⌈ 𝘋𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘴, 𝘛𝘟 ⌉ 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 16, 2020 ⌊ 3:20 𝘗𝘔 ⌋



With the redirection fifteen minutes were added to Saris's walk, until she finally reached Dylan's gated community. It was nicer than anything Saris had lived in, ever. Their houses throughout the years were decent, but never "nice".

The quality of the houses only got worse after Shawn left. Clara reluctantly got a job for the first time since highschool, and it wasn't anything grand. She restocked shelves at the local grocery and complained about it every chance she got.

Saris walked through the neighborhood, observing the two and sometimes three story houses. They all had a modern look to them along with the same dark green, freshly cut grass. It was almost perfect with bushes lined along the driveways of the houses.

Saris finally approached Dylan's house and began walking up the driveway. As she approached the door she noticed a purple balloon that was tangled within the bushes.

Saris smiled at the balloon that just so happened to be her favorite color. She detangled it from the branches before pulling out the balloon. The balloon was deflated so she walked to the trash can, preparing to toss it before she noticed a note that was tied to the string.

She opened it and began reading.

Dear Saris, Hi it's officially been 17 years since you were taken. Although I've only known you from the womb I miss you everyday. I love you, we all do. Happy 17th Birthday Saris Reign. Love, Tylear

Saris finished reading the note more confused than ever. She couldn't help but to think that she was the same Saris on the note. I mean how many people in the world are named Saris, let alone Saris Reign.

She took the note and put it in her pocket. She knocked on the front door as Dylan's dad answered. Dylan's dad was really kind and always treated Saris like a daughter.

"Oh hello Ms. Saris."

"Hi Mr. Marks."

"You here for Dylan?"

Saris nodded as Mr. Marks let out a breath.

"She just left, that damn girl." he said with a noticeable annoyance.

"Ok well that's fine." Saris thought back to the note in her pocket, "Can you help me with something?"

"Yeah, what is it?

Saris reached into her pocket, taking out the note and handing it to him.

Mr. Marks was actually the head detective at Dallas PD so Saris knew he could help her figure out the note.

As he read it his eyebrows furrowed.

"Where'd you find this?"

"It was tied to a balloon outside."

"This is interesting. You mind coming down to the station with me?"

Saris agreed to go and they left heading to the station.

— ⌈𝘗𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯⌋

Detective Marks led Saris to an office in the back.

"Ok take a seat and I'll be right back."

She nodded as she decided to sit in one of the chairs in front of the desk.

A few minutes later he returned with a woman who dressed in a professional blouse and skirt with clear framed glasses.

The woman sat behind the desk and began clicking around the computer before she looked at Detective Marks.

"What do you need me to do."

"First I need you to access all of her files. Birth certificate, social security, all of it."

She nodded, clicking on the keyboard quickly.

"Ok sweetie what's your full name?

"Saris Reign Stephenson."

She typed it in and shortly looked over to Mr. Marks.

"It's all valid?" he asked.

The woman nodded.

"Saris where and when were you born?" he asked.

"A hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana on April 17, 2003."

"Ok, now search up all hospitals in Baton Rouge that had babies born that day."

She nodded quickly typing before she paused.

"What happened?" Detective Marks asked.

"Well sir it says there was an abduction this day at one of the hospitals."

Saris turned to Detective Marks in hopes of answers but just saw the same perplexed look that was on her own face.

"What's the family's name?" he asked.

The lady scrolled while her eyes scanned the screen.

"Ok so from what I'm reading Mr. and Mrs. Brooks had 3 kids at the time when she went into labor with twins. She gave birth, but someone claiming to be a nurse took one of the twins. Their kids' names are Kourtney, D'aire, Nehemiah, and..." she scrolled down a bit, "...Tylear."

Saris tried to piece together the information but was unable to. Something was missing.

"Their daughter was the one who was taken. Her name was-" Her face completely dropped as she looked at Saris.

Detective Marks looked at the computer screen and instantly got shocked looking at her too.

"What? What's going on I'm not really following. What's the little girl's name?" Saris asked, intrigued by this story.

He whispered something in the woman's ear and she nodded shortly after getting out of the chair and leaving.

"Saris, the little girl's name is Saris."

"So what does this mean?" she squinted.

"It can mean many things. We're gonna take this one step at a time so don't worry."

Saris's eyes burned as she felt the urge to cry. In situations like this one where she had no idea what was going on she always got sad. She never knew the reason nor did she like that this happened. Saris felt like she was stupid and didn't have the ability to wrap her head around some of the most basic things.

Saris was so zoned out as she tried to focus on anything but her urge to cry, she didn't even realize the social worker who came into the room.

"Hi Saris, I'm with the state, how are you?" she stuck her hand out. Saris was about to shake the lady's hand when her phone started to ring. She looked at it seeing it was her "mom". Saris was unsure at the moment what was going on and was questioning everything around her.

