Fast Forward

Your childhood is precious.

Kids go to a school where recess is still implemented. You play tetherball and pout when you lose. No one would play with you on the playground. Your homework was a worksheet with simple addition problems. Or even multiplication. At least those were easier than the letters-mixed-with-numbers math you're introduced to in your late teen years.

Then, there's adulthood. You experience being in charge of the important things such as paying bills, moving out on your own, finding a job with a high enough salary that makes paying your mortgage a breeze, doing your taxes that your parents did for you all your life.

You wish you could go back to the times when your only worry was getting the ball out from underneath your parents' car.

Too bad the three Bright siblings didn't remember their childhoods.

Because theirs never existed.

The family was celebrating the middle child, Heather's, sixteenth birthday. The resort-sized pool was filled with her best friends, who were most-likely taking advantage of her family's wealth seeing that they only brought cards. Lots of Noah's and Kelsey's friends were invading the game room inside, playing their fiftieth game of air hockey or foosball. The home theater was crowded with mom, dad and all their closest friends.

The only party guests that were paying the birthday girl any attention were her aunts, uncles and her cousins. She may have been in the pool while they were mingling with glasses of alcohol, but they would still approach her and ask how life was going.

"If I grew up in a house like this, I'd never move out." Celia took a long sip of her mango margarita and let out a big sigh as she rolled her head back. Heather's parents were loving and caring just like everyone else's parents, but they weren't as strict when it came to alcohol. "As long as there's adult supervision around, who cares?" were Mrs. Bright's exact words.

"She wouldn't be going anywhere anyway." Amber was Heather's only genuine best friend, the only one that's been there for her since freshman year and the popular kids made fun of her for joining the drama club. Heather snickered into the fist that was covering her mouth. It was famously known throughout the school that Celia was an academic failure. She'd been grounded ten times for failing tests and she was often found playing on her phone during class instead of listening to the lesson. College was not in the cards for her.

"Are we all gonna meet up at mine tomorrow for our study sesh?" Melia joined in, leaning against the edge of the pool with her elbows on the tile. "This exam is worth thirty percent of our grade."

Her reminder was followed by a chorus of groans and cussing. Melia knew exactly how to bring the mood down.

"I wonder if everyone would still be in a happy mood if you weren't here." By saying that, Violet earned a playful smack to the back of her head.

"Remember when we were in kindergarten and we had nap times, recess and no homework?" Kennedy had a faraway look in her eyes, daydreaming about the good old days when they were only toddlers and didn't have a care in the world.

Heather was experiencing a severe case of the fear of missing out as she listened to everyone reminisce. She didn't remember that. In fact, she didn't remember anything from her childhood.

It was as though her parents drugged her at birth with a drug that had some extremely long-lasting affects. The last age that she remembered was fourteen when she was already starting high school. Her and her siblings had confronted their parents about that before, but they were brushed off and the conversation was redirected to whatever was new on the celebrity news.

"It's not fair that we had to grow up. I never agreed to that." Sophia released a defeated sigh, followed by the rest of the friend group humming in agreement.

That was the moment that Avery came outside with pizza boxes in hand. As a supermodel, Mrs. Bright took her beauty very seriously. She was sporting a pencil dress, sunglasses, red bottom heels and her makeup was done by her glam squad. The first time she found a gray hair, she damn near had a panic attack.

She announced that it was time for dinner, but after leaving it on the outdoor dining table, she traipsed right back inside. Not that she needed it, which her husband was constantly reminding her she didn't, but she insisted on staying on her green juice diet for her next photo shoot.

Everyone got out of the pool to crowd around the pizza. Even Noah and Kelsey finally stepped out of the game room for the first time all day to stuff their faces with greasy pepperoni. Heather pretended to be interested in the food, but her eyes were on her parents through the sliding glass door. Avery was on Kyle's lap, giggling and shoving a strand of hair behind her ear.

It was right then and there that she decided it was time. No more brushing her off. No more redirecting the conversation. No more avoiding the topic. She was determined to know why the hell she didn't remember her childhood.

-

The aftermath of the party was a mess; red solo cups were everywhere, dirty plates were stacked up on the island counter and stray balloons were scattered in so many spots of the house, they were a tripping hazard. The backyard took the hit though with pool toys on the tile, the birthday banners that were blown across the yard on account of a sudden gust of wind and half of the balloon letters had fallen into the pool.

