Abandoned at birth, Charlie had never had an easy life. She was adopted in to a rich family, but not to be loved, but to be a double for their daughter. Treated no better than the servants, she was only called upon or cared about when Amber didn't want to do something, until the night of the charity, when she was drugged and her world changed. Now she was pregnant with the child of a billionaire, but she had to keep it a secret for both of their survival.
I was abandoned as a baby. No one knows where I came from, or my original birthday, only that I was found and saved by an old man.
That old man took me to his town, and to the hospital for a check-up. After weeks of searching, no one claimed me, but the old man and his wife were too old to take care of me, so they had to let me go for adoption, though they often sent me cards to wish me well and keep track of me.
I was adopted at the age of 6 by a rich family, looking for a double for their daughter. I was the decoy to keep her safe, never to be mistaken as part of the family, and I was to work for my position.
One day when I was out, wandering around in my boy disguise, because I couldn't go out looking to much like Amber, I came across a martial arts studio. I began to watch and imitate the moves, and one of the instructors noticed me.
Instead of running me off, he informed me the price of the classes. When I told him I had no money, he said I could work for them. So that began my days learning how to defend myself, as a boy who earned his lessons by cleaning the gym.
By day, I learned to be Amber. I had to like what she liked, know what she knew, and act like the spoiled princess she was. I was her copy, her mimic. I didn't have a name, no identity of my own, except the name the foster system gave me, that I was told to no longer answer to. I was girl, unless I was out being Amber, or i had to disguise myself as a boy. Charlie Smith was but a ghost.
By the time Amber and I hit puberty, her resentment for me had grown. She hated my existence, though I never asked for my fate. She felt I took her parents attention from her, though she got everything, and I only got what she didn't want or got to go places she didn't want to or were consider high risk.
By the time we reached adult hood, Amber's disdain for me had only grown. She did everything she could to make my life miserable. I was educated the same as her, knew what she's knew, and had to take the same classes in school she did. I never got a chance to want anything for myself, never got the chance to figure out who I am, but she hated me.
I only stayed because I had no place to go. I was only here because this was my life's job. I only existed as a double for her, but she hated that I was. She hated that her father thought it was needed. She hated that I existed, and she used it in her favor. I was meant to be her nobody cousin if we were out together in public. She belittled me to her friends, and I had to do the same when I was her. I had to keep up appearances. I had to be the prefect copy. She was vicious that way. I was a slave to her, but I had no choice.
That's why I ended up at this party, wig and makeup making me look just like Amber. I had to wrap bandages around my chest to decrease the size a bit since I grew a little bigger there, but otherwise, no one could tell the difference.
Amber didn't want to come to this 'stuffy affair' as she referred to it, so since her father required her attendance, I had to take her place. It really wasn't anything fun. A bunch of suits sitting around, boosting about their businesses and trying to make deals and scope out the competition. I took a drink a waiter brought to me, not thinking it suspicious he brought it directly to me, but seeing as Amber didn't often refuse drinks, I accepted it without thought and took a sip.
I wondered around the room, pretending to have fun, smiling at guests and talking to a few people who knew Amber, but none of her friends were here to gossip with and I just felt out of place, where I couldn't even pretend well.
I started to feel dizzy after a while, and went to the bathroom to freshen up, only I never made it. Someone helped me when I stumbled, and led me further into the hotel where this banquet was being held and up the elevator.
"You don't look well Amber," a woman said in my ear. "You should rest in one of the suits."
I couldn't protest. I couldn't even recognize the voice, but I knew I was in trouble. But I didn't have a way to fight with the drugs quickly moving through my system. I didn't have a way to call for help. No one cared what happened to me. I wasn't really Amber, even if they all believed me to be.
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