CHAPTER 2

HAYLEY

Darkness filled my sight when I woke up. My whole body is numb. I couldn’t move my finger…and when I tried to lift it I realized I had been tied. I started panicking, sweat dripped from my face as I struggled to shout…but there were no words coming out of my mouth.

Where am I? I tried to recall what I was doing before it seemed like it’s my end. As I remember, I was walking to the parking lot of my car after my visit to one of the sites as I was doing a project with a big company. It was around 8 o’clock in the evening, I was heading home. Unfortunately, someone grabbed my arm…and here I am now.

Oh, my gosh! I’ve been kidnapped.

“Hmm…” I shouted again but it was a struggle as there’s a tape in my mouth. “H…e….l….p…”

I moved my body, tried to roll, pushed my feet, tapped the wall, and tried everything that could help me. In the end, I got tired and just helplessly cried. I am still young at 25 and I still have a lot of things I have never done in my life. If I only knew that this is my end, then I should have rescheduled my marriage last week.

What did I do wrong? I couldn’t even remember if I have someone I did wrong because I have been good all my life. There’s no way I harm someone because I am always careful with my words and actions.

I started praying because that’s the best thing I can do right now. I have learned from the sisters in the orphanage where I grew up that prayer is the best weapon when I no longer know what to do. With a terrified heart, I prayed that whoever kidnapped me had a good heart. Maybe…they don’t intend to kill me…maybe they are just playing around.

It took another seconds before I could hear footsteps marching forward. There were two people walking if I am not mistaken…and one of them was wearing heels so she is a woman. I hadn’t fully concluded who they were when one of them pulled the mask tape in my mouth making me shout in pain.

“Ouch!” I cried and felt like there was even blood. “What do you need from me?” I managed to ask after a moment of silence.

A hand, which I sensed coming from a man, held my body and lifted me up in a sitting position. My heart was beating so fast like it would come out of my chest any moment.

“Do you need money?” I asked. “What did I do? Why am I here? Where are we?” I asked again and again until one of them removed the cloth covering my eyes.

It was a blurry sight for about a minute until the whole place became clear to me. I was expecting some old warehouse, garage, or field, like what I’ve seen in movies, but there was none. Instead, I am inside an elegant and stylish room filled with expensive materials.

When I looked around, my mind was kind of puzzled. I had to close my eyes and open it again because I might be dreaming. No, I wasn’t dreaming. The painting is still in front of me. It wasn’t a big deal to me…only that it’s my face.

“It’s my…” I covered my mouth in surprise, “Me…”

I couldn’t form the words. I stood up but then my feet were tied so I almost lost my balance. A man in his fifties caught me in his arms and started removing the ties of my hand and feet. When I looked at him, I felt a sudden bolt in my chest like I knew him but it’s really my first time to see him.

“Who…are you…” I was still confused. A woman who I think is in her forties was standing next to the man, looking at me with mixed emotions.

They didn’t stop me when I stood up and looked around the room. Based on the minimalist interior of the room, it’s owned by a lady perhaps the same age as me. What’s fascinating was the photographs…it’s me. I am in those photographs, but no…I am sure that it wasn’t me. I have never been to the Eiffel Tower like where the girl who looks like me in the photograph was standing. And, surely…we dressed differently. It’s me…but it’s not me!

“Who is she?” I managed to ask when I recovered from my senses.

“She is my daughter,” the man replied to me. As I looked closely at him, I realized that we both have the same hazelnut eyes and bit similarities in our face.

“But…” I shook my head. “Wait, I can’t understand a thing. Can you tell me what’s happening here?” I felt like my mind was going to explode any moment. “Why do we look the same?”

“Because you are twins,” the woman replied to me. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“Twins?” I laughed a little, not believing what she’s telling me. “That’s impossible. I don’t have a twin. I am an only child.”

“How do you know that you are an only child when you are an orphan?” The man said. “You are also my daughter.”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I lost my father when I was a child…so it’s impossible that…”

“Is that what Sister Maria had told you?” He smiled a little. “I guess that’s necessary as your mother never wanted me to meet you.”

“What? How did you know Sister Maria?” I was getting more confused as I listened to him. “My mother? You know my mother?”

“She’s my wife…” He replied with a sad smile on his face. “Unfortunately, our marriage failed because of some circumstances. When you and your sisters were born, she left our house with you, leaving me with your twin sister so you never get the chance to meet me. Unfortunately, your mother also died so you grew up in the orphanage.”

“No…you’re lying.” I denied it even though it seems fit to my story, but I have learned not to trust a stranger. “How would I know that you aren’t lying to me?” I eyed him.

“That necklace of yours…” He pointed at the necklace I am wearing. I caressed my neck and held the pendant. “It was from your mother, right? There’s a picture of her in that pendant.”

He was right. Although, I chose not to say a thing until he pulled something from his pocket and showed me a wallet size picture. From the corner of my eye, the woman scoffed while staring at the picture.

There’s two people in the picture. They were young yet I recognized the girl as it was the same one as my mother. I have never met him but Sister Mary brought her into life by telling me about her. And, the guy…he was very young in the picture though he indeed looked like the man in front of me.

“The other side of your locket doesn’t have a picture, right? Your mother must have removed my face there…” He said. “Now, do I still look like I am lying?”

My brain is starting to explode from too much information. Does it mean that I still have a father and he’s not dead like I have known in my entire life? It made me happy, but at the same time gave me so much pain and resentment in my heart.

“So, all these times…you are alive?” I scoffed. Tears started falling from my eyes. “You are just showing yourself to me now? You even kidnapped your own daughter…how am I supposed to trust you now? Why only now?” I begged him.

“I’m sorry, my daughter. But, the sisters in the orphanage hid you from me like what your mother had told them…so it was difficult for me to find you when you were a child.”

“And, now…what makes it easy for you to find me?” I fired back.

“You’re no longer living in the orphanage,” he replied.

“Why did you kidnap me, then?” I asked. “What do you need from me? Surely, you need something from me because you have the guts to show your face after a long time.”

I thought I had already found my family, but what he said broke my heart.

“I want you to act as your twin sister.”