“Happy birthday!” said Jason as he playfully punched Sarah in the shoulder. “How’s my baby sis doing?” “I’m not a baby, I’m 16. Jason, you’re only a year older than me!” laughed Sarah. Her mom was sitting in the recliner in the living room, and Sarah asked, “Hey mom, can we go get my permit?” “Let me get all your papers in order, and we can go tomorrow,” her mom replied. For her birthday, Sarah went out for dinner at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. The next day, Sarah woke up and stumbled out of bed. She went over to the kitchen to make breakfast, and glanced at a note on the fridge. It said, “Gone to job interview 4 Jason, Be Back soon! –MOM.” “Ok,” thought Sarah,”I can wait for my permit.” She trudged through the family room, and saw the lock box with all the important documents such as social security numbers in it was left open. “I’ll just get my stuff in order so mom and I can leave as soon as she gets back.” Having never thought about her documents before, she was curious. After finding her social security card, she stopped on a piece of paper that looked queer. Its header said Republic of Korea. “This is intersting,” rationalized Sarah as a feeling of dread filled her. Sarah thought, “There’s no way this is mine,” but as she examined it more, she saw her birthday on it. Carefully, she folded the paper, and started digging some more. What she saw next made her heart stop. There was a certificate with the name Sarah Anne Locke on it. All the color left her vision as she stared at the paperwork stating she wasn’t her parents’ child. Before thinking about it, she took the paper and stuck it on the fridge next to the note her mom left. Then she felt heavy and it was difficult to stand up, so she decided to head to bed. Wanting to never wake up, she lay down. “Why am I here? Why didn’t my parents want me? Who am I?” were thoughts flashing through her head as she started to sob uncontrollably. About an hour later, Sarah heard the front door open. “Sarah, I’m home!” cried her mom enthusiastically. Not responding, Sarah listened to her mom’s footsteps move from the front door to the kitchen. “Sarah? Where are-“her voice cut abruptly. “She must have found it,” thought Sarah from her bed. The sound of footsteps moved to the living room, then a creak was heard as her mom sat down. Sarah could hear one side of a phone conversation. “I found the papers on the fridge. The adoption papers.” A pause, then “Bill, I forgot to lock the box when we took Jason’s papers out for his interview. She knows Bill, She knows. What should we do?” A longer pause, followed by, “Okay, I dropped Jason off at Meily’s house. They wanted to go on a date to the movies or whatever, so he’s not here. I’ll talk to her.” Then her voice broke, “Oh God Bill, we really screwed up, didn’t we? We should have told her. Please come home. After this was said, another creak echoed through the house as she got up and put the phone away. “Sarah?” a shaky and unsteady voice called.” “This isn’t my family,” thought Sarah bitterly as she lay silently. She heard her mom approaching the door, and pretended to be asleep. There was a knock on the door. “Sarah?” Sarah remained silent. The door slowly opened and Sarah’s mom peeked in. “Sarah, please…” spoke Sarah’s mom, not knowing what she was going to say next. Disgusted by the presence of the woman claiming to be her mother, Sarah muttered, “Go away.” “Please, we need to talk,” pleaded her mom. Unable to take it anymore, Sarah yelled, “Go away Cho! You’re not my mom! You never were!” without turning from her tear soaked pillow. Looking at what she could see of her daughter, Cho felt a single tear come down her face. She stood at the door for a long time, before softly saying, “I’m so sorry…” Bill took off early and headed straight home within an hour. He walked into the house and found his wife in the living room. Cho had the adoption papers and photos of Sarah at various stages of her life in front of her on the coffee table. Looking up and seeing Bill in the doorway, she pointed to one of herself holding a Korean baby in the room she now sat in. “That was one of the happiest moments in my life, Cho reminisced,” The day we brought her home. You remember that, don’t you Bill? Why didn’t we let her know from the very beginning?” “Cho, we’ve gone over this many times. Every time you said we should talk to her, I said she wasn’t ready. Or do you not remember that?” Billsaid condensedningly. Wiping her eyes, Cho moaned, “What she wasn’t ready for was this.” Staring at Cho and hating everything about the situation from his wife in her pitiful state to having to leave work early, he asked, “Why did you leave the box open? Idiot.” “Bill!” snapped Cho, pointing in the direction of Sarah’s room. “Your daughter is up in her room, curled up crying herself to sleep at this very moment, and all you want to do is play the blame game?” “Well, why did you do it?” spat Bill. “I forgot,” Cho hissed, “It’s time she knew anyway. She’s 16” Breathing heavily, Bill shouted, “Fine, if you feel that way, you talk to her! I was happy with one child; it was your idea to adopt!” “We are her parents!” shot back Cho,”What we did, we did together, so what we need to do, we will do together! Or did you forget that we’re married?” Bill stared at Cho for a second, seeing the fire in her eyes, then threw some family pictures off the shelf above the fireplace. Cho yelped, and then hollered, "Do you not love her, you-“just then she looked up. Sarah was standing in the door with a blank look on her face, staring at her parents. “How much did you hear?” asked Bill. With ice in her voice, Sarah said, “Enough” Sarah woke up to the sound of yelling downstairs. “Bill!” Sarah heard Cho yell, “Your daughter is up in her room curled…” “They know,” contemplated