by Jamie White
Her parents appeared to debate with each other silently. Courtney held her breath as she waited for one of them to respond. Sam reached over and squeezed her hand in a show of support.
“Mister and Missus Thompson, I don’t mean any disrespect here, but I have to agree with Courtney. I’ve been helping her do some searching the past few days and something is definitely not right.”
“All I’m asking for is the truth,” Courtney added. Her voice broke as she asked, “Are you my real parents?”
“She’s not going to let up, you should know that by now,” Sam pointed out when they failed to answer.
“I guess you might be right,” her father conceded. “Courtney, are you sure you want to know? There are some things that might be too difficult to understand right now, or ever. You should know that before this goes any further.”
Courtney’s stomach tightened and she gripped Sam’s hand a little tighter. “Yes, I want to know.”
“All right,” he said. “The truth is that you’re right: we’re not your real parents.”
Chapter Nine
Courtney’s eyes widened at the words. A part of her had expected as much, but hearing it spoken out loud still took her breath away. She struggled to respond, “So, I’m adopted?”
“Not exactly,” her mother answered. “The thing is, we didn’t use the official channels. We couldn’t go that route.”
Just like that, it was as though someone knocked the air from her lungs. Her voice trembled as she asked, “Are you saying you took me?”
“No, nothing like that!” Her father walked over and took a seat beside her and Sam. “We absolutely did not steal you. It’s a complicated situation and I’m not sure how to even begin explaining it. There are a lot of things that are going to sound strange, but I promise they’re all true.”
“Like what?”
Her mother gestured to the picture Courtney still held. “You were right when you asked about her being your mother. We lied just now about them being friends of ours. The truth is, we never met them before, but we were told a lot about them — the sorts of things they were involved in.”
“Illegal things?” Courtney’s heart sank with the idea that her real parents were involved in something shady.
“No, things that were just… weird. Things that you might not believe. Hell, we didn’t believe them when they first told us, but then we saw proof.”
Sam raised an eyebrow and interrupted, “What kind of proof? What were they doing?”
“Proof of their involvement in the paranormal,” her mother explained. “From what we were told, they had a strong interest in it from the time they were small, and it eventually led to them actively seeking out people who were dealing with things that the normal authorities wouldn’t touch or believe. They had special abilities they used in their work.”
“What?” Courtney had finally found her voice after sitting in stunned silence for so long. This was all too much for her to take in.
“The lady in that picture, Ann, was able to move things with her mind, in addition to other things. When we first heard all this, we thought it was a joke, but then we saw the abilities being used for ourselves. We tried to find a rational explanation for it all, but it was hard to deny after seeing it in person.”
“You mean she had some kind of psychic powers? You can’t be serious.” She felt as though she’d stepped into the Twilight Zone. They had to be lying.
“We’re very serious, Courtney. It sounds like something out of a movie, I know, but I swear that every word is the truth. You have no idea how long it took us to be able to accept that, but we eventually realized there was no reasonable explanation for what we were seeing.”
“Wow,” Courtney said. It was the only word that would come to mind to express how she felt at the moment. How could that be true? Didn’t that stuff only happen in TV shows and movies? Did that mean she could do these things as well?
“I know this might be hard for you to accept,” her mother pitched in. “But I guess it might be time for you to start learning about them.”
“I… I’ve gotta go,” Courtney said as she stood from the couch. “I need to think for a while.”
“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, but we thought it was for the best. We didn’t want to—”
“I know. Look, I really don’t think I can talk about this anymore right now, okay? I just… need to be alone.” Without another word, Courtney hurried out of the house and down the street, ignoring her parents and Sam as they called for her.
She couldn’t believe she’d been right. How could they have kept the truth from her for so long? How could they have outright lied to her every day for nearly eighteen years? She ran as far as she could from the house, finally finding a secluded place to hide for a bit to think.
They aren’t my real family.
The words chilled her and made her question almost everything she’d ever known. Who were her real parents, and why did they feel like they had to give her away? What things might she start being able to do? She shivered as she considered the possibilities. What if she ended up having something strange happen right in the middle of class or something? The thought brought a fresh anger that made her suppress a scream. She should’ve been told so she could be prepared.
The sun slowly dimmed in the horizon, bringing a golden tinge to her surroundings. The old parking garage she’d hidden in had been empty for years, and she reveled in the solitude as she walked across the space, randomly kicking at pebbles that littered the ground. Courtney supposed she should get home before anyone started to worry. She checked her phone, sighing as she noticed the missed calls waiting for her. Sam was responsible for a couple of them, but the bulk of the calls were from her parents. She imagined they must be losing their minds with worry, but a small part of her didn’t care. She sent a quick text to Sam to say she was okay and shut the phone off again.
