“What do you have to say about this?” It was my crush’s mom. She was holding a picture of me as a six year old, wearing a hot pink bikini that looked itchy. I was bending over to pick something up off the ground. My little round belly poked out of the swimsuit. It didn’t match my body shape now, I had lost weight and replaced it with muscle (because of the basketball team forcing me to work out very often). “What about it?” I asked as my face turned pink. That was not the best picture of me.”Your holding a cigarette!” I rolled my eyes. “I was just picking it up off the ground!” I argued. “We both know that’s not what happened. We don’t want you encouraging our son to smoke. Stay away from him.” I looked at her in shock. “What’s the real reason you don’t want me to see your son, huh? Is it because I’m poor? Is it because he doesn’t want to be my friend and asked you to do the dirty work? Or do you just want to be his go-to person for everything? Come on, what is it?” She looked to the ground. “He told me…He likes you, Sylvia. But he’s too young to date, or to love. I already told him I overheard you talking about him behind his back. I realize I made a mistake. I’ll talk to him.” I can’t believe it. He likes me!? And she stopped him? And since when are we too young to date? Half of our middle school is dating someone or another. What does it matter? He likes me. Kohl Sanders likes me! He likes me, he likes me, he likes me…

“What are you doing?”

I can’t imagine for the life of me why Cas’ parents would have been able to access pictures of me from primary school — never mind the ones that were much earlier than that! — but here we were, I suppose.

“You’re not really Ashton, are you?” his dad asked, pointing at the most blatantly ‘Isla’ photo of the lot. A girl with long red hair tied neatly into two plaits, smiling brightly at the camera… and in a horrific pink dress.

I never did work out why Mum ever thought pink would look nice on me. It didn’t. At all.

“Of course I am! People change, don’t they?”

“You realise Cassian is never going to like you, right?”

That… threw me, a little. More than the whole accusation of me being a liar, actually.

Because how the fuck could they know that I even liked boys, never mind my headache-inducing feelings for both Cas and Robin (despite their combined ability to… you know, give me headaches)?

And also the fact that I think they just outed their own kid, who’s never said a word about his own sexuality in the same manner as Robin, without even thinking about it.

I don’t understand.

“What are you doing here?” I asked again. “What do you want?”

“We want you to stay away from our son,” his mum said slowly, with nothing in her voice to tell me it was a lie. “I believe you’re a bad influence on him.”

“I’m the bad influence? I’ve only been in town for two and a half months! How on Earth is a teenage boy being a bit ‘rebellious’ meant to be my fault?”

Because Cas wasn’t anything if not entirely obedient. Because he didn’t argue with anyone, really — unless they were Robin, and those weren’t really arguments.

And he wasn’t ‘rebellious’ because his parents 𝙖𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙙 him.

How on Earth were they able to think I’d done anything to ‘influence him’ when they held every imaginable power over him?

I couldn’t understand it.

My history was being revealed to me, one incriminating picture at a time. I thought I had left it behind me when I moved to this small town, but apparently not.

I was a teacher finally. I couldn’t let these photos get leaked; it would be the end of my career. But what they were asking me to do… it was almost too much. I couldn’t do it, but yet, I had to. I had to keep my past locked away. Or else dire consequences would occur. Consequences worse than losing a job.

Lani swallowed as she looked at the pictures Jasmine had spread out in front of her — all five members of what was once the Allaire family visible within each one. She focused particularly on her own face, which gazed back at her, every time just as unfamiliar to her now.

“Your point?” she asked quietly, staring hard at the most recent of the photos.

“We’ll photocopy all of these, Allaire,” Jasmine hissed, saying Lani’s surname in a horribly mocking tone. “Stick them up all over the school.”

“Show everyone you’re a liar,” Ollie added, menace clear in every syllable.

Blue eyes stared into unblinking grey, light brown hair with its white streaks falling across her face instead of its former, darker, counterpart from the picture.

“In return for what?”

“You stop claiming you’re a better paranormal investigator than we are,” Jasmine shrugged.

“It’s not really an outlandish claim if we both know it’s true,” Lani shrugged. “Besides, I am actually Lani Allaire, so you’d just be slandering me. People change, photos don’t, you know that.”

“What, your hair —“

“Stress.”

“Eye colour?”

Lani didn’t have as good an answer for that one.

“Okay, fine. You got it. You’re better with ghosts and stuff. Just don’t call me when you need help with that demon in your attic.”

She shoved her chair back and stood up, leaving the pair with identical expressions of horror written across their faces.

