Done Being Forgotten Chapter 1

After five years in captivity, I finally came home.

Except there was already another daughter in my place, and somehow, Mom, Dad, and my brother, Samuel Lewis, had all developed strange "conditions."

When I broke my ankle and texted Dad for help, he took forever to show up.

"Sorry. My eyesight's been acting up lately. I couldn't make out the location you sent me."

I was allergic to seafood, but Samuel brought me seafood chowder anyway.

"Sorry. You know how bad my memory is. I forgot you couldn't eat it."

One winter night, I came home without my keys and spent five hours locked outside before Mom finally opened the door in the middle of the night.

"My hearing problems flared up again. I didn't hear you knocking."

Desperate to fit into this family, I smiled and told them it was fine. Every single time.

Until today, when my advisor gave me two choices. I could stay at my university and pursue my graduate degree there.

Or I could join a highly classified research project across the country, where I'd live on a secure campus and wouldn't be allowed home for ten years.

Holding both applications, I walked through the front door, intending to ask my family which one they thought I should choose.

Then I saw Dad, whose eyesight was supposedly so bad, pick a single cat hair off Brie Lewis, my sister's collar, without even wearing his glasses.

Mom, with her intermittent hearing loss, heard Brie give the slightest cough and immediately rushed to the kitchen to make her a hot drink with honey and pear.

And Samuel, whose memory was supposedly terrible, sat at the piano playing a melody Brie had casually hummed a month ago. He didn't miss a single note.

That was when I finally understood.

Around Brie, all their conditions miraculously disappeared.

And suddenly, I knew there was no reason to ask them anything.

I tore up the application to stay at my university and texted my advisor: [I've made my decision. I'm joining the classified project.]

* * *

Corinne's POV

Brie Lewis's eyes crinkled with delight as she applauded our brother, Samuel Lewis, at the piano.

The living room had been warm and cheerful.

Then I walked through the door, and for a split second, everything went still. A familiar ache tightened my throat.

I'd been separated from my family and abducted when I was three. I didn't come home until I was eight, after the trafficking ring that had taken me was finally caught.

When the police first brought me back, my parents, Gregory and Diana Lewis, had been overjoyed.

Then one of our neighbors pointed at Brie and joked, "Now that your real daughter's back, I guess you'll have to send the adopted one away."

Brie burst into tears on the spot.

That night, Mom locked me outside and made me stay there until morning. "Brie's been part of this family longer than you have. You need to learn right now that you're not going to push her out."

For five years, I'd dreamed of coming home. From that moment on, home became nothing more than a dream I'd never truly be part of.

Fourteen years had passed since then. And in their eyes, I was still an outsider who might take Brie's happiness away at any moment.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. My advisor, Dr. Vance Herring, had replied.

[Corinne, once you commit to the classified research project, your records will immediately be sealed and transferred. You won't be able to come home for ten years. Are you sure about this?]

I headed to my room to gather the documents I needed to start the process.

But when I opened the door, my desk was empty. The envelope containing my paperwork was gone.

I searched every drawer, then even checked the storage bins under my bed.

Nothing.

My heart skipped a beat. I hurried back to the living room.

"Samuel, did you see the manila envelope on my desk?"

Samuel was peeling an orange for Brie. He didn't even look up. "Oh, that envelope. Brie said she needed something to put her old sketches in. I saw the envelope sitting on your desk and figured it would work, so I gave it to her."

His casual tone made my chest tighten.

"I specifically told you yesterday that those were important documents and not to touch them."

Samuel frowned and pulled out a wet wipe to clean his hands. "Sorry. You know how bad my memory is. It was sitting in the corner of your desk, so I thought it was just some old paperwork you didn't need anymore."

There it was again. His bad memory.

The familiar pain twisted in my stomach.

On my eighteenth birthday, Mom and Dad had completely forgotten about me and taken Brie on the beach trip she'd always dreamed of. They didn't remember until they were already on the road.

Then they called Samuel and told him to pick up something nice for me to eat. He came home with a container of steaming seafood chowder.

And just as casually, he'd said, "You know how bad my memory is. I forgot you're allergic to seafood."

Seafood chowder was Brie's favorite.

Samuel didn't have a bad memory. He'd simply never cared enough to remember anything about me. Not even for a second.

Brie's eyes immediately turned red. "Corinne, I'm sorry. I didn't know those documents were important. I already threw the envelope away with my old sketches... in the dumpster downstairs.

"I'll go get it back for you, okay? Please don't be mad at Samuel."

She started toward the door.

"It's over ninety degrees outside, and that dumpster is filthy. What are you going down there for?" Dad grabbed Brie and stopped her, then turned on me.

"Corinne, it's just some paperwork. Print another copy tomorrow. Brie didn't do it on purpose. Do you really need to act like you're putting everyone on trial over this?"

Mom patted Brie's back soothingly. "Exactly. Corinne, if those papers were so important, you should've kept them somewhere safe. Don't turn around and blame everyone else now."