Part 1 – Andrew

Andrew didn't deserve any of what was coming to him. He was such a caring boy – intelligent, capable of handling himself, and wouldn't hurt a fly. You could say he was the son most mother's dream of. He was well-behaved, treated women well, and understood the meaning of the word, "no." He wasn't nearly as athletic as most boys are – he wasn't exactly quarterback of the football team or the all-star of basketball. But, he was fit. Fit enough to stay healthy. It was just one choice that his heart had made that changed it all.

Ah, my poor boy didn't deserve any of it. He was an intelligent young man. He had learned to read words at quite an early age. Then again, I did push intelligence both him and his twin, Abigail. He was the only one, however, to truly engage in it and pursue it. I guess you could say that's why he wasn't very popular in school. He would sit alone at lunch, during classes, afterschool… He never interacted much with anyone. I only know this because I'm a sophomore English teacher at the kid's school, and I keep my eye on them every day.

His twin… Ah, Abigail. She is quite the polar opposite of him. Education doesn't suit her type of lifestyle: music does. She plays the flute in high school and works closely with her father (he's the band director… I guess you can say we all go to school in this family) to improve herself symphoniously. But, it's not only her music sense that brings her up to the top of the food chain while her identical sibling sits at the bottom – she's quite beautiful. In fact, I sometimes envy her, wishing I had looked as she did in high school. That's why the entire population of boy's at that school are all over her, and why my husband constantly has to keep his gun out.

Maybe that's why it was so easy for Andrew to fall for her.

I remember when he first confessed how he felt about his love life to me. We were in the kitchen, preparing dinner for the rest of our family. It consisted of my husband, myself, and the twins. We were a small, yet loving family.

Andrew had taken a moment from cooking to take some of his iron supplement (he was anemic). After doing so, he just… Froze. He had one hand on the counter and was just staring off into space. I took a moment from grilling the salmon to make sure he was okay. "Sweetie?" I called out to him. "Are you alright?"

He wasn't in his trance for long, for the minute I called to him, he responded with, "If I told you something, you wouldn't judge me. You're not like that… Right?"

"Of course not, Andrew," my voice could had a hint of concern in it, and how could I not? He seemed as though he was beginning to form beads of sweat on his forehead. The poor boy was nervous! What could be so horrible that he would begin to stress like this? Of course, with his condition, it's only obvious for a parent to have this thought pop into their heads. "You didn't get a girl pregnant… Right?"

"No, of course not!" he assured me, and then licked his lips. I could tell he was trying to dig the words up in his mind of what he was trying to say. I filled a glass of water for him since I figured his mouth was getting dry. He chugged that glass in less than a minute. Then, he finally confessed.

"I think I love my sister."

At the time, the word "incest" didn't even occur to me. I had just laughed and told him, "Well, of course you do, sweetie. She's your sister!"

"No, not like that," he corrected me before meeting his gray eyes – eyes I miss so much – to mine. "I love her, mom."

That's when I finally figured out what he meant. Most parents probably would've thought their son was a disgusting creature by that point, but I stayed true to my words. I gave him a warm smile and said, "That's sweet, Andrew."

His expression was priceless! He was expecting me to be so cool about it. His brows were furrowed and he had the oddest expression on his face. "You're…not mad?" he asked.

"Of course not, sweetie," I told him. "I can't control who you love."

He smiled. A true smile, not one of those ones he hid at school. "Thanks mom."

Andrew trusted me with his secret. I trusted myself with his secret. If this secret got out to the public, he could be utterly crippled and harassed like no tomorrow. There were entire countries that supported homosexuals on the spot; however there were very few people in the world that could accept a brother loving his sister in that way. It would literally feel as though that everyone was against him, and I'm the only one who would be able to tell him, "It gets better."

Oh, how wrong was I.