Losing a child is every parents worst nightmare. Unfortunately this happened to the Keller family when they least expected it, just after their twin daughters were born. Their oldest twin daughter Casey was abducted from the hospital and never to be...
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Walking into school the next day, people are still looking at me with confusion. It's probably not so much the fact that I'm new and I happen to be identical to another student. They're probably trying to work out which one is which, since I remember Olivia telling me her friend Eden was back in school today.
I head to my locker and start taking out all my books, when I hear a voice behind me. "Hey Eden. Why have you changed?" The voice asks and I turn to see a young guy, not much younger than me looking at me. "And since when did you change lockers?"
"Not Eden. I'm Dakota." I say.
He frowns. "Very funny sis."
"I'm being genuinely serious. I spent all day yesterday correcting people. I'm not your sister Eden. I'm Dakota Bradshaw, the new girl in Senior year." I say.
He pulls out his phone and starts calling someone. He looks at me expectantly and I raise an eyebrow and he starts talking. "Hey Eden. Where are you? You're outside? Because I'm standing in the hallway with your doppelganger that's why! It's creepy as hell." He hangs up. "You need to stay here and wait for my sister."
"Great, I've been wanting to meet this Eden girl people keep mistaking me for." I say and after a few minutes, Eden walks up to me. "You must be the girl everyone keeps mistaking me for."
"Casey?" She whispers.
"Nope. Not Casey, Dakota. Although I'll take any name other than Eden right now." I comment.
She shakes her head. "No. You see when I was born, I was born an identical twin, my sister Casey was born 20 minutes before me and was snatched from the hospital 2 days after we were born."
"That's impossible." I say.
"We need to get you to do a DNA test. Right now!" She exclaims and grabs my arm.
"I'm now wishing I hadn't wasted 30 dollars on a kit now." I mumble. I get in my car and follow the supposed twin to the police station. When we walk in, she heads straight for a man in the corner. "Hey Travis. We need a DNA test right now!"
"Why would you need..." His voice trails off when he sees me. His head slowly turns back to Eden before coming back to me. "Come with me."
I follow him into a room where he draws some blood and takes my finger prints. It's uncomfortably quiet between all three of us, none of us knowing what to say. I look at my phone and pull up the picture of my parents and I that was taken a few months ago on their wedding anniversary.
Has my entire life been a lie?
Travis leaves the room and it's just Eden and I. "So, you were an identical twin?" She nods her head. "Were you born and raised here?"
She shakes her head. "No. I was born in Richmond. We moved here when I was like 6. What about you? Where have you been?" She asks.
"Where haven't I been is the better question. I've bounced from state to state my entire life. I always thought it was because of my mum's job, but I'm now starting to think it's because of something else." I say.
I take out my phone and dial her number, however it goes straight to voicemail. I try my dad's number and get the same result. "You alright?" Eden asks.
"Yeah, it's just they're not answering, they always answer my calls." I comment.
We sit there for a few more minutes when finally police officers walk into the building. Eden greets them and I raise an eyebrow. How does she know all these cops? The officers look at me and another woman in a suit walks in. "Dakota Bradshaw?"
I nod. "That's me."
"My name is Katrina Williams, I'm with the FBI. You are someone we have been looking for, for many years." She says.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
We have now moved into a meeting room. I'm sitting on one side of the table, while Katrina sits on another with Eden. In front of me are documents belonging to a girl called Casey Keller, whose blood work match identically to mine.
"This is insane. This can't be real." I whisper.
"It's very real Casey." She says.
I shake my head. "Dakota. My name is Dakota...What happened?"
"The details of your kidnapping are pretty vague. Not many people know what happened. All we know is you were born on December 17th, 2001 and kidnapped 2 days later on December 19th. No security cameras were able to pick up your kidnappers, which means they most likely made themselves aware of all the cameras and exits in the hospital before snatching you." She explains.
I take out my phone and dial my mother's number again, but like the last time she doesn't answer. Same with my dad. "We have officers trying to locate them now." She answers for me.
"They're not at work?" I ask and she shakes her head.
"Apparently both of them took off rather abruptly this morning. We have a feeling they probably were tracking your phone and saw you heading here and made a dash." She comments.
I sigh and lean back. "My entire life is a lie."
"At least we have you back. You can come home with us, meet our brother Toby...Well you already met him briefly earlier and our parents Veronica and Michael." Eden comments. "They're going to be so happy to see you! I know I am!"
It's surreal. Sitting here learning that my parents aren't actually my parents, but my kidnappers. I have a twin sister. An IDENTICAL twin sister who besides looks is basically nothing like me. I have a little brother and another set of parents. I could really use Parker right now, he's the only person who could make me remotely feel better right now.
The door flies open and a man and woman I've never seen before come barging in. "Casey?" The woman whispers as she walks over to me. I take a step back and Eden steps in.
"Mum give her some space." She whispers.
"Where have you been all these years?" The woman asks me.
"That's a hard question to answer." I say and then the man steps forward.
He sighs. "I can't believe you're here after 17 years."
"Yep this is the last place I expected to be as well, so I guess we have that in common." I remark.
I remember Eden calling them Veronica and Michael and Veronica turns to the FBI lady. "Have you found those monsters that took our daughter?!"
"They're not monsters!" I exclaim. "Yes they did a bad thing, but they raised me amazingly. They're kind and loving people."
"They're kidnappers Casey!" She argues.
"My name isn't Casey. It's Dakota!" I argue back.
She is about to protest when Michael looks at her and tells her not to. He turns back to Katrina who starts speaking. "Mr and Mrs Keller. Have you seen these people before?" She pulls out a photo and they both look at it and then look at each other.
"We know them." Michael responds and my eyes widen.
