The Autumn Harvest and a Broken Home
Autumn had arrived, the perfect time to gather the harvest. This year’s summer had been unusually warm; fruits and vegetables thrived wonderfully. The locals worked day and night on their plots, stocking up on everything they needed for the long winter ahead.
“Kim, are you there? Don’t expect him to wait for you!” A gruff male voice woke a two-year-old girl sleeping on the porch.
“Uncle Chris, don’t shout so loudly! You’ll wake up Sarah; she’s only just fallen asleep,” thirteen-year-old Kristen addressed the intoxicated man. “And Mom’s not home; she went to the store for groceries.”
“Well, you could have said that right away,” the man replied. “How long has she been gone?”
“Just recently, about 15 minutes ago,” Kristen whispered quietly, gently stroking her sleepy little sister’s head. She knew this made her sister feel safe and sleep peacefully.
When Chris left, another girl’s head appeared from behind the door. Seven-year-old Cynthia looked at her older sister with fear in her eyes. Kristen understood what she wanted to ask. “Come out, he’s gone,” she said, and smiled.
The girls had long grown used to their mother’s absence. Kim raised her daughters on her own; all of her children were from different men. The 36-year-old woman worked as a janitor at a local businessman’s office. Her earnings barely covered the essentials. The sisters often went hungry. If Kim didn’t drink away most of her paycheck, they might have had candy more often, but their mother had other priorities.
The eldest, Kristen, was in the seventh grade. Despite the family’s circumstances, she was an excellent student. Studying came easily to her; teachers said she had a natural gift. Seven-year-old Cynthia was supposed to start first grade this year, but some well-meaning ladies from a certain commission prohibited Kim from sending the child to school. Cynthia lagged behind her peers in development, so she continued going to daycare. The youngest, Sarah, would turn two in a month. Despite her age, she was more attached to her older sister than to her mother, whom she rarely saw, especially after starting daycare.
Kristen picked up her sisters from school, and they all returned home together. When their mother couldn’t prepare dinner, Kristen took care of it. She found a book with various recipes on the shelf and started cooking from it. However, many of the dishes she wanted to treat her sisters to were impossible to make due to the lack of necessary ingredients at home, so she decided to start with the simplest ones. Their mother had long considered her grown up and entrusted her with household chores: cleaning, laundry, ironing. She did it all as if she were 18, not 13. The difficult life alongside an alcoholic mother forced her to mature quickly.
Most of all, the girls were frightened by the men who visited their mother. Their loud feasts and swearing, which no drinking session could do without, made them flinch and sit in the children’s room, quieter than mice. Even little Sarah had learned the rule: if there were noisy guests in the house, it meant they had to be quiet.
The juvenile affairs committee had visited them more than once. Every time Kim saw the stern women from the committee inspecting her modest home, she promised to quit drinking and lead a normal life. But her promises lasted at most two weeks, after which the same reckless and irresponsible lifestyle resumed. Kristen was terribly afraid that they might be sent to an orphanage. They had no relatives; grandparents had long passed away, so if anything happened, they could only be sent to an orphanage. She had heard about the conditions in which children lived there, so she really didn’t want to end up there. The poor girl didn’t yet know that living next to an alcoholic mother was even scarier than being in an orphanage.
And today, most likely, their mother would go on a bender again. It was always like this whenever Chris, a local unemployed man whose wife had long fled due to his constant drinking, was looking for her. Kristen sat on the porch, waiting for her mother’s return. “If this continues, she’ll definitely lose her job,” the girl thought. Davis, her boss, had been threatening to do that for a while, but he must have felt sorry for her and turned a blind eye to her lifestyle. Kristen also really wanted to start studying; from the very beginning of school, they assigned a lot of assignments that took up hours of time.
Her mother hadn’t shown up by 8 PM or even 9 PM. Cynthia was playing dolls with Sarah while Kristen was studying. The room was quiet, as if the house had emptied and no one was in it. The girls didn’t talk to each other about how they worried about their mother, but each of them felt it in her own way.
“Well, girls, sitting alone again?” Candace’s voice cheered them up. Kind neighbor Candace visited the girls almost every day. The 40-year-old woman didn’t have her own children; doctors had given her a diagnosis many years ago that had dashed her hopes of becoming a mother. She and her husband lived alone. Perhaps no one cared for the girls as much as Candace did, so today, understanding that Kim had gone out again, she came over to see them.
“Why are you just standing there? Come on, look what I brought you!” Candace said, unveiling a plate covered with a towel. The pies were golden and aromatic, filled with apple filling. The girls eagerly dove into the treat lovingly prepared by their neighbor. For dinner, they were going to have macaroni; it was the only thing Kristen could cook with the remaining ingredients on the shelf, so the pies came in handy just in time.
“So, what do you have here?” Candace asked, inspecting the refrigerator and kitchen cabinet shelves – as always, empty. “And where does she disappear to? She has money for drinking, but no thoughts about her hungry kids!”
“Please, Candace, don’t scold Mom,” Kristen turned to the woman. “I read that alcoholism is a disease. Women with this disease rarely manage to overcome it. I think it’s hard for Mom to live like this, but she can’t do it differently.”
“You’re still defending her? At your age, people don’t read about these things! She gave birth to kids, so she’s obligated to take care of them!” Candace said, hugging the girl. “I used to pity her too at first, but now I understand that it’s all pointless. She doesn’t understand anything. Kim is deeply stuck in alcohol. Will she ever get out? Who knows.”
At that very moment, a loud crash came from the hallway. Something fell from the shelf and broke.
“Kristen! Kristen, where are you?!” Kim’s voice echoed from the doorway.
“Mom’s back,” the girl shivered and rushed towards her mother’s voice, asking the neighbor to watch over her sisters and not let them out of the kitchen until she put her mom to bed.
“And here you are! Where were you wandering? Help your mother get up, can’t you see I can’t stand up!” Kim struggled to speak, her tongue heavy. “And I dropped something here. Clean it up, got it?”
Kristen helped her mother get up and saw that blood was coming from one of her hands. She must have cut herself on a shard of the vase she broke when entering the house. After getting the woman to the room and putting her in bed, Kristin rushed to the kitchen for cotton wool and hydrogen peroxide to treat her wound.
“What happened?” Candace asked, noticing that the girl had taken disinfectants out of the cabinet.
“Mom hurt her hand. She broke my favorite vase; I loved putting flowers in it,” Kristen replied and ran to her mother. A couple of minutes later, she returned and looked sadly at her sisters. “Go to sleep. Don’t go to the hallway for now. I’ll come to you soon,” she told the girls, who watched their older sister with frightened eyes.
“This can’t go on like this,” Candace said quietly, sweeping up the broken glass shards in the hallway. “How I feel sorry for you girls. I think they might take you away from your mother soon. Maybe at least this will be a lesson for her.”
“How can they take us away? No, we don’t want to be taken away!” Kristen protested. “Mom will change, Aunt Candace, she’ll definitely change! Right? Yeah, right.”
Candace shook her head, hugged Kristen once more, and went back to her place. Before going to sleep, Kristen looked at her mother again. Kim was sleeping on her side, her disheveled hair spread out across the pillow in different directions. Even her face didn’t give any indication that she was only 36 years old; right now, she looked about 60. The week-long bender had drained the last bit of life out of her; it had turned her into a sick and hopelessly lost person. Kristen felt sorry for her mother. Due to her age, she didn’t fully grasp the gravity of the situation, or maybe over the years, she had grown accustomed to this kind of life and had already adapted to it. She had never known any other life, although she definitely knew that just a few years ago, her mother drank less and didn’t leave her daughters alone for long. Two years ago, Sarah was born. Apparently, Kim thought that the father of the little girl wouldn’t leave her, that he would stay, but that didn’t happen. So, holding the tiny baby in her arms, the woman began to drink and didn’t realize that she was ruining not only her own life, but also her daughters’.
The Commission’s Verdict
A week had passed, and Kim continued to drink, leaving all the household responsibilities to her eldest daughter. On a Friday, coming home from school, Kristen noticed an unfamiliar car in the yard. She met three women in elegant suits; they looked somewhat similar to each other. They were surveying the yard with disdainful looks and whispering to each other.
“So, how long has the homeowner been absent?” one of the women asked Aunt Candace, whom Kristen hadn’t noticed right away.
“She hasn’t shown up at home for three days now,” the woman answered. When she saw that Kristen had returned home, she shifted her focus to her. “Here comes Kristen. Come here. These women are from the juvenile affairs commission. They came to see how you and your sisters are living here.”
“Hello, Kristen,” the woman standing closest to Kristen greeted her coldly. “We’ve received a report from the school that we couldn’t ignore. Your family has been on our radar for a while now. You’re old enough to understand that things can’t continue like this. We’re obligated to terminate your mother’s parental rights.”
“What are you saying? And what about us?” the girl exclaimed in fear. “We want to live with our mom! We love her no matter what she’s like!”
“Can I stay with the girls today and explain to them myself what’s going on?” Candace addressed the women. “I think it would be better that way.”
“All right, but we’ll be back tomorrow morning. All the documents are prepared, so there’s no turning back on this matter. Keep that in mind,” the woman warned and hastened to catch up with her colleagues who were waiting on the street for the driver to open the car doors for them.
When Candace and Kristen were left alone in the yard, they were silent for a while, as if unsure of what to say to each other. Unexpectedly, a wave of sadness overwhelmed both of them, making them want to howl in despair. Kristen cried, tears silently rolling down her cheeks, leaving wet streaks.
“Are they going to take us to a children’s home?” the girl finally mustered the courage to ask. “Mom still hasn’t come back.”
“No,” Candace replied. “She was seen recently with Chris. They say she was sober and… well, you need to know this anyway. What are you trying to say? Did something happen to my mom?” Kristen panicked. “Speak, Aunt Candace!”
