My Way Home Is Through You
Safe and Sound
I was born to a mother that didn't want me. She didn't even name me, and left it up to the adoption agency. Molly. That's what they named me. I absolutely despise the name, but it's the one I have. When my 'parents' came around, I became Molly Harper, just like that, and I had a home and people who love me only two months after I was born. Too bad those people who love me couldn't even TRY to pretend that I was their child. My brown hair and dark eyes wouldn't fit in with their families of blond hair and blue eyes, and my height was a factor there as well. I'm 5'3” and both of them could be mistaken for basketball players.
When we called the agency, they didn't have any information on my parents. Definitely not my father. They had a name for my mother, Jessica Bennett, but they were sure it was a fake name. Eventually we decided to take a DNA test, but that didn't really do anything for me. I needed my suspicions confirmed, so I decided to go to the source. A month after receiving his number in that god awful hospital room, I was going to call Gerard Way.
As the phone rang, I paced my room, nervously biting my nails. When it went to voice mail I almost sighed in relief.
“Um, hi Gerard. It's Molly Harper, the girl you donated blood to last month? I kinda have something awkward to ask of you...” I found myself leaving a very long message going on a tangent about the past month. I finally hung up, and that started the antagonizing wait. I paced, I tried to pay attention to Facebook, I painted my nails. I constantly checked to see if I had missed the call, as if my phone had mysteriously gone to silent mode and I hadn't heard it vibrating.
I was about to go to bed when he finally called back. I jumped about a foot in the air before I dived to the floor and snatched up my phone.
“Hello?” My voice was shaking. Great.
“Hey, Molly? I talked to Frank, and I hope I never have that conversation with him ever again.”
I laughed nervously. It was a joke. I found I was pacing again, my heart beating out of my chest. “So?”
“Apparently he DID have sex around thirteen, with some sophomore chick. She told him the kid died.”
My heart seemed to stop beating. She told him I was DEAD? Then I caught myself. This couldn't be real, no way. It was getting hard for me to breathe, but somehow I managed to speak. “Can I meet him?”
“We're going back to Jersey in a few weeks, so I guess you could come visit if your parents say it's okay.”
I almost felt like I could fly. My happy dance was only interrupted by Gerard's voice.
“He referred to you as Kayla when we were talking about it,” Gerard said softly, “I think that's what he had always planned to name you.”
I stopped. I had a name? A real name given to me by my real parent? I thanked Gerard and he hung up. I fell back on my bed. Kayla. That was my real name. The sound of it bounced back and forth in my head as I fell asleep. Kayla...
When we called the agency, they didn't have any information on my parents. Definitely not my father. They had a name for my mother, Jessica Bennett, but they were sure it was a fake name. Eventually we decided to take a DNA test, but that didn't really do anything for me. I needed my suspicions confirmed, so I decided to go to the source. A month after receiving his number in that god awful hospital room, I was going to call Gerard Way.
As the phone rang, I paced my room, nervously biting my nails. When it went to voice mail I almost sighed in relief.
“Um, hi Gerard. It's Molly Harper, the girl you donated blood to last month? I kinda have something awkward to ask of you...” I found myself leaving a very long message going on a tangent about the past month. I finally hung up, and that started the antagonizing wait. I paced, I tried to pay attention to Facebook, I painted my nails. I constantly checked to see if I had missed the call, as if my phone had mysteriously gone to silent mode and I hadn't heard it vibrating.
I was about to go to bed when he finally called back. I jumped about a foot in the air before I dived to the floor and snatched up my phone.
“Hello?” My voice was shaking. Great.
“Hey, Molly? I talked to Frank, and I hope I never have that conversation with him ever again.”
I laughed nervously. It was a joke. I found I was pacing again, my heart beating out of my chest. “So?”
“Apparently he DID have sex around thirteen, with some sophomore chick. She told him the kid died.”
My heart seemed to stop beating. She told him I was DEAD? Then I caught myself. This couldn't be real, no way. It was getting hard for me to breathe, but somehow I managed to speak. “Can I meet him?”
“We're going back to Jersey in a few weeks, so I guess you could come visit if your parents say it's okay.”
I almost felt like I could fly. My happy dance was only interrupted by Gerard's voice.
“He referred to you as Kayla when we were talking about it,” Gerard said softly, “I think that's what he had always planned to name you.”
I stopped. I had a name? A real name given to me by my real parent? I thanked Gerard and he hung up. I fell back on my bed. Kayla. That was my real name. The sound of it bounced back and forth in my head as I fell asleep. Kayla...
10/8/13