Page 57 of It's One of Us

Half sister? What?

Hi! I’m Scar. Yes, you’ve matched to me because we share a biological father through sperm donation. I don’t want to upset you with this news, but there are quite a few of us. We have a support group on Discord. If you give me your info I’ll send you an invite. This is going to be very overwhelming for a while—trust me, I know—but we’re a super chill group and it’s been amazing learning more about each other.

She pauses. Should she tell her all of it? No. It’s enough of a shock to find out you have multiple halves without learning one of them is a murder suspect.

Let’s start with something easy, though. What’s your name and where are you from?

Nothing.

Not unusual, to start.

If the person isn’t looking for siblings on purpose, the shock of the news can be upsetting. Some of the kids are searching, with and without permission, but some have no idea they’re the result of sperm donation, so not only are their worlds being blown up, the lives of their parents are upended, too.

Using her compromised account, she logs into the Halves group. The chatter has slowed since the news of the murder. Not a huge surprise, since no one knows who did it, and one of them is a part of this group. But she has a DM, from Jezebelle.

Jezebelle:Do you have any idea who it might be?

Scarfly414:No. But the police are looking. We should lay low until they catch whoever it is.

Jezebelle:Our brother. Until they catch our brother. This is freaking me out.

Scarfly414:Has your mom said anything else about the case? Oh, there’s a new match, too, another girl. She’s my age.

Jezebelle:Another? Wow. No, all I know is they think the suspect broke into a couple of places. They’re saying they have a sketch of him, will be on the news tonight. Full-on search getting ready to start. It’s wild.

Scarfly414:Have you seen the sketch?

Jezebelle:No. Gotta go. Something’s happening. Talk later?

Scarfly414:Yeah.

She looks at her watch, almost four. She should go home. Her mom took the week off work to handle this “situation,” as she calls it, so she’ll be there waiting, face pinched and hard. Scarlett hates hurting her, but it’s too late to back off now.

Especially if there’s a chance to identify who killed that woman.

Just as she is logging off, another message pops up.

Jezebelle:Holy shit. Another chick is missing.

Scarfly414:What?

Jezebelle:This is terrifying me. I need to log off for a while.

Scarfly414:Stay in touch, okay?

Scarlett’s phone rings. She’s not allowed to use it in the library, so she bundles up her things and scoots out the back door into the parking lot. The missed call log shows it was her brother calling. She gets into her car and calls him back.

“Peyton! Hi!”

“Hey, sis. You okay? Mom said you’ve stepped in it.”

“God. Yes. She’s so pissed at me.” She fills him in, how she sent off the swab, how she’s pulled together all the siblings, the rules they were following. “I was supposed to ask you for your DNA, even though I know we’re only halves ourselves. It’s to map the whole family so no one, like, accidentally marries someone they are closely related to.”

“Gross,” Peyton says. “No problem, I’ll give you a sample. Listen, go easy with Mom, okay? She’s having a hard time with this.”

“I am, too.”

“I know you are, Scar. It’s going to be okay, though. I promise.”