The Wrong Identity

I was sat on mine and Paige's bed alone texting Thea about the last few days.. or maybe it had already been a week? The days have been starting to blur together and it felt unreal, not just the speed of the days going by, but everything. How could a silly thought about a missing baby change my life so dramatically?

my phone pinged indicating Thea had messaged me back which startled me slightly. the glow of my phone illuminated my face in the dark due to the curtains being shut even though it was day time. 

Thea: Do you want to meet up today, I miss you so much especially at school! Maths sucks without u ;(

I smile at the message hovering my fingers over the keyboard to reply to my best friend. The thought of seeing Thea made me excited, truth be told Ive been feeling so lonely lately and have needed to see someone who I truly trust.

"sweetheart can I come in?" Claire knocks on my door and opens it without waiting for a reply making me slightly roll my eyes. Whats the point in asking if shes going to come into my room anyways. 

"gosh its dark in here" she announces and moves to the window, I watch as she opens the curtains making me squint slightly at the bright light shining into the bedroom. 

"I think we need to get you some new clothes, you've only got two outfits and one set of jammies" she decides glancing at my screwed up clothes on the floor beside the bed that I was currently sat on. 

"oh I was gonna meet up with Thea.. my friend from school" I tell her slowly, The idea of new clothes was obviously exciting as I never had new clothes but the thought of using her money made me feel uncomfortable.

"why don't you invite her to come with?" she asks me smiling brightly, I realised there was no real way of getting out of going shopping with her so I let out a dramatic sigh and fell onto my back so I was lay against the mattress of the bed. 

"alright ill ask" I say picking my phone back up and typing out a message to Thea.

me: Claire is forcing me to go clothes shopping u wanna come?

Thea: ya sure what time?

"shes asking what time she should meet us there," I ask Claire as I look back up and notice her folding the clothes that I had left on the floor. 

"say thirty minutes, I'm just gonna put some makeup on, so you better start getting ready" she tells me before leaving my room and heading towards her own.

me: be there in like thirty mins 

I smile as I see Thea heart my message, I quickly hop off the bed and start getting changed into my clothes. 

"buckled up" Claire asks me as she turns the engine on in her car. It had only taken me fifteen minutes to get ready, ironically Claire took longer than me even though she only had to do her makeup.

"So how did you and Thea meet?" Claire questions as we drive towards the shopping centre. I smile slightly at the memory of how mine and Thea's friendship blossomed.

There were children screaming and laughing in the playground of the primary school, I remember sitting on the tyre swing watching the other kids play with their friends and eat their lunches carefree. 

A girl from my class who I had never spoke to was walking towards me with her pink lunchbox in hand. She looked so happy her hair was in two pigtails with two pink matching bows 

"Hi my name is Thea whats yours!" five year old Thea asked sitting down on the other tyre swing. 

"Aofie" five year old Aofie responded her voice timid and shy as the bouncy girl began to chat to her. 

"where is your lunch?" Thea asks her making Aofie frown and stare at her hands in shame. She didn't want to tell her she couldn't afford lunch. Mummy tried her best but generally I was only able to eat dinner and sometimes breakfast.

"I forgot it" I replied as I stopped swinging the tyre as much. 

"that's okay we can share mine! do you like jam sandwiches?" Thea asks her, I nod and smile at the kindness of Thea. 

We ate Theas lunch as the once silent atmosphere was now full of giggling and conversations.

"I don't have a best friend, would you like to be mine?" Thea asks smiling hopefully. 

"okay!" I exclaim, Thea grabs my hand and pulls me towards her friends who were playing tag. For the first time in a long time I didn't feel alone and now I had a best friend.

"we met each other in the first week of primary and we've been best friends ever since" I tell her a small smile still present on my lips. 

"from what Mali has told me she seems lovely, especially picking Paige up from school that was nice of her" Claire replies reciprocating the smile on my face. 

In a few minutes we had arrived at the shopping centre where I spotted Thea straight away. She was sat on a bench outside and was typing away on her phone.

"Thea!" I yell trying to get my best friends attention. Thea looks up from her phone and grins when she spots me. 

"Aofie!" she exclaims and runs up to me enveloping me into a tight hug. I tightly hug her back slightly squeezing her making her laugh slightly. 

"Hi Thea I'm Claire" Claire introduces her self, I watch as my best friend and Claire shake hands.

"Nice to meet you" Thea responds politely before stepping back and looping her arm around mine so we were interlinked. 

"right should we head inside?" Claire asks gesturing towards the shopping centre. Thea and I nod as the three of us head towards the building. 

As we made it through the doors I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, something felt very off and I couldn't put my finger on it.