I Don't Need A Reason Why (II)

The Truth Revealed

I drew back, not knowing how to tell my mother the truth.
"Mom, I...I escaped. I am pretty sure Katia and I were illegally adopted. I ran away from the family. I couldn't live there anymore. Katia.....she's been....brainwashed. She won't listen to me. She doesn't even like me. I was forbidden to tell her who she was/is...."
"What do you mean? Adrianah, are you ok?"
"I don't know."
"What happened there? Tell me everything."
"The family...they, they were convinced from the very beginning."
"Convinced about what?"
"That I'm a murderer!"
"Why? What...?"
"When, when I ran into the woods, I stayed there for a few weeks before I was found....by then, Katia, she was very sick. She was on the edge of being so sick that she would die. When they found me, with Katia, they were convinced that I tried to kill her by staying there. Since then, they said that, if I dare tell Katia anything about our past, they will tell her how I nearly killed her. They said, that they would tell her, I didn't want her and things like that. Sometimes, I did stand up to them, in front of her, and was about to let the truth be revealed, but then, they would finish the sentences I started and make it seem as if I hated them all, and wanted them all out of my life. Katia is only 5 now, but whenever I started to say anything in my last days there, SHE would cut me off and say I had no respect or love for my family and that she hated me and wanted me to leave."
"Oh my goodness...is that why you left?"
"Partially...I'm nearly an adult now. I lived my childhood with ups and downs. But all I want for Katia is for her to grow up with her real parents."
"Where is Katia?"
"Colorado..."
"Do they know-"
"Yes."
***
After a long week, Kit and Lukas regained their parental rights over me and Katia. The first thing we did was take the train back to Colorado, to get back Katia.