Lost Names and Illusions

Chapter 4

After Harold set the baby back onto the mother’s breast, he went to the record room. Locking the door behind him, he immediately went for the filing cabinet labeled with a capital L. He looked quickly for the name. Larrimer…Larnyx… Lester…Lilliana…Lona….Longbourne!

      The file was small but it was to be expected. Longbourne was not a common name. There were mostly death files – barely any birth files until he came across a woman named Silvia Longbourne – maiden name Silvia Hubert. Her file contained two birth records – one for a boy and one for a girl a couple years after. The boy’s name is Zane and his sister’s name is Arella. He looked for other files like it but everything else was death related. He scanned the contents of the file and faxed them to Wendell’s computer. He owes me big for this.

      Zane clung to his knees in the corner and stared into the white walls. He had memorized every grainy imprint the wall had. There were scratches near the floor left by the last resident of the room and dents around the bolts of the door made as an attempt to escape. It was times like this that he wished his mother were still alive. His father told him all sorts of stories about her.

      I always felt bad that Arella did not get to know mom like I did. In fact, when I was little, I blamed her. After Arella was born, mom got really sick for some reason. Dad never did tell me why but she was gone the summer after and I blamed Arella. I would sometimes put Arella in this wagon and tow her back to the hospital, hoping I could have my mother in return. Now that I think about it, it was a cruel thing to do. Taking an infant and towing her small fragile body back to where it came from…She didn’t even cry. She just stared at me with those huge eyes and puffed up her fat cheeks…I was so mean to her but she held no ill will to me. It was as if she knew why and understood…And she’d just smile as if to tell me it’ll be alright…I miss Arella. And I miss mom too.

The door opened. “Zane, your sister’s here to see you.”

Zane groaned and a tall shadow loomed over me once she stepped in. My sister – who are they fooling?

“Zane, are you ready to come home now?”

He turned around to see my adopted sister Jean. He rolled my eyes and looked back at the wall. “Jean, I told you I will never come home.”

“Mother and father miss you.”

He kissed his teeth. “In what alternate universe? Honestly, do you expect me to buy any of that garbage?”

      “Look, little brother. My parents took you in. At least come and visit sometime.”

      “So they can arrest me and put me in the same cell?”

      “We’d bail you out if you actually quit this rebel charade. You’re still apart of this family.”

      “Family or owners?”

      Jean sighed and took a seat next to Zane. “We grew up together. I know you.”