"Please, Ronald, listen to me and put the gun down. I can explain, son," my mum's face was filled with panic as she pleaded.
"Well, you'd better start talking, Mum!" I yelled. "What kind of family is this? What on earth is happening here?"
My mum signalled to her old lover to sit inside as she stepped out, shut the door behind her, and offered to follow us home, promising to tell us what we wanted to know on the way.
Anna was still in total shock and anxious to go home. Her face was puzzled, struggling to understand reality. How could her mother—whom she thought had been dead for over eleven years—be alive?
"I won't believe it until I see her," she muttered, tears rolling down her cheeks.
I took one hand off the steering wheel to wipe her tears, without taking my eyes off the road for even a second.
"She is, Anna," my mum replied in a low tone. I glanced in the mirror to see her expression as she spoke, which was filled with absolute remorse. She truly seemed sorry for what she had done.
"I'm so sorry, Anna. You might never forgive me for this, but..." She reached her hand from the back seat and placed it on Anna's shoulder. "Your mum never died. Marco and I sent her to the asylum because she was mentally unstable. I personally didn't want you to relate to her in that condition—so we lied to you and told you she was dead."
Anna was silent.
It still felt surreal to her. Today was a day she would never forget for the rest of her life.
"I won't believe anything until I see her," she finally said.
———
I barged into the house like a robber seeking prey. I needed answers to the puzzles before me, just as Anna did, and we headed to the visitors' room where Dad and Shayla were.
I was stunned when my eyes fell on the woman whom I had spent a great time with the night before—Aunty Alice, Anna's mum.
She looked refreshed now and was the spitting image of Anna—an older version of her, apparently.
She still looked identical to my mother; the only difference was their hair colour. However, it was obvious that Aunt Alice had changed her hair colour to match my mum's, clearly attempting to impersonate her.
I couldn't even process my feelings at that moment. Am I relieved that it wasn't my actual mum I had slept with? Am I ashamed of having been intimate with both a mother and a daughter? Or am I, in fact, disgusted because I had slept with someone I believed was dead all those years?
My internal struggle paled in comparison to the rage of the two women before me.
"Alice, how dare you try to replace me on my anniversary night?" My mum ranted.
Alice, still trapped in Anna's embrace, retorted, "Stop acting already! How much more damage will you do to my home?" Tears streamed down her face as she vented her emotions. "How could you? You drugged me, set me up and told the authorities I was mentally unstable. You made them lock me up for over eleven years while you lied to my children and husband, telling them I was you and that I was dead?! You've impersonating me for years, Alice—don't you have any shame?"
What? My brain was spinning.
"Marco! Don't tell me you believe what this psycho is saying!" My mum rushed to my dad, trying to convince him. "I'm Alexa, believe me!"
"Shut up!" my dad yelled, pushing her away.
"Dad? Wait! What's going on? That's your wife! I can tell who my mum is, regardless of their..."
"No, Ronald, you don't understand." Shayla interrupted. "Yes, you can tell who our mother is, but the person we've been calling 'mother' all our lives is not our real mum." She paused for a moment to let that sink in. "Our real mother is Alexa, and that woman," she pointed her finger at our mum, "is Alice!"
"What the hell?! I don't understand!" I snapped.
A part of me completely understood what was happening, but I didn't want to accept it. Why should I accept the fact that the woman I had called 'mum' my entire life was actually my aunt, and she was Anna's mother? And that the woman I had been intimate with was MY REAL MUM?
Am I living in a nightmare?
"To put it simply: Anna's mum is our mother, and our mother is Anna's mum," Shayla explained generously.
My supposedly fake mum's knees buckled, and her face was filled with guilt and remorse. My dad was still awestruck by the unfolding events. Anna, on the other hand, had broken away from her embrace with the real Alexa; she stood still, her pale face full of tears, staring at the woman she believed to be her aunt—now kneeling on the floor, defeated.
"You are going to jail, Alexa. Our parents must be ashamed of you," the real Alice spat as she walked up to my dad, who wrapped her in a tight embrace, patting her head as she lay on his chest.
Goosebumps raced down my skin. That was the woman I had slept with now in my father's arms, and she was supposedly my real mum?
I literally... I literally had sex with the same woman from whom I was born.
I'm a freaking curse. My heart is bleeding right now.
Shortly, I met her gaze with the wrong person—Shayla.
I'm still wondering why this bitch lied to me earlier about our dad being the cheater, and why she stopped me from coming to check this room before leaving the house—She ought to explain.
Meanwhile, How does she even know the things she knows?
While I was still in my puzzled state, Shayla's expression changed from neutral to fierce. The intensity of her gaze said it all to me, she was ready to spill some of my secrets—and nothing in this world could stop her.
I was barely done with my assumption when she confirmed my doubt, saying the words that totally ruined my reality the more.
"SINCE IT'S CONFESSION TIME, HOW ABOUT YOU TELL EVERYONE IN DETAILS THE NUMBER OF ABORTIONS ANNA HAS COMMITTED FOR YOU, RONALD!"
Damn! Shayla has roasted me.