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She was in the living room watching television. Even though her eyes were glued to the screen, she looked bored out of her mind. When her gaze shifted to me, she smiled.
"Sweetheart! I have wonderful news for you," she cheered, rising from the cream lounge chair and walking over to the table, picking up a letter.
I scrunched up my face at the gold envelope with black trim and the bright red seal with a magic circle on top of it.
"Mom, what is that?" I questioned.
"Just open it!" she stressed, handing it over to me. I reached out and accepted it, flipping it over to see the multicolored Brighten Academy symbol on the front. I remembered the letter design from when I was younger and Gabriel received his magic reports in them. I always loved the symbol simply because of its appearance that reminded me of a rainbow.
"Why are we getting letters from Brighten?" I wondered, opening it up with a hint of magic.
The seal released, allowing me to lift the top of the envelope and pull out the contents inside.
The letter was addressed to a Jinn J. Starfire.
I frowned at the name, wondering who this Jinn was and why hadn't I heard of this family member before.
This must be some type of prank.
I continued to scan the letter, and as I reached the final paragraph, my eyes grew wide and my jaw went slack. Alice inched over, resting her head on my shoulder to reach for the letter.
I could sense her calm confusion and her impatience, then she gasped, pulling the letter out of my hand to stare intently at the last paragraph like it was in another language none of us could translate.
"Why is my name here?! Wait, no. My name is Alice, Mom. Not Ali. That could be a guy’s name!' Alice whined.
I turned to face her.
"Mom, who's Jinn J. Starfire? I know Gabriel liked the name Jinn and asked if he could change his name when he became a mage warrior but . . . he didn't. So what's with this letter saying these people were accepted into Brighten Magic Academy?" I whined.
"CONGRATULATIONS!" she cheered, raising her arms.
Alice and I stared at her like she'd lost her mind.
"What are we celebrating, Mom?! Is this letter from the future?" Alice asked.
"Oh, silly Alice. Its Gabriel's acceptance into Brighten Magic Academy,” she hummed, clapping her hands together.
My jaw dropped, and I needed a minute to process what she just said.
"Gabriel’s acceptance?" I repeated.
She smirked, nodding proudly.
“I've been so worried about you since you haven't chosen the school you wanted to go to. Even with nine acceptances, the letters have just been sitting on the table collecting dust,” she grumbled, pointing to the pile of folders and envelopes I'd received from every university and college I applied to.
"I decided you must have been delaying because you wanted to look into a magic school. So, I pulled some strings and got you into Brighten! You remember Ms. Landsford, right? She still teaches the majority of the classes you'll have to attend, so I'm not worried at all. She said Jinn would be a better name than your given name and Ali would be better for Alice. Isn't this wonderful?!"
I stared at her happy expression, the joy that twinkled in her eyes from thinking I was her son and not her daughter.
I always tried to ignore how angry I got when she forgot who I was, blaming the disease and not my mother who truly loved me somewhere inside.
But this had gone too far.
She didn't hear the quiet whispers and torment people gave me over her confusing me with Gabriel frequently, or the embarrassment it brought me for years and the reason why that aside from Logan, I never brought any friends over.
I was the girl who knew everything but was without a pack of her own because her mother suffered from an illness that was frowned upon in our little community, so people didn’t give us support.
If I didn't keep an eye on her, and without Logan's family, everyone would turn a blind eye to her, calling her crazy and waiting til she withered away.