Courtney wasn’t sure she could forgive their deception, not with all the potential consequences that could’ve arisen. Still, she supposed purposefully making them worry wouldn’t do much good. Besides, now that she had gotten the chance to cool down she wanted to learn more. She just hoped they would tell her.
Reluctantly, Courtney ambled out of the parking garage and down the street. A half-hour later, she was outside her house mentally preparing herself for what else she might learn about her real family and what they did.
Her parents were waiting for her in the living room. They looked like they hadn’t moved since she stormed out, but Sam was nowhere to be seen. She assumed he must’ve gone out looking for her. “Hi,” Courtney said.
“Courtney, thank God you’re back. We were starting to wonder what had happened to you.” Her mother rushed over, reaching out for a hug.
Courtney stepped back, holding her arms up. “Please don’t do that right now. My head is going in a hundred different places, and most of it is how angry I am. I need some time to deal with all this, but I think some more answers would help.”
“I understand you’re angry, but we did exactly what we were asked because we thought it was best for you. You really don’t know what kinds of things your parents dealt with and how scared they were for you,” her mother responded. “I hope you’ll be able to understand that.”
“I’ll try, I promise. Why were they so scared? Why did they have to give me away?”
“It’s a long story,” her father responded, “and it’s been a long day. Why don’t we all take the night to sleep on this and we’ll talk tomorrow?”
“You lie to me all this time, tell me crazy things about my real family, and now you want to try and stall telling me more?”
“This isn’t trying to stall, Courtney,” her father replied in a harsh tone. “This really is a long story and, frankly, we weren’t planning on having this conversation today. I’m not even sure what started you on this search to begin with.”
“I just wondered if I could find out why you guys hate me acti
ng so much. Every time I do a play, you can’t drag me home fast enough and you act like you’d rather not even be there. It hurts, you know? All my friends’ parents are happy to be there. Now, I’m starting to understand why you’re so dead-set against that movie at least. After I found that picture, it made me think of all those other things and I wanted to know.”
“You’re right, we aren’t happy about it, especially this movie idea. We promised we’d keep you out of danger and you’re talking about doing something that could put your face in front of a lot of people. Maybe the wrong people,” said her mother.
“Who? What are you so afraid of? I don’t understand what the problem is.”
“This is really hard to explain, and I know it sounds insane, but your parents had a lot of gifts. They were known as ‘Lightworkers.’ They are people who are born with a specific purpose, to help people. Some of these people have the special abilities we told you about, like your parents.”
“Like moving things without touching them?”
“Exactly,” her father said. “They also did other things. They had the ability to read minds and they could see the future. In fact, they used to see clients all the time to guide them through Tarot readings and other methods.”
“Wow. You guys are really serious about this, aren’t you?”
“Yes, we are.” Her mother reached out to Courtney again to touch her shoulder. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you more a long time ago, but we were asked not to. They wanted you to have a normal life because the things they dealt with were more dangerous than we could possibly understand. They really did mean well; so did we.”
“Who did they think might find me?” The whole conversation was making her head spin, and a part of her couldn’t help but think she was being played. Still, she had them talking, so she figured she might as well hear the whole story.
“I don’t know for sure. We were never given a name or description of anyone in particular. I don’t think they knew, either,” her father explained. “We were told there’s a balance in the world. For every person who is out there trying to help others, there are people who would do the opposite. It’s possible they felt like one of these people was getting too close to them — to you.”
“And you took me in to protect me. Why did you do it if you thought these people were so dangerous?”
He gestured for Courtney to sit beside him as he considered the question a minute. “We talked about that a lot before we made the decision to look after you, and there were a lot of factors involved. Eventually, we realized that these were good people trying to make a difference, and we wanted to help in any way we could. Plus, you seemed to really take to us and we weren’t sure we’d be able to have any kids ourselves… we thought it might be our only chance.”
“I’m not sure I believe any of this. It’s so out there, I don’t even know where to start.” Images of everything they’d told her ran through her mind, moving so fast she felt as though she’d pass out if she weren’t already sitting. How was any of this possible? Could they still be lying? She didn’t want to believe that could be the case.
“Believe me, we understand,” her mother chimed in. “It is true, though.”
“Okay, so say this is true. Say my parents have these weird abilities. What about me? Does this mean I might get them too? What would’ve happened if I did and it happened in front of a bunch of people?”
Her mother shrugged, looking at a complete loss. “We don’t know for sure if you’ll have the same gifts they did. It’s possible you’ll only develop some of them, or none at all. We should find out soon, though. Your parents developed their own gifts once they turned eighteen.”
“Where are they now? Do you have any idea? What were their names?” Courtney held her breath as she waited for the information that could bring her one step closer to her past, deciding not to explore her own potential powers any further for the time being. The idea of being someone else’s child was enough.
