Two Jessicas

The Truth

It was just another sunny day in July, it was July 6th and I was just daydreaming and making up stories in my head, as always, until I heard my parents calling me to come into the kitchen. My name is Jessica Miller, or so I thought that was my last name. Miller is my parents' last name, well at least I thought they were my parents, until this moment when I entered the kitchen, when my whole life changed.
As I entered the kitchen, I saw my parents sitting down at the kitchen table, I instantly sat in the seat in front of them. I suddenly saw something standing next to them on the table, oh I knew what it was. It was a big wooden box, I had that box my whole life, I got it when I was just a baby. It had baby clothes and some old family pictures inside, I especially like the little stuffed puppy that was given to me when I was little. It was my best friend my whole life and I knew that box was the best place to keep it.
I realized my parents had a real serious expression on their faces and I was wondering what they wanted to tell me that was so serious. My mom suddenly broke the silence and said:
" Jessie, now that you're 14 we thought it was time to tell you the truth ".
"The truth" I thought " what do they mean by truth".
As if she read my mind, my mom continued speaking:
"When you were a baby, only 10 months old, something horrible happened to your parents... our best friends".
"What are you saying", I replied " you are my parents".
"Oh Jessie, your whole life we've been keeping this from you, but this is the truth, we are not your biological parents".
"I don't understand" I said.
"I think it's best if we tell you the whole story" she replied.
As I was more and more confused, she started the story:
"It all started when you were 10 months old, we were very close to your parents, and we were keeping you and your sisters while they went shopping for furniture to put in the house..."
"Wait" I said cutting her off "I have sisters?"
"Yes" she said "two sisters, but we will get to that after".
She paused, and then continued the story:
"As I was saying, your biological parents were out shopping, it was supposed to take only about 30-40 minutes but 2 hours passed and they were still not back, I started to worry and decided to call them. A few moments passed and then I suddenly heard a deep, man's voice who started telling me that they got into a really bad car accident and that they were bringing them to the nearest hospital. I hung up confused and not sure what to say. I left to go to the hospital right away, but when I got there it was too late, they had passed away".
I saw a tear go down her cheek after she had said that sentence. I was so confused, I had just learned that the two people that I had always thought were my parents were not my parents after all. She continued:
"So a week after your parents' death, child care services came to our house and told us we couldn't keep all three of you, but only the youngest of the three, which is you", she said looking at me with her bright blue eyes. " Now about your sisters" she started.
"Yes where are they, how old are they" I said.
"You have an older sister, Samantha, who's 5 years older than you, she's 19 years old today, we once visited her when you were younger but you probably don't remember. Your other sister, Rebecca, is your fraternal twin.."
"What" I said "I have a twin, how could this be, where is she?"
"That's the thing, when your sister was adopted by another family, they didn't tell us who they were or their Street address, but luckily we know the state and the city" she responded.
"But why did you only tell me now, that's what I don't understand".
"In their will, your parents left a big amount of money that would go to you and your sisters, they were quite wealthy your parents, but also very generous" she said with a smile, "Your oldest sister already got her half, but knowing you and Rebecca were going to be separated, they wrote that you two would only get your part of the money once you've found each other and once you'd be able to be together forever, because they always said a twins' bond with the other twin is the biggest bond ever and they wanted you two to live that bond no matter what".
"But I still don't understand why you couldn't tell me sooner" I said.
"Well your parents wanted you two to live a normal childhood, plus you were too young to go to different states to find each other and we thought 14 was a good age for you to properly understand all of this".
"I understand" I said respectfully to the two people who raised me as their own child and even though I was a little mad they had lied to me for 14 years about them being my parents, I still loved them for what they did for me.
"But then we have to leave right away, I HAVE to find out who is my twin!!!!!" I said full of excitement.
But then calming down I realized something, I asked them:
"But wait, if we both got the same clues and the same explanation about us needing to find each other, then won't Rebecca be looking for me too. How can I find her if at the same time she's somewhere else trying to find me?"
This time my adoptive dad answered:
"Well actually, we're the only ones that know in what state and city they are. Rebecca knows about your parents and you and all, because when we adopted you two we all agreed to tell you all of that when you turned 14, but she doesn't know what state we are in, so she won't be looking for you in another state, but you will, in Ohio, that's where they live" he said with a smile.
"You're serious, we're actually doing this" I said all excited again.
"Yes we are" my adoptive mom said with a huge smile, "we are leaving tomorrow at 9:00am. Let's go pack our suitcases" she said as we were following her up the stairs.