"Why can't we all be together, mom?" Oliver asked, seated beside his sister, in their car. "We already know about each other's existence."
"Because it's too hard, for us as well as you, to get adjusted to all the changes."
"But we can adjust, right sis?"
Amira shrugged. The reunion had drained her out completely. "Yeah, okay..."
"See, she says yes!" the boy exclaimed.
"But what if either of us don't get along with them? What about all the media attention?"
"So you don't want us to all be together... because otherwise we'll become famous? Now I really want all of us to be together."
"But think of all the problems though. Maybe your dad and I might fight? Maybe since it's been so long, your siblings don't like us? You already know that Amira broke Draco's phone."
"So now you're thinking of all the what-ifs?" Amira grumbled, as she stared out the window. "You should've thought of all this before we all split."
"It was because we couldn't manage the four of you that we split in the first place. We wanted to find other people and be two separate families. It should have-"
"Spare me the history lesson, mom." she hissed. "This was what you told me three weeks straight at the hospital."
"And dad told the rest of us three weeks straight at his place. But couldn't you guys have at least tried?"
Angelina felt a small tear roll down her cheek. "Well," she said, voice laced with a hint of regret. "I guess we were both just too scared."
"Of what?" Oliver asked, genuinely.
"We were scared of all of you, and ourselves. How we were going to manage you guys."
"Should've thought of that before deciding to have four children."
"No offense to either of y'all," Angie started explaining, "but there were only supposed to be two. We didn't know that we would have twins, after Ashlyn. Then, later on, we didn't expect you to be born, Oliver. Please don't take it the wrong way, sweetie, but I wanted to give up on you, but... your dad didn't let me. I didn't have it in me to do so either, later on. That's when all the fighting begun. I came up with my scatterbrained idea, we all split, you were born, and... you know the rest."
Oliver hung his head down. He really did hate being the youngest. His sister smiled reassuringly, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, bro, it's okay. That was all a long time ago. Now, we're all back to normal. Our dad is dead, Ashlyn is only a friend from MUN club, and Draco is merely an annoying classmate, who admittedly, did save my life."
Oliver chuckled. "Those two are siblings, their mom died. You're just a classmate whose phone he broke, and neither of them know me."
"Exactly."
"Where are we going now, mom?" Oliver asked.
"We're going to a special place, honey." Angelina said, trying to sound cheerful. "A place where they can help us forget all the bad things that happened."
"Forget?" Oliver repeated, confused. "But why would we want to forget?"
"Because it's easier that way, sweetie." Angelina said, sadly. "Sometimes, memories can hurt too much. Sometimes, it's better to start over with a clean slate. Your dad and siblings have already reached, and are waiting for us."
"But I don't want to forget you, mom." Oliver said, clutching her hand. "Or Amira. Or Ashlyn. Or Draco. Or dad."
"I know, honey. I know." Angelina said, wiping her eyes. "But trust me, this is for the best. For all of us. We won't forget everything though, only the parts where we all find out we're each other's family."
Amira rolled her eyes. She knew her mom was lying. She knew they were going to a memory clinic, where they would erase their memories of each other and their past. She knew it was a desperate attempt to escape from the mess they had created. She knew it was a cowardly way to run away from their problems.
She hated it.
She hated her mom for suggesting the twisted divorce plan. She hated her dad for agreeing to it. She hated her siblings for accepting it, and moving on. She hated herself for being too young at the time to stop it.
She hated the fact that she was going to lose everything.
She looked out the window and saw the familiar sign of the memory clinic. It was a large, white building with a blue logo that said "Memorix". It claimed to be the leading provider of memory modification services in the world. It boasted of having the latest technology and the most skilled professionals. It promised to make people's lives better by removing their unwanted memories.
It was a lie.
Amira knew that memory modification was not a perfect science. She knew that there were risks and side effects. She knew that some people ended up with memory gaps, personality changes, or even brain damage. She knew that some people regretted their decision and tried to get their memories back, only to find out that it was impossible.
She knew that memory modification was not a solution. It was a mistake.
She decided to make a stand.
She unbuckled her seat belt and opened the car door, as her mother was slowing down to park the car. She jumped out and ran towards the entrance of the memory clinic. She pushed past the security guards and the receptionists. She ignored the shouts and the alarms. She made her way to the main hall, where she saw her dad and her siblings waiting in line. They had arrived earlier, and were waiting for their memory modification.
They looked surprised to see her.
"Amira, what are you doing here?" Ashlyn asked, confused.
"What are you up to!" Draco said, annoyed. "Where are mom and Oliver?"
"Parking lot."
"Look, we have reason to all do thos." Her dad said, worried.
"Guys, listen to me." She said, determined. "We can't do this. We can't erase our memories. We can't forget each other. We can't give up on our family."
"Amira, it's too late." Her dad said, shaking his head. "We've already signed the papers. We've already made our choice. We've already paid the price."
"No, it's not too late." She said, grabbing their hands. "We can still change our minds. We can still walk away. We can still keep our memories."
"Why would we want to do that?" Ashlyn asked, tearing up. "Our memories are nothing but pain and sorrow. I've been keeping the secret from all of you for ages. I have had to spend eight years knowing my mom was alive, yet away from her."
Her mother, who had just parked her car and exited it, went into the waiting, and saw them all there, talking.
"Because we are all here, now. Sure, the whole divorce plan was stupid, but everything that has happened over the past four months or so is a sign. We can't be split up like this."
"She's right, guys..." Oliver said. "I don't want to forget about all of you."
"That's easy to say when you have nothing to lose!" Draco yelled. "You know, I regret calling 911 that day for you, Amira..."
"Guys, don't you all think this is a bit over the top?"
"What is over the top, Angie, is that I agreed to all your twisted schemes. The school election scheme, where you cheated! The marriage scheme, ended in four kids we couldn't control."
"You were the one who proposed, Ashton!!"
"You made me sign a contract later!"
"You're a damn CEO! You should have read the fine print!"
The argument escalated as the adults started to blame each other for their failed marriage, their broken family, and their miserable lives. They shouted, cursed, and insulted each other, oblivious to the stares and whispers of the other people in the waiting room. They ignored the pleas and cries of their children, who tried to calm them down and make them see reason.
Oliver felt helpless and hopeless. He watched as his parents and his siblings tore each other apart with their words. He wished he could do something about it. He took a deep breath.
"Enough!" he shouted. "I don't care what all of you do, but I am not losing my memory. Yes, I have nothing to lose, but what little I have, I don't want to let go. I don't care if we go back to normal, with me living with mom and Amira, or if we all live together, but... I just don't want to lose you."
"Way to go, guys..." Ashlyn muttered. "We messed up big time. Oliver hates us now."
"You know what, I think it is over the top..." Angie replied. "For once, you came up with the crazy plan, Ash."
Ash chuckled. "Yeah... learnt from the best."
"But dad, you said it was an irreversible payment." Ashlyn said.
"Well, it's times like this when you feel doubly lucky to be the CEO of a big tech firm." he replied, with a smirk. "But we are still not all living together."
"But can we switch kids every month or so?" Angie asked.
"If they're okay with it..."
|•|•|•|
A.N.
And, as you can imagine, they were. Every month, Ash dropped his kids off at her place for the next month, and picked up hers. Sometimes, they even mixed things up. Things were never constant, never according to a fixed contract.
But one thing was clear.
All six of them never did stay under the same roof.
|•|•|•|
A.N.
The official end of the Not Your Ordinary Trilogy. I'm gonna be doing a series of one-shots, spinoffs and stuff. Stay tuned!
ns 172.68.244.158da2
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