Blurring the Lines

“Niall? Can you come here for a second?” Tamira called from her open doorway, peering down the stairs to try to find him.

“Coming Tami.” Niall replied, climbing up the stairs into her room. He shuts the door behind him and sat on her bed, facing her. “What’s up Tami?” He asked.

“Niall, do you ever wonder if the testing could be rigged?” Tamira paced in her room, her mind going a mile a minute, wondering if what everyone thought was truth could really be a lie.

“Tamira, I..." Niall started, his eyes clouded in what Tamira thought was confusion.

"You don't believe me do you? You think the testing is 'perfect'. Nothing done by the council is 'wrong' is it. Sins are usually born in Sin families and vice versa right? Then how come I didn’t end up like my family, huh?” Tamira screamed at Niall. “I grew up thinking everything they did was perfectly normal. My sister and I were best friends. We did everything together. Then when I took that stupid test, it tore my family apart. My sister attacked and tried to kill me, my own father scared the shit out of me, and my mother ignored me, taking care of my little brother who I don’t even remember much. That testing has to be wrong. I should have been a Sin.” Tamira had tears rolling down her cheeks as she fell to her knees. “I should have been a Sin.” Her arms wrapped around her small knees and she rocked back and forth.

“Tami, I believe you." Niall said after she was quiet, walking over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "I think the testing is messed up too."

"When did you start thinking that?" Tamira was stunned. Niall's father helped with the testing and she believed that Niall trusted his father.

"For a while now." Niall smiled at Tamira.

"Do you want to know what led me to start thinking the testing was rigged?" Tamira asked, pulling herself out of her position. Niall nodded and Tamira smiled.

“When I was about five, we had neighbors who had moved in not that long ago. They had a baby boy, only a few months old. One night, it was cold so they left a lamp on to keep warm. In the middle of the night, the lamp fell over and set the whole house on fire. In their attempt to get out of the flames, they left their little boy inside.”

Niall took a deep breath, inhaling as if something bad was happening.

Tamira ignored him and continued. “My sister saw the house go up in flames. She ran outside and heard the baby inside. She took inside the house and ran to the room that had the baby inside. She pulled the small boy out of the crib, his face slightly marred by the flames, but his cries stopped when my sister picked him up. She carried him outside to his parents just in time as the house collapsed. She saved that little boy’s life. And she had already been tested as a Sin at that time. Why would an Envy save a baby from a burning house? I woke up when I heard the explosion. My sister came inside, her arms covered in burns. ‘Never tell anyone’ she told me. But the next day at school, I told everyone about it. She was my hero. And the test took me away from her and turned her against me. You have got to help me figure out what is up with the testing. Please Niall?” Tamira looked up into her adopted brother’s eyes, pleading with him.

“Alright but one promise Tami.”

“Anything.” Tamira’s eyes shined with delight.

He smiled. “Don’t tell dad what we are doing.”

“Never.” Tamira agreed and it was then it was set in motion.

Niall left her room with one last glance and went downstairs to help his mother around the house. Tamira climbed up from her knees and went to the area beside her bed, lifting up the floorboards to her secret room. Tamira climbed down the ladder and looked at all her hard work. “Alright, time to get cracking.” Tamira sat down in front of the ancient computer and started typing away, looking up all the files that happened in the early years of the testing system when they were working out the kinks. She wanted to know everything about the system so that way she could bring it down, once and for all. After about an hour or two, Tamira emerged from the secret room and covered it up again, hiding her only secret from the world. She grabbed her sweater and walked downstairs and out the door. She headed in the direction of the library but stopped short when she saw the boy from the school.

She walked up to him. “Hello. I am Tamira Williams. And you are?” Tamira smirked and stuck her hand out to him.

“Louis Tomlinson. You are Niall’s adopted sister right? He talks about you a lot.” Louis shook Tamira’s hand.

“Yeah. Glad he talks about me. It’s only good things right?”

“Talks about how evil you are, stealing his clothes, dying his hair pink, and constantly hiding his school bag in the morning. Are you sure you are not a Sin. You sound sinister to me.” Louis chuckled as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

“You wish I was a Sin.” Tamira laughed and wrapped her arm around his waist, the whole ordeal making her feel giddy about the danger of it.

“You have no idea how much I do.” Louis’ eyes clouded and Tamira laughed him off, bidding him a goodbye. Louis Tomlinson was one force to be reckoned with.