Learning Me

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.