Adopted by Heathers: The Sequel

Family Secrets

"Hey Mom!" I called out to Elle. "I found an album of old baby Catlynn pictures! Do you wanna come take a look at them with me?"

"In a few, Sunshine! I'm on a phone call right now, but I'll gladly look at them in a bit!" Elle called back. I sighed and opened the photo album.

A picture of me taken right at birth, born with more brown hair. A few pages in, my first steps. Normal baby milestones, my first book, a cute little video I popped in my DVD player of my first word, (Mama) and a picture of slightly older Catlynn heading to her first day of preschool.

The last page of the album didn't hold a picture, but rather, a DVD. The various DVDs in the album all were labeled, but this one wasn't. The only words written on the disc were "C.E.R," my initials before Elle adopted me. 

With shaky hands, I slipped the disc in the DVD player and pressed play. The near-ancient video camera showed a hospital room. 

A brunette woman, my bio mom, was in the hospital bed, and a smaller Elissa was sitting in the chair next to her. The brunette (with Elle around, I had no business calling her my mother, and I didn't know her first name) was holding a small light brown-haired baby in her arms. Me.

A doctor walked in the room.

"Marina, Thomas, I regret to inform you that your child has Thalassaemia, a chronic blood condition. She will need transfusions every ten years starting at three years old."

"No...my baby..." the woman, Marina, said. At least someone in my messed-up biological family loved me at first. 

I then realized that Elle, or anybody, never told me the scientific name of my blood condition, and now I knew. Looking it up, I found some of the symptoms, and realized it was pretty obvious that I had it. My skin was pale, and everyone thought that was a natural pale. Nope.

"Just disown her." from Thomas. "Trade her in for a non-broken child."

"Not broken?" said Marina. "This is my fault, I birthed this child!"

"NO! Marina. This isn't your fault. Listen, I don't need this kid." Thomas said, directing his last sentence at the doctor, who turned away and sucked his teeth. 

"Mr. and Mrs. Reeve, your daughter, whatever her name is-"

"Catherine." said Thomas.

"Lynn." said Marina at the same time.

"Catlynn?" the doctor asked, pulling out a sheet of paper. Before Marina could say anything further, my dad nodded. "Catlynn Elizabeth."

"Elissa." said my mother. "Want to hold your sister?"

Elissa gasped and nodded, and my then-tiny heterochromatic brunette sister walked over to Marina's hospital bed and was about to hold me in her arms, but Thomas stopped her.

"You're not even our real daughter!" Thomas screamed. "Come on, Patrick, hold your sister."

"She wasn't supposed to find out about that!" Marina screamed. 

"I'm...I'm..." said Elissa.

"Adopted, you idiot, get over it." Thomas said. "See? This is why we agreed not to tell her. She's a crybaby. Shut up, Elissa, and let your brother hold Catherine!"

"That's not her name!" Elissa said. Though she was only five, that girl was feisty.

Thomas looked at whatever was recording this ordeal sitting on the chair. "Who's recording this?"

The video stopped.

In a 10 minute long video, I had discovered everything I needed to know. Why my dad acted the way he did for most of my life. Why Elissa abandoned me. Why my bio mom abandoned me. Why Elle said that me finding out about my blood condition was probably "one of my dad's sick jokes."

Why my dad always called me Catherine. It had nothing to do with him being drunk or anything. He called me what he wanted me to be called. 

"Mom?" I asked, crying. Elle said, "Hold on, Sunshine! I'm almost done!"

"Mom, it's an emergency." I said. I heard Elle mumble to the person on the other line and then she ran into my room. 

"What's wrong, Sunshine?"

"I just found out 3 Reeve family secrets. 1. My dad abused me because of my blood condition. 2. Elissa was adopted. 3. My name...is actually Catherine. It was supposed to be Catherine." I said.

"Well, do you want to change your name?" Elle asked.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" I screamed.

"Sorry-" Elle said sheepishly.

"It's fine. I...just need some time to process this crap."

AN: Only one person knew this plan before this chapter went out. I'm so excited for my readers to rage at me. Hope you enjoyed and catch ya later! Love you all!