“Nothing happened to your mom,” the woman replied angrily. “She called me. She said she’s leaving all of you with me. She knows that I’m the only person who cares for you like family. Just one thing Kim didn’t consider: they won’t give you to me.”
“But why are you saying they won’t give us to you, Aunt Candace? You want us to live with you, don’t you?” Kristen asked hopefully.
“Of course I want to! And I’ll fight for you. They came to me today too. I saw the commission coming to your place and realized something was wrong. Besides, Kim managed to call me before they arrived. I invited these women into my home, so I told them that I want to keep you with me. But you know how modestly Evan and I live. They went through the house and said there is no place for three girls to live, not even for one, you understand? To take you in, we need to set up a room, buy furniture. But don’t worry, you’ll spend a couple of months in the children’s home, and during that time, Evan and I will surely come up with something. We won’t leave you there, do you hear me? I promise you,” the woman reassured Kristen. Those words warmed the girl’s heart. She tightly hugged Candace and listened to her heartbeat in her chest – a heart that loved her and her sisters.
“Oh, Aunt Candace, we forgot about Cynthia and Sarah!” Kristen suddenly remembered. “I’ll run to the daycare center! They are probably already there alone!” The girl jumped to her feet and ran towards the daycare center with all her might. Candace headed to the kitchen; she decided to set the table before the sisters’ departure.
By eight in the evening, everything was ready. Kristen didn’t explain the real reasons for their mother’s absence to her sisters. It was difficult for her to understand the true reason herself, let alone the little ones. Uncle Evan, Candace, and Kristen together tried to convince Cynthia and Sarah that they were going to a wonderful place tomorrow, but they didn’t forget to remind them that it wouldn’t be for long. Candace and Evan would surely take them back, as promised.
The next morning, the same car pulled up to the house. This time, only one of the women came for the girls. She checked that the children had taken everything they needed – their documents – and then seated them in the car and drove away. The house was now completely empty. Only in the yard did leaves fall with a quiet rustle, and the ripe apples remained untouched, as no one had any use for them now.
Life in the Children’s Home and a Fading Hope
At the children’s home, the girls had a tough time at first. They had to get used to new rules, caregivers, and most importantly, to the other children who constantly tried to taunt, offend, and sometimes even hit them. Kristen was not one to shy away; she could stand up for herself, but Cynthia had a harder time. She was naturally shy, afraid of everything, and she cried constantly.
Winter arrived. Candace didn’t forget about her girls; she visited them almost every week. Today, Kristen was eagerly awaiting her, constantly watching the window for her arrival. Candace was supposed to bring news about the purchase of a new house, big and cozy, where there would be enough space for all the girls. She arrived around 10 in the morning as promised. However, her expression was far from joyful. Only Kristen noticed it; Cynthia and Sarah paid no attention to the woman’s mood.
When the younger girls left for their activities, Kristen finally had a chance to find out all the latest news. “So, what about the house? Was the issue resolved?” she asked eagerly as soon as Sarah disappeared behind the door.
“Well, Kristen, we encountered a few difficulties,” the woman confessed. “Evan fell ill. He’ll have to quit his job. He’s been coughing for a while, and with the onset of winter, his asthma attacks have worsened. The doctors explained that it’s a reaction to allergens. You know, Evan works at a glass factory, so he’ll have to quit there. You understand, we can’t even think about a loan right now. But we’ll definitely figure everything out when Evan gets better. He’ll find another job. Actually…”
Kristen listened attentively, realizing that Candace wanted to say something else but didn’t know how. She looked at Candace with a questioning look, hinting that she was waiting for her explanations.
“Kristen, I found out from the Child Welfare Commission that I could take one of you today, but…” The woman stumbled again; each word was difficult for her. “Only one, you see.”
“I understand,” Kristen nodded. “But I can’t leave my sisters, so we’ll stay here.”
“I knew you’d answer like that,” Candace smiled. “Of course, it’s better for you to stick together. Who knows, maybe we’ll come up with something by spring.” She left Kristen a big bag of sweets and apple-filled pastries before departing.
Months passed by one after another. One day, a medical examination was organized at the children’s home. The doctors conducted a particularly thorough examination of the children, especially those who were about to start school next. In March, Cynthia turned eight, and due to her developmental delays, she couldn’t start school on time. This led Kristen to hope that her sister would definitely start school this year. However, the doctors’ verdict was disheartening: they recommended that Cynthia attend a specialized boarding school. They explained that the regular school curriculum would be too challenging for her. This school was located in the nearest town, about 60 kilometers from where the sisters were currently living. Kristen didn’t immediately come to terms with this idea, but gradually realized that it would be better for Cynthia. She wouldn’t be able to handle the regular school program. Despite Kristen’s efforts, her sister still couldn’t read; Cynthia could count to ten, but it was a struggle, as only her older sister knew.
“Don’t worry, Kristen. Cynthia will be comfortable studying there. Besides, she can also learn a profession, like sewing or cooking,” Candace explained to the girl when she visited the children once again. It was already May, and since Kim had left in early September, she hadn’t returned. No one knew where she was, alive or not. She had shown no interest in the fate of her children either; she hadn’t even written a single letter. At the end of August, Cynthia went to the boarding school. Kristen and Candace promised to visit her.
Having just turned 14, Kristen felt quite grown up. In mid-September, she had to say goodbye to Sarah too. A childless couple from the capital decided to adopt her. Despite Kristen’s pleas not to separate the sisters, the director of the children’s home was very adamant.
“Kristen, you can’t even imagine the opportunities that will open up for your sister if these wonderful people can take her in,” Jason tried to convince the girl.
“Then let them take me too if Sarah means that much to them. Anyway, in four years I’ll be 18, and by law, I should have my own place. I’ll take custody of my sisters myself!” Kristen disagreed.
“What nonsense are you talking? In four years? Do you even know what kind of place you’ll have? You think you’ll start working at 18? And what about education, Kristen? Don’t talk nonsense and listen to me carefully. I know what I’m talking about,” the director insisted. All of Kristen’s words were ignored. A couple of weeks later, Sarah was taken away.
After parting with yet another sister, Kristen fell ill. She had a fever for six days. Several more weeks went by for her recovery. Finally, when she got back on her feet, Candace came and announced that she was taking her in. Cynthia was studying and living in the boarding school, Sarah’s new parents had taken her to Madrid, and Candace and Evan were more than ready to take Kristin in. They never managed to buy a new house; Evan’s health prevented him from finding a job.
“I never thought I’d come back home alone, without my sisters,” Kristen sobbed, finishing her herbal tea.
“Nobody thought so,” Candace comforted the girl, patting her head. “Don’t worry, the most important thing is that you have each other, and someday you’ll surely meet again. And we’ll visit Cynthia this coming weekend. Come on, wipe those tears and calm down.”
A Doctor’s Life and a Lifelong Search
Years flew by unnoticed. The girls grew up. Cynthia received an education and became a seamstress. At 18, she got married and moved to Poland. Kristen hadn’t heard anything about her for 10 years; most likely, Cynthia changed her phone number, and her sister’s number was lost somewhere. As for Sarah, Kristen knew nothing about her; just as her new parents took her to Madrid 20 years ago, she lost track of them.
Many years passed. On October 6th, yesterday, Kristen, a top-tier general practitioner, wasn’t feeling well throughout the evening. She reminisced about how they once celebrated the youngest sister Sarah’s first birthday. Their mother was sober that day and had bought a large cake with just one candle. How happy they all were back then: Mom Kim, Kristen, Cynthia, and Sarah. Yesterday, Sarah turned 22. She probably graduated from university by now and was thinking of finding a job. “I wonder how she is now,” all these questions kept Kristen restless all evening and all night. But work couldn’t be canceled, and now she was hurrying down the corridor to her office to continue seeing patients. Three more hours, and she could go home. Thank goodness there was no on-call duty today. The day seemed unusually long.
After consulting the last patient, she started preparing to leave. Mario was waiting for her in the courtyard. He had recently proposed to Kristen, and she accepted. In August, Kristen turned 34 – the perfect time to start a family and have children.
“Hey, Kristen, are you tired?” Mario asked and considerately opened the door of his black SUV for her.
“Is it really noticeable that I’m tired?” Kristen responded to his question with another question and settled comfortably into the cozy seat.
“No, but your eyes do give away that you struggled to make it through the workday today,” the man admitted and turned the ignition key. Lights from shop windows, passing cars, and roadside lamps flickered outside the window. Kristen loved her city. After receiving her medical degree, she had the opportunity to move to the capital, but she stayed in her hometown.
Evan passed away from another asthma attack when Kristen had just turned 16. Only Kristen knew how hard Candace had taken this loss. She didn’t sleep at nights and mourned her beloved person. And when Kristen turned 18 and was about to enter university, Candace also departed this world. The woman’s heart weakened after her husband’s death; the doctors didn’t dare operate on her. It was as if she had promised herself not to leave Kristen until she reached adulthood, and as soon as that moment came, she peacefully passed away, quietly, without disturbing anyone. She simply went to sleep one evening and never woke up.
Kristen had always dreamed of becoming a doctor. Graduating from school with honors, she easily entered medical school. Throughout the years, she genuinely enjoyed everything that happened at the institute, every day learning something new. She never ceased to be amazed at how much unexplored territory the human body still held. Around her third year, she made her first attempt to find her younger sister, Sarah, whom Kristen believed was living in Madrid, but it was all in vain. She frequently saw Cynthia until her own adulthood. Kristen’s middle sister lived in the boarding school; there, she acquired two professions: a seamstress and a cook. She also met her boyfriend there. At 18, without consulting anyone, Cynthia got married and left with Willie to another city. Exactly where, Kristen didn’t know. Although they were close with her sister and trusted each other with many things, it seemed as if Willie had forcefully taken the girl away so that Kristen wouldn’t have the chance to dissuade her from this hasty step.
