Reconstructing Amelia (unedited)

Prologue

It was on the seventeenth of November in the year two thousand and six that a great loss shook the streets of Manhattan.

Corey and Rachel Adams had eight children. One might say they got carried away. Others might say it was all a happy accident. But nevertheless, they'd produced a large, loving family.

Corey was an electrical engineer. He put himself through college, graduated with a masters degree and a loving girlfriend. Shortly after, Rachel and Corey were married.

All the while, Corey and his college best friend, Benjamin Albright, were developing plans to create what would eventually be a multi-million dollar tech company, with services practically across the globe.

As the years went on and the company grew, Ben grew jealous of his co-partner and began to steal funds from the business. He'd recently divorced his wife, Kate, and lost custody of his daughter, Eleanor. He'd become unscrupulous, deceitful and greedy.

After several months of self-wallowing and embezzling company funds, Corey eventually discovered Ben's crimes and promptly kicked him out of the business. Benjamin disappeared after that, unable to be found in New York City.

A year later, Rachel and Corey were driving home from a business meeting in Brooklyn after a rendezvous with an important investor. Driving across the Brooklyn Bridge, traffic was fairly heavy as it tended to be in the early hours of the evening. Unfortunately, a silver minivan with dirty paint and faded plates veered into the inner lane head-on and came to a screeching halt right in front of the Adams' car. Being smaller and having the inability to stop in time, the two cars collided head-on, killing most of the passengers on impact.

With the death of their parents, Rachel's mother, Sylvia came to look after the eight Adams children. Unfortunately, as a woman in her seventies with rapidly deteriorating health, was unable to care for all eight kids. Deciding it to be better to keep the youngest three with her, Sylvia had no choice but to give the others to the state.

Several weeks later, Amelia Adams - who had been separated from her twin brother, Alan - was with her foster parents out in the park. Only four years old, she was completely oblivious to the world around her, far too interested in collecting a handful of wildflowers to bring to her grandmother later that afternoon for a visit. Because as soon as her foster mother turned to rummage through her bag to bring out some snacks, a man snatched Amelia from the grass, hitting her over the head to knock her out. She only let out a single cry before she fell unconscious.

Her foster mother heard the cry and immediately whipped around, but the child was gone. She'd simply vanished into thin air. Authorities were alerted and spent several days searching for the girl, but there wasn't a trace of her anywhere in New York.

Amelia Adams was gone.