Yesterday I fell into a freezing cold river. And on the next morning, my blood still felt ice cold. I huddled under my covers trying to warm my body up, but I was still frozen. A small sneeze escaped from my throat and a groan filled the air.

"Alia! You've been sneezing all night! Let me sleep!" Blake complained.

"This is why you don't fall into a river," Charlie said.

"I'm sorry," I whined, "I didn't mean to!"

"You're lucky that you didn't die of hypothermia," Charlie told me.

"You're lucky that you didn't die of hypothermia," I mocked him and a pillow was soon thrown at me.

"Hey! I need my beauty sleep! I'm only nine! I need at LEAST fourteen hours of sleep!" Jack yelled.

"Jack, I don't think that nine year olds need 'more than fourteen hours of sleep'," I said slowly, "How can you even sleep that much? Is that even possible?"

"You're the scientist. You tell me," He said sassily.

By now we were all sitting on top of our beds, the light of the morning sun drifting into the room. I could see little specks of dust dancing on the sunshine and the sky outside was a clear blue. Little puffs of snow-white clouds lined the sky, twirling around and forming their own images, their own story. I was forcefully thrown out of my own little world when Jack launched a fluffy pillow at my head.

"What are you doing? Are you TRYING to decapitate me?!" I exclaimed.

"Happy Birthday Alia!" He sang a smirk crawling onto his face the way a caterpillar crawls up a leaf in the spring.

"And you say this after you throw a pillow at her?" Blake asked him an amused look slowly making its way on his freckled face.

"Yep!" The mischievous nine year old cheered.

I rolled my eyes and whipped a fluffy pillow at my twin. He had no time to dodge and the pillow collided with his face. He glared at me and I gave him an innocent smile.

"Heard Dad's bringing his girlfriend over," Jack said softly, "And she's bringing her daughter,"

"If they get married, you finally get to live with a girl," Blake told me, "I mean, you've been complaining about living with all guys for ages,"

"Ugh, living with ALL guys is SO annoying. I wish there was like another GIRL in the house," They all chorused in a high pitched voice, clearly mocking me.

"I do NOT sound like that!" I exclaimed my voice rising higher with each word.

"Yes you do," Blake teased.

"You are all so annoying," I said crossing my arms angrily.

"You are all so annoying," They mocked me.

I rolled my eyes again and let out a soft sneeze. Laughter rang throughout the small room that we all shared and I looked at my obnoxious brothers.

"What?" I asked irritation clear in my voice.

"Your sneeze, it's like a kitten," Charlie said between laughs.

I sneezed again, sending them into another round of laughter.

"Do it again!" Jack said through laughs sounding much like my twin brother.

I ignored the three and got my things for a shower. After my steaming Hot Shower, I felt great. My body felt all cleansed and I was in a good mood, my sore and tired muscles relaxed and I just felt amazing. Showers just do that for you don't they? But after I got out of she shower, something peculiar happened. The inside of my left wrist started to feel poked and prodded like a needle was digging into it, and when I looked down at it there was a faint outline of something, but it was too faint to tell what. I dressed in sweatpants and a grey t-shirt. After drying my brown hair off, I pulled it into a messy bun. My wrist started to burn with pain, but I ignored it. I stared into the mirror, my reflection staring back at me.

Dark circles pulled from under my eyes, evidence of my sleepless night. My boring brown eyes stared back at me and I wish I could change them. Why did my eyes have to have so much melanin in them? A loud thumping sound pulled me from my thoughts and I turned to the door.

"What?" I yelled irritation clear in my voice.

"Hurry up!" Charlie yelled, "You're taking way too long and they're here! Do girls usually take this long?"

"Piss off Charles!" I yelled back.

"Don't call me Charles!" He yelled, "Natalia!"

"Don't call me Natalia, Charles!" I retorted.

"Don't call me-"

"SHUT UP!" Blake yelled, "Get out of the bathroom Alia, we need to meet the girlfriend Dad keeps going on about,"

I don't want to meet his stupid girlfriend. How could he do this to us, to Mom? How could he just forget about her and move on? He's betraying Mom.

"HURRY UP Alia!" Jack yelled in that innocent little voice of his.

"I'M COMING!" I roared and walked out of the bathroom, my arms crossed.

"Finally," Charlie muttered and I slapped his arm lightly.

"Let's go down and meet Dad's girlfriend," I said in a fake peppy voice.

"Aren't you excited?" Blake asked me a frown planted firmly on his face.

"Yeah, did you not hear the pep in my voice?" I asked him.

"It was fake," Charlie told me, an identical frown on his face.

"Lets just go and meet them," I said a hint of anger in my voice.

They all stared at me for a second, but Blake nodded, "Let's go,"

I followed my brothers downstairs to see a woman with auburn hair that shone in the light. She looked pretty young, and there was something about her that looked familiar. Her hair was pulled into big red curls that rewatched shoulder length, and she had beautiful grey eyes. She was a tall woman didn't get what it was until I saw her.

Aubrey Watkins, my bully.

Wow Dad, great choice! You picked the mother of the kid who has bullied me my entire life! Well, no one knows that she bullies me, but if I tell my Dad he'd tell me to man up. But I'm not a man and I don't think I ever will be.

"Oh hello! You kids must be Charles, Blake, Jackson and Natalia," The mother said.