As Cynthia grew older, she started to resemble their mother more and more: the same brown eyes, dark brown hair, even her gait. Kristen remembered her mother’s walk well; it was the first thing she noticed when Kim appeared in the courtyard of their home. Kristen used to determine whether Mom was sober or drunk based on that walk. Cynthia didn’t stand out externally from their mother; it was only upon closer acquaintance that one could tell she wasn’t quite of this world: overly trusting, even naive. Cynthia had a unique ability to connect with anyone, not understanding who the person in front of her was, no matter what. It was a feature of her development. This was precisely why Kristen worried so much about her sister – who knows what could happen to her, what kind of people could she encounter on her life’s journey? Kristen didn’t know Willie well, but even at their first meeting, she understood that she shouldn’t trust him. Perhaps Willie quickly realized that Kristen wasn’t enthusiastic about him, so he hastily got married and took his wife far away from her sister.
“Kristen, we’ve arrived!” Mario’s voice brought the girl back from her heavy thoughts. “No need to rush to the store; I bought everything we need earlier today. You just rest, and I’ll quickly prepare everything.”
The girl looked at him gratefully. “How lucky I am with him,” she thought once again. Mario was four years older than Kristen. Despite his age, he had never been married. He explained that he had been waiting for Kristen all this time – the most beautiful, serious, intelligent, and best girl in the world. Mario had his own restaurant business; he had shown excellent entrepreneurial flair. He had been engaged in his favorite occupation since he was around 20, and he had achieved good results since then. A month ago, Kristen moved in with Mario from her one-bedroom apartment. She had bought the apartment eight years ago and was paying off the mortgage. Despite Mario’s insistence to clear the debt with the bank, Kristen consistently refused, explaining that she could manage it herself. Since childhood, she had learned to rely only on herself. Mario knew about his future wife’s difficult childhood and understood her attitude towards life. He himself came from an affluent family and had a younger brother, Patrick, with whom he was very close. Kristen had admitted to Mario more than once that she was glad to see such warm relationships between relatives.
And Kristen also had a cherished dream, you could say the goal of her whole life: to find her sisters and embrace them. Did she even know if they were alive, what they looked like, how their destinies unfolded? Kristen often thought about her mother too. It had been 20 years since she had easily left her daughters to their fate. Kim had never been interested in what had happened to her daughters, if a neighbor managed to take them in or not. She simply vanished, and that was it, as if she had evaporated into thin air. Mario knew about Kristen’s dream and promised to help her in the search. He knew that his fiancée had made several attempts to find her younger sister, but each time it was in vain.
After undressing in the hallway, taking off her boots, Kristen washed up and lay down on the couch in the living room. The room was bathed in muted light, the clock ticked. To its sound, she fell asleep unnoticed. She woke up two hours later. Mario decided not to wake her, thinking that sleep was more important for her right now.
“Well, feeling rested?” he asked as soon as he noticed Kristen stirring and opening her eyes. “Dinner has been ready for a while. Let’s get up and go to the kitchen. You don’t have any strength left for anything else.”
“Okay,” Kristen replied and followed the man to the kitchen. Fresh vegetable salad and baked fish couldn’t have come at a better time. At lunch, due to excessive tiredness, Kristen had forgotten to eat, replacing the meal with a short nap. But what a nap it was!
“Mario, I had a dream about my nurse colleagues today. During the day, we were playing by the river, just like in childhood. They were running away from me, and I couldn’t catch up with them. What could that mean? That I won’t be able to find them?” she asked, looking sadly at Mario sitting across from her.
“No, it means you’re thinking about it too much, not sleeping at night, getting upset, then you fall asleep at work, not even having time to eat,” Mario replied, indicating that he was genuinely concerned about her state.
“You’re right, you’re right a thousand times, but you know I can’t help it. I have to find them,” Kristen said, her voice trembling with emotion.
“All right, finish your dinner now, have some tea, take a bath in 40 minutes, and go to bed so that you wake up tomorrow as usual, cheerful and full of life. Otherwise, we’ll have to treat yourselves,” Mario commanded again, giving the anxious girl a kiss on the cheek.
“Sometimes I start to wonder who between us is the doctor and who is the businessman,” Kristen smiled. “Did I tell you that I love you very much?”
“Not today yet,” Mario smiled in response, “but I’m ready to hear that phrase again and again. And I love you, my dear, and I want you to stop torturing yourself like this. I promise we’ll do everything possible to find your sisters. By the way, I’ve arranged a meeting with a well-known detective. We’ll try to involve specialists in this case; I think we can’t manage without them.”
“I completely agree with you,” the girl nodded her head. “Maybe I should talk to him too? Show him the photos?”
“You’re right. The meeting is scheduled for tomorrow at 8 PM. We’ll be waiting for him at my restaurant on the waterfront,” Mario explained. “His name is Joseph. He used to be an investigator; he recently opened his own detective agency. Have you heard of that?”
“Yes, I’ve seen advertisements for his agency,” Kristen remembered.
“So he’s just starting to work in this direction, and it’s very important for him to have satisfied clients, so to say, building a reputation for himself. You’re thinking in the right direction,” the man praised the girl. “So, come on, calm down and start thinking about the good.”
“I’ll try,” Kristen promised and went to the bathroom. For some reason, Mario’s words were more encouraging than ever. Hope began to rekindle in her heart that she would soon be able to embrace her sisters.
The Search Begins: Joseph and the Elusive Sisters
The next day felt like an eternity for Kristen. She felt like the evening would never come. The upcoming meeting with the detective occupied all of the girl’s thoughts.
“Kristen, you’re floating in the clouds again today,” Lynn remarked. Lynn was Kristen’s friend; they had studied together at medical school and now worked at the same hospital.
“Is it that obvious?” Kristen asked. “You know, there is a very important meeting for me in the evening. I hope that I can find my sister soon.” Kristen shared everything with her friend and then couldn’t hold back her tears. Lynn didn’t say anything in response to Kristen’s words; she just hugged her and remained silent for a while.
“Kristen, you’re a very strong person. I’ve known you for many years, and who if not me knows what you’ve been through, how much you love your sisters and worry about them,” Lynn finally managed to speak. “Your sisters are your weakest point. It seems like in this life there’s nothing you can’t overcome, but with your sisters…” Tears welled up in Lynn’s eyes too, but she didn’t know how to help her friend.
“I’ll gather my thoughts now and head to work,” Kristen tried to calm herself. “I’m on duty only tomorrow, so today I’ll do everything I can to make some progress in the search for my sisters. I’m particularly worried about Cynthia. You know what she’s like. God forbid that Willie harms her; it breaks my heart to even think about it. And as for Sarah, I don’t even know what she looks like now. I remember her as a two-year-old, and now she’s already 22.”
“Everything will be all right,” Lynn encouraged Kristen. “The main thing is you have to believe in it. Lunch break is ending; our patients shouldn’t be waiting for us in the corridor.”
“Yes, work will make time go by faster.”
At exactly six in the evening, Mario picked up Kristen from the hospital. Before heading to the restaurant, he took her to a shopping center to lift her spirits. Kristen didn’t want to buy anything, but Mario insisted. He knew that a new dress had the same effect on all women, and he was absolutely right. For a while, Kristen was distracted from her thoughts. She tried on several dresses in her favorite department and ended up buying not just one, but two dresses.
“Well, there you go, the therapeutic effect is achieved!” Mario commented with a satisfied tone. “Didn’t I tell you that you’re the most beautiful and exquisite woman in the world?” Kristen didn’t respond to her fiancée’s words; she just looked at him with gratitude and smiled.
The detective arrived at the restaurant precisely at eight. Mario and Kristen were already waiting for him at a window table, watching as the elegantly dressed man stepped out of a black, shiny Toyota, pressed his key fob, and headed towards the entrance. Kristen was nervous, although she tried her best not to show her emotional state. Mario went to meet Joseph. Soon, the men approached the table.
“Meet Joseph. This is Kristen, my future wife,” he introduced the girl to his friend. “Kristen, this is the Saint Joseph who hopefully will be able to help us solve our problems.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” Joseph smiled and kissed Kristen’s hand. “I’ll do everything possible for such a wonderful woman, as long as she keeps smiling.”
After a brief introduction, the young people placed their orders and began discussing the upcoming case. Kristen provided all the details about her not-so-bright childhood, about her mother who left her three daughters in the care of a neighbor, and Candace who couldn’t take the sisters from the orphanage. She described in detail Cynthia’s diagnosis, which required her to attend a specialized boarding school.
After listening to the girl’s story, Joseph remained silent for a while, as if carefully analyzing everything. From his expression, Kristen understood that she had posed a challenging task for him.
“Well, I think finding your sisters won’t be as simple as one would hope,” he finally said. “While Cynthia’s situation is somewhat clear, Sarah’s case is much more complicated. Most likely, her adoptive parents changed her surname. Of course, we can find a trail, but in so many years, the family could have moved from the capital. In that case, tracing them will be much harder. I’ll visit the orphanage where you and your sisters lived for a while. However, I suspect the institution won’t provide me with any information, especially if they did indeed adopt Sarah. But we should still try, right?”
“What other choice do we have?” Kristen asked hopefully, looking at the detective with a gaze that couldn’t be denied.
“Of course, Kristen, don’t worry. We’ll do everything we can,” Joseph reassured her. “I’ll visit the orphanage tomorrow. I’ll keep in touch with you and provide updates on whatever information I manage to gather.”
Thanking Joseph, the young people began to enjoy the dishes brought to them. They changed the topic of conversation, and for a while, it seemed like they forgot what had brought them together in the cozy restaurant hall today.
The next day, as promised, Joseph called Kristen and shared everything he had found out at the orphanage.
“Hello, Kristen, is this a good time to talk?” Joseph asked as soon as she answered his call.
