Fiona's Revenge

“Fiona, you’re too fast! I don’t want to run anymore!" I laughed at her and ran even faster. “Catch me if you can, Aviona!” I shouted while still running. “I said I don’t want to anymore, so stop running already!” she shouted back, but instead of stopping like she told me to, I kept running and running. We were at the park—my twin sister, Aviona, and I—together with our nanny, Yaya Terry. She was currently buying the ice cream we both asked for. She was taking forever, and we were already craving the sweet treat again. While still running, I looked back to check if Aviona was chasing me. When I saw that she had completely stopped, I decided I should stop too—but before I could, I accidentally bumped into someone. “Ouch!” we both cried out at the same time, now sitting on the pavement. I heard Aviona calling my name from a distance, but I couldn’t turn around. My hands were scraped and bleeding, and tears immediately started rolling down my cheeks. “B-blood…” I whimpered in fear, trembling as I cried harder. When I looked up, I saw the boy I had bumped into kneel in front of me. His face showed both worry and panic as he gently took my bleeding hands. “I–I’m so sorry,” he stammered, apologizing as he carefully blew on my wounds. I wanted to tell him not to apologize—that it was my fault, really. I was the one who wasn’t looking where I was running. I should’ve been the one to say sorry, especially since he had also fallen. I didn’t need to check to know he must’ve scraped himself too. I wanted to apologize, but I couldn’t. I was crying too much. It’s not that I’m scared of blood itself—it’s just that when it’s my blood, I get terrified. I always feel like I’m going to run out of it completely. That’s why my parents, our nanny, and even my twin are always so careful with me. Whenever I get hurt, they all panic because it’s so hard to calm me down. I was startled when the boy suddenly got pushed away from me, falling back onto the pavement again. Aviona had shoved him. “It’s okay, I’m here now, twin. Don’t cry anymore,” Aviona said softly as she took my hands in hers. “My blood… I’m scared, Aviona,” I cried to her helplessly. Using her blue dress, she wiped the blood off my hands. Some had already dried and wouldn’t come off anymore, but somehow, I started to calm down because of her. “Shhh,” she whispered, then used her hands to wipe the tears off my cheeks. “I’m sorry,” the boy behind her spoke again, reminding me that he was still there. I had almost forgotten about him. Aviona turned around sharply, glaring at him. From the looks of it, he was a few years older than us. We’d been coming to this park for months, but it was my first time seeing him. “Why weren’t you watching where you were going?! Look what happened to my sister because of you!” she shouted angrily. “She got hurt because of you!” “Aviona,” I tried to calm her down, but once my twin was angry—especially when someone hurt me—there was no stopping her. “I got hurt too…” the boy muttered quietly, which only made Aviona even angrier. She was about to yell at him again when we both heard a familiar worried voice calling from a distance. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you two?” Yaya Terry shouted, rushing toward us. She was so alarmed that she dropped the two ice creams she was holding—chocolate and ube. I frowned and almost cried again at the sight. We had waited so long for those ice creams. The chocolate one was supposed to be mine, and the ube was Aviona’s favorite. “What happened to Fiona? Why is she crying?” Yaya Terry asked worriedly as she reached us. She gently wiped the tears and sweat off my face, just like Aviona had done earlier. “She fell, Yaya! Because of that boy! He wasn’t watching where he was going, and Fiona got hurt!” Aviona complained, pointing accusingly at the boy, whose face now showed pure fear. He probably thought Yaya Terry was going to scold him. Before she could say anything, I shook my head quickly, signaling that what Aviona said wasn’t right. She didn’t see what really happened—she must’ve only seen me already on the ground. “Y-yaya, p-please d-don’t scold him,” I said between sobs. “It’s m-my fault. I w-was the one who w-wasn’t looking, that’s why I bumped into him.” “Oh, you little girl,” Yaya sighed gently. She helped me stand up before walking over to the boy, who was still staring down at the ground, clearly scared. I heard her apologizing to him and asking where his parents were. While Yaya was busy talking to him, Aviona hugged me tightly. “Don’t cry anymore, okay?” she said softly while holding me close. A few moments later, the boy’s nanny arrived too. She had gone off to buy something for him, which was why she hadn’t been there earlier. Yaya decided that it would be best to take us home right away so my wound could be treated. I didn’t complain—I wanted my hands cleaned and bandaged as soon as possible. The stinging pain and the sight of dried blood were already making me dizzy. As expected, Mommy and Daddy scolded Yaya Terry for letting us get hurt. They even almost fired her if I hadn’t told them the truth—that it was my fault. They decided to keep her but warned that if it ever happened again, they wouldn’t think twice about letting her go. After the incident, Mommy and Daddy no longer allowed us to go to the park. After school, we had to go straight home. Aviona and I were both so sad. We had plenty of toys at home, but it just wasn’t the same. Playing in the park was much more fun — and there were so many kids our age to play with. And… I wanted to see him again. The boy I bumped into at the park. I hadn’t even properly apologized yet. I was sure he got hurt, too. When would I see him again? I was lost in thought, asking myself that question, when suddenly a boy appeared outside our gate. My eyes widened in surprise when I realized who it was. I was just thinking about him—and now here he was. Amazing. Like magic. He smiled shyly and waved at me. Excited, I quickly climbed down from the chair I was sitting on and ran to the gate. “Ah… h-hi,” he said nervously as I approached. “Hello! What are you doing here?” I asked cheerfully. He was really cute. I think I had a crush on him. Just a crush, of course—Mommy and Daddy said Aviona and I weren’t allowed to have boyfriends yet, so a crush was fine… for now. “We just moved next door,” he said shyly. “I was taking my dog for a walk and saw you.” I looked down at the dog he was talking about and almost squealed—it was so cute! I didn’t know what breed it was, since I wasn’t that into dogs, but I *was* into cute things. So without hesitation, I opened our gate and let them in. “Hi, cutie! I’m Fiona. What’s your name?” I said with a big smile, talking to the dog. I was thrilled that it didn’t bark at me at all even though it had just met me. “His name is Cookie,” the boy said, still a bit shy. “How about you? What’s your name?” I asked boldly. “I’m Threvon.”