I finally finished getting myself dressed after Artemis left on her morning run, lying flat on my bed before pushing myself to sit up. I look around our shared bedroom. Artemis’s side is filled with various sports trophies and memorabilia, but not much else besides that. Mine, on the contrary, has posters about various individuals from the academic world and some of a few bands I like.

Upon finishing my glance around the room, I move over the edge of my bed, where my wheelchair is, and carefully transfer into it, getting myself comfortable and situated in my true home. Wheeling myself out of our room is simple, having done it for as long as I can remember, and stairs aren’t an issue as mom and dad moved our bedroom downstairs when they learned I was born like this.

Once in the kitchen, there’s breakfast ready on the counter, but no sign of mom or dad. I make myself a plate of the eggs and pancakes before going over to my spot on the table, beginning to eat once I’m settled and have the wheels locked on my chair.

As I enjoyed my breakfast my attention wandered to the decor of the kitchen, being pretty used to just looking at places if my chair gets stuck or I left my phone in another room and don’t have the energy to go get it. The counters are a nice white marble while the cabinets and appliances are a dark black, giving the room a very monochromatic design.

At about the same time I finish eating breakfast, I watch my parents come downstairs. My father, Ryan, has short and styled brown hair, pale skin, and brown eyes, while my mom, Sasha, has shoulder-length brown hair, a more caramel skin tone, and gray eyes. They smile over at me, but I notice they’re carrying suitcases for travel. That’s gonna go over well.

Before I can even say anything to them about it I hear the front door open, and Artemis’s voice fills the entire house.

"What the fuck!"

There it is.

"Artemis, calm down, it’s not a big deal." Mom says, trying to defuse the situation.

"Not a big deal!? Wrestling tryouts are this week. I can’t miss them again, not after last year. You promised!"

"Wow, those are this week, huh? Perhaps the coach can reschedule them." Dad speaks now, the fakeness of his ignorance extremely clear in his voice.

"No, you didn’t just forget, I’ve reminded you almost every day for the last month to not go on vacation this week. I can’t miss this, I can’t babysit Felicity!"

I finally wheel myself over, revealing my extremely angry twin. We’re nearly identical aside from her keeping her hair loose and her having a much more athletic body than I do, for obvious reasons.

"It’s fine, Artemis, I can take care of myself."

"No you cannot, you’re too fragile and it’s your sister’s responsibility to take care of you. It’s the right thing to do." Mom interjects, always giving this reasoning whenever I try to do something by myself.

I open my mouth to argue back but stop myself; it never works.

Artemis looks at our parents angrily, clearly wanting to chew them out further, before just turning and walking out of the house.

"Artemis, get back here!" Mom yells out, running outside, but based on how she looks around and turns back inside, looking dejected, I have to assume Artemis was out of sight.

"Looks like our vacation is canceled, Ryan. Hopefully we can get some of our money back." She walks past me and dad to go upstairs, stomping along the way.

I watch dad sigh and follow after her, looking upset but at least not as mad as mom is. The front door was left open, so I wheeled over and went to close it, but I quickly yanked my hand back upon feeling the handle. I hold my hand, which burns a bit from a severe chill. Upon looking back at it, I notice the handle is coated in a thin layer of ice. That’s not normal.

I grab it again with my sleeve over my hand, shutting the door. I’ll make a mental note of that for later. But for now, I need to finish getting ready to hang out at the mall with Tae.