Sarah. After sleeping on it, she was anxious to get some answers. Sitting up, she thought, “I’m gonna talk to them.” A voice from downstairs, “Then you talk to her!” “Wow, they’re mad!” said Sarah to herself. She opened the bedroom door and walked out. The next thing Bill said hit her like a brick. “It wasn’t my idea to adopt her anyway!” Sarah leaned against the wall to keep from falling over. After regaining her balance, she walked toward the living room. “My dad always hated me,” thought Sarah. Once she got to the door, she saw her mom screaming at her much taller dad. She just stood and watched. “Do you even love her you-“Cho shouted, then mid-sentence, saw Sarah in the door. Bill’s gaze followed Cho’s, and landed on Sarah. Taking a deep breath, Bill looked down and asked, “How much did you hear?” Glaring at her father, Sarah hissed, “Enough.” Unaware of what she was doing, she felt the need to escape from all this, and ran to the front door. Once outside, she couldn’t believe how sunny and bright it was. Riding her bike down the street, Sarah’s friend Maggie cried, “Hey Sarah!” on her way by. How could everything be so normal for everyone else? “This can’t be real,” wished Sarah. Sarah had no clue what to do, she just felt like she was going to explode. She turned north and sprinted as fast as she could, not knowing where she was going, as long as it was away. Running about a mile to Montgomery Park where she used to play as a child, she collapsed on a hill. "Why?" she wondered aloud in between her rapid breaths. "I can't do this," she thought. After sitting for a long time, her thoughts flashed toward Jason. Did he know? He had always been there for her. When she was running in the finals for the 100 in 8th grade, it was his voice she heard cheering the loudest and it was Jason who had been there when her date to homecoming freshman year ditched her. She needed him more than ever now. With trembling hands, she dialed him on her phone. After a couple rings she heard Jason's voice. "Hello?" it said amiably. "Jason, I need you," Sarah begged. "Sarah is something wrong?" a now concerned voice asked. "Please come to Montgomery Park," was Sarah's desperate reply. Of to the side, Sarah could hear Jason say, "Meiley, I need to go, my sister needs something," after a little pause followed by the sound of some commotion, he said, "Don't worry Sarah, I'll be there." After hanging up, Sarah watched a mother play with her child on the swings. Bitterly, she said "I bet that kid is actually related to his family." About 20 minutes later, Sarah looked around, and saw Jason walking toward her. Quickly wiping her eyes yet again, she said, "Sorry for bothering you was Meiley ok with it?" Jason looked at her with concern and said, "Well, she kinda told me that if she wasn't the most important girl in my life, that she didn't want anything to do with me, so I kinda blew up, called her a... bad word... and she called me... another bad word. So yeah, we're not together anymore, but that's not the point. You sounded like you really needed something." Looking at his sister, he asked, "What's wrong?" "I'm so sorry," answered Sarah, "I'm adopted." Jason looked at her for a few seconds, and then said, "So?" Staring wide eyed in disbelief at her brother, Sarah asked "You don't care? You believe me?" "Here, let me sit next to you." Jason began to speak after sitting to Sarah's right, “Well, I believe you because you wouldn't just make that up, and I could hear it in your voice. So your adopted? Okay. Your still Sarah Locke, I'm still Jason Locke. Nothing is different, mom and dad still sacrificed not just for me, but for you." Sarah interjected here, "Dad said it wasn't his idea to adopt!" Calmly, Jason spoke, "But he went along with it, didn't he? Did you not see the smile on his face when you won the 100 in 8th grade? He cares for you, because you are his daughter. They might not be your biological parents, but they are your mom and dad. Who smiled when you aced your Geometry final or cried for you when your dog died? Those are your mom and dad. They took care of you for 16 years, and want nothing but the best for you. Unlike your biological father in god knows where, mom and dad will never leave you." "Thanks Jason," Sarah said, "I really appreciate this." "No problem sis," replied Jason, "I wish I could say more." "It's ok, you've said enough. Thank you. I just need some time to think. You can go home. If it’s ok I'd like to be alone." Jason looked at Sarah for a few seconds, then hugged her. "Anytime," he said, "I'll see you at home." He then stood up, gave her another worried glance, and started home. Sarah watched him go, and then started to think about what Jason had told her. "He does have a point. Mom and dad were always there. They picked me, over anyone else over there. Was I special? It doesn't matter, I'm here now. Mom and dad really did give up a lot for me. Mom even had to stop chasing her career to raise Jason and I. Dad missed Christmas last year just to earn overtime to make ends meet. I'll need to talk to them. They have done so much for me, so much more than whoever dumped me in Korea." With that, Sarah felt an urge to go home and talk to her parents., and got up and walked home. Opening the front door, Sarah saw her mom and dad sitting on the couch, quietly talking to each other. With the sound of the door, they both looked up. "We're so sorry," said Sarah's dad. All the fire was gone in his voice, and now he just sounded melancholy, "we'll tell you anything you want to know." "It's ok," answered Sarah, "I don't know why you guys did what you did, but I know you love me. Please just promise me one thing. Please never lie to me again." Her voice broke at the end of this. "We promise," came the reply. "Thanks mom and dad." She hugged her parents.