Contact and Acceptance

Saryn sat up after an unknown amount of time with red, puffy eyes. She walked to the nightstand looking for a holowatch.

It was there along with a family picture of, who appeared to be, her father, mother, younger Saryn, and a girl who looked a bit younger than Saryn.

"I have a sister now," she croaked, throat hoarse from crying.

The girl had bright, blonde hair and a toothy grin. She shared similar facial features and Saryn recalled her name from the small book.

'Helen.'

Taking her puffy eyes away from the picture frame, she picked up the sleek silver holowatch and attached it to her wrist with a metallic snap. It was a newer model that boasted higher-quality holograms and had a few more functions that were unavailable to the older models. Holowatches were made to withstand day-to-day abuse and more. Everything relied on holowatches these days. Money is rarely carried, and identification is through a person's holowatch, not to mention that it could do everything a computer could and more.

The convenience of having a holowatch increased by the fact that it took at the bare minimum a person's biometric scan and retina scan. Aura scanning was another option people often turned on since every aura had subtle differences. They were secure and trusted by almost everyone.

Turning it on, Saryn checked the most important thing in her mind, how much money did she have to work with?

The Leum turned Saryn started working at seventeen and has grown used to working for their own money and not relying on others, even parents. So, she hoped that Saryn had at least some money saved up for her to have time to find a job.

It seemed her worries were for naught.

"How much is this chick's allowance?!"

Available Balance: 780,982cr

"I've never seen so many credits in a bank account before," Saryn muttered in amazement.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts up, Saryn accidentally got hair in her mouth.

"Bleh, got to learn to keep my mouth closed from now on I guess." She said, pulling the hair out.

'Anyways, I need to budget myself. I do not need to go crazy with spending my newfound wealth. What is the first thing I need to do? Should I contact Saryn, no, Leum now isn't it?'

Saryn scratched her head, 'This is going to be tough to get used to. Should I contact him? That Rocarn guy never said not to, but would they be mad at me for stealing their life? From what I can tell, they lived much better than I have since graduating high school.'

She started pacing and looked around the room after all this time.

A queen-sized bed was positioned in the middle of the wall across from the apartment door with a nightstand beside it and a dresser, presumably with clothes, was put in a corner. The full-length mirror was to the left of the bed and the door to the bathroom was ajar next to a walk-in closet with more clothes.

Walking into the bathroom revealed a very clean sink, shower, and toilet. The mirror reflected Saryn.

Putting both hands to her face and getting used to the new, smooth skin, "It still feels like a dream. But I know it is real. I feel pain and sadness that you cannot imagine in a dream."

Even now it felt like her heart was being wrenched from her chest and her stomach was continuously falling.

Seeing the disheveled hair she thought, 'I should wash up.'

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After a couple of hours, Startube tutorials, and plenty of embarrassment, Saryn was finally dressed and felt a little better. The uneasiness remained but was manageable.

Dressed in a simple t-shirt that read, *Lab Rat*, with a cool-looking mouse design, jeans, and sneakers, she finally felt ready to face the day.

'As much as I hate it, I need to try to get in touch with Sar-. Leum. And see what they know.'

With a deep breath, Saryn walked out the apartment door and took the stairs to the bottom floor. The whole apartment building was kept clean and smelled nice. The apartment complex that previous Saryn chose to rent is The Styx. It was definitely better maintained and had better facilities.

There were some differences Saryn noticed about her body, aside from the obvious.

'Colors are more vibrant and I feel lithe, previous Saryn must have at least lightly worked out to be in this good of shape. Let's see. The map says that I am only a fifteen-minute walk from Lindenburg? Didn't expect to be so close to each other. It is only thirty minutes from my old apartment.'

Saryn felt nervous, she found a bench out of the way of people and tried to call her old number.

Ring Ring. Ring Ring. Rin- The number you are trying to reach has blocked you.

Staring at the text hovering in the air, Saryn felt compelled to swat the floating characters.

'This is ridiculous. I get not answering strange numbers, but for god's sake, this was your old phone number! Let me try through InstaStar.'

Hello, I am trying to get in touch with you regarding your identity. Please respond at your convenience.

An alert chirped.

User has blocked you. You may not send messages, voice calls, or hologram calls to this user.

'Your mom is blocked!'

SnapStar.

You may not contact user Leum2002_ as you have been BLOCKED.

