Zayna was standing by the foot of her mother Shameka's hospital bed. Everything had gone down so fast and Shameka was suddenly in need of a new kidney. She heard footsteps behind her and turned around to see her father Kyle had finally made it through traffic from work. He hurried up to his wife and took her hand.
"How are you, darling?" Kyle asked.
"Not good," Shameka answered.
"She needs a new kidney as soon as possible," Zayna said.
Kyle turned his head and smiled at his daughter.
"I've already informed them that I wanna get tested to see if I'm a match," Zayna said.
"Don't!" Kyle said firmly.
"I have to. She needs a kidney," Zayna said.
"I don't want you to have a surgery for me," Shameka said.
"Tough shit because I'm getting tested for you," Zayna said.
"I said no!" Kyle snarled.
Zayna pressed her lips together and stared at her father. She was expecting him to explain why not but he just stared back at her.
"Why not?" Zayna asked.
"Let it go," Kyle said.
"Tell me why not or I'll get tested no matter what you say," Zayna said.
Kyle looked at Shemeka who sighed in return.
"You're adopted," Shameka said.
Zayna swallowed and everything was silent for a few seconds while she took in that information.
"I guess that explains my red hair," Zayna said.
Zayna had red hair and green eyes. She always assumed her green eyes came from her mother but both of her parents had blonde hair. She had been told about a grandmother she had never met that had red hair and she always believed it even though she had never seen pictures. It all suddenly made sense.
"Are you okay?" Kyle asked.
"Who are my birth parents?" Zayna asked.
"We don't know. It was a closed adoption," Kyle said.
"I suppose that doesn't matter. I would like to see the adoption papers though," Zayna said.
"We didn't keep them," Kyle said.
"You didn't keep them?" Zayna asked shocked. "Why the hell not?"
"Don't swear at me," Kyle said.
"Give her a pass," Shameka said.
"Yeah, give me a pass," Zayna said annoyed. "I need some air. I'll come back later."
Zayna left her parents in the hospital room and headed out to her car. She got in and drove back to her parents' place. She couldn't put her finger on it but it felt like there was more to this whole thing. It felt like they had been lying to her about something.
She let herself inside their house and went to her father's office. He kept all of their personal papers in there. She went through all of his ring binders and drawers but couldn't find anything about her adoption.
"For fuck sake!" She growled.
She sat on his office chair, powered up his laptop, and started looking for anything on it that might have some information about her. Again she found nothing. In a desperate attempt she went on google and started looking up anything she could think of that might lead to some sort of information about her. In her tiring search she suddenly came across a site of missing children where a computer system had created pictures of how they might look today. She held her breath when she stared at a picture that looked exactly like her.
"What the fuck?" She whispered.
She swallowed and read about the case. A baby stolen from a hospital and never found. She took out her phone and dialed the number listed on the site. She felt tears run down her cheeks when the call was answered.
"My name is Zayna Thomasin," she said. "I think you're looking for me."