“Yes, of course, I’m listening,” Kristen replied. She had been filling out medical forms, but upon hearing the voice of her new acquaintance, she put all the papers aside.
“Please don’t get disheartened right away, but everything turned out just as I said,” Joseph began explaining. “Sarah was taken by a family. A couple of months later, the orphanage received a notification that they had adopted the girl. I haven’t been able to find their last name, or even more so, their address yet. Yes, the orphanage won’t give it to me. The only thing we must consider now, if we’re talking about Sarah’s adoption, is that she definitely has a different last name. Maybe they even gave her a different name. Don’t be surprised; that happens too. The girl was still quite young, so they might not have told her that she wasn’t their biological child.”
“And what now? Do we have no chances?” Kristen asked.
“I have a few ideas. Let’s try to gather information from a different angle. You understand that it won’t be easy, and it will take some time,” Joseph reassured the girl.
“Oh, how’s Jason doing? Is he still in his position?” the girl unexpectedly remembered.
“Ah, the former head of the orphanage?” Joseph clarified. “He’s been retired for several years now. It would be nice to visit him, of course. Currently, the orphanage is managed by a new head. This woman certainly won’t provide any addresses; in principle, she doesn’t have the right to. But I’ll try to come up with something. Don’t lose hope, Kristen. I’ll call you very soon.”
After hanging up, Kristen took some time to gather her thoughts. She couldn’t quite understand Joseph’s exact plan, but she was convinced he was taking the matter seriously.
“Kristen, congratulations!” Lynn’s joyful voice interrupted the girl’s heavy thoughts. “You’re going on vacation soon! Well, admit it, a break is absolutely necessary for you right now.”
Upon hearing the news from her friend, Kristen realized she had completely forgotten about her scheduled vacation. The vacation schedule had been set half a year ago. Amidst the daily routine, she had completely forgotten that she would be on leave until mid-December. At the end of November, she had her wedding planned, which she embarrassingly admitted she didn’t think about much either; her mind was consumed by the search for her sisters. After the wedding, Mario had planned a two-week vacation abroad. The couple had decided to relax in Bali, where the most favorable season for it was starting at that time.
“Thank you, Lynn,” the girl smiled at her friend. “Indeed, with this kind of lifestyle, you can forget even about your own vacation.”
At that very moment, someone knocked on the door. “Come in,” Kristen replied and saw an elderly woman with flowers standing at the office threshold.
“Kristen, I apologize for my unexpected visit, but I couldn’t help but come and thank you,” the visitor said softly with warmth. “If not for you, my husband would hardly have been saved. No other doctor could determine what was wrong with him, but you quickly diagnosed and started the treatment. Thank you very much for that!”
“Does that mean Malcolm is okay?” the girl recalled who they were talking about. “I’m very glad for you. When he recovers and gets discharged from the hospital, have him come see me. I’ll prescribe him vitamins and medications to aid his recovery.”
After giving the flowers, the woman left the room. A happy Kristen stood in the middle of the room, holding the flowers. Lynn took a vase out of the cupboard, filled it with water from the tap, and placed the roses in it.
“Kristen, you’re an amazing doctor,” she said. “It’s not for nothing that the head of the department sends the most challenging cases your way.”
“I just love my job. There’s nothing more beautiful than seeing grateful patients,” Kristen modestly replied and got back to filling out medical forms.
A Glimmer of Hope in a Cold Land
Several days passed without any news from Joseph. In the evening, as Kristen and Mario relaxed after work, the detective finally got in touch. Mario invited him over. 40 minutes later, Joseph was sitting in the cozy kitchen alongside Kristen and Mario, sharing everything he managed to find out over the past three days.
“Yes, my friends, you gave me a challenge,” Joseph sighed. “But still, I managed to dig up something. Now I know where the former head of the orphanage lives – Jason.”
“Jason!” Kristen exclaimed with joy. “Can I visit him too, please?”
“Of course,” Joseph agreed. “I suggest we meet and talk to him tomorrow morning. I checked out that address today. Jason lives in a small brick house in a private sector in the western part of the city. You know the place?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Kristen said. “Tomorrow is Sunday, and I’m completely free from work.”
After arranging the meeting, the young people said their goodbyes. That night, Kristen slept peacefully. Somehow, hope had found a place in her heart that she would soon be able to see her younger sister.
In the morning, Joseph picked up Mario and Kristen at exactly nine o’clock. Joseph had an excellent trait of being punctual; never late, he was an extremely punctual person. How he managed it, he couldn’t explain, but he laughed about this trait of his, saying that he was born that way and couldn’t do anything about it. On that Sunday morning, the roads were clear, so about an hour later, the young people safely arrived at the given address. How Joseph managed to find it, Kristen and Mario didn’t know, but they didn’t ask. The detective had his own methods of gathering information.
Parking near the designated house, they got out and approached the gate, which was locked. However, the situation was saved by the doorbell. Within a minute, a woman slightly older than Kristen appeared in the yard. It seemed to Kristen that she had seen her somewhere before.
“Hello, who are you?” the woman asked with surprise, looking at her unexpected guests.
“I’m sorry, but we really need to meet with Jason,” Joseph interjected. “We know that he lives at this address.”
“And what do you want from him?” the woman asked the next question, and from her demeanor, it was easy to tell that she wasn’t particularly keen on letting strangers into her home.
“You see,” Kristen joined the conversation, “I’m a former ward of the orphanage that Jason used to manage. Right now, I’m in desperate need of his help. Please don’t refuse us.”
“Kristen, is that you?! I’m so glad to see you!” the homeowner suddenly shifted her attention to the girl. “Do you remember me? I was treated by you a few years ago! I still remember you! I’m Joanna, do you remember me?”
“Yes, yes, of course!” Kristen exclaimed with joy. “I’ve been looking at you and thinking, where could I have seen you before? How’s your health? Are you keeping an eye on your blood pressure?”
“Certainly, I try to follow all the cardiologist’s recommendations. Thank you for referring me to such a good specialist, and most importantly, in a timely manner,” the woman couldn’t contain her memories that were flooding back. “How can I help you? You see, my friends and I really need to talk to Jason. I hope you won’t stand in the way of our meeting?” Kristen asked hopefully.
“No, of course, come in,” Joanna agreed and opened the door. “But I’m not sure if he can help you with anything, although… well, come in, I say, you’ll see for yourselves why I think that.”
Joanna lived modestly. This was evident from the condition of the house, which was long overdue for repairs, but the thorough cleanliness in the rooms also spoke volumes.
“That’s how we live, just me and my father. When my husband found out that I couldn’t have children, he left for another woman, and I took my father in a year ago,” the woman said as she escorted the guests to a distant room.
When Kristen entered Jason’s bedroom, she immediately understood what Joanna meant when she said, “I don’t know if he can help you with anything.” In the room, she didn’t find the same Jason who tirelessly roamed the orphanage from morning till night, attending to chores and engaging with the children. Instead, she saw an elderly man paralyzed by stroke. The old man sat in a wheelchair, his lifeless eyes fixed on the window.
“He had a stroke?” Kristen guessed.
“Yes, a year ago. He barely pulled through,” Joanna confirmed her suspicion. “Before that, he could take care of himself. After my mother’s death, he lived alone for three years. I had to bring him to my place, and I had to quit my job. Now I’m running to the nearest store to mop floors. We’re living off his pension and my tiny salary.”
“Jason, can you hear me?” Kristen asked, touching the man’s hand.
“Don’t bother, you won’t get anything out of him. He doesn’t talk, just makes sounds. His speech function never returned, and his hands don’t cooperate; they shake,” the homeowner sighed heavily. Kristen herself noticed the characteristic hand tremor common in such patients and understood that there really was nothing to do here.
After bidding farewell to Joanna, the guests left the house and remained silent for a while. “I had hoped that Jason could at least help us with something,” Kristen said helplessly, sitting in the back seat of the car. “What are we going to do now?”
“I have another little idea. I’ll share it with you tomorrow evening. Right now, I have another urgent matter,” Joseph replied.
Throughout the day, Kristen tried to distract herself from the sad thoughts, yet she couldn’t get Jason out of her mind. Despite her significant experience in the hospital, Kristen couldn’t come to terms with the fact that people age, get sick, and die. Maybe that’s why she heroically tried to help every patient of hers, regardless of their age. She knew that some of her colleagues treated elderly patients with insufficient attention, thinking that old age couldn’t be cured, but Kristen never differentiated between young and old patients. She tried to help everyone equally, to ease their lives and elevate their quality of life.
In the evening, after Joseph arrived, there was an ease in Mario’s spacious apartment. Joseph informed them that he had hired someone who would try to find Sarah’s whereabouts, and he himself was planning to go to Norway, where Cynthia was supposed to be living, at least that’s where her newlywed husband took her 10 years ago. The longer Kristen listened to the detective, the more she wanted to go to Norway with him. She sat across from Mario and didn’t know how to explain her intention to her fiancée.
“Can I join you on the trip, Joseph?” she couldn’t hold back and guiltily looked at her future husband. “I would be happy if Mario went with me as well.”
Mario clearly didn’t expect this turn of events and looked at Kristen questioningly several times. “What’s this all about? Just a week from now, I’m starting my vacation until mid-December. I’ll have time to find at least one of the sisters. You two can go, and I’ll sit here waiting, waiting, waiting! I’m tired of waiting, you see. When I actively participate in the search, it’ll be easier for me,” she explained.
“Perhaps you are right,” Kristen unexpectedly agreed Joseph. “And what about you, Mario? Are you ready to go with your bride?”
“Exactly, with my bride,” Mario reminded her. “Did you happen to forget that we have a wedding in a month and then the trip to Bali?”
