Deep breaths, just take deep breaths. In, out, in, out, in, out, in, in, in, shit. I keep panicking. Okay. Deep breaths, in, out, in, out, in, out, in, out. I have my breathing under control. I look at the clock and grunt when I see that it's two p.m. He should be home in three hours. I look around. Man, we really let this place go after Mama left this house to us and hightailed it out of here. Maybe I should clean, that always helps me relax.

Picking up laundry, I notice Mario hasn't emptied out any of his pants' pockets. Maybe that's how he loses everything. I decide to empty them out for him. Thinking about him makes my heart beat faster, to which I decide to not think about him. I mindlessly do chores to help clean my mind. Wow, I didn't realize we had so many things lost due to poor cleaning habits.

I look at the clock again. It's bright lights show it's 4:45 p.m. Oh dear, he'll be home soon. I start to breath crazily again. It'll be fine, just tell him and he'll understand, won't he? I take a quick shower to relax myself and when I get out, it's 5:03 p.m. He'll be home soon.

Hurrying to my bedroom, I change into an old green t-shirt and some worn out pants. I dry my long hair after I'm done, I sit in the living room and wait for Mario's arrival.

He gets home at 5:16 and I scurry to the door to unlock it for him. As he walks in, he turns to me and says, "Hey sis, I want to know if there's anything you want me to pick up tonight. I'm going to the store later." I cringe when he called me "sis". "U-uh no, not really," I respond. He scrunches his eyebrows. "Hey, are you okay? You seem a little squeamish today."

"Huh?" I ask. He could tell something was off. Oh no, oh no, o-oh no. This was bad. This was very, very bad. Should I just tell him? What would he think of me if I did? I knew I couldn't keep my secret in forever. I had to tell him sooner or later, and I knew if I waited, then I would just feel worse and worse until I confessed to him.

"Hey, uh, M-Mario?" I ask. He looks at me, clearly puzzled by my question when he was looking for an answer. "Yeah Luciana? What is it?" he asks. "I need to tell you something. Here, uh, have a seat on the couch." I feel hot tears coming to my eyes already. Man, I'm such a crybaby. "Why?" he asks me, and I can tell he's confused about the whole conversation.

I take a deep breath and say, "I have something to tell you, and you might hate me forever because of it, but I need to get this off of my chest." He looks into my eyes and whispers under his breath, "Di-did you do something illegal?" I almost gasp, "N-no! I would never do anything like that! It's nothing like that!" He lets out a sigh of relief. "As long as we won't get in trouble with the authorities because of it Sis, I don't think what you'll say will matter that much."

There it is again. "Sis" has always been what he's called me, but it just stings every time he says it. Oh, how I want to get this over with. I wipe some of my tears off of my face, ready to tell him the news. I can see some of his own appearing on his face. That's… weird. He usually never cries. I lift my right hand to grasp onto his left and I raise my left to cover his left.

"U-um, you know how I've been acting kinda… off lately? Well, uh, there is a reason for it, albeit a quite stupid one. I-I think I might be… oh how do I say it? It's on the tip of my tongue, but like, I think I would prefer it if you called me… u-um… u-u-um." My breath starts shaking as my tears flow freely from my face. "Luciana… what are you trying to say? Please, unless you killed someone, I don't think anything you say can be that bad." he tells me.

I look at him. He appears blurry from behind all of my tears. "Well, technically, I didn't kill someone, but… Oh! How do I say this? Luciana is dead… sort...of?" He looks completely baffled. "What, are you a demon who's possessed my sister and has finally come to tell me about it?" he asks. I chuckle softly to this. "N-no, I mean…" I look off into space, unable to describe what I mean.

"I mean, well, Luciana doesn't really exist anymore, I guess. Hear me out on this, but, like, I don't think I'm a… well… your sister…?" He chuckles at this, clearly coming up with a joke. "So what, Mama finally told you you were adopted?" My eyes must be the size of disks, because he seems to panic slightly. "I'm kidding! I'm kidding! You're not adopted! I can get a DNA test if you want one!" Oh, it was a joke… I'm quite dumb, so of course I didn't get it…

"No, not in that sense. I mean, well, in the sense I don't feel… like a girl? Both physically and mentally? I feel like… a guy?" I pause. There it is, all on the nonexistent table. He pauses for a few minutes, I freak out. Does he hate me? Does he want me dead? Oh, why did I tell him about this? He probably thinks I'm horrible and I should have never been born. I probably shouldn't have, but that's my own opinion anyhow. Oh, he hates me. I know he does. I always knew he-

"So… you're like… trans?" he asks as he looks up into the distance, not really focusing on anything in particular. Wait what? I-is that what it's called? I look at him, head tilted slightly. "I believe so? I- I'm trans, I guess." He looks down slightly, but still not looking towards me. I feel his hand slip out of my grasp. I knew it. I knew it! He hates me! Everyone hates me! I shouldn't live to see another day! That's what everyone wants, anyway.

He turns to me and looks me up and down very slowly. I feel dread creep up my spine. I know he's going to say "I hate you!" or "Get out of my sight forever!" or something along those lines. I know it! He stops looking and lands on my eyes. I almost go just at the thought of what he's going to say. As he opens his mouth to speak, I'm already prepared to take whatever comes out of his mouth. It couldn't be worse than anything I've already thought myself before, can it?

"So, what should I call you, Bro?"