She didn't know how to feel at the moment so she let it ring. The social worker noticed the caller id and instantly looked at Saris with sympathy. Saris caught the look and her eyes watered. What wasn't she understanding?

"Sweetie, are you okay?"

Saris held her head down, shaking it. As her eyes clouded with tears. Her face felt hot and her nose burned so she just knew she was turning red.

"Not to sound rude but, what are you here for?" Saris asked.

The social worker chuckled saying, "We have a few things that we use in cases like this. Let me show you."

Cases?

She motioned for Saris to follow which she did. They walked into a room where the lady from earlier was sitting in. She was typing as the social worker pulled out some supplies.

"What's this for?"

"Someone's going to swab your DNA to see if it's a match."

"Match?"

A woman who looked like a nurse walked in and did the test. Once she was done she packed everything up and explained how they were going to rush the results to get them in 12 hours.

Everything around Saris appeared to be spinning and she was just there getting dizzy. No one was explaining anything as they all whispered to each other and stared at Saris.

Speaking of whispering, the social worker and the lady at the desk were whispering as they looked between the computer and Saris.

"That's the only photo they have of the baby?" the social worker asked.

"Yes, she was taken before they were even able to enjoy her."

"She looks just like her."

"Yes she does."

Who looks like who?

— ⌈ 𝘋𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘴, 𝘛𝘟 ⌉ 𝘈𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘭 16, 2020 ⌊ 5:40 𝘗𝘔 ⌋



After the balloon release everyone hopped back on a plane to go home. Once they arrived everyone parted ways and began to do their own thing.

Jayceon went to the living room and watched football reruns, Serena was in the kitchen cooking, and all the boys were upstairs playing video games.

Like every year around this time Tylear was in his room alone. He listened to his favorite songs as he wrote in his notebook. It was something he picked up when he first learned to write.

In elementary school they had mini writing assignments and some of them included writing to someone in your family. Tylear always wrote about Saris until his teachers told his parents. They thought Saris was an imaginary friend and urged his parents to put him in counseling for his "unhealthy behavior". Serena and Jayceon sat him down and gifted him a notebook. In it he wrote many letters to Saris about heavy things on his heart or things he was proud of himself about.

It helped clear his head and keep him hopeful about meeting his sister one day. Currently he was ranting as words just flew out onto the paper. His stomach growled so he stopped to take a break and get a snack before dinner.

He walked down the stairs and into the kitchen where his mom glided around the room. She was stirring one second and chopping the next, always on the move. Serena's phone buzzed against the countertop as she shopped up her green onions.

"Ty, baby grab my phone for me."

Tylear reached for the phone seeing it wasn't a saved number. He hurried and answered it since it had been ringing for a while and he didn't want his mom to miss the call.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm calling for Serena Brooks. Is this her number?"

"Yeah."

Serena looked up at Tylear with a curious face.

"Oh that's great! Can you put her on the phone."

Tylear took the phone away from his ear saying, "She wants to talk to you."

Serena gave a perplexed look, "Who is it?"

Tylear shrugged, putting it on speaker for his mom since her hands were full.

"Hi, Mrs. Brooks?"

"Yes, this is she."

"Ok I have some news." Serena paused what she was doing, looking at the phone oddly.

"I'm sorry, who is this?"

"My name is Sarah Hernandez and I'm a social worker in Dallas. I called because there is a possibility that we have found your daughter Saris."

Serena and Tylear paused looking at each other.

"OH MY GOD!" Serena gasped loudly.

Tylear seemed to be stuck in the same position. He tried to control his breathing and take in the news but he couldn't do so.

It sounded like a stampede as everyone rushed into the kitchen to see what the issue was.

"What wrong?" Jayceon busted into the kitchen first.

His eyes moved from the hysterical Serena to the shocked Tylear. His eyes moved as Tylear slowly pointed to the phone. By then everyone had made it to the kitchen and the siblings rushed to Tylear to try to get him to breathe.

Jayceon picked up the phone looking at the caller id.

"Hello?"

"Yes, is Mrs. Brooks still there?"

"Yeah, but this is her husband. Who is this?"

"My name is Sarah Hernandez and I'm a social worker in Dallas. I called today because a girl came in after finding a note that had her name on it."

Everyone looked around still confused as Tylear pieced the pieces together. He mumbled under his breath Saris as his siblings looked from him to the phone.

The lady continued, "The girl's name is Saris Reign Stephenson and she lives in Dallas. We have a DNA test in the works now trying to verify this."

Everyone in the room paused as the air started to feel thicker.

"You being serious?" Jayceon questioned astonished.

"Yes, I have her here at the Dallas police station and I will call y'all back as soon as I get the test results back."

"How long will that take?" Jayceon questioned.

"It's an expected 12 hour wait."

Serena's crying had died down by then and everyone hugged around her.

"She's coming home." is what Serena kept repeating.

Tylear felt joy building up in him, but quickly shot it down.

Why would they call without verification first? What if it wasn't her? What if she never came home?

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italicized sentences are usually inner thoughts btw

edited 9/23

2047 Words