Ugly girl

“No, it’s not. That’s my job.”

He looks down at me with a smirk. “Their names were Rochelle and Jacob Daniels.” My eyes go wide as I look up at my brother. “I googled them, you know once I found out their names. I found copies of their birth certificates and marriage certificate.”

“What? And?”

“And everything. Mom was born in Aston Creek and at some point moved here to Haven Falls, maybe with dad, I don’t know but they were married here. My math might have been off but I think mom was 22 and dad 24 when they married.”

“What about dad? Where was he born?”

“Here in Haven Falls.”

“Are you shitting me?” I ask, stepping back so I can get a good punch to his upper arm, knowing the exact right spot which would give him a dead arm. “You’ve known this all along and never told me?”

Guilt has his face scrunching and glancing away. “I’m sorry, it’s just…I knew you were having a hard time over the past few years and I thought hearing those things would put you into some downward spiral. At the time I found out, you were having those bad dreams and would scream every night. I couldn’t make things harder for you.”

I let out a heavy sigh and step back into his side, still so angry with him but understanding why he did it. “You owe me.”

“I know,” he tells me. “Anything you want.”

“Do you still have the certificates?”

He shakes his head. “No, I never printed them out. I couldn’t risk Maria or Lucien finding them. You know how often they’d search our rooms.”

I scoff in agreement. “Mine more than yours.”

“If I found them once, I’m sure I could find them again,” he says, pulling out his phone and realizing its battery is dead. Though, I don’t think it matters seeing as though we ditched our sim cards. He sighs. “Let’s ask someone if there’s a public library around here and then we can start searching. Who knows, maybe you’re right about having extended family. I guess we just have to look in the right places.”

“I’m sure of it,” I promise him. “We’ve got this.”

“Right. So, mom and dad’s place, library, then the police station?” he confirms. I nod and he looks down at me. “Then what?”

“Then we take on the world.”