Chapter 2
Ariella continued to tune out her so called family. This was too ridiculous to believe, were they high? "Great, she's tuning us out." Jill said as she threw her hands up in annoyance. "I took her in when social services took her away from Arella. They wouldn't say why they took her away, but it took her a long time to get her to trust me, she has trust issues, and I have no clue why." Renee said to them.
"I wish you all the luck in the world trying to get her to trust you." Renee added. Jill tapped on her daughter's shoulder once more. Ariella continued to tune her out. Finally she grabbed her iPod and turned it off. "Laura, just listen to what we have to say." Jill pleaded. "My name is Ariella, not Laura, so fuck off!" she said in anger as she ripped her iPod out of Jill's hands and stormed off.
"Well that went great Ms. Psychology." Tim joked. "This is not the time for jokes Tim." Jill said as she tried to think of how to get her daughter to listen to her. Ariella went to the river by the house and watched the water flow by her. It somehow calmed her down a bit. "You know, when you were little, you were a lot closer to us. You used to never want to be put down." Jill said as she sat next to Ariella. "You've got the wrong girl." Ariella said as she threw a stone into the river and watched it skip down the water before falling to the bottom of the river. "We know that you're her, you just can't accept it." She replied back.
"Yes, because I don't tend to accept stupidity as a proper answer." Ariella replied. "What does that mean?" Jill asked her. "It means that you don't have any proof except for cosmetic defects that could be part of any average human being." Ariella added. "Yeah, but the odds are extremely low, the chances of you looking exactly like her as a child and having the same defects are slim to none." Jill replied.
"Then you accept the chance that you can be wrong." Ariella said as she stood up and started walking. She picked a flower and twirled it in her fingers. "Sure I accept it, but I know I'm not. I doubt the police…" she started. "What? Are wrong? Police are human as well; therefore they make stupid mistakes just like everyone else." Ariella said as she continued walking.
"Look, I mean the proof doesn't get clearer than physical evidence, pictures…" Jill said as she caught up with Ariella, showing her the pictures. "Pictures can be doctored you know…so maybe I am this girl…I'm not going…" Ariella said. "You're happy with making what 6.50 an hour? You're happy living here with a dead end job? What about college?" she asked. "What about it? I never had the grades to get into a college; the most I could hope for is a trade school. I was lucky enough to graduate. I have a 2.1 GPA; I can't even qualify for a scholarship." Ariella said. "You graduated high school 4 years earlier than you should have, a 2.1 isn't the best, but you tried to graduate before you should have." Jill replied. "Yeah…whatever…look, I have work in the morning…I need to go to bed." Ariella said as she headed back to the house and into her room.
"We're getting nowhere fast. Laura, we're not done talking, open up!" Jill said as she knocked on the door. Ariella opened the door. "I think I like Ariella better." She said as she tried to shut the door in their face, but Tim put his foot in the door before she had a chance to shut it all the way. "So you're just going to force me to go with you?" Ariella said as she sat on her bed angrily. "Yeah, pretty much, because we're your parents and we're not letting you live like this." Tim said to her. "Whatever" Ariella said as she laid down on her bed and buried her head under her pillow.
So Laura was forced to move with her parents, of course, she had her name on her diploma changed to her real name, she still kept in touch with her other family, but when she got to her new, or rather old home, Laura shut herself in the closet, refusing to come out. She finally came out a few days later, but it took a lot of coaxing to get her to do. Still Laura didn't trust her family, having been hurt before, she just didn't want it to happen again.