Josephine had succumb to life’s hurdles more than the average girl did in her home town. Accustomed to settling for bare necessities in life since her younger years; beginning her life as the soul purpose of her mothers determination, to the new home she found at her grandparents after her mothers passing, eventually ending her childhood years with foster parents due to her elders remorsefully being deemed unsuitable to care for her. Settling down with somebody was understandably difficult given her ever-changing lifestyle & when her hopeful prince charming known as Kurt came to rescue her, he too followed the untrustworthy course she felt all too familiar too. He was violent towards her. She knew, reluctantly however, that she needed to find an escape. In an attempt to escape her dangerous situation she got hit with a blessing in disguise when she was caught pregnant with her blossoming baby girl Lilly. Protective instincts lead her to flee to a native city as far from him as she could - becoming a single parent like mother before her.

Times were rough, the child she was bringing up felt destined to failure in Josephines eyes however she was determined to prevent this adverse outcome at all costs. That’s ultimately why she turned to prostitution. She hated it, but nothing else in her power could financially fulfils her daughter’s life to her beliefs.

Unbeknownst to our harrowing heroins knowledge Kurt was fully aware of her endeavours - along with the child who he was partly responsible for. Consumed with vengeful rage he sought out answers as to where his daughter resided.

The dinner table was set; it was a sanguine Sunday evening on Lillys 4th birthday, the sun beamed in through their homely windows gleaming onto the sumptuous dinner table. There was a knock at the door. Josephine approached the front door naively nonchalant, revealing to her dismay that nobody stood there. The door began to close when an envelope was left unchecked atop the fuzzy door mat. Enclosed was a photo, consuming Josephine with the deepest, sincerest regret. Accompanying was a postcode leading to Lilys favourite local park along with a time stamp, being “2:00AM.”

“Why?” Josephine pleased. “Why after all this time, can’t you just leave me be?!” Kurt held his position on the park bench. “Because she’s my daughter.” Kurt began. “I want full custody.” Speechless. Countless outcomes crossed her mind; if she said yes then her precious flower would be succumb to the same turmoil she was victim to during her teenage years, however if she declined then his threats to unwillingly take her joy away could quite possibly be, unavoidable. “Well.” He said. “You wanna do this the easy way or the hard way?” Josephines life was never easy, it never would be. Despite all her countless uncertainties one thing always remained the same - she found a way to make the best of a bad situation. No matter what hurdle came her way, her fortune wasn’t ever in material wealth however in the ability to maintain the best life she could. Defying all odds, her daughter was untainted by Josephines known chaos. She would find a way.

Josephine pronounced herself with her response.

“The hard way.”

The End.

I don’t know what to do. I keep getting random photos from someone that I don’t even know but they claim to know me. They say they love me. They say if I tell anyone all of my secrets will be leaked to the world. Now that is something I definitely do not want to happen.

Hannah got the note. She knew we were serious. If she does exactly what we say, everything will end up fine. She would have nothing to worry about.

They had proof. That’s what the note said. Proof of what? Well since you asked, I’ll tell you but I’m going to have to go back to the end of last year. My sister, Emily, and I were inseparable. In fact, you could say that we were identical in every physical way. Our main difference were our personalities. I was a straight A student and perfect class president. Her, on the other hand, well, not so much. She was kicked out of her boarding school and went to average American public high school. The reason she got kicked out is a whole other story.

Back to the end of last year. I came home from school and I felt completely burned out. I guess Emily felt bad for me, so she offered to let me come to a party that some people from her school were throwing. After about twenty minutes of her pestering, I gave in. She helped me get ready and let me borrow some of her clothes. In return, she had to borrow some of mine.

When we got to the party, everyone thought she was me and I was her. She told me to go with it. We spilt off after that and I finally got to have an actual high school experience. I was so thankful for Emily.

A few weeks after the party, I asked Emily for a favor, “Will you switch places with me next year?”

“I’ll need to think about it,” She told me. However, after twenty minutes of my pestering, she caved and asked “What’s your plan?”

And so, we switched. That brings us to now. Whoever wrote the note said they had proof. They never said proof of what and they addressed it to me, not Emily. So they don’t know we switched places. What do they have proof of? I guess that’s what we get to find out this year.

*This is another perspective of my first version of Counterpart.