“I haven’t forgotten anything, Mario, but Bali can wait. If we postpone the wedding date for a while, nothing terrible will happen, right?” Kristen tried to smooth things over. “You see, when I find at least Cynthia, I’ll feel at ease. I can already imagine Cynthia sitting with us at the festive table, sharing in our happiness. Do you understand?”
“Indeed, Mario, I think Kristen is right; it’s vital for her,” Joseph supported her.
Mario sat silently for a while. He got up a couple of times, walked around lost in thought, moving from one end of the kitchen to the other, glancing at Kristen and then at Joseph.
“All right, you’ve convinced me,” he finally replied. “What should we take with us? I can’t even imagine what we might need there.”
“Take warm clothes with you, and I’ll try to book a hotel room. I’ve already researched online,” the detective responded.
The next week passed like a dream. During the day, Kristen was at the hospital; she spent several nights on duty. In the evenings, she and Mario went shopping for warm clothing. It was still autumn in their hometown, but in Norway, winter had already set in, with freezing temperatures and snow. Kristen hadn’t forgotten to take a couple of photos of her sister; even though the photos were a decade old, she hoped that Cynthia hadn’t changed too much over that time. The wedding date had to be postponed indefinitely. The young couple decided to think about a new date after their return.
On the appointed day, Kristen, Joseph, and Mario arrived at the airport. They checked in their luggage and soon took off into the unknown. Norway welcomed them with sunny, frosty weather. It was strange to transition from a relatively warm autumn to a cold, snowy winter. After landing at the airport, the travelers had to switch to a train and spend six hours reaching their destination. It took some time to settle into their hotel rooms. Kristen and Mario were on the second floor, while Joseph’s room was on the first. Despite the cold outside, the rooms were surprisingly clean, cozy, and warm. Kristen was eager to start searching, but the long journey, the cold, and the unexpected darkness outside made her abandon that idea. The hotel had its own small dining area; hot soup, mashed potatoes, and appetizing cutlets turned out to be quite timely.
After dinner, the friends gathered in Joseph’s room and discussed their plans for the next day. “I suggest visiting the auto repair station tomorrow and asking the locals about Willie. I think he might have found a job as an auto mechanic, given that he had worked in that position back in his homeland,” Joseph speculated.
“Mario and I will visit shops, cafes, and other public places. Perhaps we might meet people who have crossed paths with our friends in one way or another,” Kristen suggested.
“In any case, we need to start somewhere,” Mario agreed. “But for now, all of us need a good rest.”
The night passed quickly. Dawn had already broken when Joseph, accompanied by his assistants, left the hotel grounds. The detective headed toward the nearest auto repair station. Meanwhile, Kristen and Mario decided to stroll through the city center and engage in conversations with the locals. The snow beneath their feet crunched; walking was challenging. The cold tickled their cheeks and noses, prompting them to seek a warmer spot than the street. The small grocery stores were also deserted.
“Hello, excuse us. We only arrived in your region yesterday, so we don’t know much yet,” Kristen addressed the brightly made-up cashier. “Can you tell us why there are so few people around here?”
“Good day. It’s always like this at this time. Many people are at work, kids are at school, and folks don’t have time to go shopping,” the woman explained, adjusting her hairstyle. “We usually have a lot of visitors toward the end of the workday. If you come around 5 PM, you might run into someone. But are you just interested in people-watching, or are you looking for someone specific?”
“Yes, of course, we’re not asking just for the sake of it,” Kristen perked up. “We’re looking for my sister, Cynthia. Maybe you know something about her?” Kristen handed her a photo of Cynthia.
“No, I haven’t seen this girl. How long has she been here?” the woman inquired.
“And that’s the problem. She came here 10 years ago, and I haven’t heard anything about her since,” Kristen explained.
“Ten years ago? Well, you’re unlikely to find anyone here after so long,” the woman disappointed Kristen with her response. “For instance, I came here with my husband three years ago. I can’t wait to leave this place.” The saleswoman shifted her attention to a new customer. Perhaps she realized that Kristen and Mario weren’t planning on buying anything, or perhaps she wanted to alleviate her guilt before the local resident. Mario nudged Kristen, implying that there was nothing more to do in the store.
“Wait, let’s wait for that man. Maybe he knows something about Cynthia. He seems to be genuinely local, living here his whole life,” Mario whispered to Kristen. The young people bid farewell to the saleswoman, who had no further interest in them. They positioned themselves around the corner of the store, not wanting to lose sight of the man. After a few minutes, he emerged from the building and headed in the opposite direction. Despite his age, he walked at a brisk pace, prompting Kristen and Mario to run to catch up with him.
“Sir, please wait!” Mario called out loudly to get his attention. The elderly man heard someone addressing him, stopped, and turned around.
“Any athlete would envy your running,” Kristen said, trying to catch her breath. “I’m sorry, but how old are you? We’d love to run as fast as you at your age!”
“I’m 78,” the old man replied. “I spent my whole life teaching physical education to kids at the local school. I’m still into sports; I don’t let myself be lazy. But why are you chasing me? Do you want to find out something?”
“Yes, you’re right. We arrived here yesterday,” Kristen explained and narrated the reason they found themselves in these rugged lands. “We thought that since you’ve lived here your whole life, perhaps you might have seen my sister and her husband. I’m seeing these people for the first time.” The elderly man pondered. “She should have lived here before she left. My sister specifically mentioned Fleck…”
“Cynthia!” Kristen insisted.
“No, I can’t help you with anything. I’m sorry, I have to run,” the man declined, turning away.
“If the locals don’t know anything about Willie, then it means they haven’t been here with Cynthia. Perhaps my sister got something mixed up and mentioned a different town,” Kristen voiced her thoughts aloud. “But why didn’t I start looking for her right away? She said she’d be gone for at most two to three years, and then she and Willie would be back. It’s been a whole 10 years, and I only started searching for her now.”
“Stop blaming yourself,” Mario tried to comfort her. “You only got this opportunity now. Remember what your own life was like 10 years ago.” Kristen listened to Mario’s words, and a vivid picture formed in her mind: when Cynthia turned 18, Kristen herself was 23. The fear of studies, internship, buying an apartment, dealing with a mortgage, then the first year of work at the hospital – an endless stream of patients, night shifts. It wasn’t life; it was constant stress. She sighed and looked at Mario with gratitude. “Maybe you’re right. Thank you for being here,” she said, kissing him on his cold cheek. “Let’s head back to the hotel. It’s not far now, just a bit more, and we’ll freeze completely.”
They met Joseph in the hotel dining area, who had also returned not long ago and was trying to warm up with a cup of hot tea. Kristen immediately shared everything they had learned and with a touch of bitterness added that they would likely be returning with nothing. The detective simply nodded and smiled mysteriously.
“And now, listen to me, my friends,” he replied when Kristen fell silent. “We’re on the right track. You’re right about one thing: your sister and her husband didn’t stay here, but they’ve been here. They lived here for about a year and then moved to a neighboring town.”
“But how did you find this out?” Mario asked, taking the first sip of his fragrant tea.
“It all worked out just as I suspected,” Joseph announced joyfully. “At the first auto repair shop where I inquired about Willie, no one knew anything, but I didn’t plan on giving up. At the second shop, I had better luck. One of the mechanics knew Willie well because they worked together at that shop nine years ago. He talked about Willie and Cynthia, how she would sometimes drop by to bring him lunch. So, shall I continue?” Joseph recalled where he began his story. “One of Willie’s old buddies informed me that Willie and his wife left for Christiansand, which is about 80 kilometers from here. I think we should consider changing our location tomorrow. What do you think?”
Everyone agreed with the suggestion and decided to head to that place the next day. However, a strong blizzard erupted in the morning, lasting the entire day and night. They had to postpone the trip until the weather improved. It wasn’t until the third day that the travelers finally managed to arrive at their destination.
A Desperate Search and a Dark Truth
Upon arriving, it became clear that the local population wasn’t accustomed to tourists, so no one was prepared to welcome completely unfamiliar individuals. Unsure of what to do next and where to stay, the travelers stepped into a market to warm up. There weren’t as many shoppers in the small grocery store as they would have liked. Those who came hurriedly grabbed what they needed and rushed back outside.
“Looks like we’re going to be here until evening,” Kristen whispered to the men. “We urgently need to come up with a plan for what to do next.”
As if hearing what the strangers were discussing, a middle-aged saleswoman with massive reddish hair casually pulled back into a bun noticed them. “Good day, young people,” she addressed her guests after finishing with the last customer. “I can see you’re not from around here. Whom are you looking for? What brings you to our region?”
“Hello,” Joseph greeted, pleased. “We’ve come here for a very important matter. We just don’t know where to stay in your village.”
“Oh, lodging is a bit scarce around here,” the saleswoman replied.
“So what should we do? We can’t go back; getting here was already a struggle,” Mario inquired.
“What can we do with you? We can’t just leave you out in the cold. Why not stay at my place?” the woman unexpectedly offered. “My house is small, but I’ll find a spot. How many days are you planning to stay?”
“We’re not sure yet; it depends on how quickly we find what we’re looking for,” Joseph began to explain.
“How long are you planning to be here?” the woman asked again.
“Hopefully, not for long,” Joseph replied for the second time.
“My shift ends in about half an hour. While I’m on my way, you can sit on the bench. I live nearby,” the saleswoman said and went back to her tasks.
Dusk had quietly settled outside when the travelers, accompanied by their new acquaintance, exited the store. It was already quite dark; streetlights were flickering on. “My name is Alexandra. I live close by, just around that corner, the second house. We’ll be there soon,” the woman said cheerfully and led the way to identical two-story buildings. Upon reaching the right house, the woman unlocked the entrance with a key and instructed them to go up to the second floor. Despite the relatively short distance of about 500 meters from Alexandra’s store to her home, Kristen was freezing. Stepping into a warm hallway after such cold was pure bliss.
