In Venice
Part 1
My name is Lola Dean. I was one of the victims of what my world calls a tragedy, but my world never knew the truth. It was not a tragedy, it was a combination of luck and fate that connected all the people here. If it hadn't happened I would not be the person I am today, and I would not be as happy nor as strong. It is a story that I believe the world should know about. So here I am, retelling it just as I lived it. Come in, though I warn you, you may find it improbable or impossible. I am telling this story with nothing omitted. It is, as I lived it.
It was the spring of my sixteenth year when I discovered something that changed the course of my life forever. I had gone to the library archives to find some pictures of a missing urchin for my social studies eleventh grade high school exit project.
I found myself looking at the missing children newspaper clippings. I was rifling through it trying to find the missing urchin when I suddenly looking at a photo that looked strikingly familiar. I looked more closely to discover with a jolt that the little girl in the photo looked just like... me. A younger version of course, but still me. I recognized the unruly raven black hair, the high cheek bones, and the crooked teeth that now had been fixed by braces. The only thing missing was the long scar that ran up the side of my face close to my hairline that I had, had since I was four. I had gotten into a horrible car accident when I was four. I had been the only injured party, but the collision left a permanent scar. The similarities were many. The name on the clipping said Lola Parker, mine was Lola Dean.
One single idea came to mind. Was there another person out there who looked just like me, and had been kidnaped when only a baby?! A sister perhaps, or a twin maybe... Impossible I shook my head, "I'm an only child," I thought to myself. The name though... the name was my own. A long lost twin, with an identical name?! Or was it all a coincidence? But, a nagging feeling was tugging at the back of my head. Was it possible that I did have a sister, maybe even a twin out there that my parents had never told me about... But, wait; could I have been, not that was impossible. But, the picture could have been my picture, and the name was identical. It was almost as if, it was me that was missing...
I resolved to ask my parents when I got home.
After leaving the library with no success with my schoolwork, but taking the clipping, I returned home and promptly forgot about it. I had my exit project to work on.
A few weeks later I again found the clipping at the bottom of my bag. I took it downstairs to dinner to ask my parents. I confronted them after dinner when we were about to turn the TV on to the evening news.
I turned to them, took out the clipping, and asked straight out if I had a sibling of any kind. The said no, as always. I had asked the question multiple times before, in vain hopes of discovering I had a sibling.
After my parents had replied the customary no, I brought out the clipping. "Then explain this," I said to them. They took the clipping, looking at it together. My mother gasped, and my father's back stiffened. "Where did you get this," he asked, sounding angry.
"The library," I told him innocently; "I was doing research." My parents were, all the while exchanging glances with ashen faces.
Why were my parents acting so nervous?
When I was done my father said, a little too quickly; "we know nothing about this. Put it away."
Why were my parents acting like this?? There had to be more here then they were letting on, I thought.
I put the clipping dutifully away, resolved to study it more tomorrow.
When I looked at it more closely the next day I found I stated, that Lola Parker was 2 years old at the time of her disappearance, and that she was missed by a single mother(Mary Parker and a sister, a twin sister: Lily Parker.
The twin sister part confused me to no end. Could the entire thing be a coincidence, I thought to myself. But, then why were my parents acting so nervous. I could tell when they were trying to hide something and this was one of these times. I'll leave it alone for a while, then I could open up the subject without actually pinpointing it. That should work, I murmured to myself.
I deemed to leave the subject dormant for a while, while I collected info on the whole subject. Over the next few days I went to libraries and surfed the web. I found every article, picture, and every mention of the any Parker, Lola, and anything on the kidnaping.
I found that Lola Parker had been searched for to no end, but they had never found a trace of her. Then I found a connected article scared me a bit. It was a missing photo of Lily Parker. I read the article how she also had disappeared without a trace when she was twelve. She had apparently disappeared while home alone. The police had been searching for connections between the two cases, but had never found any. Both Lily and Lola Parker where both presumed dead.
Little did I know then that neither Lily nor Lola were close to being dead. They were very much alive. I would soon find that out on my own.
I realized that there was not much more I could do with the Parker Case, which is what I had begun calling it. I thought about calling or visiting Mary Parker, Lily's mother. Then I realized I was only just interested in the case, nothing more. I was also afraid that I just might uncover a truth I didn't want to know...