I hid in my room for 11 days after Mia's death. I didn't go to the funeral, nor did I leave the house. I just stayed in my room and every now and then I would cross the hall and use the bathroom. I didn't do anything, I didn't play games on my phone, I didn't listen to music, I didn't go to school, I didn't do anything.
I felt blamed for what had happened, and I keep playing different scenarios of that day in my head. What if I had grabbed her arm and not let her go, or what if I tried to make her look away the moment that the red convertible threw out the puppy, or what if, what if it was me, me instead of her ?
I had to force myself to stop having this thoughts, I new that standing in my room and not doing nothing was not going to get anywhere.
On the 12th day, I finally came out of my room, I new that I had to move on, I needed to go to school and keep working hard, after all, that is what Mia would have wanted.
I worked hard, mostly for Mia.
I had good days and bad days.
I had days where I couldn't stop thinking about Mia and days where I wouldn't think of her at all.
It was 4 weeks after Mia's death that we made a unbelievable discovery, I offered to help mom and dad with all of the paper work that needed to get done, we had to go to the orphanage where mom and dad adopted her. As soon as we walked in, a red headed lady, called Sophia, instantly saw us walking in the door.
" Baby Maya, I cant believe its really you" - Sophia's eyes began to water, ' After all this years.."
Mom, dad and I exchange a look.
" What are you talking about, and how do you know my name?" - I ask.
" Maya, there is something that neither you or you parents are aware of, allow me to explain" - Sophia calmly replies.
Mom, dad and I sit on a nearby bench while Sophia explains the story.
"15 years ago, You and Mia were born to the same mother-'
" Are you saying that Mia is my..my twin?"
" Maya, please, I realize you have question right now but I ask you to be patient." - Sophia tells me before continuing with the story. "As I was saying, you and Mia were born to Katherine and Robert Williams in Philadelphia on April 15, 2003. Your biological parents were not the best influence, Katherine was an alcoholic and Robert was a drug dealer. For that reason, you and Mia were taken by child services, when you were 4 months old, were you later ended up in a orphanage located in a city 2 hours away from your hometown."
Sophia took a deep breath and continued on.
" It was in that Philadelphia orphanage where I first laid my eyes on the 2 of you, you were inseparable." - Sophia looks at me in the eye and gives me a sad smile. " You and Mia lived in the orphanage for about 2 months, that was when we got a call, we had a couple interested in adopting both of the girls." - Sophia then gives Mom and Dad a calm look.
I look at mom and dad, only to see that they have tears in their eyes.
" But then someone else wanted to adopt Mia" - I say, remembering when my parents had told me when I found out I was adopted. I reberd that they had said that they were going to adopt me and my twin sister, only to later be informed that another couple was adopting Mia.
" That's right, Maya. Your parents wanted to adopt you and Mia, but we find that we had made a mistake. You see, there was another couple who had been on the waiting list for a longer time than your parents, meaning that they should have gotten the twins. When we called them, they told us that they were only interested in 1, and as much as we wanted to keep the twins together, the state laws told us otherwise."
" Wait," - I say, "So my parents came in and adopted me, while another couple adopted Mia."
"Right" - Sofia agrees.
" But Mia told me she had never been adopted." - I say.
" Mia didn't remember that she was adopted. That couple, the one that were interested in adopting her decided to foster first and see what they thought of it. Within less than 3 months of living with Mia, they came to the conclusion that raising a baby was too hard. They returned one day, holding Mia in their arms. They said they were sorry, they thought they were ready for a baby, but as it turned out they weren't. We tried calling you" - Sophia says while looking at mom and dad.
" We called you guys many times, we wanted to see if you still wanted to adopt Mia. We must have gotten the wrong number because, no matter how many times we called you, it would always go to voicemail"
Sophia walks to the water fountain a takes a big, long sip.
" We were about to send a letter, since we weren't able to reach you guys you by phone, - Sophia says, talking to mom and dad." But then there was the fire... The fire killed 28 kids and burned most of the records that we had on the kids. The kids were transferred to different places around the U.S, I, myself got transferred to this orphanage, where I brought Mia and a couple of other kids along."
" Wow" - I finally say."So Mia and I were twins?"
" Yes, yes you were" - Sophia answers .
" I just don't get it.." - I say, looking over at mom.
" What don't you get?"- She asks.
" Why didn't you know, when we adopted Mia, how come you didn't know that Mia and I were twins?"
Mom wipes her tears, " Well, from the day we adopted Mia, I knew that she looked a lot like you, but being completely honest, I never once thought that she could be it. I always thought that she was gone, living with other parents in another state. I should have known" - Mom sobs.
That was the end of our visit to the orphanage.
5 months after Mia's death, I felt heavy. I had so many thoughts in my head that I wanted to get it out. One day, I sat down at my desk and got a piece of paper, I then began to write. I wanted the world to know my story.
The story that you just finished reading.
the end
