Something’s not right here.

“Can you keep a secret?” The words rang in my ears. Of course I can but by the way Alex’s voice shook while asking made me hesitate.

“Of course.” My curiosity got the better of me as I had to know what she was holding back. I would always keep her secrets. She was in fact the love of my life after all. These past few weeks had been hard on her. She got into an accident and had lost all of her memories, so I’m assuming that she figured something out and I had to find out what it was.

“My memories have been coming back slowly but surely. But the things I’m remembering, seem to be at odds with what is in front of me. It’s almost as if my life right now is a lie made up by someone else.” My voice was caught in my throat at her confession. I’ve only known her for a couple of years so what she said could be true, but if that were the case then why has her family been lying to her all this time?

”What do you mean? Why would your life be a lie?” I couldn’t help the sorrow that seeped into my voice. Does she think that I’m a lie as well?

”My parents are hiding something from me. Something big and I think it’s something dangerous. I need your help to figure out the truth.” She took a long pause before looking directly into my eyes. “Please. You’re the only one I can trust.” I nodded reluctantly and she immediately pulled me from my seat on the couch. We went directly into her parents study to try to figure out what was so big that they had to hide it from their only daughter. We searched through paper after paper and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That is until I realized that there was one drawer on the desk that was locked. Whatever was in there, I was almost certain was what we were looking for. After I jimmied the drawer open we stared blankly at the papers in front of us. It was Alex’s birth certificate. But the problem was that where her parents names were supposed to be, there were other people’s names for both lines. We put the papers back in the drawer and closed it. Turning our attention to the computer on the desk, we decided to look up the couple that was on the birth certificate. Almost instantly the computer sprung to life with tons of articles about the couple and how their young baby girl went missing. It had been so long that they now presumed her to be dead, but she wasn’t. She was right here with me. Tears welling up inside of her eyes, but not letting them fall. Then she turned to me and as her first tear finally escaped she asked me, “can you keep a secret?” I nodded once more. And she continued, “I need to find my parents. My real parents but I can let my fake ones know that I know.” I was sixteen so I had my license and I told her I would take her to her parents. We decided that we should leave at nightfall that way her parents wouldn’t be suspicious of her absence. Lucky for us her real parents only lived about an hour away so the drive wouldn’t take long. I told her that she should probably bring her birth certificate and maybe some baby pictures so that her parents didn‘t think she was just trying to scam them or play with their emotions. As sad as it is, there are people out there that would do that sort of thing to grieving people. So as soon as nightfall came, I parked my car outside of her house. When she was sure that her parents were fast asleep, she snuck out of her room and ran to my car. As soon as she got in I made sure that she brought the pictures and her birth certificate. She showed me that she had so we started on our journey. I could see how nervous she was so i reached my hand over to hold hers. Trying my best to give her some sort of comfort through this impossibly difficult time. As we pulled up in front of her true parents house. She just stared for a couple of minutes. “Whenever you’re ready we can go. But just know I’ll be by your side through all of this.” She smiled and seemed to relax at my words as she slowly opened the car door. The journey from the car to the house seemed like it took an eternity. She slowly reached out her hand, but before she could knock the door opened. Revealing a woman who looked almost identical to Alex. I could hear her gasp so I gripped her hand a little tighter.

“M-mom?” You could hear how hesitant she was but she knew undoubtably now that her family had in fact lied to her. They weren’t her family at all. Her family was right here in this beautiful house mourning everyday for their lost child, who was now standing directly in front of them.

“NICK!” The woman screamed and in an instant a man came running to the front door only to stop dead in his tracks when his eyes fell on Alex. Tears welled up in his eyes as well as his wife’s and they pulled Alex into the biggest hug. I could see after a few minutes that Alex tried to pull away but her parents didn’t want to let her go. I didn’t blame them. I couldn’t imagine the type of pain that they had been feeling this whole time. Not knowing where their daughter was. If she was safe. If she was even still alive. But here she was in all of her beauty standing in the place that she belonged to be in. I turned around to leave but I was stopped by someone grabbing my wrist, “Marcus please stay.” I turned around to see Alex and both her parents looking at me with hope that I would. And I did. As I entered the house I was pulled into a hug with Alex and her parents. “We will never be able to repay you for reuniting us with our daughter.” Her father said as tears streamed down his face.

“I just want Alex to be happy and that is payment enough.” I said as I returned their warm embrace. I could tell that this was where she belonged. And I was so happy that she was able to come home.