"Did you have a good birthday, love?" Avery wrapped her arms around her daughter's waist from behind. Before she could even give an answer, Mrs. Bright was already smothering her face with kisses.

"Yes, I did. Thank you so much." Heather wanted to make sure to thank them before hounding them with questions. "Now can you tell us why we can't remember our childhoods?"

The room went dead quiet. Noah and Kelsey stopped doing the dishes, still facing the sink and giving each other nervous looks. Avery, who was on her way to the living room to pick up the empty gift bags, paused and her muscles visibly tensed. Kyle froze as he kneeled down to grab a piece of pink tissue paper. Heather stood there as stiff as a board with baited breath, but she was standing her ground. Her parents have kept this secret from her long enough.

She demanded answers.

Avery cautiously spun around, a gulp audible enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Baby, we-"

"No, mom. No. No more secrets, no more lies. Only the truth." She watched as her parents exchanged nervous glances. Her dad tangled his fingers through his already knotted-up hair and tears were welling up in her mom's eyes. She was scared - no, petrified - of how her babies were going to react when they found out the truth. Her biggest fear was never seeing them again. But she knew this day was going to come eventually.

She just hoped it could've waited until tomorrow so this day would remain a happy memory for her to look back on. She blinked away her tears and inhaled, exhaling a shaky breath. "You're right," she spoke with a wavering voice. "It's your childhoods. And you deserve to know what happened to them."

-

You could feel the tension in the air. No one had made a peep in the last three minutes as Heather was fiddling with her freshly-manicured fingers. Kyle was bouncing his knees and Noah was switching glances between both his parents. Kelsey felt the urge to continue the party music on the TV because it was paused in the middle of her favorite song, but she didn't want to be the first to break the silence.

Avery tried to pull herself together before putting everything out in the open. Kyle rested a comforting hand on her thigh and offered a feather-light kiss to her temple. They dreaded this conversation for years, but he was going to be there for her no matter what happened.

"Before we say anything, I want you guys to promise me that you won't be angry with us. Especially your mom."

"I don't know if I can make that promise until-"

"Promise me, goddammit!"

Heather flinched at his sudden outburst. They'd never seen their dad get angry like that.

Even when Noah came home from a high school party drunk as a skunk. Dad just punished him by waking him up the next morning banging cymbals together and opening the curtains to let the bright morning sunlight in the room. When Ashley got into a fight at school and got suspended for a week, he gave her kudos for defending herself.

He was overprotective of his wife. He didn't want to see her heartbroken over the babies she loved more than anything in the universe.

"I promise," all the kids said simultaneously.

Kyle's face softened up when he turned back to Avery and he rubbed her back until she gained the courage to open up about everything.

"I have always wanted to be a mom. Ever since I was a little girl and carried a baby doll with me everywhere I went." Avery smiled at the memory of driving baby Molly around Target in a mini stroller.

"Your father knew that. In fact, he's shared the same dream as me. He wanted to be a dad, have a big family." She inhaled sharply and exhaled a shaky breath. She was getting closer to revealing the big truth and her sweaty hands were shaking, the twinge in the core of her stomach growing more intense. "Anyway, another dream of mine was to become a supermodel. To appear on runways, the front cover of fashion magazines and model for the hottest designers in the world."

"And my dream was to become a successful quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams."

"Our professional dreams were finally coming true, but at the same time, my biological clock was running out." Avery could barely look into her children's eyes. She pretended that a ripped piece of blue tissue paper was more fascinating. "We didn't have much time left until it would start being harder to have kids. But with all my photo shoots, his games, press conferences, TV appearances, we didn't have time to care for a baby so..."

"Soooo... what?" Heather was growing impatient. Based on the promise their dad made them keep, she suspected that whatever they did was awful. She just wanted mom to rip the bandage off so they could get the conversation over with.

"The government invented a chemical treatment offered to those who wanna have babies but don't have time to care for them during their infancy. The treatment is used to fast forward the babies to their teenage years." Kyle was also getting antsy so he skipped straight to the point. He sat there so casually with his arms crossed, like he didn't just drop a major bomb on them.

Noah, Heather and Kelsey stood up and yelled in unison.

"What?!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE-

I know. The ending is a bit abrupt and I didn't explore the depths of how they all felt about the news.

But I didn't have the slightest clue about how to end it. Mystery is one of the genres that I struggle with and I thought I was getting better, but I guess that's true with the 'return of the missing people' and the 'dead-but-clearly-alive husband' plots.

I hope you enjoyed this one nonetheless.