Stolen at Birth

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Daniel's parents were letting Keira stay the night, which she was really happy and thankful for, also surprise since none of Daniel's other friends have ever stayed. She couldn't stomach the idea of going home just yet, but Keira had finally learnt why no one ever stayed at Daniel's house. It was because when he was a baby, his twin was kidnapped from the hospital. His parents couldn't bear to look after another person's child when they couldn't even protect their own, so they didn't let anyone stay over. Daniel knows all of this and wishes that he could meet his real sister and form a bond with her just as he felt he's done with Keira.

All four of them were standing in the kitchen, laughing and joking around as if they were a family and for a moment Keira wished that these people were her real family. They treated her as if she were a part of their family even though Karen and Donald had just met the girl. She loved the moment of normalcy she received from them.

Karen was standing next to her in the kitchen and accidently knocked her ribs, which was covered in bruises. Everyone was shocked as Keira cried out in agony. Daniel immediately ran over to see what was wrong with his friend and Keira couldn't form any words to explain her pain without telling them the truth, so she just hugged her side and cried. So against Keira's wishes and struggles, Daniel quickly but gently lifted her T-shirt and revealed to all of them her countless bruises and wounds all over her back and sides. Since they saw her back, Keira didn't see the point in hiding the rest of it, so she pulled her shirt off and stood there as they all circled her and took note of her wounds on her back, sides, stomach and chest. She was too ashamed of what happened to her to care that she was standing half naked in front of Daniel and his parents. She just hung her head and let tears fall from her face, silent like the grave.

Surprisingly, Karen was the first to react and quickly took the child into her arms and whispered into her ear, "Oh you poor girl! You'll be ok; it'll all be ok now." Karen ran her hand along Keira's back and hair, caring for her as if she was a young child, not a broken down teenager, a clear victim of abuse. Once Keira had calmed down, Karen helped her back into her T-shirt, careful to not knock any of her injuries and brought her into the lounge room when Susan sat the girl down on the couch and continued to sooth her.

"Can someone call my brother, please?" asked Keira, hoping that somehow, Karen, Donald and Daniel wouldn't say a word of this to anyone and risk her father finding out that someone outside the house knew of his abuse towards her.

"Sure, I will," volunteered Daniel, who stepped forward towards her and pulled out his phone. "What's his number?"

Keira gave him the number and waited for her brother, her protector, to show up and keep her safe from the wrath that their father would rain down upon her for not following his demands. She didn't care that he had hurt her anymore; she just wanted her brother's arms around her again.

It didn't take Jakob that long to get to Daniel's house once he was told what happened. Keira could hear from the lounge room exactly when Jakob banged on the front door and barged passed everyone and found Keira curled in upon herself with a tear stained face and red eyes from crying so much. Keira looked up at her brother and ran over to him and flung herself into his arms. Jakob was shocked that she was now touching him, but didn't question it and wrapped his arms around his crying sister.

"Are you Keira's brother?" Jakob turned to see what he assumed to be Daniel's dad. He couldn't help but feel like he saw the whole family before, but like Keira, he had no idea from where. "You don't look alike."

"That's because Keira's adopted. There's blood relation between us," stated Jakob, looking back down at Keira and patted down her hair that had become messy and knotty, completely missing the look that Donald shared with his wife.

They always had hope that their lost daughter was still alive, even after the police gave up searching for her ten years ago. Their daughter would've been seventeen by now, same age as Daniel, since they were twins. Donald and Karen always prayed that somehow they would get their daughter back and even though Daniel never met his sister, he hoped just as much as his parents that he would find his sister.

"What happened, sis?" whispered Jakob to Keira. She looked up at her brother before stepping back from his arms and looked back down at her feet.

"They saw my scars," she mumbled.

"All of them?"

"Just the ones on my back, arms, stomach and chest."

"Just those ones? How many more do you have?" exclaimed Karen. Keira looked at the women and she looked like a fiery angel, set for revenge. "Who did all that to you?"

"Your father did it to you, didn't he?" asked Daniel. Keira and Jakob nodded their heads, shame framing their faces.

"Your own father did that! You have to call the police! Stop him from doing this again!" Keira just managed to grab the phone before Karen had and held it tight to her chest.

"Please don't," she begged them. "Please don't tell anyone."

"Why not? Sweetie, you have to tell the police, they can take him away from you, forever," said Karen, trying to persuade Keira to see reason.

"I don't know, but I can't let anyone know what has happened to me. So please, don't say a thing."

"Ok fine," Karen said after a moment, reluctantly given in to Keira's request. "But just know that you can come over and stay here at any time, day or night, ok?"

"Thank you," she smiled at the family that had welcomed her into their home and felt safe with them. "Can I still stay tonight?"

"Of course you can! Your brother is welcomed too, as well."

Everyone looked at Jakob to see his response, but he shook his head no and said to Keira, "I'll try and calm dad down; you stay here the next couple of nights." Keira nodded and watched as her brother left the room and then the house by slamming that door shut. She turned and faced Daniel, Karen and Donald and smiled her thanks for letting her stay for the night.

"Daniel, why don't you show Keira to the spare room? So she can get some sleep and go to bed yourself. I imagine your both tired after tonight," said Karen before she and her husband left the room to go to their rooms. Keira followed after Daniel as he led up the stairs to the room she would be staying in.

"This is the room that would've belonged to my sister if she was still here," mumbled Daniel, once he opened the door to a plain room that held a few toys for a younger girl. "My parents won't mind if you use it."

"Thanks Daniel," whispered Keira. "It means a lot what your family is doing for me."

"I just can't believe what you've had to go through. That's why you were so shy when we first met, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," she admitted. "I didn't want anyone finding out, so I try to distance myself form other people. It didn't work this time though." They bother laughed as they remembered Daniel's persistence in being friends.

"How long has your dad been doing this to you? Does he hit your brother too?"

"My father doesn't hit Jakob, except the one time Jakob tried to help me. He didn't try again because he ended up worse than I did. My father starting hitting when I was six or seven; I can't remember anymore."

"That's a long time to go through all that. How are you still alive?"

"Despite my mother's lack of care for me, she always makes sure that I'm at my strongest." Keira looked away from Daniel and crawled into the large soft bed. "I'm gonna go to sleep now. Night Daniel."

"Goodnight Keira," he whispered and left the room.

Jakob hated that Keira felt safe with people other than him, but at least she would be safe for the time being. Safe until their father found out that the family Keira was staying with was the family that he had gone through a whole lot of trouble to keep her away from. It was that information that their father had used to blackmail Jakob into raping his own sister. If he told Keira what their father had told him, he would've killed Daniel and his family. Jakob may hated that Keira felt safe with someone other them him, but there was no way he would be the cause of an entire families death. He wasn't a monster like his father.