When Star and Sky pulled into the garage that night, they found that their parents weren’t home yet. That was at least one blessing that night; not that that was saying much. They somberly made their way inside and slumped down into seats on the couch, still fighting back tears.

That was when Star took a breath and spoke again, “Do we deserve it? Deserve all the horrible things that ever were done to us? Do we actually deserve it?” she repeated with a sniffle.

Sky let out his own sad breath, “all we were doing was making love” he shook his head, “we were just showing each other how much we cared about each other. And then it just got misconstrued and twisted into something horrible, again” he added more quietly, “why do we keep getting punished for loving each other? We were made to love one another, literally. But every single time, we just get beaten down and destroyed for it” he added, choking back tears. He then took another shaky breath, “dad was right. They should’ve killed us on the day they made us.”

Star sniffled as she looked over at him, “Sky, please don’t go there again” she pleaded, though her words barely made it past her lips.

“Go there? That’s where we already are. That’s where we always end up, every time.”

Star was quiet again, for a long moment before she finally spoke, “can you imagine the last three years? Seeing her like that, in school, every day, knowing we did that to her? No wonder we probably never touched each other again” Star whispered.

“And the whole time she was telling everybody that we were sick, disgusting incestuous freaks” Sky scoffed, “and if we tried to tell anyone we weren’t really related at all, they just thought we were the liars, not the girl we crippled” he added sadly.

Star shook her head, “well at least our one friend, who lives with the girl who’s life we destroyed...and who destroyed our lives” she allowed, “at least she doesn’t believe we really hurt Cassie.”

“Can’t imagine what she must believe instead” Sky sighed.

“Probably that her sister got drunk and fell off a cliff... then made up some huge, crazy story about you and I cause she was pissed you’d rather be with your sister than her” Star offered with a sad shrug.

“I mean, I hate Cassie for what she did to us; but after I see what we did to her...” he shook his head again.

Star sighed sadly again, “I was even starting to like Crista. Or at least like the idea of having an actual friend” she sniffled again, “now, every time I see her, all I’m gonna think about is what she has to go home to: To what we did to her sister. We took away every chance that a fifteen year old girl ever had at a life, just to keep her from telling people what she saw us doing. We did that” she sniffled again as she moved to wipe away more tears.

“We weren’t trying to make her go off the cliff” Sky attempted some weak defense, “we just wanted to stop her from going back to the party. That’s what we wanted” he repeated sadly.

“And then what?” Star shook her head.

“I guess we would’ve kept trying to convince her not to tell people. You heard her. She just wouldn’t listen” Sky shook his head again.

“And if she kept not listening? How would it have really went any differently? Really?” Star asked in the same raw whisper.

Sky sighed again after another moment, “making up another new reality is starting to look better every day.”

“We’d still be us. That’s one thing that’ll be true in every reality” Star whispered sadly.

It wasn’t much later that Star’s and Sky’s new layer of self-loathing was interrupted. Their parents' car pulled into the garage slightly before eleven and they came inside to glance curiously at the two strikingly silent teens sitting somberly on the couch together, staring at a blank TV screen.

Connor narrowed his eyes, shook his head, and yawned as he headed off to the downstairs bathroom after he and Brie’s trip back from the city. That was when Brie gave them another questioning look as they didn’t really look back her way or offer anything in the way of greeting.

“Interesting show you’re watching” she narrowed her eyes. Her first instinct was that the two might have been concentrating on each other rather than the TV when their arrival had interrupted them, but upon seeing how incredibly dejected both of them looked, she decided that was probably an inaccurate theory.

Star sighed, trying to find any explanation she could give Brie without piling more lies onto their growing list of crimes, “we just drove Crista home. And saw her sister” Star attempted as Sky sighed and looked downwards.

“Her sister?” Brie asked with a curious look.

“Cassie” was the only answer Star supplied, causing Sky to sigh again.

“Oh, wow, is that the crippled girl?” Brie asked with pity.

“Pretty sure that’s not the PC term” Sky mumbled.

“I didn’t realize that was Crista’s sister” Brie continued conversationally.

“Yeah, and she’s the one who...” Star began, only to look down guiltily again.

“You two were the ones who saw her up there, before she fell” Brie stated sadly, recalling the event from years ago, unlike her children, who had learned of it only that evening themselves.

“Yeah, up on the cliff, where she fell” Sky answered, under his breath.

“It’s terrible that that girl’s life was ruined just by drinking too much. Thank goodness you two never seemed to go to many parties after that. Talk about learning underage drinking is not a good thing, the hard way. But glad you two learned it at least” she added with a sad smile.

