I woke up around 3 a.m. due to persistent knocking on my door. Everything felt hazy probably due to the exhaustion.
"Who is it?" I asked still half-asleep
"It's me, darling" came my mom's voice. Oh!— actually my step mom
I get up from the bed to open the door
"Where did you go very early in the morning" she says as she sits on the edge of my bed.
"I went out with Leah," I said, trying to sound casual.
"Okay, you should try to get through to Mathew, he called me." She says looking at me.
"Okay, I've heard you but you need to leave now, I need to sleep".
The room was not fully lit but I could see her scanning the space before turning to me "Do you want me to stay with you?"
"Okay!" I say forcing a smile.
~~~~~
When I woke up the next morning, my mom was gone so I went to take my shower and dress up for the day.
I tried calling Mathew again but his number was unavailable.
I went downstairs. My home was beautiful. The marble floors gleamed, the chandelier sparkled— our home had that quiet kind of wealth that spoke without words.
I went to the dining hall and saw Mathew with my mom.
"Good morning" I said. They both turn to face me
Good morning Jenna" Mathew hugs me "I tried reaching you yesterday"
"Yes, I saw that but I also wasn't able to get through to you". Mom goes to her seat at the dining table
We both went to join her
"My phone died, I was charging it but forgot it at the office". Mathew works in his dad's company. He is two years older than me and we met while I was in Sophomore year in college.
Sophia comes out later and joins us at the dining table.
Every member of the home was to be present at the dining table. After eating, Mom leaves for work, she is the CEO of our company. Sophia and Mathew left later, she was still a college student and Mathew was going to drop her off.
There was nothing for me to do because I don't have a job yet so I decided to ask for Rebecca again but no one has seen her.
I went upstairs to my room to find out more about my father and all I saw on the internet was that he married my mom— stepmom and had two daughters and died 20 years ago in a car accident.
What I saw on the internet didn't match with I found in the attic 12 years ago – how I found out about my real mother.
—————
12 years ago
I was 10 years old and Sophia and I were playing hide and seek which was how I found the old pictures and marriage certificates of my mom and dad.
My stepmom comes home and asks Sophia about me"Where is your sister?"
"I don't know, we were playing hide and seek and now I can't find her"
They all start searching for me and find me in the attic
"What are you doing here?!" She yells at me
"I…l came here to hide" I say almost crying
She looks around and sighs
"You shouldn't come here, it's dusty and you might get sick" she pulls me out "you shouldn't come here go and take a shower".
Later on in the evening I tried searching for the name of the woman in the certificate but couldn't find it. I forgot about that after a few days.
Months later I saw a man come into our house but my mom took him out, they were arguing about something which I couldn't quite hear
"She is my daughter" the man said while swinging his hand violently.
"So? Should I give her to you? Will you be able to take care of her?" She yells at him
"Yes, I will!, I will! Unlike you, I am not greedy and I know about everything you did to that girl's mother!"
"Leave right now before I call the police" she brought out her phone from the purse she was holding.
"I will be back" the man says, looking around before leaving.
A year later at school, I saw Sophia with the man as before, he was hugging her and he saw me.
Later after school, the man came again and came to me
"Hello", he says smiling.
"Hello" I say to him
"Do you want an ice cream ?" He turns to go and get it
"No! Thank you"
"Okay" he smiles "you must have seen me at your home before" his expression changes to being serious.
I did not reply to him
"Do you want to know about your real mother?" I was about to leave when he said that but I immediately turned back.
"What do you mean? My mom is at home" he laughs and brings out a paper where he writes his phone number.
"Take this" he hands it to me " you will be needing it" he leaves
"Jenna! Jenna!" Sophia called out to me.
I turn to her
"We are leaving" she says.
I fidget with the paper in my hand with the urge to throw it in the bin but I remember the pictures and documents I saw in the attic so I kept it with me.
I later kept the man's phone number in my journal at night before going to bed.