Secret Sister

"You're adopted"

Those were the words I got as a child, seven years old and I had no idea what they meant. I'd heard things, but never understood the concept of adoption and orphans so I just nodded my head and smiled to my 'Parents'. But as a 17 year old, those words were very effective. Especially when you have no friends at school because it seems it's funny to be abandoned by your family. I guess I was lucky in a way though, my siblings are sweet, my older brother and younger sister they are always by my side. The problem was my 'parents'. The abuse they send to us, the arguments, the anger, they neglect us, I wonder why they adopted in the first place when they even neglected their biologic children.

Like every adopted child though, I couldn't help but wonder about my biological family. Maybe if my family didn't treat me like a complete reject, I wouldn't, yet again I've heard a lot that its every adopted child's dream. Either way, all I can think about lately is who gave me my dark brown hair, who shares my light brown eyes, who's genetics was it that gave me a tanned complexion instead of pale white, was it my mum or dads family that gave me the ability to sing? Who was it that wrote 'Abigail' on my birth certificate but didn't even write their own name?

I looked up at the sound of a door closing, an older man with shaggy grey hair and slight wrinkles, I recognized him as Travis, was standing there eyeing around the waiting room before landing on me. "You must be Abigail" He smiled, "I'm Travis" he held out his hand and I shook it.

"Nice to meet you, please call me Abby" he nodded and motioned with his hands to his office.

"Please come in" I sat down in a small wooden chair that matched the rest of the office which was all wooden. "Now, aren't you a little young to be hiring a private investigator?"

"I'm 17 and I have the money, I turn 18 in a few months" I said, I needed him, his help and I'd already arranged the meeting with him. "I thought you only had to be above 16"

"Right, well, what's brought you here then?" He asked.

"Well, I'm adopted and I want to find out who my real parents are" I got straight to the point. No point in prolonging the task.

"What are their names?" he asked, "Do you have your birth certificate?"

I shook my head, "My birth certificate was never signed by my parents, the people who adopted me wrote their names on it instead."

He looked deep in thought for a moment before nodding, "This is going to take some time, you know that right?" It was my turn to nod now.

"Of course, I did some research myself and well, it didn't work out to well but I got some papers together" I dug in my bag and pulled out a folder full of paper, "I have details about when and where I was born and I even managed to get a document on everyone who was in the hospital the night I was born, there's a few other things in there" I passed him the file and he took it flipping through,

"Thanks that's actually really useful" he smiled brightly, "Most people aren't as easy to work with"

"Well, that has all my details in it and if you need anything my numbers in there so feel free to call me anytime but only my mobile please" I said, I didn't have very long, it was midday and I wasn't meant to be out of the house when my 'Mother' gets home.

"So all you want to know is who your family is?" I nodded.

"I want to know who they are, where they live, I want as much detail as you can get, if they had any other kids, if I have siblings, that kind of thing" He nodded understandingly as he flipped through my papers.

"Well in that case it should be right but I'll call you sometime about the cash, I take half up front, and half when I finish plus any extra in between" I nodded my head and once again dug in my bag before pulling out a number of bills to pay him with. I got a job at a store just over a year ago and have been saving my money since we never got an allowance. He took the money and placed the folder on his desk finally finished skimming through pages, "I'll be in touch"