Swallowing a bit, Star’s guilt compelled her to go on, “you know, Cassie’s the one who... she’s the one who made everyone...” she shook her head, “the one who has made things so hard for us in school.”

Brie furrowed her brow as Sky looked a bit more than uncomfortable, “what do you mean, hon?”

“Come on, mom. You have to know how the other kids treat us” Star stated sadly, Sky remaining silent.

“What? The ones who make fun of the way you dress?” Brie asked.

“It’s a lot worse than that, mom” Star whispered. She then took a breath, “the things they say about us; it’s Cassie who started all that.”

“The crippled---” she then shook her head, “physically challenged girl? She’s told people lies about you?”

“Something like that” Star stated, eyes down again.

“Well, that’s a rough one” Brie shook her head, “not like you could really go on the offensive much with her” Brie stated with her own sigh.

“No kidding” Star agreed, sadly.

“So what kind of lies did this girl tell about you?” Brie had to know then, “I mean, lies can usually be pretty easily disproven.”

Sky finally spoke, “well, defending ourselves just makes us look like... like we’re the ones lying” Sky shook his head, knowing the two were dangerously close to saying too much, but not sure how to possibly re-direct the conversation.

After all, it was true that the part about them being incestuous was obviously a lie, but the part about them having sex, and hurting her, those were less of lies. And neither of those things did they wish to share with Brie. Even telling Brie about the ‘them having sex’ part of the rumors would be unwise, considering Brie already had worries over how physically close the two had been with each other.

Star swallowed hard, knowing that backing out of the conversation now would be near impossible. She just had to try and find a way to safely navigate through as many half-truths as she could. Star took a breath and attempted to make that first dive, “for the last three years, she’s been telling people that... that Sky and I have done things. Sexual things” she took another breath as Brie paled, “and most people think we’re brother and sister, so when we try to tell people that it’s not how they think... It just makes us look like we’re lying about not being related to cover it up.”

Brie took a few breaths, closing her eyes a moment to compose herself, “so why exactly would this girl have started saying things like that about you to begin with?” Brie attempted, though it was obvious that just hearing the rumor made her begin to worry there was truth to it, considering the confession the two had already made to her that week.

Sky took a breath, “Cassie came onto me at that party” he began, “I wasn’t interested, so I made up an excuse, and I went to hang out with Star instead” he swallowed hard to look Star’s way for strength, “that party was where the kiss happened, mom” he confessed. After all, he did indeed kiss Star at that party, among many, many other things. He took another breath, “Cassie saw us kissing, and that’s when she decided to tell the whole world that Star and I were doing a lot more than that. And when we try to tell people it wasn’t really us making out with our sibling, they just think that we’re sick and disgusting liars who really are related and really are that, twisted. And Cassie’s the one that started all that” he finished with a deep breath, content that he at least told as much of the truth as he could.

“God” Brie breathed as she shook her head, “and these rumors about you two have been going around for three years?”

Star sighed, “well, we did kiss. Just everyone thinks, that we did a lot worse, and since they also all think that we’re actually related... Why do you think it’s so hard for us to even talk about that damn kiss with you? It messed up our entire lives” Star finished tearfully. Yes, there was a lie in her words, but the truth was there too, at least part of it.

Brie shook her head again, “so I’m guessing you two haven’t done a lot of kissing since then? All things considered.”

“Mom” Star scolded, only to cause Brie to sigh again.

“Well, I mean, I’m glad you two haven’t really been doing things with each other all this time. Though, I hate that people think you have; and worse, that they think you have, and that you’re actually brother and sister” she shook her head, trying to imagine how horrible their days must have really been for those last three years, considering the foul rumors about them.

“And she’s a crippled girl” Star reminded, just to slightly re-direct the piece of the story Brie was latching onto, “so not only are we liars, according to everyone, but we’re also accusing someone in Cassie’s condition of being a liar herself. We definitely aren’t coming out of this looking like the good guys” she added more sadly, though it was true that she and Sky definitely didn’t view themselves as blameless in any way either.

Brie shook her head again, “I guess now we can at least understand all the black” she attempted a small smile, “is it wrong that I’m almost relieved that it wasn’t your father and I who made the two of you this... sad?”

Though Star and Sky couldn’t help a furtive look, knowing what they did know about exactly how responsible their parents truly were for making them exactly like they were. But that was definitely not a conversation they wanted to have right then; or possibly ever.