“Feeling cold, huh?” Alexandra smiled. “All newcomers tend to shiver for the first while. We get some nasty frosts around here. Come on in.” She opened the door and invited her guests inside the apartment. An elderly woman appeared in the hallway, looking surprised at the strangers.
“Mom, meet Kristen, Mario, and Joseph. They’ll be staying with us for a few days,” Alexandra introduced them to her mother. “And this is Carrie. Come on in, leave your bags here for now. The bathroom is to the right, the kitchen is on the left. Wash your hands and join us in the kitchen.”
After about 10 minutes, all the residents of the three-room apartment were sitting in the cozy, warm kitchen, having dinner. As if on cue, Carrie had prepared a pot of chicken soup. The hot soup, accompanied by freshly baked bread, aromatic tea, and pastries, seemed like the most delicious dishes the travelers had ever tasted. The exhausting day had taken its toll. Kristen, finally feeling warm, could feel her eyes getting heavy. She longed for just one thing: to take a shower and snuggle under a warm blanket.
“Kristen and Mario, I’ll lend you my bedroom tonight. I’ll sleep on the little couch in my mother’s room, and Joseph will provide you with a couch in the living room,” Alexandra explained, pouring more tea for her guests. “You haven’t told me yet why you’ve come to our cold region. Come on, confess, what did you lose here?” Joseph explained to the hospitable apartment owner the reason for their presence. Carrie and Alexandra tentatively listened to Joseph, not interrupting him once.
“So your sister’s name is Cynthia? Do you have a photo of her?” Alexandra asked, lost in thought. “Many years ago, it seems there was a young woman living here, short, modest, always smiling. Wait!”
Kristen interrupted the woman, “Why are you talking about Cynthia in the past tense? Has she already left?”
“Kristen, yeah, hold on, I’m trying to recall,” Alexandra continued to furrow her brows as she recollected. “About seven, no, eight or nine years ago, a couple came to our town, a guy and a girl. I think the guy’s name was Willie and the girl Cynthia. I don’t remember the last name. The guy was working, by the way, he should still be working at the railway station. But as for the girl, I don’t know what to say.”
“What do you mean you don’t know?!” Kristen nervously exclaimed. “Tell us what happened to Cynthia! What happened to her?”
“I heard that Willie was drinking, and he often raised his hands to Cynthia. Your sister, Cynthia, worked with him at the station, cleaning the floors, keeping things in order. So we often saw her with bruises, and she, a young and pretty girl, started fading away next to that guy. How can I put it more gently? Cynthia started drinking. She was late for work. Her station supervisor forgave her many times, covered for her with the higher-ups. But then one day, Cynthia almost got run over by a train. She came in the morning drunk, it was still dark, and she didn’t realize she was on the tracks. After that incident, she was fired from her job.”
“Cynthia was drinking?” Kristen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Horrible images began to form in Kristen’s mind: drunk Cynthia, barely able to stand, falling onto the tracks without realizing it. Tears welled up in her eyes. “Where is Cynthia now? You mentioned her in the past tense,” she asked, regaining her composure a bit.
“You’d have to ask Willie about that. He’s still around here. About three years after they came to Christiansand, Cynthia disappeared somewhere,” the woman continued her somber narrative. “I’m not close with them. Your sister visited my store, but not often, maybe just a few times in those three years. But Willie still comes by even now; he gets more booze and snacks. You need to go to the station tomorrow morning; he must surely know where his wife is now. After lunch and in the evening, it’s pointless to talk to him; you won’t find him sober anyway.”
That night, Kristen couldn’t close her eyes. Her suspicions about Willie turned out to be true. He had not only sunk to the lowest point in his own life but had also dragged Cynthia down with him. Trusting, gentle, and kind Cynthia. It wasn’t in vain that she resembled their mother so much. It turned out that now Cynthia had completely followed in her mother’s footsteps; she started drinking and losing her humanity. Kristen couldn’t find peace and blamed herself for not searching for her sister sooner. And could she even find her now? She had strong doubts.
It seemed like Kristen had only recently fallen asleep, and already someone was waking her up. Opening her eyes, she first looked at the clock, and its hands showed eight in the morning.
“Kristen, maybe Joseph and I should look for Willie on our own? You sleep and rest for now,” Mario asked quietly, seeing that the girl had opened her eyes.
“No, absolutely not! I’m coming with you,” Cynthia replied and threw off the blanket.
“Well, I thought so. That’s why I woke you up, even though I didn’t want to,” Mario admitted. “I could tell you hadn’t slept all night, tossing and turning.”
Quickly washing up and getting herself together, she hurried after the men. Alexandra had the day off today, so she escorted her new friends to the entrance. She explained once again how to get to the station and wished them a good day. The walk to the station took about an hour. Thankfully, the weather had warmed up a bit; after yesterday’s 30 below, today’s minus 15 felt relatively comfortable. Striding briskly through the village streets, the friends headed towards the bus station. The GPS navigation guided them, so they didn’t need to ask passersby for directions. The small bus station was nestled nearby houses, emerging unexpectedly around a corner.
After questioning the station workers about Willie, the friends learned that he should be showing up for work in about half an hour, replacing his colleague. Willie worked as a mechanic responsible for the maintenance of the rolling stock; he monitored the technical condition of the trains. Willie didn’t have any formal education in the field; perhaps over time, he had learned how to handle the job. But one way or another, he had managed to hold on to this position for so many years. On the other hand, Cynthia hadn’t worked as a janitor at the station for long. Kristen anxiously awaited the meeting with Willie. He had to know exactly where Cynthia was.
It seemed that Willie valued his job, as he showed up to work on time. He was quite surprised to see his wife’s sister in the room. “Kristen, what brings you here?” he asked, recognizing her. Before her stood a very different Willie from the young and mischievous one she remembered from the day of their last encounter. Over the past 10 years, from constant drinking and a dissolute lifestyle, Willie had aged. His face had paled and was covered in a network of wrinkles. The once slender guy had turned into a disgruntled, unkempt man. If Kristen had bumped into him on the street, she would never have recognized him.
“Willie, I came for my sister, and now it’s in your best interest to tell me where she is and what happened to her!” she said.
“What more do you want?” Willie began to get defiant.
“Listen, man, we’re not kidding around!” Mario joined in the conversation. “If you don’t tell us everything Kristen is asking you about right now, you’ll be in jail tonight until all the circumstances are sorted out. If no one has been looking for Cynthia so far, be glad that day has come!”
Mario’s words visibly unsettled Willie. This was evident from his expression and his trembling hands, either from nerves or from the fact that his body was demanding a quick dose of alcohol to steady himself. “Fine, I’ll tell you everything as it is. I just need my partner to cover for me,” Willie replied and left the room with Joseph.
About 10 minutes later, they returned. Willie looked at Kristen with a guilty gaze and didn’t know where to begin his story. “Cynthia lived with me for about three years,” he finally began. “We lived together quite well; we rented a decent apartment and found some kind of work. But then she started drinking alcohol…”
“Probably not without your help!” Kristen couldn’t hold back and interrupted him. “Admit it, you hit her, abused her! Speak up!”
“I swear by everything, I never laid a finger on her!” Willie started swearing. “She started drinking more and more, then she nearly died at work. Her station supervisor fired her, and after a while, she left me. Didn’t say a word, didn’t even take her things, just packed up and disappeared.”
“That’s not possible!” Kristen interrupted Willie again. “Cynthia couldn’t just leave you like that! I know my sister; I know what she’s like, trusting, how much she loved you! She couldn’t just walk away like that! You’re lying through your teeth! I’ll file a police report against you today. You’ll have to explain there where your wife has gone!”
“You can write a thousand reports for all I care!” the man protested. “You think I didn’t file a report with the police myself? They searched all in vain; they didn’t find her anywhere. Where can she be? I don’t know.”
Kristen listened to Willie and realized she was stuck again, a dead end from which she probably wouldn’t be able to escape. She had no idea where to look for Cynthia, and proving Willie’s guilt in her disappearance was just as challenging. They asked Willie a few more questions and left the station building, not knowing what to do next. They warned Willie that they might come back at any moment; they recorded his home address and phone number. The man provided all his details, pretending that he would be relieved if Cynthia was finally found.
Walking silently toward the nearest street from which they had come to the station, the friends heard the crunch of snow behind them and saw someone approaching. Someone was clearly hurrying and trying to catch up with them.
“Wait, wait! I think I can help you!” called out the unfamiliar guy. “My name is Dave. I work here at the station and live next door to Willie. I can tell you about Cynthia. I accidentally overheard your conversation behind the door – not on purpose. I just wanted to change clothes, and then I heard voices and unintentionally became a witness to your conversation with Willie.”
“Dave, can you really tell us something about Cynthia?” Kristen exclaimed with joy.
“Yes, but not right now. My shift ends at seven in the evening. Come to the cafe next to the station; I’ll tell you everything there. Right now, I need to get back to work, and I don’t want Willie to suspect anything,” the guy explained and hurried back to the station.
“Well, at least we have something to hold on to,” Joseph said as soon as the guy disappeared around the corner. “I was actually thinking of talking to Willie’s neighbors. Neighbors usually know much more about each other than they’d like to admit. I have a feeling this guy isn’t straightforward; he’s hiding a lot. Willie knows what really happened to Cynthia and where she is now, but for some reason, he doesn’t want others to know.”
Struggling to wait until seven in the evening, the friends headed to the cafe Dave had pointed out. By the time their new acquaintances arrived, Dave was already sitting at one of the distant tables, looking around.
“Good evening,” he greeted them modestly and invited his guests to sit. “I’ve been carrying this burden within me for a long time. I’ve wanted to share it with someone and tell everything I know, but I was afraid. I despise myself for it.”
“Just speak up. It’s very important for us to know where Cynthia is now. Is she alive?” Kristen asked, looking hopefully at the young man, who didn’t seem older than 23. Lean and fair-haired, he looked at his new acquaintances as if they were his salvation.
