Haunted

Everything Has Changed

April 10, 2016

Taylor's POV:

Joe and I are relaxing on the couch in the living room watching Grey's Anatomy when I get a phone call. It's CPS. But I've never been contacted by them before, let alone ever contacted them. What is going on?

I pause the show and say to Joe, "I'll be right back. I've gotta take this." He nods and I walk out of the room and answer the call. "Hi, this is Taylor, how can I help you?" I say, hiding my concern for why CPS has called me. And I know it can't be a wrong number situation because no one has my phone number unless I give it to them.

"Hi, Miss Swift, this is Emily Barnett with Child Protective Services. Do you have a minute? We need to discuss something with you," says the woman on the other end of the phone. "S-sure. I have a minute," I say, shocked.

"I'm calling in regards of your younger twin siblings. It's come to our attention that they're being abused at home and have been their whole lives. It's escalated to the point where they can no longer stay at home," says Emily. I am in complete and utter shock.

SINCE WHEN HAVE I HAD TWIN SIBLINGS?! AND BETTER YET, THEY'RE BEING ABUSED BY MY PARENTS?! WHAT IS GOING ON?!

"Miss Swift? Are you okay? Are you still there?" asks Emily after the line had been silent for a whole minute while I ran my hand over the top of my head and tried breathing to calm myself down. It didn't help very much. I think I'm going to have a panic attack in a minute. This is insane. This is all happening so fast.

"Y-yeah I'm still here. Since when have I had twin siblings? I've only know about Austin, my younger brother by three years. And how old are the twins?" I say. "You don't know about them?" Emily asks me slowly. "Not until you called," I say. "Oh wow. Okay. Well there's a boy and a girl. Their names are Archer and Lexie. They're almost six years old," says Emily.

I do the math of six years prior to this year, which is 2016. Six years ago would have been 2010. In 2010 I was still on my Fearless tour. No way. That's impossible. I was with my mom 90% of the time unless I was on stage.

"When is their birthday?" I ask softly. My voice almost quivered. "June 22nd, 2010," says Emily. I almost drop my phone out of absolute shock.

MY MOM WAS PREGNANT DURING MY TOUR, HAD TWINS IN BETWEEN SHOWS, AND DIDN'T THINK TO TELL ME?! WHAT THE HECK?! I THOUGHT WE WERE CLOSE AND TOLD EACH OTHER EVERYTHING!

"Oh my God," I say. "You remember something?" asks Emily. "Not exactly. It's just that she had them in between shows. The last show before they were born was June 19th and the next show after was July 10th and that was the last show of the tour. My mom traveled with me everywhere while she was pregnant with them and said nothing. I guess it's just a lot to take it," I say.

"I understand that this must be a huge shock to you. And I hate to make things crazier, but the twins are here in my care right now. I don't know if you heard me when I mentioned this earlier, and it's completely okay if you didn't, but they're being abused at home and they have been their whole lives. It's escalated to the point where they can no longer live at home with your parents. You're the listed as the first person who could take them in," says Emily.

"That's horrible. I did hear you earlier. Sorry for making you repeat it. Until you called me, I didn't even know that they existed. How soon could I come and meet them? Are they in Nashville? Because I am right now," I ask. I bite my lip nervously awaiting the answer. "Of course you can. And yes we're in Nashville. So you're going to take them in?" asks Emily. "Thank you! And yes, I'm taking them in. It sounds like they're in desperate need of love and care and I feel like I can provide that for them," I say.

"That's amazing of you. How about you come at... it's 10:00 AM now, so would 2:00 PM work? That's four hours from now," says Emily. "I'll be there at 2. Is it just the CPS building in the city?" I reply. "Yes!" says Emily.

"Perfect. See you soon! Oh, and before I go, is there anything I should know about the twins? Appearance? Favorites? Allergies?" I say. "I'll text you the list of things about them. As for their appearances... prepare yourself. They're extremely malnourished, pretty banged up, and their clothes are really old and dirty. But underneath all of that, I think they look like mini versions of you and Austin," says Emily. "Good to know. And that sounds adorable," I say.

"I just sent over what you need to know about them. Bring your ID and drivers license for verification," says Emily. "I will and thank you so much," I say. "It was a pleasure talking to you, Miss Swift. I'm sorry that it's not under better circumstances," says Emily. "Call me Taylor, and me too," I say.

Then we finally hang up. That call lasted for twenty minutes. That's all it took for my life to change all over again.

I slump against the wall with my head in my hands as I think about my poor siblings. "Tay, you off the phone?" asks Joe from the living room down the hall. "Y-yeah," I say. I hear footsteps and in seconds, Joe is kneeling in front of me.

"What's happened?" he asks. "I have twin siblings who my parents have kept a secret and have been abusing for their entire almost six years of life," I say softly. "Oh, Taylor," says Joe and he hugs me. I break down into sobs. "And now I'm taking them in," I mumble into his shoulder where I've buried my face.

"You're going to take amazing care of them, Tay. I know you are. Everything is going to be okay, darling," says Joe gently rubbing my back. "I hope so," I whisper. Joe gets me to stand up from the ground and then it dawns on me that I'm picking up two small children in a matter of hours and this house is not ready for that.

"Can you help me get two rooms ready? The Jack and Jill rooms upstairs," I say. "Of course. Whatever you need," says Joe. He kisses my cheek and I smile. "One of them is a boy and that's where I need your help," I say smiling. "What's his name?" asks Joe. "Archer. His twin sister's name is Lexie," I say. "Cute names," says Joe. "I know right!" I say. God I'm already in love with them and I haven't even seen a picture of them.

I check my messages for the thing that Emily sent me and it's there. It's like mini FBI files. Full names, birthdays, hair color, eye color, allergies, and medical conditions.

I read Archer's first.

Name: Archer Dawson Swift
Birthday: June 22nd 2010
Hair color: Light brown
Eye color: Blueish-green
Allergies: None
Medical Conditions: Eating disorder, PTSD, anxiety, and a concussion

Joe read it over my shoulder and we look at each other. Good grief.

We read Lexie's next.

Name: Lexie Paige Swift
Birthday: June 22nd 2010
Hair color: Blonde
Eye color: Blue
Allergies: None
Medical Conditions: Eating disorder, PTSD, anxiety, and a concussion

I have the urge to murder my parents but then I'd technically be an orphan and I would kind of miss them since they are my parents after all. But my little siblings have four medical conditions each! And the exact same ones! And I'm sorry, concussions?! They're not even six years old! What have my parents been doing to them?!

Joe and I prep the house for the twins to stay in for the night since we're in town to see my parents but we're leaving tomorrow. I don't even know how I'm going to look my parents in the eyes ever again now that I know about the twins.

My boyfriend isn't going with me to pick the twins up since they're probably terrified as it is and I don't want them to be even more scared if Joe comes with me since I don't know which parent has done more damage if that's even the case. I feel like my dad would be the one to do more damage and I feel like bringing Joe along as a man would scare the life out of the twins.

I leave at 1:30 to get to the CPS building at 2:00. I'm freaking out. What if the twins don't like me? What if they're scared of me? What if this is all too much for me to handle? Have I made a mistake? Do they even know I'm coming? Or who I am?

I get to the building all too quickly and I stare at the front doors for a whole minute before walking in. It looks like your average government building inside. I even go through security once I'm inside the doors. I ask the front desk to directions to Emily Barnett and it turns out that the lady I just asked is in fact Emily.

She leads me into a meeting room and sitting squished in a single rolling chair is two small children. The twins.