“I wish we could answer that, but we can’t. The day we took you in was the last we heard anything about them. We can’t be sure, but we’re afraid that something might have happened. The whole thing was so rushed once we agreed, and we were being pressured hard to make a decision fast.”
A sinking sensation hit Courtney hard, and she tightly gripped the armrest of the chair she’d settled into. Was it possible she would never know them? The thought left her with an empty feeling inside. “But they could still be out there, right? Do you know anything else that I might be able to use to find them?”
Her father’s eyes widened. “Courtney, maybe you should slow down a little. We were sworn to secrecy for a reason.”
“How would you feel if you were me? Wouldn’t you want to know more about them? Wouldn’t you want to know about your other family? For all I know, I could have brothers or sisters out there, other cousins… people that might know more about who I am.”
“Of course, you should want to know,” her mother assured her. “We understand wanting answers, but you just found all this out today. You should take the time to sort through everything in your head before you make any decisions about what to do with all this information.”
“Maybe…” Courtney had to admit they might have a point, but the sting of the betrayal and the twinge of frustration building deep in her gut were hard to ignore. “Can we talk about this again later?”
“Of course,” they both said at once.
If Courtney’s mood wasn’t so dark, she might have laughed at the synchronized answer. Instead, she stood and said, “I guess I’m going upstairs now. See you tomorrow.”
“Night, Courtney,” her father answered.
“See you tomorrow, Sweetie,” said her mother.
Courtney nodded and went back to her room. As she prepared for bed, she mentally reviewed everything she’d heard that night. So much of it sounded like a sick joke, but there was also a ring of truth in it. Either they were being genuine, or they managed to convince themselves it was true. She wasn’t sure which, and didn’t care at the moment. The chaos in her mind was too great and her body was beginning to protest the emotional strain she’d put on it that day.
She sent a quick text to Sam to let him know she was okay and would talk to him later. Then Courtney yawned and climbed into bed, praying she’d fall into a fast sleep. Instead, mental images of the people from that picture kept appearing in her mind’s eye. Now that she thought of it, there were a couple of similarities she shared with the man too. She closed her eyes tight, willing the images away, but they refused to let her be. Courtney spent most of the night tossing and turning. Finally, she decided that lying there like that wasn’t going to do any good. She figured if she was going to get her mind off of everything for the night, getting up might be the best answer. She walked over to her desk and took a seat, staring at her laptop for a couple of minutes before opening it. She turned on the machine and loaded some mindless Internet game. This should do the trick…
Chapter Ten
She woke with her head on the laptop keyboard. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sleeping, but she’d gotten some rest in. Unfortunately, she also had a pain in her neck from sleeping at the awkward angle and her eyes felt heavy.
“Ugh, I feel like I just had too much to drink,” she muttered as she stood up. It took her a minute, but she managed to get up and pull some clothes out of her closet. She dressed slowly, wanting to keep her interactions with her parents that morning to a minimum. They’d told her she might not want to get more information, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to resist asking if they were alone together for long.
She collected her school bag and then checked her phone. She raised an eyebrow in surprise as she saw how little time she had before she had to leave. Shouldn’t they be up there wondering what was taking her so long?
Courtney shrugged it off and made her way to kitchen. Her father was sitting at the table with a cup of coffee, but her mother was nowhere to be seen.<
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“Hi. Where’s Mom?”
Her father looked up from his cup. “She had to leave early for work today.” He checked his watch and glanced back at her. “You’re running behind this morning. Want me to drive you so you have time to eat?”
“That’s okay,” she said quickly. “I’ll just grab an apple or something and eat it on the way.”
“Courtney,” he said.
“It’s okay, really. I could use the walk anyway. It’ll wake me up some. I’ll see you guys tonight.” Courtney grabbed the fruit and raced out the door before he could argue any further.
The damp morning air invigorated her, while the chirping birds and clear skies dulled her foul mood from the night before. When she got to the school, she pushed her way through the front entrance and walked to her locker. She’d almost opened it when a voice from behind interrupted.
“Hey, how’d it go last night after I left?”
“Okay,” she said as she turned around to face Sam. “Sort of. Can we talk about it later on? Ya know, alone?”
“Sure. When’s your drama club meeting end?”
“Five… you have a game, right?”
“Yeah, but I can make some time before it if you need me to.”
Courtney smiled. “It’s okay… Focus on that and we’ll talk after. I don’t need people getting mad at me for distracting the goalie.”
“If you’re sure about that….”
“I’m very sure.” The bell interrupted before she could say anything else. “I’ll see you later, okay? We’d better hurry before we’re late.”
“See ya,” he said. “I’ll meet you out front after your meeting.”
“Great,” Courtney called over her shoulder as she hurried down the hall. Her day had started badly enough without a detention for being late, especially since she had stuff to do that day. She just hoped she’d be able to focus in class with everything on her mind.