The Hidden (sample)

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

THOMAS

That evening, I decided to do more digging into Emily’s past. It didn’t make sense that she’d actually gone to a human high school, and in Dallas, no less. We had no population in Dallas–or Texas, for that matter. It was too hot for us.

Another search for “Emily Hayes” turned up several profiles on a social networking site. I scrolled down until I saw a profile picture of Emily, and clicked on the link. Laid out before me was a treasure trove of information. Her name, date of birth, hometown, where she went to high school, her current school,  her favorite bands, movies, TV shows, her friends, her family, correspondence with her friends and family, and pictures. So many pictures.

I really need to get on this Facebook thing.

The same couple kept popping up in various photos of Emily’s life, growing older as the years progressed. I studied the man and woman, tagged as Sophie and Richard Hayes, and frowned. My eyes scanned the couple once more, noting the tiny red veins in their eyes and the general plainness of their features. They had the same last name as Emily, but there’s no way they could be related. This couple was human.

I backed out to the main page of Emily’s profile, scrolling down to see who she had listed under “family.”

What the–

Emily had them listed as her mother and father.

That’s not possible.

I clicked on the man’s profile, seeing he was a realtor from Dallas. He had pictures of Emily from her childhood, most of which contained his happy, smiling face.

I searched for her birth certificate next, wondering if these people showed up on that too. The first document I pulled up wasn’t a birth certificate, but…court papers. For an adoption.

The papers didn’t take long to read through, since most of the information was blocked out. But from what I could gather, it had been a closed adoption. I stared at the computer screen, the puzzle pieces slowly fitting into place. Those really were her parents. Her adoptive, human parents.

Holy shit… Emily didn’t know what she was.