Rosa gets off the bus that brings her from school, walks down the sidewalk to the house where she lives. Her mother is waiting for her at the door, she greets her and goes inside. She throws her backpack on the sofa and sits on the floor with an annoyed face, while she takes off her black shoes and crosses her legs.
"There's a little girl who came to school new and told me she's my twin sister. I tell her she's not my sister, but she keeps nagging me, chasing me wherever I go and won't leave me alone. You have to do something mommy."
Mommy approaches her and sits on the sofa, taking her by the honey-colored hair, she begins to remove the white ponytails she put on her in the morning.
"What is that little girl's name and how old is she?"
"Her name is Eloina and she is the same age as me, ten years old, and she told me she was born on the same day. I don't know how she knew, because I didn't tell her. I'm sure it was Lourdes' gossip!."
"And another question. I want to ask you, that girl looks like you?"
"No mommy! We don't look alike at all. She has black and curly hair and her skin is brown and mine is more or less white. She has green eyes and I have brown eyes. She is tall and I am short."
"Do you know they are twin brothers?"
"I know they are the same as Carlos and Luis my friends in preschool."
"Exactly daughter, they are twins because they are identical, they were born from the same father and mother, she had them in her womb during the whole pregnancy and when they are born it is difficult to differentiate them. So it is not possible that Eloina and you are twin sisters. Maybe she says that because they were born on the same day."
"That's what I told her, but she insists and stares at me and I don't like that."
"Let's do one thing, daughter, tomorrow I'll pick you up at school and talk to your teacher so she'll be aware of it. Now go wash your hands and put on some other clothes because we are going to eat. Your dad should be here soon."
Rosa is calm and in the afternoon after resting she begins to do her homework. The math homework is a little difficult for her and she is doing math when she hears someone helping her with the answer. She erases what she had written and writes down what she hears and goes to show it to her mother for her to review it and she says "It's very good daughter, I congratulate you."
Rosa doesn't know what is happening, but she takes it as something fun. She imagines a very small fairy blowing in her ear the homework she has to hand in tomorrow. "Thank you little fairy for helping me."
The next day at school, during class, Rosa sees Eloina watching her with a smile, as if they were sharing a secret. This makes her uncomfortable and when leaving for recess she approaches her to talk to her.
"I told my mom that you've been bothering me about us being twin sisters, and today she's coming to talk to the teacher. So you better stop bothering me because they are going to call your parents and punish you."
"I don't have parents, my mother died when I was born and I live with my grandmother and my aunt.
Well anyway, they're going to call them."
"You did your math homework, I did it too and I got an A, I like math and so do you."
"I did it too, and I also got an A, although I must admit that I don't like math, but I like to read a lot and I also write very well."
"I also like to read and write."
Rosa's friends call her to play, she tells Eloina that they can be friends, but as long as she doesn't keep telling her that she is her twin sister. So they promise not to talk about it anymore.
Rosa's mother arrives at school, meets with the teacher and explains what is happening between Rosa and Eloina.
"Mrs. Gutierrez, Eloina just moved to this neighborhood and her grandmother was talking to me about the girl. She told me that she was an orphan and that she had grown up with her and her aunt. That she was very quiet but very intelligent and she asked me to please help her adapt to school."
When we leave the classroom, Rosa meets with her mom and doesn't stop talking.
"Mommy! Eloina and I have become friends, she promised me she wouldn't call me twin sister, what do you think?"
"I'm very happy daughter, you have given me good news, let's go to the house and to celebrate in the afternoon we can go to the movies and eat ice cream."
With the days the friendship between Rosa and Eloina grew stronger. They spent many hours together. Rosa would invite her to her house to play. When they were separated they communicated with their minds, helped each other with homework and could read a book at the same time. Sometimes Rosa's mother would hear her laugh or talk alone in the room... but it didn't worry her because her daughter was still the same child as always, her character hadn't changed and she attributed it to her games.
One afternoon while they were playing, Rosa's curiosity was stronger than the promise they had made and she asked Eloina why they could communicate with their minds and why she said she was her twin sister. She told her what she knew.
"My mother was pregnant with twins and before they were born the body of one of the babies died. Your soul and mine came together, but you had to get to the body of another baby that was being born at the same time and it was your mother's, that's why we got separated."
"But how do you know that, I don't remember anything."
"I only know", it was the answer Eloina gave her "And when I saw you at school, I recognized you."
Rosa was doing her homework in her room when suddenly she felt a very strong pain in her stomach, she bent over her body and began to sweat coldly. She got scared and called her mother screaming.
"Daughter, what's wrong, what hurts?"
Rosa points to where it hurts, but tells her that it is not her, that it is Eloina who is sick, that she should call her grandmother to ask her. The mother is astonished and tells her to stay calm, that she is going to take her to the doctor and that she will also call Eloina's grandmother. The grandmother tells her that the girl is going to be operated on for appendicitis, that they are in the hospital and asks her how she knew. Rosa's mother tells her what has happened and says that they are also going to the hospital.
The doctor examined Rosa and told her mother that the girl had nothing, that maybe it was just an unimportant stomach ache. There they waited for Eloina to finish the operation, accompanying the grandmother and the aunt.
The girl came out very well and they took her to the room so that she could recover and wake up from the anesthesia. When she opened her eyes there were her grandmother, her aunt, Rosa's mother and Rosa.
Rosa approaches her and takes her by the hand. "You were right Eloina tells her, but we are not really twin sisters...we are soul mates."
Thanks for reading
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