The Twin Girl They Rejected

"Drink and smile."

I stared at the little note beside the cup, unable to understand why someone had left it for me.

The hot chocolate was still warm. I looked around the abandoned tenth floor, but there was nobody there. The old lecture rooms were empty, and the corridor outside was silent.

Then my phone buzzed. An unknown number.

"Hope you enjoy your favourite drink. Don't worry, this isn't a prank. Go home safely."

I read the message twice.

My fingers tightened around the phone. Who knew this was my favourite drink? And more importantly, who knew I was here? I had come to this floor because I needed somewhere to hide. I always needed somewhere to hide. But today was different. Today, I wasn't hiding from students. I was hiding from my family.

Only a few hours earlier, I had believed I already knew how little my parents cared about me. I had been wrong. That morning, I woke with a terrible headache.

There were no lectures because two classes had been cancelled, and I had planned to spend part of the day working at the café where I had a part-time job.

Instead, I remained in bed. After several hours of sleep, I woke at about three in the afternoon. There was a football match that day.

A visiting university team had come to our campus for a friendly game. Normally, I would never miss it.

Watching Jake McMiller play was one of the few things that could make me forget my life for a while.

So I washed, dressed in my usual clothes and picked up my bag. I had barely reached the living room when I saw my mother sitting on the sofa.

She was crying. My father was beside her, holding her hand. Both of them should have been at work.

I stopped. My mother wasn't someone who cried easily.

"Mom, what happened?"

She looked at me. Something in her face made my stomach turn. My father tried to stop her when she rose from the sofa.

He wasn't quick enough. She came towards me and started striking me. I had no idea what I had done.

"Mom, please. What did I do?"

I apologised even though I didn't know what I was apologising for. Then her hands went around my throat. I struggled for air.

"Do you want to know what you did?" she screamed. "You were born."

For a moment, I couldn't understand her. Then she said the words that would stay inside my mind forever.

She said she should have killed me before I was born. My entire body went numb. Not because I was being strangled. Because I had just heard my own mother say she wished I had never existed.

"Lisa, let her go!" Dad shouted.

She refused. She told him she wanted me dead. She said the only reason she had never done it was because she was afraid something might happen to Shane.

Then she said something even worse. They could have given me away after I was born. They had considered sending me to an orphanage. But they had chosen to keep Shane.

My twin brother.

The boy who had always been more important to them. The boy they had chosen before either of us had even been born. My father eventually pulled my mother away. I dropped to the floor, coughing and struggling to breathe.

My mother continued screaming. She wanted to get back to me. She kept calling me names. I tried to stand. My legs refused to cooperate. I reached for the table and pushed myself up, only to fall again. All I wanted was to escape.

Eventually, I managed to get back on my feet. I grabbed my backpack and ran. I didn't look behind me. I couldn't. I had already heard enough. More than enough. I don't remember how I reached the university.

By the time I arrived, it was around half past four. The football match had already started. Normally, I would have hurried towards the field. Not that day.

I walked into the faculty building and took the lift to the tenth floor. Almost nobody went there. There were a few old lecture rooms, but most of the floor was used for storage.

For me, it had become a hiding place. A place where nobody searched for me. A place where I could cry without someone asking questions.

The moment I entered my little corner, everything I had been holding inside broke apart. I cried until my head hurt. My mother's words kept returning. They had wanted to kill me before I was even born.

They had discovered they were having twins and decided that only one child should remain. They had chosen Shane. They hadn't even known whether the second baby was a boy or a girl. They had simply decided that I was the one they didn't want.

Why?

What had I done?

How could I have deserved that before I had even opened my eyes? I already knew my parents preferred Shane.

I already knew they didn't love me. But knowing they had once planned to give me away was different. It destroyed the last little piece of hope I had been carrying. I had spent years telling myself that perhaps they would eventually accept me.

Perhaps one day they would look at me and see their daughter. Perhaps one day I would matter. Now I knew better. I had never been wanted. And suddenly, I felt more alone than I ever had before.

Where could I go?

Could I return home and pretend I hadn't heard anything? How could I look at my parents again? But if I didn't go back, where else could I stay?

I had no money for a proper place. No close friend I could turn to. No family member waiting to take me in. So I remained there, crying and thinking about what I was supposed to do.

I don't know when exhaustion finally took over. When I opened my eyes again, the room was completely dark. I reached for my phone.

Nine o'clock.

I slowly sat up and gathered my bag. That was when I noticed something on the table.

A cup.

I switched on my phone's torch and saw that it was hot chocolate. Still warm. I stared at it.

Who had brought this? I looked around the room. Nobody. There was a small note beside it.

"Drink and smile."

I nearly laughed.

Was someone trying to play another stupid prank on me? People at university had done things like that before.

They would pretend to be kind, only to humiliate me later. I didn't trust surprises anymore. Then my phone vibrated. Another message from the unknown number.

"Hope you enjoy your favourite drink. Don't worry, this isn't a prank. Go home safely."

I stared at the screen. How did this person know? Hot chocolate was my favourite. I had never told many people that.

Could this still be a prank? I picked up the cup and smelled it. The familiar sweet smell reached me, and I suddenly realised I hadn't eaten anything since morning.

I took a small sip. It was delicious. For the first time that day, something felt good. I looked at the message again.

"Who are you?"

I typed my reply.

"Thank you for the drink. It was really nice. But who are you?"

I carried the half-empty cup with me as I headed towards the lift. There was still no answer. When I finally left the university, I had no idea what I was going to do.

Part of me wanted to disappear. Another part knew I had nowhere else to go. I could sleep at a bus stop.

Maybe a station. Maybe somewhere on campus. But eventually, my feet carried me towards the bus. And before I knew it, I was going home.

When I opened the front door, my parents and Shane were sitting together, watching television. Nobody asked why I had been gone so long.

My mother only looked at me and shouted about dinner. They had ordered food because I hadn't prepared anything.

She called me useless and continued complaining. I said nothing. I walked straight to my room.

After washing, I sat at my little table. Sleep wouldn't come. My mind kept returning to the same words.

'I should have killed you.'

I closed my eyes.

Then my phone vibrated. Another message. My heart began beating faster as I picked it up. The unknown number had replied.

"You will know who I am when the time is right. Until then, call me whatever you want. Good night, Princess."

Princess.

I stared at that one word. Nobody had ever called me that. Not my parents. Not Shane. Not anyone. I knew it was only a word from a stranger.

It shouldn't have mattered.

But after everything I had heard that day, after spending years feeling unwanted and invisible, that tiny act of kindness reached a part of me I thought had gone empty long ago. My eyes filled with tears.

For the first time in my life, someone had made me feel special. And I didn't even know who they were.