Taking a deep breath, having given her sad confession, Yvie takes Mary Mel by the hand and says, “Tag.”
Crossing her arms and giving a short laugh, Melissa pauses as she thinks of her words. She knows what to say. It’s the fact she has to say them that has her slightly hesitant. Even so, she charges ahead. “I wish I could say the reasons for my decisions were as painful or seemingly legitimate as these two, but they weren’t. What I did…was all on me. I wasn’t always called Mary Melissa. The day I was created, I gave myself a name. That name was Tat. You see, by that time, orphan Keb was a part of the family, and this presence resulted in competition between her and Cici, though this was mostly in Cici’s mind. Want to know what was in AB’s mind at the time? It was me. He had a crush on some girl in the neighborhood, and this was on his mind while he was using a special mental training machine that day. In addition to this, Missy had also been trying to contact him again, adding to his intense concentration on ‘the perfect girlfriend.’ Well, the machine was glitching that day and took his thinking about the perfect girl and made her into ME. My name stood for the initials of the girl he had the crush on, only as an adult as most of his thoughts were about the future, like about marriage and yadda stuff.”
Mary giggles as she recalls that day. “Imagine you’re sitting at home with your sisters and with your teacher, along her two friends, when there’s a knock at the door. Your twin sister goes to answer it, and it’s some crazy girl claiming to be your girlfriend AND your daughter, even though she’s definitely older than you are. Then, as you go out to investigate this, your little sister, who is very much aware of the situation, uses her smaller size to crawl underneath people so she can see this spectacle. That was my introduction to life. I claimed to be AB’s girlfriend, because that was what I was programmed to be, but since I knew I was technically AB’s creation, that made him my dad. I knew he wasn’t really, so I didn’t see a problem with it. However, my careless introduction and my highly aggressive approach got the sore disapproval of everyone present. Really, it was just a misunderstanding. I was only a few minutes old, so I didn’t know any better, and the others meant well. I just got scared they’d destroy me, so I ran away and went into a violent tantrum, planning to kill everyone I could.”
Cici takes Melissa’s other hand. “I think it’s my turn again, hon.” The three storytellers all hold hands, as they know the next part of the story involves all of them. “I went to search for Tat with AB, but I found her when I was alone, and she told me about some sensitive information regarding my creation and those who transformed me from a normal baby into Cici. I knew about that much. It was the girl named Ina that I found so horrifying. Having been told I was to be destroyed and replaced by this new sister, I asked Fiona about it and she RIPPED into me for digging my nose into top secret information. This was NOT the thing I needed to hear from her. I had already slowly developed a resentment for my super strict teacher and for the little step-sister that stole my family away from me. Now, I was literally going to be killed and replaced with yet another fake?! Nah, uh-uh. I wasn’t having it, so I joined Tat. This is something I still regret. In order to join her, she made me prove that I was ready to do anything, to kill anyone. She took my hands and forced me to blow up the nearest city…killing everyone.”
Yvie looks for an opportunity to take over. “By the end of the day, this curious stalker of AB found herself two girls who were ready to join her bitter cause of making Ant’s life miserable. As we three joined forces, the first one to encounter us was Asteroid Boy himself. This was his fatal error as he wasn’t expecting his twin to join us. As Cici has the power to control technology, she easily overpowered all his equipment, leaving him in agony as we decided what to do with him. The verdict was simple; he was to die. What was not simple was choosing the executioner. Cici wouldn’t do it because Ant wasn’t her enemy. She was only defending herself and would gladly let him leave if she could simply disappear. Tat wanted to but her programming had her too attached to him to finish him off. And then there was Yvie, this bitter monster trapped in her own anger.
Inner Man Theatre 