I never meant for this to happen... I never meant for this to happen. If I knew then what I know now. I would've heeded my mother's warning. Now, I must face the consequences that followed my actions, but what's coming other than some bitter truth? What will this do to poor Sean? He's finally got his bearings in this cruel world.

     A knock echoed in the large, near empty room, bringing me out of my thoughts. I sat up on my bed, pulling my knees to my chest, resting my head on the top of them. "Come in." The door opened, revealing my mother. She avoided my eyes before sitting five feet away from me on the vanity's chair.

     It's an awkward silence. At this point I'd rather she yell at me than stay quiet. "Why'd you go through the boxes, Nicole?" She called me Nicole, which was a gut punch. Of course, it's not that I didn't want to listen to her, just the boxes just sit there. "Nicole." The disappointment was audible - hell, it was a less pleasing version of 2000d audios.

     I gazed up from the maroon duvet towards my mother. "They were just sitting there in the closet collecting dust. They've for as long as I can remember, and—and I just went through them." She knew that once I'm on a cleaning binge, nothing was safe, so keeping the boxes in the closet was dumb on her part.

     Mom went to say something, but decided against it, so she pressed her lips together. She looked at me like she was trying to stare into my soul, which was creepy. The only thing that can make this creepier was if she started smiling. I can hear my twin Sean's shower running from across the hall from how quiet we are. It's scary.

     I bit my bottom lip, waiting for some sort of response from her and looked towards the closed door, curious as to if Sean was going to pop his head in. It's a false hope, seeing as his shower is still on, but the thought sounded nice.

     Mom finally looked away from me and towards my vanity, which had a picture taped to the glass from my 12th birthday. We went to Greece and learned about the history. "You now know why. I didn't want you, Sean, or Johnathon in the boxes." One bad habit of mine is never knowing when to shut my mouth.

     I peered up at her, not believing a word she just said about Johnathon not knowing. "Oh, please, you're telling me that jackass is marrying you and doesn't know your dirty secret? I don't believe it." She peered her eyes at me, giving the motherly look that means I'm going to be grounded for a long time.

     She cleared her throat and stood up. She didn't even need to say it. I already knew. My avid cleaning just broke the one thing I've held dearly. The close relationship with my mother, whom I thought I told me everything. But I was wrong. This was all wrong. It should've never happened.

     She ran a hand through her hair with a sigh. "You're grounded, and I expect an apology for Johnathon when he gets home for work. I don't care if he heard it or not, he's you stepfather Nicole, the one person who's given a damn about you other than me. We'll discuss more about your punishment later." Mom said coldly as she waltzes to the door, quickly shutting it behind her, leaving me to my thoughts.

     On top of being called Nicole, she was cold, which was one thing I don't think I've ever experienced with her. It's horrifying, and even I know nothing's going to fix this. I fucked it up and nothing can fix it.