Origin

CHAPTER 20

"Mum, dad?" I called out as I unlocked the door.

"In the living room." I heard my dad say and his yell was followed by my mum's laughter. I found them curled up in the couch watching a movie. "Hey, how was your sleepover at the Hovers'?" So, I guessed that was what the sibling's aunt made them think.

"It went really well but I missed you too much." They cooed over me and ushered me under the blanket they were sharing.

"We filled in the form for your school trip and went to the school to pay for it."

I had forgotten all about that. The students of our school were supposed to go to Fishny, a coastal two three hours away from Dragony, in four days. I had gotten so caught up in the visit to Ledus that it had completely slipped my mind.

"Thanks a lot. I can't wait to go there." I acted as if this was what I had been thinking all day. They proceeded on telling me about what I missed while I was staying next-doors. Little incidents at work and small news about old acquaintances of ours.

We continued watching the movie they had been on before. It was over soon and my parents started retreating to their bedroom. I looked at the black screen of the television and decided I wanted to learn about myself right now. It was time I found out about my origins.

"Hey, wait," I called out as they were climbing the stairs. Their heads turned and they waited for me to continue. "Am I adopted?" I spilled the beans, not possessing the patience to bring it up casually.

"What?" my mum shrieked. I looked at my dad. All the color was drained from his face; he was never one for hiding his emotions. There was my answer. My parents quickly approached me and sat down beside me.

"How did you find out?" My mum asked me as she patted my hair. I couldn't tell her the real reason but I made one up which was close enough to the truth.

"I am just so different than you, there was no other explanation. And as long as I can remember, I have never seen pictures of you pregnant." I looked up at them with many questions filling my eyes. "So, I am not your daughter, am I?"

"No, never say that again. You are our beloved child. We are just not your birth parents," my dad rushed to say.

"We wanted to tell you when you were officially an adult; we were actually planning on doing so when you turned eighteen in three months. We wanted you to be old enough to understand what that means. We wanted you to know that even though I didn't give birth to you that does not make me love you less."

"Can you start from the beginning?" I murmured as my parents sat down on either side of me on the couch.

"We had been trying to conceive for years but had no such luck. We were about to give up when one day your mother found out she was pregnant. We were so excited about the baby. But as it turned out, it wouldn't even be able to breath on its own. I don't want to go through the horrible treatments your mother had to face to get stable again. The loss of the child unabled her to have any more kids," my father explained, his voice full of emotion.

"We were devastated. We had lost all hope. We didn't even think about adoption because it took too long and we couldn't afford it after the treatments for the baby," she resumed telling their story. "But then one day a good friend of ours called. It was in the middle of the night and we were sure that what he was about to say were bad news. Instead he told us about you and that's how you were brought into our world."

She took my hand and squeezed it while my dad kissed my head.

"He said that he had found a baby, barely a few days old, all alone abandoned near his house. He was didn't have much free time and he was single, he couldn't take you in. He remembered how much we wished for a baby so he called us. He told us you didn't have any papers with you and that you seemed to be alone in this world. I had never driven so fast to get there." She choked on the memories and her husband continued for her.