Thicker Than Water

Chapter 1

She has my eyes. Or, rather, I have her eyes. Either way, the eyes looking down at me are the exact same shade as my own. Little bursts of almond shaped hazels that are framed by long lashes that might as well be a tunnel into the innermost emotions.

          I wonder what emotions my eyes are giving away at this moment in time. While our eyes might be the same shade and shape, I know at this exact moment they are not identical. What I see in that lady’s eyes right now is relief and something resembling love. What I feel right now is far from love and relief. I feel scared.

          For weeks I have imprinted in my mind what these people could possibly look like, sound like be like. Finally, here I am. Staring at a tall female with a straight frame, blond curls surrounding her heart shaped face, a cute button nose protruding out at me and those eyes. The eyes I have been given compliments on my whole life, eyes that my mother would gaze into when I was sitting on her lap, barely old enough to read. She would look at me and ask ‘How on God’s name in Earth did my beautiful girl get those beautiful eyes?’ She would smile then and that would make me smile. A big grin that took up my whole face because for some strange reason I was happy that my mother liked my eyes, I wanted to make her proud and even if all I did was happen to get two recessive alleles, it was good enough to make her smile.

       I felt tears start to spring up from somewhere deep inside, salty water rising from my tear ducts and threatening to spill over.  I couldn’t think about where my mother was right now. I couldn’t think about her ever again. Instead, I focused my attention on the man with his arm around the lady. His hair was light brown and wavy with streaks of grey highlighting certain areas. He looked so much older than the woman even though I was told he was only a year her senior. His business suit did not look awkward on him like I always thought when my dad dressed up for formal occasions and he looked uncomfortable, as if the suit was swallowing him up. This man filled the suit in perfectly, as only a lawyer accustomed to looking professional six days a week can.

       I didn’t understand why no words were spoken to fill in the silence yet until I realized that they were doing the same thing as me, assessing my every feature, looking at every freckle in hope of finding resemblances. I chastised myself for the fleeting thought that I had in which I hoped they would like what they saw, hoped they would accept me. I didn’t need their acceptance, they ripped me from the only home I could remember and are expecting me to act like I am grateful about it.

        “Are you ready to come home, Lauren?” The voice was coated in honey, a melody that seeped into your mind and soothed your insides. It was beautiful…and familiar. I stared at the blonde lady for a second, remembering the same soft whisper of a voice filling in the night, whisking my nightmares away. The memory was fuzzy and gone in an instant but it had enough power to propel frozen fear to lace around me. I looked at her with a mixture of shock, wonderment and resentment. For a second, I wanted to confide in them about the flashback, wanted to work together with them to make sense out of this new crazy arrangement. The memory passed in a second, though, and a new, fresh memory of what these people did to my family replaced it in my mind.

         Instead of a confession I just connected eyes with the two strangers’, our gazes colliding and said “My name is Reese” then followed them out into the idling car, parked isolated on the curb.