Round Three

Up Close And Personal

Family? Erm... you sure you want to know? Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you...

It started normal enough; twin boys born in wedlock and raised by the same parents who brought us into being... normal if you ignore the fact that Daddy's green and neither of them have a reflection, that is...

That's not my first childhood memory though. My first goes back as far as my nappy years, when a very young man dressed in dark attire came to visit. He was about as old as I am now, with a baby face and black nail paint adorning his fingernails. After he left Daddy was yelling, and then of course I couldn't understand why. When I asked about it when getting ready for my first day at school I was still none the wiser, apart from this “Evan” being the same as my parents – that is, red eyes, sharp teeth and no reflection.

That same day on the bus we met our triplet cousins for the first time, and we got on so well they brought us home for dinner. Nothing unusual there either... apart from their mother being male and them being green! Him living with a man instead of a woman was the least peculiar after everything else so far.

Their Mum's the smaller one with the muscle shirt depicting the image of a wolf... ironic really. After dinner we got ushered outside by his boyfriend, “Danny” as he was known, and the conversation he was having with Daddy on the phone was strange to say the least.
“Hi, Joe? I've got your kids out here and, well, you know what time it is...”
Neither Andy nor myself could figure out what he meant by that... not until Daddy came to pick us up when we heard this howling coming from within the house. It wasn't explained to us until the next day what that noise was, all we knew at the time was that it was scary.

So, vampires for parents, half alien father and cousins, a teen vamp for an Uncle on Daddy's side and a werewolf Uncle on the other... with me so far?

For some reason, despite there being a few green children at school, it was Andy the bullies latched onto. Even at that young age I saw myself as a protector figure, like a guardian or something like that, and that's certainly how Andy saw me. Not only was I helping him out at school, at the end of the day while sat on the bus, he'd wrap his little arms around me and bury his head into my chest. I didn't mind though, far from it, not even when he started crawling into my bed at night – he said the sound of my heartbeat lulled him to sleep. I just enjoyed the warmth and the company – he was my teddy bear if you like.

Not everyone grows out of wanting to cuddle up to something at night, and we were no exception. As we left childhood and entered our teenage years I was already making plans to save for a weights machine, wanting to get as big and strong as Mummy, although by the time our double arrived I discovered that wouldn't be necessary.

Funnily enough it was the same day we both got outed at school, so after that it was a very welcome surprise. In fact that became my outlet very quickly, when I started to harbour mixed feelings towards my brother. It turned out to be the same reason he was relentless in his practise at the piano – that was his outlet, but a lot less hazardous than mine. You can cramp your fingers but you can't tear a ligament in your arm...

We were also using them as a way to keep our minds off what was going on deep inside, but of course that didn't last. However, just like Daddy I have a big heart and a strong mind, not usually a problem but with this it was driving me to despair. My heart didn't care who became my lover, but my mind was screaming at me to not do this, to put an end to it, that this was so wrong. My heart won the battle but my mind won the war... if you can call it that, since that's when I sank into depression. By then we'd been found out and Daddy was in tears; my heart was in pieces and in no condition to fight anymore. Meanwhile my mind made sure to punish me for my wrongdoings, constantly tormenting me with images of that fateful night. My arm was joining in its torture by complaining loudly at the slightest movement, reminding me that my usual release was beyond my reach. By then we were pregnant, but of course we didn't know it, although further down the line it transpired that I was suffering from antenatal depression. Whether I would have felt pushed to self-harm, and even attempted suicide, if I wasn't pregnant is a question I often ponder even now.

It didn't help at the time of course, especially when we tested ourselves. Mummy had always been disgusted with us for what we'd done, but after nearly losing me she became better, at least until then. As I said before, Daddy seemed to take it in his stride. He was there for us when she wasn't, he showed an interest in us when she wouldn't even speak to us, although as time wore on Andy and I started to wonder if he was really as okay as he made out. We got our answer one night when we were sent home from school, after we'd had a talk with the Headmistress about our predicament. School was no more, but as one weight was cast from our shoulders another took its place...

He and Mummy had had a massive row, and another of our Uncles – a gay fledgling vampire called Gino – had been trying to fight his corner. Daddy was far from okay we learnt, he hadn't been for a long time, and Gino had eventually ordered him to offload at his house. However, as he left to answer his mobile he'd left Daddy with his promiscuous lover, and took a moment to explain that they kept an open relationship. Just as well it turned out, because his boyfriend is also a vampire and sensed something in Daddy. Something that led to a passionate encounter, which Mummy had been trying to kick him out for, despite him clearly being in the wrong frame of mind to set out deliberately to do anything like that. Besides, Daddy was always so sure he was straight so why would he sleep with a man? It was clear enough to us that he had no idea about that aspect of himself.

We didn't see anything thankfully, but hearing was bad enough; everything that he'd been keeping so well hidden inside for so long came out that night, and by the time we went inside he was a sobbing wreck on the floor. I'd never seen anything like it and hoped not to ever again, but as if that wasn't bad enough, when Gino explained later what had happened we learnt that he'd also been contemplating suicide. This is despite seeing me slumped on the floor in a pool of blood, finding the old scars on the back of my wrist. Instead of learning from me he'd gone the same way I had, and I know for a fact he wasn't pregnant, so what was his excuse? Why couldn't he have said something? He mentioned wanting to be there for us, but to not give any indication of how he was truly feeling meant he nearly wasn't.

That's blown over now, thank God. Mummy's talking to us now, and even accepted the relationship Andy and I still have, along with all that now comes with it. Daddy on the other hand has been going from bad to worse. With all we've both gone through and with how alike our minds work, we've been talking an awful lot lately. I don't know how he'll be when we have to leave, but one thing I know for sure – he's down for a reason. That night he spent with Gino's boyfriend changed his life in more than one way... the look on Andy's face when I told him mirrored my own sentiments.

So yeah – Daddy's pregnant, we're getting fat now as you can see... and I'm suffering worse than Andy is right now. For some reason I feel so weak, and although I've been sleeping like never before, I look as though I've stayed awake for at least a week.

I've been diagnosed with severe anaemia, and now spend mealtimes swallowing big iron and vitamin C capsules, and chewing my way through plates of beef and green vegetables. It doesn't seem to be helping in the slightest – give it time, they say. Working out is still out of the question, I can't even muster the strength to go on a jog or take a dip in the pool. Instead I spend my days sat reading a book, playing chess with Daddy or one of my sisters, or watching Andy dance to the stereo and wishing I could join him.

We managed to find somewhere to stay at least. Andy's got a job as a piano tuner and it pays pretty well. It's not an overly big house considering how many we're expecting, but it'll keep a roof over our heads, and although we're not moving in until the babies are born, we've been paying frequent visits there to get it ready. We've even gotten help from our parents – with strong creatures such as these that help has been more than welcome, especially given my condition.

Not much, but it's all we can afford for now – with this many kids we need every penny we can scrape together. I gave Andy such a dirty look when he brought in that yellow and green basket, but he just burst out laughing.
“What do you expect with a green Mum?!” was his argument.
I'm just glad I let Daddy do what decorating we could afford to do, I heard how Mummy made our room a bright green for the same reason – Dad instead of Mum of course, but still... No prizes for guessing where Andy gets it from! I just hope this anaemia clears in time, I don't fancy spending the rest of my pregnancy looking like a ghost and feeling like death warmed up.