A thousand words and a thousand more, none of them explained who what when where and why. Those things only I knew . Or so I thought. I’ve only kept two. Forbidden. But its safe hidden and so far away it’s as if they never existed. At least that’s what I thought. It’s summer there and the flowers flow in the gentle breeze her hair so long past her butt dark with soft curls and she’s smiling up at a sunflower. And the sun it’s as if it shines just for her. Small hands graze the tall grass . It’s picture perfect. She’s picture perfect. And this one where I was doing the same exact thing. My hair the same our dresses the same. My beautiful daughter, one I had to leave to give her a life that wouldn’t be cut short. Pictures. My only pictures of me and my daughter and this… this man thought to threaten her, does he know the lengths I’d go to protect her. Does he know who and what I am. What I’m capable of. Why I’m here and not with her. Did he value is life so little.

“What’s this ?” I asked calm and slid the pictures back to him. Across the table of a diner in the middle of nowhere. here where I had a job to do.

“Don’t act dumb Rhyel “ he said as he slid a Manila envelope to me . He knew my human name. He pocketed my photos. he’ll lose fingers for that alone. I smirked .

“You have me at a disadvantage you know me and I don’t believe I know you.” He ignored my backhanded request for his name although his name meant little to me.

“In there is what you’re really here to do if not your daughter well her pretty blue eyes dull indefinitely. “ my breath caught, not in fear because fear didn’t help me here. But because the audacity of this man. I’ve killed for less but now; now I had to do it slowly and get as many answers about who knew of my little girl. I knew she was safe and unharmed because the world didn’t shake with her fear and her cries didn’t flood a country my daughter a child of a god and Atlantian had gifts this world has yet to see.

“Well if you think that’s true, than I feel sorry for you.” The guy laughed and I smiled with him. “You don’t really know what I am do you? Not who but what !

“I know you’re going to do what’s in the folder or your little girl is dead.”

“ twice you’ve mentioned killing my daughter, you somehow know the assassin part of me but did they tell you about all of me? how I can hold time in my hand and shred you to pieces, how with just a thought I can blow you into tiny microscopic pieces like you’ve never existed. How I can shift you onto another plain and watch you suffocate. I will end you, you little shit . The diner shuddered with my rising voice. Fear yes that’s what I like to see. I pushed the envelope back to him. Besides your brother already dead.

(In this concept, the kingdom will be placed in a modern concept to go with the idea)

The night was slowly coming to an end as the warm, vibrant colours began to emerge from the abyss that laid on across the countryside. Small creatures awakening from their peaceful slumber as villagers began walking to the local market in hopes on selling their own, homemade food or items in hopes of shillings or copper that will help them prepare for the up coming winter.

All said, everything was cheery. So cheery that no one could ever imagine someone being sad on the wonderful day. Right?

Wrong.

They do not realise or even know what their future king is dealing with. Nor the fact that the consequences of becoming king to a small yet bright and wonderful kingdom will lay between their love for a commoner and the kingdom themselves. Nor realise that their future king may have a dark side that no one has seen - well except for the friends they have or their lover.

But the realisation on keeping that secret is coming back to haunt them again.

They received a anomalous letter, regarding that the future king is understanding the terms that may happen if he does not comply on the request that they have; which is to give a large sum of money to them or else his secret would be revealed to not only the kingdom or royal courts but the entire world as well. Or, their lovers head on the stairs of the castle. Maybe both.

This left the future king to wonder who and why they want to threaten him. What cause that maybe made them go against their future king - wanting to blackmail him for something that may have not been his fault. Let alone threatening their lovers life with that. That’s a pretty low yet dangerous move on the future kings consciousness.

He spent most of the previous night up, reading the letter and wondering if he should tell his closest friends; tell them that someone is.. what? Threatening to tell everyone his secret and kill his lover at once? Just for money in the end?

Will he be able to save his lover and the kingdoms loyalty by giving money?

Or will it be the opposite?

Who knows…

This had become a normal occurrence. She would disagree with one of his proposals and he would wave that stupid photo in her face with a threatening smirk. It was always the same thing; something that had gone on way too long. He knew he could control her with that one simple photograph, it had been working for years. What he did not know, however, is that she was getting tired of it. Each time the photo was shoved in her nose it wore her down more and more and her composure was cracking. And this time she could not care less about his devilish smirk and the contents of the photo. She could not care less about her destroyed reputation that she had to uphold and the consequences. She was done. So his smirk and sharp eyes were met with a sickly sweet smile and an erect middle finger. As she turned on her heels and walked away. She walked out on her days as a slave to her own past mistakes and onto a new existence with peace of mind.