Chapter 2

2 Before I could figure out her game, the man was glaring down at me. "Ashley, how could you treat Brittany like that?"

Brittany, the girl who'd fallen, pushed herself up, looking all fragile and pained. "It's okay, Mr. Van Derlyn. Ashley's probably mad because you guys came to watch my ballet recital instead of…you know. Maybe she thinks I got kidnapped because of me."

She turned her big eyes on me. "But Uncle Mark and Aunt Carol haven't left the police station since they heard what happened! They haven't even been home to sleep. You hate me it is fine, but don't be angry with mom and dad"

Ugh. So loud.

My head throbbed.

Too much talking.

Finally, I buried my face in the pillow, sobbing, gasping for breath. "I don't even know you people! Why would I be mad at you?"

The doctor arrived, looking harassed. The man, Mr. Van Derlyn, turned to him, his voice tight.

"Is she faking the amnesia? She used to pretend she had a stomachache just to get out of school. She got into some fight, and now she's faking things so she won't get punished."

The young doctor raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Van Derlyn, your daughter has multiple soft tissue injuries, a fractured right leg, internal bleeding in the abdomen, and evidence of blunt force trauma to the back of her head."

"Based on the scans, there's some blood pooling around a specific area in her brain. Memory loss is definitely a possibility."

Mr. Van Derlyn's lips thinned.

The woman, Carol, started crying again. "My baby...she really doesn't remember me?"

"Ashley, Ashley!" She kept saying my name like if she just said it enough it would make me remember.

She was strange, thinking she could just say my name a few times and somehow wake up the memories, fill in the blanks.

I looked at her, my face blank. "Don't bother. I don't remember anything."

"But I know one thing for sure: you're not my parents."

"Before I passed out, I heard the kidnappers say my parents would rather watch their adopted daughter dance ballet than believe I was taken. You're definitely not my real parents."

Carol's face crumpled.

In the end, they took me home.

While I was recovering, the police came by.

According to the kidnappers, they were some out-of-towners looking to score a quick buck in the big city.

They'd heard the Van Derlyns were rich, and they only had one daughter, so they figured they'd give it a shot.

Except, after they grabbed me, my parents thought it was a prank, too busy fawning over Brittany to even check if I was okay.

Luckily, a passerby found me, and I got to go home.