“I think I’d like to see mom and dad’s place and then we’re going to the police station and telling them exactly who we are.”
“Won’t they just send us back?”
“No, we were bought, Blake. We never have to go back there. They’ll call children’s services and…”
“And we’ll be put into the system,” he says, not liking the idea one bit.
“Maybe,” I admit. “Or maybe mom and dad had a family. We can’t be alone out here, Blake. I feel it. There’s someone here who’s been looking for us all these years and we just have to help them find us.”
“You know what they’ll do if we’re put into the system, right?” he questions. “We’re nearly adults. No one is going to care about us. We’ll end up living in some group home with rough kids who don’t give a shit if we get hurt. We can’t risk it, Sky. What if we’re separated?”
“We won’t be separated,” I promise him. “No matter what.”
“And if the worst happens?”
“Then I’ll be eighteen in six months and I’ll come for you. We can make this happen, Blake. You just need to trust me.”
He lets out a deep breath, watching me as the early morning sun shines in his green eyes. “Okay,” he says. “Mom and dad’s place is this way, but I’ve got to warn you, it’s nothing like you remember.”
He starts pulling me away and I look up at him, feeling refreshed about our new future. “You know, you never did tell me how you figured out our old address,” I ask, recalling how he’d come home one day telling me he’d visited Haven Falls and stolen the knife from our old home. “I could hardly remember the suburb let alone mom and dad’s first names. How’d you know about this?”
“It’s called Google, Sky,” he says with a soft chuckle, throwing his arm over my shoulder. “Once Anton’s case was closed, the details were available to the public. You just had to know where to look.”
“Are you kidding me? How come you never told me this?”
“What I read wasn’t exactly something I wanted you to relive. It’s not nice, Skylah. It was very descriptive, but that’s beside the point. It had mom and dad’s address and the second I found out, I had to come.”
“You know I hate you for not bringing me.”
“I didn’t know what I was going to find when I got here. What if the house was never cleaned up and put back together after…that night.”
“It’s my family too, Blake. I could have handled it.”
“I know, but it’s my job to protect you from stuff like that.”
“No, it’s not. That’s my job.”
He looks down at me with a smirk. “Their names were Rochelle and Jacob Daniels.” My eyes go wide as I look up at my brother. “I googled them, you know once I found out their names. I found copies of their birth certificates and marriage certificate.”
“What? And?”
“And everything. Mom was born in Aston Creek and at some point moved here to Haven Falls, maybe with dad, I don’t know but they were married here. My math might have been off but I think mom was 22 and dad 24 when they married.”
“What about dad? Where was he born?”
“Here in Haven Falls.”
“Are you shitting me?” I ask, stepping back so I can get a good punch to his upper arm, knowing the exact right spot which would give him a dead arm. “You’ve known this all along and never told me?”
Guilt has his face scrunching and glancing away. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I knew you were having a hard time over the past few years and I thought hearing those things would put you into some downward spiral. At the time I found out, you were having those bad dreams and would scream every night. I couldn’t make things harder for you.”
I let out a heavy sigh and step back into his side, still so angry with him but understanding why he did it. “You owe me.”
“I know,” he tells me. “Anything you want.”
“Do you still have the certificates?”
He shakes his head. “No, I never printed them out. I couldn’t risk Maria or Lucien finding them. You know how often they’d search our rooms.”
I scoff in agreement. “Mine more than yours.”
“If I found them once, I’m sure I could find them again,” he says, pulling out his phone and realizing its battery is dead. Though, I don’t think it matters seeing as though we ditched our sim cards. He sighs. “Let’s ask someone if there’s a public library around here and then we can start searching. Who knows, maybe you’re right about having extended family. I guess we just have to look in the right places.”
“I’m sure of it,” I promise him. “We’ve got this.”
“Right. So, mom and dad’s place, library, then the police station?” he confirms. I nod and he looks down at me. “Then what?”