The Wrong Identity

it only takes us a few minutes before we arrive at Theas house. it was a detached 2 floor white brick house, the grass in the garden looked like it had been recently cut as there was a fresh smell of cut grass in the air.

This wasnt my first time in Thea's house but i had never been there when her parents weren't in making me paranoid they were going to come home and find us skipping school.

"its a good job i left my laptop on charge in my room" she said as we ascended the stairs. Thea's room was a great example of the classic teenager pintrest design. Her grey walls were covered in vinyls and fairy lights, she had a soft white rug which matched her bedding and other furniture.

I watch Thea grab her laptop and shuffle onto her bed making room for me to sit with her. We both sit there with our legs crossed. The laptop had the missing children's organisation website up aswell as the address presenting me with my two choices.

"you know, you don't have to do either of these, you can just pretend like it never happened until your ready" Thea said trying to comfort me. but i had already decided that i wanted to know the truth about my origins and i wasnt going to forget what i had discovered as if it was a bad dream.

"No, I wanna know for sure if I'm this girl or not" i tell Thea adamantly, She matched my determination by grabbing her phone out of her pocket and clicking on the phone icon.

"ring them" she said handing me the phone. I took a deep breath and waited a few seconds so i could think what i was going to say and began dialling in the numbers.

the phone began to ring what felt like forever my heart began thumping loudly in my ear as the blood rushed to my head.

"Hello?" The ringing stopped and a woman responded, I got off the bed and started pacing the room unable to speak.

"Hello? who is this?" the woman asked again. I licked my lips anxiously and cleared my throat repeating the words in my head.

"Hi I'm ringing regarding a missing 3 month old baby in 2011" i speak into the phone, I purposely chose not to say the babies name to avoid trouble later on. I try my best to sound older than i was but my voice betrayed me.

"Just give me a second" she said softer than before, could hear her typing on the computer, I assumed she was searching up the missing children on her database that went missing in 2011.

"Sorry about that.. what can i help you with?" she eventually said after a minute or two.

"Hypothetically if i knew someone who thought they might be a missing baby what would happen to them?" I ask swallowing my anxiety down trying to keep it at bay.

The line is silent for a moment, but i was sure the woman was still there as i could hear movement on the otherside of the phone.

"can you tell me their name?" she asked her tone wasnt firm but she asked it in an urgent manner.

"Um no i can't" i say my tears threatening to fall. It was as if the woman on the phone could see me at this moment with what she responded with.

"sweetheart are you sure you are talking about someone else? and not yourself?" she asked sympathticly causing me to panic.

"I'm sure" i say way to fast and defensive, but i was to overwhelmed to notice i had given myself away.

"Okay well.. looking at my database the only infant that went missing in 2011 at 3 months old was Ivy Walters" she said hesitiantly, i don't respond trying to think of what to say but she speaks again.

"Sweetheart do you think your Ivy Walter?" she said in a warm tone that almost felt manipulative. At this point I had picked up on that she was putting herself off and on mute, which automatically brought me to the conclusion she was speaking to somebody, this would explain the muffled noises of somebody moving around.

As soon as i heard that sentence i pulled the phone away from my ear and hung up. I placed a worried hand on my head suddenly feeling really hot and sweaty.

"s-she knew i was talking about myself.. fuck!" i exclaimed out of panic as my pacing became more panicked.

"hey its okay its a dead end the likelihood of them following the call up is so slim, they must get hundreds of prank callers a day" Thea says standing up and trying to calm me down.

"oh shit!" Thea panics looking down at her phone. I tense hearing my friend who rarely panics.. panicking

"what? whats wrong thea!" I say the small lightness of this situation crashing down in seconds.

"They're ringing me back!" she exclaimed, a mixture of terror and horror takes over my face.

"decline it!" i tell her which she does and places the phone in the middle of the bed. We both stand over it, waiting to see if it would ring again.

A ping echoes throughout her room cutting the silence in half, we both look at each other hesitiantly before Thea picks the phone up.

"its a voicemail from that number" she says quietly showing me her phone. I make a O shape with my mouth not knowing what to do.

"I'm gonna play it and see what they say" she announces quietly sitting down on the bed, I do the same as the voice mail begins.

"Hi this is the supervisor with the missing children's organisation, please could you ring us back or we will have to contact the police" the voicemail ends leaving us in a thick emotional atmosphere.

"were not ringing them back, this is my choice and I'm in control" i tell Thea with shaking confidence. She nods hesitantly agreeing with my choice.

"so what are you gonna do?" I think I'm gonna go to the address just to.. i don't even know find out if its the truth?" i say my thoughts suddenly becoming less clear.

"Ill meet you back here, if I'm not back 15 minutes before school ends can you pick up Paige for me and ill come as soon as i can?" i ask my friend.

"Of course i will, I love you okay and if you need me just ring me ill transfer you some credit just incase" she said standing up and hugging me reassuringly.

"well it looks like I'm doing this" i say more to myself as Thea walks downstairs with me to say goodbye.

"good luck Aofie" she said concerningly before shutting the door behind me.