The Life of Katy Jackson

Finding my past

~Katy’s view~

The next morning I walked down to the kitchen and yawned. Everyone was already there, there was a heavy aura floating in the air.

I looked around. “Good morning…”

Everyone looked at me. “Morning.” They mumbled.

I sat down at the table, Aaron’s grandmother had made pancakes and bacon. She scurried around trying to keep things light and airy but it just wasn’t working.

What was wrong with everyone today?

I ate a few pancakes before standing. “Ummm…” I looked around the table at all of them. “I’m going to go walk around town to see if I can find any of my friends from middle school.”

“I’ll go with you,” Alex stood.

“It’s fine,” I said, I knew he was mad at something and I really didn’t want to be alone with him when he was in this state of mind. “I’m going to go over to my friend Mary Anne’s house to see if her mom has heard anything. My mom and her mom were close friends.”

“But-” Alex started but I held up a hand to silence him.

“It’s seriously right down the road,” I sighed. “I’ll be fine.” I slipped on my shoes and walked out the door before he could say anything else.

I walked down the street until I came to her house. It was a small blue house with white windows and a few lawn chairs on the front porch. I walked up the path and knocked on the door.

A few moments later Mary Anne herself opened the door.

“Hi Mary Anne,” I smiled.

The moment she heard my voice she recognized me. “Katy!” She squealed as she pulled me into a tight hug. “What are you doing back in Tokyo?”

“I was hoping to talk to your mom about my parents,” I said softly as she pulled me inside and shut the door. “They went missing and I was wondering if she had heard anything.”

“Let me go get her,” Mary Anne said as she went into the kitchen, her mom came out a few seconds later. “Oh, Katy!” She smiled. “I’m so sorry about your parents. I remember the night they found you on their doorstep.”

I looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean ‘found me’?”

We walked into the living room and sat down. “Well,” she explained. “When you were just a few weeks old a Mr. Grey showed up on your parents doorstep carrying a baby girl. He said that he couldn’t keep you because his wife had just died, and he already had his hands full taking care of his son Alex.” She continued speaking but I drowned out. Alex is my…..brother?

I interrupted her. “What do you mean? Alex can’t be my brother.”

“You mean you’ve met Alex?” she asked in surprise. “I remember his father made a deal with your parents that if they would take you he would pay for all school expenses.”

“We go to school together. You mean….my principal is my dad?” I asked as I stood, completely overwhelmed by all of this. “Why did he pick them?”

“Because your mother couldn’t have kids and they were two of his closest friends,” she sighed.

I rushed out the door, not even waiting to hear what else she had to say. “I can’t believe this,” I cried as I broke through the woods into Aaron and my secret place, not even remembering the run here.

I crouched on the floor and hid my face in my knees as I cried. How could Alex be my brother? How could he have given me up?

I sat there for the longest time. The only reason I moved was because I heard a noise in the woods. I stood and whirled around, trying to locate the sound. I felt as if I was being watched as I constantly turned, trying to figure out what was there.

Just when I was about to give up and sit back down again, Jake broke through the trees. “Katy, what happened?” he asked in a worried voice.

“J-Jake?” I cried, my face covered in tears as he walked over and pulled me into a hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Sorry, I had to read your thoughts to find you,” Jake said softly. “I could feel that you were distressed. What’s going on?”

I took in the warmth of his arms. “Alex is my….b-b-brother..” I began to cry all over again. The thought that the people I thought were my parents weren’t actually my parents haunted me.

I could feel Jake’s body tense as he mauled over that thought. “Well, at least you have family,” Jake said softly. “I don’t have any family.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. Here I was, crying over the fact that Alex was my brother and my parents aren’t actually my parents when the one who’s here comforting me doesn’t even have parents..or a brother.

“Katy,” Jake sighed. “Your family doesn’t only include people who are related by blood to you. The people you love are your family too. The people who raised you are your parents. The woman who gave birth to you is your mother. But the woman who spent years taking care of you is your mom. There’s a difference between a mother and a mom.”

“Oh, Jake,” I hugged him tighter. He knew exactly what I needed to hear.

Jake squeezed me before pulling away. “We need to get going. We don’t want to stay out after dark and get lost.”

Jake took my hand as I nodded and he led me home.

~Third person view~

Katy stepped inside and began taking off her coat as Alex came down the stairs, still annoyed with Aaron.

“Ummm...Alex…” Katy hesitated. “...We need to talk.”

Alex froze mid step. “About what?”

“Your dad,” Katy said grimly as she made her way to the stairs. “We need to talk in private.”

“Ok. Let’s go to my room,” Alex sighed before turning and walking back up the steps. Slowly followed by Katy.

Alex shut his door behind her and sat down on his bed. “What’s up?”

Katy decided to cut right to the chase, it wasn’t going to get any easier if she avoided it. “You and I are siblings,” She said bluntly.

Alex was silent as he looked at her. “You’re joking?” he said after a moment.

Katy shook her head. “Apparently, your dad and my parents are good friends, my mom couldn’t have kids and your mom had just died so he couldn’t take care of us both. So he decided to give me away with the promise to my parents that he would take care of all school expenses.”

“Where did you hear all this?” Alex asked in disbelief.

“Mary Anne’s mom,” Katy said softly. “She was there and I know she wouldn’t lie about something like this.”

Alex picked up his phone and dialed his dads number. “Hi dad. We need to talk...no it can’t wait until I get back.”

Katy only heard half of the conversation.

“Do I have a sister?” Alex asked. After a pause Alex’s eye brows furrowed. “Why wouldn’t you tell me that?…..she’s sitting right next to me….She’s been living at our house since the day you told her her parents died….If you would actually come home every once in a while you would have known that,” Alex said before hanging up the phone, he looked at Katy. “Welcome to the family.”