“I was 16 when Willie and his wife Cynthia moved in next door. At that time, I lived with my father, but he worked a lot. He had to be away on shifts and nights, so I often stayed alone in the apartment,” the guy began his confession. “I should note that the walls in our building are very thin; if you speak loudly, you can easily convey every word to the neighbors through the wall. Willie always speaks very loudly, so I heard all the fights he had with his wife, how he hit her and humiliated her. Cynthia endured it all, and then she started drinking. They drank together. She’s a strange one, yours; she gets beaten and she keeps silent and forgives. I didn’t understand a lot at that time, but I felt sorry for Cynthia. In short, her life wasn’t a bed of roses. One day, he came back from work drunk again, started a quarrel, and…”
“And what?!” Kristen couldn’t control her anger.
“I think Willie pushed Cynthia. I could be wrong, but she suddenly fell silent. Before that, she screamed and fell. After that, Willie carried her out of the apartment in his arms. I turned off the lights in the apartment and watched him load her into the back seat of his friend’s car and drive off somewhere. After that, no one saw Cynthia here. Willie acted like he was looking for her. He even called the cops, but you know how it goes; the police saw that they were outsiders, drinkers, and they acted like they were searching and then closed the case.”
“So are you saying he killed Cynthia?” Kristen turned pale.
“No, I’m sure your sister is alive,” Dave reassured the girl. “He himself somehow told someone over the phone—he talks loudly, especially when he’s drunk—so he was telling someone that Cynthia is alive.”
“Why did you keep silent until now?” Joseph finally managed to join the conversation.
“Well, it’s simple: I’m a coward. I’m afraid of Willie. Besides, we’re neighbors. My father lives here in a disabled housing unit; I’m the only one taking care of him. If something happens to me, who’s going to look after him? You don’t know the kind of people who sometimes come to him; they all have gangster faces. Everyone avoids them. Maybe it’s even better that Cynthia doesn’t live with him anymore,” the guy replied, blushing. “That’s why I decided to help you, to clear my conscience. I’ve been carrying the secret in me for years. It’s sickening to look at this Willie of yours, and I’m sickened by myself.”
“Calm down. You did the right thing. We won’t give you away, don’t worry. But now we know where we need to continue searching for Cynthia. Thank you, Dave.” Kristen thanked Dave.
After chatting a bit more, the friends left the cafe, exchanging phone numbers and agreeing to inform each other about any developments. Right after returning to Alexandra’s place, Joseph started questioning her about a place called Skjeberg.
“Are you sure the guy didn’t mistake the name?” the woman asked after thinking for a moment.
“He said he heard that exact name. It was behind the wall of the neighboring apartment, so who knows what he could have heard,” Mario speculated.
“Yes, there is such a village,” Carrie unexpectedly joined the conversation.
“Mom, where is this Skjeberg located?” Alexandra was surprised. “I, for example, have never heard of such a village.”
“It will be about 70 kilometers away from here, no less. But buses don’t go there. You’ll have to find someone who’s willing to go there,” the old lady said. “Maybe you should ask our neighbor Serge? He has an old off-road vehicle; he’s not afraid of rough terrain.”
“Mom, you’re a genius!” the homeowner praised her mother. “I’ll go find Serge right away.”
In just five minutes, a stocky, short man with a gray beard appeared in the apartment alongside Alexandra. Kristen thought he looked like an old man from some fairy tale. He looked at the present with kind eyes peering from under thick eyebrows and smiled.
“Here, let me introduce you, Serge. This is our neighbor,” Alexandra introduced the man. “He’s exactly the one you need.”
“Very pleased to meet you. So, where do you need to go?” Serge inquired, having listened to where and for what purpose the guests needed to go to Skjeberg.
The next day, early in the morning, as agreed, Serge started his old off-road vehicle. Despite not being in that area for quite a while, Serge remembered the road perfectly. Whistling a tune, he firmly held the steering wheel, leaving one kilometer after another behind. Kristen sat next to Mario, thinking only of one thing: she hoped that this trip wouldn’t turn out to be another disappointment. She wanted to believe that very soon she would be able to hug her sister, take her with her, and never part again.
The journey took about an hour and a half. The dirt road in places and the old car itself didn’t allow them to speed up significantly. When the roofs of the isolated houses appeared on the horizon, Kristen felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest.
“Well, it seems we’ve arrived,” the old man said, surveying the houses. After driving along the village’s only street, the travelers decided to stop and knock on one of the residential houses. A vigorous woman around 60 came out in response to the knock.
“Who are you? What do you need?” she asked, looking out from behind the fence with curiosity.
“Hello, we know for sure that a young woman from Skjeberg should be living here,” Joseph began to explain. “She came to you about seven or six years ago.”
“You’re confusing something. We don’t have any young women from out of town here,” the woman answered, studying the conversation partners closely with her inquisitive eyes. “Only elderly people live here. Thank God the mobile store comes once a week so we don’t starve to death. The village has fallen apart completely, and it used to be so beautiful.”
“Are you absolutely sure that there’s no young woman in the village?” Mario interjected, realizing that the woman wasn’t exactly talking about what they needed.
“I’m telling you for sure, we all know each other here. You’ve come here for nothing,” the woman replied again, and without saying goodbye, she headed towards her house. Kristen had been standing in silence all this time, not knowing how to react to the local woman’s words. She refused to comprehend that once again she couldn’t find her sister, and the trail had completely disappeared.
Stepping aside slightly, the friends got into the car and drove away from the house where they were told that there were no newcomers in the village. Serge parked his car by the roadside amidst birch groves.
“So what now? Shall we turn back and give up the search?” Kristen asked, looking at the men. “It seems that all our attempts to find Cynthia are in vain. In all these years, anything could have happened to her. If she really hit her head hard, she could have…” Kristen stumbled on her words, finding it difficult to hold back her tears.
“And to say the least, in my opinion, it’s too early to give up,” Joseph unexpectedly said, attentively watching someone from the car’s window. Kristen and Mario followed his example and noticed just a woman who was hurrying along the road and rushed into one of the houses about 30 meters away.
“Here’s our new acquaintance,” Joseph whispered. “I didn’t like her look right away. Of course, she tried to carefully hide her surprise and fear, but she can’t fool me so easily. She lied to us, and now she quickly left her house and ran into another. I’m sure Cynthia must be there. Serge, you’ve parked your car very well; the woman didn’t notice us. Probably she thought we had already left the village.”
“And what do we do now?” Kristen asked.
“We need to go and check if Cynthia is really in that house or not. It’s entirely possible that the woman just decided to visit some acquaintances, isn’t that right?”
“Well, that’s one way to look at it,” Joseph replied thoughtfully. “But here’s the thing: she was in too much of a hurry, as if she feared being noticed or something else. But we need to find out. We won’t knock on the door; we’ll just go in. That way, they won’t have time to hide Cynthia. We have nothing to lose, right?”
“Hold on,” Mario interrupted his comrade, “and what if Cynthia isn’t really there? It might get awkward.”
“We’ll think about that when we’re sure about it,” Joseph replied. “But please, don’t delay. We enter quickly, not getting distracted by anything. Of course, the owners might resist, so I’ll take a gun with me just in case. Hopefully, it won’t be needed. Serge, you stay here and keep an eye on everything happening outside.”
The friends did everything as Joseph commanded. Together, without notifying the homeowners, they entered the yard of the house where the local woman had appeared a few minutes ago. The homeowners, as Joseph had assumed, were not expecting uninvited guests. Apart from the woman they knew, there was another older woman in the house with gray hair tied in a scarf. Upon seeing Kristen and the men, she began to lower the curtains on the doors leading to the adjacent room.
“Who are you? What do you want here?” she asked loudly, giving a hostile look to the strangers.
“Hello, dear ladies. We are already acquainted with you,” Joseph smiled at the house’s owner. “And as for you, we’re yet to get acquainted. Please allow me to introduce myself: I’m Lieutenant Joseph of the police.” With these words, Joseph pulled out his identification from his pocket, a fact that even Kristen and Mario were unaware of. The homeowner’s demeanor softened slightly upon seeing the identification, but she continued to fidget with the curtains on the doors. Unknowingly, this action betrayed her nervous state.
“How should I address you?” Joseph asked the woman, tucking the identification back into his pocket.
“I’m Naomi,” the old woman replied softly, still standing in front of the doors as if indicating that entry into the room was prohibited.
“Naomi, I see you’re not a young woman anymore, and you certainly don’t need any problems with the law,” he calmly addressed the homeowner, shifting his gaze to her guest. “Do you agree with me?”
“Yes, of course,” both women replied in unison, making it clear they had no intention of arguing.
“We’re looking for Cynthia. I believe you know who we’re talking about,” Joseph asked, his demeanor showing that resisting him was futile. However, both women stood their ground and remained adamant.
“Kate, what Cynthia are they talking about?” Naomi asked her neighbor. “I have no Cynthia, and there never was one. They asked me the same thing, some crazy people. We should also check the identification they were waving at us – swindlers!” Naomi’s friend began to defend herself.
“Show us what’s in the neighboring room,” Joseph said, approaching Naomi so closely that he could feel her breath. From an outsider’s perspective, it didn’t look very pleasant, even somewhat rude, but in this situation, behaving differently probably wouldn’t have made sense. Kristen followed Joseph. She drew back the curtains and saw a girl sitting at the table. At first, from behind, she didn’t recognize who was in the room that Naomi, the homeowner, was so reluctant to let uninvited guests into. The girl’s hair was pulled back into a tight bun. She wore an old-fashioned blouse and a skirt. Warm knitted socks covered her feet. The girl sat at the table as if trying to hide from everything that was happening in the adjacent room. Her shoulders were slumped, her face covered with her palms, sitting quietly, almost not breathing.