Aubrey turned around and a look of disgust filled her face, but disappeared so quickly I don't think that anyone saw.

"It's Alia, Blake, Charlie, and Jack," I said coldly.

"Alia!" Blake hissed elbowing me in the side, hard.

I hissed at the sudden pain and glared at my older brother. That might bruise later.

"Of course," She said giving us all a wide smile, "You can call me Mom or Cayla,"

My brothers brightened up immediately we all missed our Mom, and I knew that they all longed for a Mother figure to be back in their lives. To them it didn't matter who, they just wanted a Mom. I just wanted MY Mom. How dare she march into our lives and try to claim the title of our Mother? She's just my Dad's stupid girlfriend. You can't just meet a random woman and call her Mom! A Mom is someone-

"Okay Mom," Jack said sweetly.

Of course....

"I'm Charlie," Charlie told her, "And he's Blake, the little one is Jack,"

"I'm not little!" Jack exclaimed.

"Yeah, he's minuscule," I muttered.

"What does that mean?" Jack asked innocently.

"Nothing," I snapped.

"It means small," Blake said through clenched teeth, "And Alia, you need to BEHAVE, just because it's your birthday doesn't mean that you can act like a six year old,"

"And this is my daughter Aubrey, I believe she's classmates with Alia and Charlie," Cayla said.

"Yeah!" Charlie said grinning at Aubrey, "It'll be nice to have another sister. Are you older or younger than us?"

"How old are you two now?" Aubrey asked sweetly.

"Fifteen," Charlie said.

"That's so cool!" Aubrey gushed, "I'm not fifteen yet, I turn fifteen in a few weeks, on May 27th,"

"Are we going to celebrate it together?" Jack asked.

"Yes we are," Dad told us a broad smile on his face.

May 27th, May 27th, May 27th, that's the day of....

"Dad! I have a Science fair on May 27th!" I exclaimed.

"You can miss it," He said absentmindedly, "It's just a Science Fair,"

"And Aubrey here does Soccer, the season is coming up. So if you would like to go watch her games I can tell you about them," Cayla said smiling at us broadly.

"Dad! It's international! I'm representing the STATE!" I exclaimed.

"There are plenty of people in the state, Aubrey's Birthday is important! It's once a year," He told me sternly.

"EVERY YEAR! She has one every year until she DIES, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity! They won't pick me again if they think that I bail out on things,"

"Bernie, it's fine. Alia doesn't have to go to the little celebration," Cayla said.

"But Mommy, I wanted to spend my 15th with my new sister," Aubrey whinned.

"I'm sure that they would understand," Charlie said uncertainly, "I mean, I'm sure that Aubrey would have some other things to do today, but she came here to celebrate our birthday,"

I stared at my twin, disbelief in my gaze and he shrugged.

"Alia," Dad began.

"Fine, you know what? Why don't you all celebrate Charlie's birthday together! I'm going to go work on my exhibit, because I AM going to that fair, even if I have to walk across the world," I snapped, "But you all have fun, you can play soccer or something? Become a happy family that bonds over sports,"

I turned on my heel and ran up to my room. Anger flushed through me as I thought about Aubry being my sister. No, that can't happen! She's the worst person in the world! She's so mean and rude and-

But I didn't get to finish my thoughts as pain pierced through my skin. On my wrist where I saw a faint marking earlier was red. It felt like fire replaced the blood in my veins and was slowly burning my insides away. A small patch of red bloomed its way the inside of my wrist and the scalding pain worsened. It felt like someone was burning something into my skin.

Do you know the feeling when you accidentally touch a hot fireplace, or the side of a pan on the stove? If you do, it felt like that but worse. It felt like someone was holding a hot piece of metal and holding it onto my skin. A putrid smell filled my nose, like burning flesh and I squeezed my wrist tighter. I think I was trying to squeeze the pain away. But it obviously didn't work.

It felt like my skin was melting. Sweat was dripping down my forehead and my heart raced. I gritted my teeth, refusing to cry out. Refusing to let the pain control me. Tears of agony rolled down my cheek and it felt like nothing I've ever felt before.

The pain was excruciating.

There was a loud rapping sound on the door.

"Alia!" Charlie yelled.

My face was screwed with pain, but the physical pain wasn't as bad as the fact that my brother chose my bully over me.

So I did the only reasonable thing and ran. I grabbed the pocket watch in my right hand, letting go of my burning wrist and sprinted over to the window. With a bout of strength, I forced it open and jumped out. Pain shot through me as I landed, and I heard a shout. Tears of pain blurred my vision, and not only the physical pain. How could my family just throw me away like yesterday's trash? I've been living with them forever. Through thick and thin, I was there. But now that they're a shinier jewel in town, I'm nothing, I'm meaningless.

I ran to the river, rushing through the trees, blinded by anger and pain. When I got to the river I fell to my knees, my entire body shaking with sobs. The pain in my wrist started to ebb away, and through the tears I saw a number. A number that was branded into my skin. The number was charred and burnt, ruby red blood seeping out of my burnt skin.

How did I get burnt?

I had no time to ponder that as my burns started to sting. I pushed my hand under the cool river water and felt instant relief. When I pulled my hand out, the burn was gone, and all that was left was a black number and a word in script writing.

153 Days