"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm Amelia. Your new roommate," the bubbly girl dressed in a bright orange dress with sunflowers at the waist and a big yellow bow resting on the side of her dark brown hair, waves at me from her place behind the desk at the housing office.

"I..uhh," I stutter trying to find my words.

"Ms. Reed informed me you would be here around this time. Skylar Lodge?" She asks, as she picks up some documents on the desk.

"Yes," I replied.

"Ms. Reed is currently unwell and asked me to help you get settled in. Follow me," she says, picking up one of my bags to help me carry.

"This is the administration building. Holds all the offices. Need a lecturer? You will find them here. Problem with your placements or information? This is the place to come. It will be sorted in a giffy," she says as we make our way out of the building.

"Darington University College has many schools, Engineering school is that way," she continued talking about the school pointing in the direction to find what she was talking about as I struggled to pull my suitcase behind me, cursing at the uneven ground.

"Since you are in the school of arts, you have your own dorm building, but we do not have students changing schools in the middle of the semester thus no room is available for you in the arts dorm. But fear not, the student government has its own housing and you shall stay there till next semester to get a room in the arts dorm," she continues with her monotone as she climbs up the stairs of what I assume to be student council official housing.

When we get to the last door of the hallway she pushes the door open and places my bag on the other bed that is unoccupied. I move to the bed and drop on it making it produce a squeaky sound.

God, I already miss my bed.

"The bathroom is down the hallway. The keys to the house are not ready but when they will be I will get them to you. Feel free to ask me for help at any time," she smiles, picking up my phone, typing something, then handing it back.

Looking at my phone, she had saved her number.

"I have a class right now. Talk later," she says before skipping out of the room and shutting the door behind her.

The room isn't that big but big enough to hold two beds and two closets. Her side of the room is bright with shades of pink and purple, just like her personality - bright. I don't think I have ever met anyone who talks as much as she does. I like it. It's nice.

Choosing not to unpack, I grab my laptop and get to typing.

To:Griffincaleb@gmail.com

From:Skylarlodge@gmail.com

Re:Therapy

It was a hot summer Monday afternoon, my fan decided that today of all days would be the day it broke down. Trying to fix the horrific contraption, I think I made it worse. Huffing a breath and grabbing my phone to call Erik my brother, it goes directly to voicemail.

I sit there in the heat gathering my courage to go into the house and ask Erik for help.

"What are you scared of? They are your family. They don't bite,"I tell myself.

After five minutes of self encouragement I made my way to the main house using the back door.

On entry, I find my family except my mother seated in the living room having a heated discussion about pandas.

I stand still enjoying the cool air hitting me chasing away the heat as I listen to them throw facts about pandas about.

"Pandas are disgusting creatures who carry about a horrible smell like a second skin and that is why they live alone," Carrie, the youngest of whom I follow , says.

"Not entirely true but panda cubs are known to eat their mother's feces,"I added to the discussion.

They all turn to me.

"No one asked for your input. This is a family discussion," Carrie snaps at me.

They turn to Carrie shocked, then to me with sympathetic looks.

Am confused. I know they don't like me, they have made it abundantly clear on more than one occasion but saying am not family? They have never.

No one speaks, nobody tells Carrie that even though we don't get along we are still sisters, they are just staring at me.

I slowly turn to dad to ask what Carrie means when he says," Just go play Skylar," he waves me away and they dive back into their discussions.

Play? Play what? Am a twenty year old adult and I don't play anymore.

Nobody pays me any more attention except for Carrie who bellows," what are you waiting for?"

I turn back and head out through the backdoor into the scorching heat.

Am still so confused as to why she would say that. We have had so many arguments before but she has never for once said I am not family. Am hurt. Looking back at the door I know none of them will tell me anything.

Quickly grabbing my phone from my shorts I track mum using the homing signal and race to where she is, four blocks away.

Knocking on the door, a familiar face opens the door. For a second my brain stops running wondering why she looked so familiar. Like cold water thrown to my face to wake me up,I realized why she looks so familiar. She looks almost exactly like me. Save for her pale grey eyes and a foot taller than me, it felt like staring straight at me through the mirror.

Not too long after,"who's at the door?" I hear my mother's voice before I see her.

Now I have the same pair of eyes looking back at me, all spotting the same look: shocked. I know I am probably wearing the same look just mine filled with more questions than theirs.

"What the-," I utter only for another person to show up and throw me into an ever bigger whirlwind of questions.

Behind my mother stands a six foot one tall, blonde male. Blue set of eyes that mirror mine, except mine look more of an ocean blue. He moves past my mother and the female in front of them closer to me.

I take a step back, away from his touch only to notice on the wall opposite the door a framed picture of my mother and this man, each holding two small wrapped babies at the entrance of the hospital.

Following my line of sight, he sees the frame and steps closer to me. I take another step back, almost falling from the porch.

My mind is racing at a million miles per second trying to make sense of what I am seeing, what I heard.

I can see the man's lips moving but I hear nothing. The only thing I hear is my heart beating so fast and my ears ringing so loud.

Taking more steps back, I quickly turn and run away, the man hot on my tail yelling my name. I increased my speed liking the sting that I felt in my heart at the exertion. I stop hearing the calls but I still don't stop running.

This has got to be a lie. It can't be. Why would they do that? How long has everyone known and kept it hidden? How many times have I yearned to feel like part of the family that I didn't even belong to?

My legs finally give up on me and I skid to the ground stopping just barely at the edge of a cliff. How Ironic,I found peace every time I came to this cliff, of course it would be the place I found myself when I felt like a hurricane. Wrecking everything on the way looking and craving for stillness, a calmness that the trees at the bottom of the cliff had despite the raging rain falling down in torrents.

Letting everything I ever had buried to the surface,I let out a long scream and cried myself dry.