No Regrets

Chapter Forty-Nine - Take Action Into Your Own Hands

KATIE'S POV

   My phone dings with a notification about a text from Sawyer, he's been texting me around every ten minutes for the past hour. At first, I spent minutes debating opening his message and responding. Even though I'm not as upset at him as I was, I still don't feel like talking to him, or anyone for the most part. Mom and Dad have both come by my room to check on me, I partially feel terrible for turning them away; but I can't let them in, not right now. I have several of my baby photos scattered around me on, I snuck into the attic and grabbed as many pictures of me as I could find.

   I attempt to place them in chronological order. The closest to newborn me I got was a picture of me in August, when I was three months old. I let out a sigh and take another look at all the photos, searching for the tiniest detail. Something that will cause a revelation.

   The sound of my door opening causes my arm to practically flip my quilt completely over to cover the photos. I let out a startled gasp. Mom lets out a short amused laugh before saying, "Sorry for the scare, I just wanted to let you know a friend of yours is at the front door."

   I have a friend? Is my first thought. "Who's at the door?" I ask as I slightly adjust my quilt over the photos.

"Christopher, I think that's what he said. Are you going to meet him at the door or do you want me to tell him you're busy?" Mom asks.

  Christopher! I barely manage to hide my surprise, the memory of inviting him over while we were talking early this morning hits me. My first instinct is to hurry downstairs and meet up with Christopher; however, I don't want to let there be even the slightest risk of Mom seeing the photos. She'd know I'm up to something. "Actually I invited him to hang out, could you just send him up here?" I ask sweetly.

"Oh." Mom says surprised. She seems a bit uneasy and unsure of what to say or do next, she looks around the hallway as if there's an answer written on the walls. "I didn't realize the two of you hang out. Uhh, yeah sure sweetie just keep this door open, okay?" she says.

  I roll my eyes and let out a short laugh, "Mom, seriously we're just hanging out. Two friends talking. Plus, he's way too old for me." I say trying to settle her nerves. Christopher isn't really that older than me, he's a few months shy of being two years older than me.

   I listen to the sound of Mom's footsteps as she walks down the stairs. I don't hear what's said but a couple moments later I hear the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs and the front door closing. "Hey Katie." Christopher says before arriving at my doorway.

   Since his footsteps were the only ones I heard walking up and I see no evidence of prying eyes, I uncover the photos. I let out a sigh and make a presenting hand gesture, "I've searched for a newborn baby picture of me." I say while picking up a small stack of photos to make room for Christopher to sit down. "And nothing." I say.

  Christopher gives me an apologetic look. He takes of his brown backpack and sets it right beside him. "Wish I had better results." He says as he begins to unzip the backpack.

"Anything is better than nothing." I say trying to be positive and not give away my disappointment.

"I looked up the hospital listed on the birth certificate." Christopher pulls out a small orange folder. He pulls out a paper and hands it to me. The page has a map on it along with a red pin with a speech bubble attached. The speech bubble contains the address and I quickly notice an important detail. My whole life, on the few occasions where either I asked or my parents chose to talk about my "birth story", I'd always been told I was born at St. Ruth Birthing Center. A hospital that is located in the downtown area, probably an hour drive if traffic is good. However, according to my possible birth certificate, I was born at Northshore Hospital, in another state... six hours away.