Chapter 4 Findings

Chapter 4

I sat down next to Isabella, my heart racing as I put the phone on speaker. The soft glow of the phone screen cast a pale light on our faces, and I could feel Isabella's concerned gaze on me.

"Am seated now, Liam, what is it?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

The phone crackled, and Liam's voice came through, low and serious. "It is the result of your biological parents' investigation,"

I felt a shiver run down my spine as I leaned forward, my hands clenched into fists. "What's the result?" I asked in a rush.

The silence on the phone felt suffocating. My heart thudded so loudly I could hear it echoing in my ears. Even the ticking clock on the wall seemed to pause, as if the entire room was waiting for Liam's next words. I could feel my palms growing clammy, sweat beading across my forehead despite the cool air drifting from the AC.

A knot tightened in my stomach as an uneasy coldness crept through my chest. Part of me wished he would just say it, whatever it was so my mind would stop running wild with possibilities I wasn't emotionally prepared for.

Isabella wasn't even blinking. She watched me like she already knew something terrible was coming, and that alone made my anxiety worse.

"Well according to the investigator, they might have offended some people who erased their existence and don't want people to know about them based on the information you provided." He said and I could almost hear Liam's hesitation.

My mind reeled as I tried to process the words. "How could that be?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

My throat burned with every breath I took. The room felt too quiet, too still, like the world had momentarily frozen around me. My childhood memories played in my mind like a broken film reel: blurry faces, muffled laughter, warm hands holding mine... and then darkness. A door closing. A goodbye I never understood.

What if all of that wasn't real?

What if everything I remembered was just a story I created to comfort myself?

A faint ache spread across my chest. The kind that comes from losing something you weren't ready to accept was gone.

Isabella's hand closed around mine, offering a comporting squeeze. "What do you mean, Liam?"

Liam's voice was gentle, but his next words sent a chill down my spine. "There is no couple with the name Nina Isolde and Noah Isolde at Willow Creek City."

I felt like I'd been punched in the gut, my breath knocked out of me. I stared blankly at the phone, my mind racing. "I think I really remember it correctly... I was smart and at the age of 5 had known some things, I am sure their name is Nina and Noah. I will never forget their surname and name. That's why I am still using it till now."

Isabella's grip on my hand tightened, and I knew she was worried about me. But I couldn't let my emotions get the better of me, not yet.

"I remember we used to be a loving family." I continued, my voice shaking. "Just one afternoon, everything changed, I was sent away... I want to know why."

"But now you are telling me there is no one bearing those names in the same city" I said looking blankly is my memories wrong.

Liam's voice was soft, understanding. "I'm sorry, Selena. There are no such people as Noah and Nina Isolde. So it might be either your memories are wrong or someone erases traces of their existence."

I pulled my hand away from Isabella's standing up and walked to the window.

The cool glass pressed against my fingertips as I stared out the window. The city lights blurred into streaks of gold and blue, glowing softly against the night sky. People were still walking along the streets below, laughing, talking, living their normal lives.

For a moment, I envied them.

They didn't have lost identities hanging over their heads.

They didn't go to sleep wondering if their entire childhood was built on lies.

I rested my forehead against the window, letting the faint vibration of passing cars ground me. But the heaviness in my chest refused to lift.

Isabella's voice was soft behind me as she touched my shoulder. "We"ll figure it out, Selena. We will find out the truth"

I nodded, feeling a sense of determination wash over me. I would uncover the truth, no matter what it took.

"I was dropped off at the orphanage at the age of 5. I was not raised in the orphanage." I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

"I was left there by someone but not my parents, like a package with no return address." I shook my head. I squeezed my eyes shut as the memory of that day flickered in my mind. A silhouette. A hand on my shoulder. The smell of something faintly metallic. But every time I tried to grasp it, the image slipped away like smoke.

Whoever dropped me at the orphanage didn't want to be remembered. Or didn't want to be found.

A strange shiver crawled up my spine, and the air around me felt heavier, as if someone had whispered a secret I wasn't meant to know.

"If my biological parents wanted to abandon me they would have done it at birth, not after I was old enough to remember some things about them." Though I don't remember what they look like

Isabella's eyes were wide with sympathy, but I knew she was worried. Liam's silence over the phone was deafening.

"Or maybe they are dead," I continued, my voice cracking.

"And their family doesn't want to raise me, so they dropped me at the orphanage and they erased my parents' existence to avoid any complications," I said, hoping Isabella and Liam wouldn't get worried.

But I knew deep down that there was more to my background than the eye could meet.

Liam's voice was bright.

"Yeah, that's the only logic I can think of, Selena," he said.

"But what if we hire a supernatural undercover to investigate? They must be able to discover something."

I shook my head immediately.

"No, don't investigate anymore. Not yet, at least."

My instincts were screaming in protest, warning me not to involve the supernatural undercover. My instincts were never wrong, they'd saved me countless times.

Isabella's eyes narrowed, but she knew better than to argue.

"Okay, we'll drop it for now. But promise me you'll be careful, Selena, because we don't know if your biological parents have an enemy who's looking for you."

I nodded, forcing a smile.

"I promise."

I handed the phone back to Isabella after removing it from the speaker, then walked to my room. I closed the door and sat on the edge of my bed.

Lately I've been having a terrible nightmare, a dream more like a blurry unclear memory. Which makes me try to know my true family and investigate the name of my biological parents, which I've remembered since I was dropped at the orphanage.

I know that name might be fake. Which it was.

It turns out to be as I suspected. I don't even remember the face or the identity of the person who dropped me off at the orphanage. All I knew was that someone dropped me at the orphanage.

Recently, my hearing has been sharper, louder. Especially at night. I'd catch the faintest sound outside the window or feel a strange prickle at the back of my neck, like unseen eyes were following my movements.

A few times, I even paused in the hallway of our apartment building, certain I heard quiet footsteps that stopped whenever I did.

Maybe it was stress.

Maybe it was something else entirely.

But every time I ignored the feeling, it only grew stronger.

All this is not normal, but all I can do right now is wait for the time those that dropped me would come to the orphanage to ask for me.

I know that in our world it's not only for us humans there are other supernatural beings like the Lycan, who fight against the other races for the right of us humans and help us regain our freedom from slavery; then there's the vampire, witch, angel, fae, demon, and so many other races among the supernatural.

They are still in contact and cooperate with us humans. Only the Lycan secluded themselves from the world after the war, no one has heard from them.

The supernatural beings rarely interact with us ordinary humans they deal only with nobles and leaders. They stay within their empires, and we humans rarely set foot in theirs.

So are my parents also supernatural creatures? Or did they offend one and have their existence erased, then hand me off for safety?

No matter which, I just hope I and those I love won't be in danger.

I should forget all this for now and sleep. I have to wake up early tomorrow for my new job and I can't be late on the first day the first impression I gave my boss was wrong already, and I can't let anything ruin the second one.

I don't know how tomorrow is going to be...