my mom, about us," I say, referring to me and my brother.

Looking up from behind the counter Gold begins, "About ten years ago your mother came to me with a request. You could say that I helped her fulfill it."

"So you were behind the adoption?"

Pausing slightly, a bit annoyed at being cut off, he continues, "Yes I procerred you and your brother. Healthy twins born to Emma Swan."

Great. Gold was using his storytelling voice. The one where he takes forever to get to the actual answer.

"I know all this."

As if he is teaching me a lesson he says, "Patience. I'm getting there. A was researching, gathering information if you will, when I came across Emma Swan. A young mother in prison. Broke, who just wanted a good home for her future offspring."

Emma was young when she had us. Apparently also in prison.

"What was she in prison for?" I ask, a bit afraid.

"Theft. Stolen watches to be presis," Gold replies.

Ahh so not anything too bad. Before I can stop myself, I ask him the question that is most on my mind.

"Do you know who are father is?"

With a mysterious expression, he answers, "There was no name on the birth certificate."

I look at him. Trying to see if that was his way of getting out of the question. After debating, I don't think he knows the answer. Gold doesn't like to admit when he doesn't know something.

"Well I'll see tomorrow after school," Gold says, effectively ending the questioning.

I nod then head out.

—

It was quiet here.

I think that's what I like most about it. That or the murky pond.

The toll bridge. It's where I go when I want to think. When I want to be alone.

Henry has his castle. I have my bridge. But unlike him, nobody knows I go here. I can just disappear.

In the safety of the woods. In the calm of the silence, I begin to think about the information gold gave me.

Emma was young when she had us. With how young she looks, I would bet she wasn't even an adult yet.

We were born in prison. Wow, something to make my birth even more depressing. Not only did the doctors get my gender wrong, it also happened in a prison cell. What a dreary start to life.

I wonder what my life would be like if she hadn't given us up. Emma is supportive. In that life I could be a boy.

—

Finally home, I start up the stairs, trying to keep my footsteps quiet.

Out of nowhere a sharp voice.

"Where have you been?", Mom says in the voice. The voice that is quiet but is scary then if she screamed.

I shrug.

Correctly knowing that I'm not going to answer she says, "Well you and your brother are in big trouble."

Me and Henry are forced to sit on the couch and listen to my mom lecture us. We sit through the talk silently. It feels like it lasts hours. Maybe it did.

Eventually we are allowed to go upstairs. The moment our room door closes, Henry immediately asks, "what did you figure out?".

Lying, I tell him, "Nothing. You?"

Henry tells me about how Emma found him at his castle. How they had talked. He told me that he had asked her to stay for a week. One thing he told me stood out though.

He said, "She said that she gave us up to give us our best chance."

Based on everything Gold told me, it was the right call. We have a really good chance here. If it wasn't for me being… me and Henry being… imaginative, this would be the perfect childhood, setting us up for the perfect life.

I think about this as a lay down for bed. I expect Henry to follow me but he stays by the window.

I want to ask him what he is doing but I don't. He looks deep in thought. No that's not it, he looks like he is waiting.

Waiting for a sign.