What I Thought I Knew

the death of Kara Evens

Monday went just as her mother said it would, they spent the entire day together, watching movies and everyone stayed home.  It was later that evening that her father got home, she was already in bed, but woke up when the bedroom door opened, she thought it was her mother sneaking in thinking she wouldn't know because she waited after she fell asleep, but it wasn't. "Rina?" He says and she sits up, lacy waking up too.

"Dad?" Her sister calls out turning the lamp next to her bed on. The room being lit enough for her father to see both girls.

He walks across the room, engulfing Kara in a hug, "I'm never letting go of you again," he says as he cries. Kara hugs him back, not sure on what to do, but also feeling a sense of safeness in her father's embrace. "I woke you up, I'm sorry," he says after finally letting go of her.

Kara shakes her head, "no, it's okay," she smiles at him, she has his eyes. It seems weird for her to make that observation, but she had never seen herself in her parents, not her adoptive parents.

He smiles back at her, "well, I'll let you get some sleep, we can talk more in the morning." He then kisses her in the fore head before standing back up.

~•~

Waking up the next day to Lacy getting ready for school, she sits up, thinking about how she was supposed to go back to her house today. Lacy looks over as she's making her bed. "I'm pretty sure that both mom and dad took turns sleeping in here last night. Bet they wish they would have gotten me that small couch now." She says with a light smile.

Kara laughs, "I know, they think I don't, but I do." She says as she stands up, walking over to her clothes from the day her mother brought her home. She had stayed in roses pajamas yesterday, while her mother washed them. "When do you think they'll stop watching me so closely?"

Lacy shrugs, "I don't know, never maybe," she says only half joking.

"Oh," Kara looks down at her bed, and Lacy realizes that she hadn't got the joke.

"I was just kidding, I mean they'll always worry, they still worry about all of us. That fear, that trauma is never going to go away, but eventually they'll stop watching you so closely."  She tells her, hoping to make her little sister feel better.

Kara nods, "yeah, thanks."

~•~

Standing in her old bedroom, putting clothes into a bag and selecting a few keepsakes she had saved over the years, everything finally hit her. It wasn't until now that the numb feeling she had felt since Saturday night, had finally dissipated. Her mother and father standing out side the room talking to the officer that had met them there, going over the case against her adoptive parents. Every few minutes one of her parents would glance into the room through the open bedroom door, to check on her.   Wanting a Moment of privacy she walks into the bathroom, locking the door before sliding down it.  With her head in her hands, she closes her eyes, thinking about how this will be the last time she's ever in the house she grew up in. Her parents, her adoptive parents, might not have been great, but until a week ago, she had thought they were her real parents. Everything is different, and despite it being a good thing that she has now found her real family,  a part of her is now gone. She isn't Kara Evens anymore, but she can't be Karina Thomas quite yet either. Who is she now though, what parts of her were just lies. Now without the numbness, there's just a feeling of lost, that is left.

A few minutes pass before she hears a knock on the door, "Karina, sorry, uh, Kara," Her mother says stumbling over her name, still not completely comfortable being calling her Kara. "Is everything okay?"

Kara wipes the tears from her face using the back of her hand, and stands up. "Yeah, I um, I'm fine." She opens the door, "I just have a few more things and then we can go."

Her mother nods, studying her with concern, but Kara pretends not to see it, and walks past her to finish putting thing in the bag sitting on her bed. Her father takes the bag for her when shes finished, and carrys it down to the car. Her mother thanking the officer for them allowing to come get her clothes, before they leave. Kara's silent the entire ride, looking out the window, thinking about how she was glad her suspension was up tomorrow and she could go back to school and get back to some kind of semblance of normal. "Damnit, their back again," she's pulled from her thoughts when she hears her father and looks up at all the news vans at the end of the block Infront of their house.

They had came back everyday trying to get get a glimpse of Kara, but she had been in the house everytime until her mother could get them to leave. Today however, they would get a complete shot of her getting out of the car and walking up to the house. "I don't understand why they keep coming back," her mother says, thinking about how this will be the third time shes had to get rid of them.

Her father parks the car, the reporters moving around the vehicle. Her parents turn around to look at her before getting out of the Kara, "just stay close to us and don't say anything okay." Her father says and her mother nods in agreement.

Kara just rolls her eye and gets out of the car anyways, grabbing a bag and walking toward the house. "Karina what made you firat suspect that you were actually Karina Thomas and not Kara Evens." One reporter asks and she shoves past them.

Her parents rushing out of the car, calling after her. "How does it make you feel to know that the Evens illegally obtained you to cover up for the death of the real Kara Evens?" Another reporter shouts and Kara freezes. 'the real Kara Evens?' she thinks, how could her being kidnapped and illegally adopted, just become even more dark and sinister?

Her father wraps his arm around her and leads her in to the house, "we're not answering any questions at this time, just please leave is alone."

Once her and her parents enter the house Kara drops her bag on the floor, turning around to face her parents "did you know?!"

Her mother looks at her, guilt written on her face. "Officer Reighns told me the other day, but I didn't think it was something you needed to know just yet."

"You didn't think that I should know about the fact that I had been living in a dead girls life for the past ten years!" Kara yells and her mother looks as if she has just been slapped.

"Karina, do not talk to your mother that way," her father says sternly, trying to deescalate the situation.

"Don't call me that!" She yells at him, "just, just leave me alone." She then runs up the stairs to Lacy's, and what is now also her room, slamming the door.

Pulling her phone out she types in her name once again, but instead of an article from ten years ago showing up like the last time she searched Karina Thomas, a brand new list of results pop up. 

Karina Thomas found after 10 years

10 years ago, four year old, Karina Thomas went missing from the county fair. On September 12, just a few days ago, a girl going by the name Kara Evens, walked into the Grandview county police station and told officer that she believed she was Karina Thomas, the missing girl. She claimed that her parents had illegally adopted her, and  After running a few test, it was determined that she was in fact, Karina Thomas.

So what happened all those years ago?

After investigating, it was found that there were no fake adoption papers for Kara Evens. Infact, there were no adoption papers at all for Kara Evens, because on December 18, 2000, a baby girl had been infact born to Drew and Sarah Evens. However the girl born in 2000, and the girl that had been going by her name, Kara Evens, were not the same girl. After bringing in the Evens for questioning, Sarah Evens revealed that when their daughter was six, she had died while on vacation, she had fallen overboard while sailing. Distraught and afraid of being charged with neglegence and child endangerment as well as the death of their daughter, her husband tried to fix things by illegally obtaining another child to take her place. Kara's death was never reported, and instead, Karina took her place.

When asked where Karina had been before they "adopted" her, Sarah's term for buying a child, she said that they never asked, but where ever she had been kept, she had been there for a year.