StarBook.

Cannot send messages. User has denied any further communication.

"What the hell is their problem?! I just want to talk! I would figure that you would want to talk about swapping places with someone since this is a one-in-a-never chance!" Saryn gnashed her teeth.

Two squirrels were a few feet away staring at Saryn's tantrum.

"What are you two lookin at? Looking to get frozen?" threatened Saryn as she raised a hand filled with her ice aura.

The squirrels looked at each other before quickly scrambling up a tree.

"Haa," she sighed, "If they will not respond to messages and calls, I will just have to go to them. Good thing it is Saturday. They should not be at work."

Saryn set off on the thirty-minute walk.

She got to see different parts of the university than she used to walk around. Passing different food stores, convenience stores, and university supply stores, Saryn tried to focus on what she would say once she got to her destination.

Campus was bustling with incoming students exploring and returning students going to their favorite places to hang out. All of this would not be so bad if the looks and glances had not landed on her. Saryn could feel people looking at her more and squirmed on the inside from the attention.

'Is this what it is like as a good-looking girl?'

Trying her best to ignore it, Saryn finally made it to the Lindenburg apartments. Every step up to the third floor, she was more nervous. Like her stomach was going to jump out and run to the nearest car to get run over.

Standing at the door, Saryn took a moment to compose herself and knocked.

A few moments later the door opened.

Standing in the doorway was herself, no, who she used to be.

Leum stood there with a disappointed face, looking slightly down because of the height difference, and did not say anything.

"Uh, hey. I thought we should talk about what has happened recently." Saryn said. She felt that as the visitor(?) she should speak up.

"There is nothing to talk about," Was all Saryn received.

"What do you mean there is nothing? This is a big deal!"

"Keep your voice down a little. Would you? I am not the only person in the apartment right now."

A door opened in the background and a young man with black hair stepped out, "Who's at the door?"

"Just an old acquaintance," replied Leum.

Mikey walked up with a wave and said, "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Mikey."

Feeling a bit odd at having to introduce herself, Saryn greeted, "Hello, it is nice to meet you too. I'm Saryn."

Saryn never noticed before, but Mikey radiated Aura. An unawakened could not sense aura, and now that she could, she was taken aback at how powerful he felt.

"Let's talk outside," Leum interrupted, "We can talk more out there."

"Sure," Saryn said with an eager look.

Mikey waved goodbye, "Good to meet you."

"Good to meet you too."

Saryn and Leum walked downstairs and off to the side of the building in silence.

Leum broke the silence.

"Listen, I do not want any communication with you or anyone I used to know. I just want to live my life now that what's happened has happened." Leum declared with crossed arms.

"But why? Do you not miss your family? At least by us knowing each other there is a chance of us getting to know our parents again."

"Uh uh. *Your* parents now. I want nothing to do with my life as Saryn. Besides, "Trey and Rena are my original parents. The parents I should have had to begin with. Good luck with Bart and Marissa as parents." Leum spitefully retorted.

Saryn was taken aback at the disdain directed towards the people who raised him., "Why do you hate them? They are your parents. They provided and supported you. And from what I could tell from your apartment, you are not lacking by any means."

"Just because I was financially supported does not mean I was emotionally supported! You will find that the Ptolomy family only cares about being powerful or useful. I was neither. Good luck with gaining their affection. You are the original Saryn anyways, which means, it is your problem."

Leum huffed and seemed satisfied that he could tell Saryn off about her parents.

At a loss for words, Saryn struggled to grasp for anything to turn this around. She desperately wanted to be able to talk to her, now known as, surrogate parents.

"What about your sister? Won't you miss her?"

Leum stared into Saryn's eyes. His eyes were filled with apathy, "I do not even know my sister that well. We grew up in the same house but never talked. What was there to talk about? She has talent and is focused on improving herself and being with her friends. There is no relationship between me and her. Even less now that I know we are not blood-related."

Horror spread across Saryn's face. Leum's apathy and disregard were hurtful, even to nonrelated people, but on top of that, was the realization that Saryn would never get to talk to the kind, loving people who raised her.

Taking advantage of her shocked state, Leum turned around and left.

Saryn kept standing there.

There was nothing left to say.

Tears trickled.

'I will never get to have a proper relationship with them. This is my life. My original life.'

With unsteady steps, Saryn slowly made her way home in a haze under the gaze of a black-haired individual.