“Cynthia… Cynthia, is it you?” Kristen asked, slowly approaching her sister. Only when she got close did Kristen confirm that it was indeed her sister. However, over the past 10 years, she had changed significantly. From a young girl, she had transformed into a woman worn out by life. Fine lines had formed around her eyes; her eyes were filled with fear and surprise. Perhaps Cynthia appeared older than her age due to the hairstyle and the clothes provided by Naomi, the homeowner.
“Do you recognize me? I’m Kristen. Cynthia, Cynthia, please remember me!” the girl pleaded with tears in her eyes.
“I remember you, Kristen! How did you find me?!” Cynthia finally spoke, looking at her elder sister with joy. “I had almost given up hope of ever seeing you!” Kristen embraced her sister and couldn’t bear to let go of her for a long time. The men didn’t interrupt the sisters and left them alone in the room.
Naomi and Kate sat on a bench, looking sad. No one knew how much time had passed before Joseph decided to break the silence. “Naomi, please forgive us for such a forceful intrusion, but you must understand, we had no other choice. We came here for Cynthia, and we would have done everything possible to find her anyway,” he addressed the old woman. “I believe you’ll tell us how Cynthia ended up with you.”
“I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you everything!” the old woman whispered, wiping her tears with her handkerchief.
“Naomi’s not to blame for anything!” Kate interjected. “If not for Naomi, who knows where that scoundrel might have taken your Cynthia! Naomi healed her, got her back on her feet. Do you know how long Cynthia couldn’t remember who she was?”
“Let’s hear the whole story,” Mario suggested. “We came here for this.”
“How about I treat you with some borscht and herbal tea? You must be cold,” Naomi suggested and went to the kitchen.
“We should invite Serge into the house,” Joseph remembered.
About half an hour later, the whole group was sitting at a small table and having a meal. “It was about seven years ago, and you can’t remember it all that well,” the woman began her story. “One night my grandpa and I were sleeping when we heard someone knocking. We were scared, but we had to open the door. A strong young man came in, holding a girl in his arms. He said he needed to leave her here and heal her. He was probably sure she would die; he didn’t know how to get rid of her. Grandpa and I were very frightened, so we agreed to keep her here; we just wanted him to leave us alone. She was really sick, but gradually she started to recover. For a long time, she couldn’t remember who she was, where she was from, or even her name. The young man came a couple of times, brought groceries, asked us to take care of her, and then he forgot about her. Cynthia got used to us, and we got used to her. She turned out to be a good seamstress, and we had an old sewing machine that came in handy. Cynthia started sewing for the locals, who, even though there weren’t many, paid for her work. I really don’t want Cynthia to leave me alone here. My grandpa passed away three years ago, and I’m all alone. Cynthia never let me feel lonely; she’s a good girl, modest and quiet.”
“We all understand, but we can’t leave Cynthia with you. I looked for her for so long, and she needs medical attention. I work as a doctor in a hospital. I’ll examine her, make sure there are no complications from the head injury,” Kristen explained, taking her sister’s hand. “You’ll come with me, won’t you, Cynthia?” Cynthia remained silent, sitting next to her sister, smiling and nodding in response. She couldn’t be happier to reunite with Kristen.
After eating and conversing with the homeowner, the guests began to prepare for the journey back. It was already 3 PM, and twilight was approaching. Naomi helped Cynthia get ready, wiping away her tears with a handkerchief. “My dear, don’t forget about me, come visit!” she pleaded.
“I won’t forget, Grandma Naomi, and Kate will always be there. You won’t be lonely,” the girl tried to reassure the old woman.
After about 40 minutes, everyone was ready to head back. Difficulties arose when Cynthia couldn’t find her passport. Most likely, the document was still in Willie’s hands, so inevitably, a meeting with Willie was looming. Kissing the old woman on the cheek, Cynthia took her place in Serge’s car and set off alongside her sister toward a new life. Kristen was overjoyed; she had finally found one of her sisters. All that was left was to find her passport to return home sooner.
Reunited and the Weight of the Past
Throughout the evening, the sisters sat in Alexandra’s small kitchen, sharing stories about how they had lived these years apart from each other.
“Cynthia, don’t hide anything. Tell the whole truth about Willie. Putting that scoundrel in jail is not enough,” Kristen asked her sister.
“What is there to say about Willie? You already know everything about him, even more than I do,” Cynthia sighed. “He brought me here and got himself into trouble. As it turned out, he had no idea what family life and responsibility for the person you live with meant. I kept wondering why he needed me. Almost a month later, he started living with another woman, not even hiding his relationship with her from me. I stayed home, couldn’t get a job right away. That’s when Willie began reproaching me, saying I was just lazing around at home, not doing anything. I got a job at the train station, but I couldn’t work there for long either.” Cynthia fell silent and lowered her eyes. Kristen knew this story already, so she wasn’t sure what to say to her sister.
“Why didn’t you leave him? You weren’t doing well with him. I heard you even started drinking,” Kristen finally gathered the courage to speak.
“Yes, you’re right, but I don’t know why I didn’t leave him immediately. Maybe I loved him, maybe I got used to him. Most likely, I was afraid he’d get even worse. In short, I resigned myself to my fate and just existed next to him,” Cynthia explained.
Kristen looked at her sister and marveled at how much Cynthia resembled their mother, both in appearance and character. Kim had also been weak-willed and trusting. She believed in men, thought that one of them would stay with her, but that didn’t happen. She didn’t even notice how she slowly spiraled into a life of alcoholism. She fell to the bottom of life, leaving her daughters to fate’s mercy.
“I wonder where is our mother now?” Cynthia asked, as if reading her sister’s thoughts. “Have you met her even once during these years?”
“No, unfortunately. I saw her for the last time on the same day you did. I have no idea where she is, whether she’s alive or not,” Kristen said. “But I really want to find her, and also our sister Sarah. Do you remember her?”
“Of course,” Cynthia smiled, imagining their younger sister before her eyes. “She must have grown up by now. Maybe she even got married.”
“And how have you been all this time?” Kristen told her sister about her life, studies, about Aunt Candace and Uncle Evan, about Mario and the upcoming wedding.
“So you sacrificed your own wedding for me?!” Cynthia exclaimed in surprise.
“It’s okay. The most important thing is that I managed to find you. And we’ll still have our wedding after the New Year,” Kristen reassured her sister. “And in the spring, you and I will visit Aunt Candace and Uncle Evan’s graves. I’ve been living all these years remembering how kind they were to us. Sometimes parents don’t treat their own children that way.”
“Oh, yeah,” Cynthia smiled again, lost in warm memories. “And Aunt Candace used to make such delicious apple pies. I wish we could try them now.”
“And what, mine won’t do?” Alexandra asked, appearing in the kitchen and uncovering a tray covered with a towel. “Here, try them. I baked some today.”
The whole company was cheerfully seated at the table, enjoying the delicious, fluffy pies. “Your pies are incredibly tasty!” Joseph praised the woman. “Oh, it’s sad that we have to leave soon. I’ll come back, and the taste of these wonderful pies will always be remembered.”
“And you should come visit me!” Alexandra suggested. “It’s just my mom and me at home. We’ll always be glad to have guests.” Kristen looked at Alexandra and Carrie and once again reminded herself that there are far more good people in the world than bad ones. She was going to meet one of the good ones tomorrow. Could it be true that Willie lost Cynthia’s passport? She was eager to go home, but if there were no documents for Cynthia with Willie, taking her back would be problematic.
The night passed in the blink of an eye. Kristen couldn’t recall what she dreamed about, but for the first time in many days, she slept soundly. If someone had been watching her, they would have seen a smile on her face. In the morning, as soon as it dawned, Kristen, Joseph, and Mario set out to find Willie.
“We need to find him in the morning before he has a chance to start drinking,” Kristen nervously said. “You never know what to expect from people like him.” Wrapped tightly in a warm scarf, she hurried after the men. They reached Willie’s home fairly quickly. As they approached the apartment door, it became clear that ringing the doorbell was futile; it had been out of order for a while, wires sticking out haphazardly. The door itself didn’t inspire confidence either; once well-insulated and covered in faux leather, it now looked shabby, with peeled corners and cracked covering. Mario was about to knock when he noticed that the door wasn’t locked and was even slightly ajar. Carefully pushing on the handle, Joseph entered the apartment first, followed by Mario, who held Kristen’s hand tightly. Fortunately, the apartment’s owner was at home. Apparently, he had drunk quite a bit yesterday, so today, despite the fact that it was already day, he was still asleep, pressing into his old, greasy sofa.
“Hey, comrade, wake up! It’s time for work!” Joseph began waking him up. Willie, still half asleep, didn’t immediately grasp the situation. Failing to open his eyes on the first try, he pulled the blanket tighter around himself and turned to the wall, mumbling something under his breath.
“Wake up, I say!” Joseph didn’t back off from him. “We’re not here to admire you, but to settle some matters.”
Realizing that there were people in the apartment, Willie reluctantly opened his eyes and scrutinized the uninvited guests. “Who are you? How did you get into my apartment?” he began, struggling to form words. “I’ll call the police right now!”
“Don’t make us laugh, the police are already here,” Joseph smirked, showing the apartment owner his identification. “And so that you don’t meet strangers in your room in the morning, try locking the front door with a key from the evening.”
“What? I didn’t lock it? Well, I was drinking yesterday,” Willie grumbled again, rubbing his face with his hands. “And what do you want from me?”
“We need Cynthia’s passport. It should be with you,” Kristen interjected. “Do you recognize me? Everything here is a mess, but find it! If you don’t find it, I don’t know what I’ll do to you! I don’t know what I’ll do!”
“And what’s with the rudeness?” Willie started to get defensive upon recognizing Kristen. “So you’ve come for your sister? You found her already?”
“Yes, I found her, and honestly, I really want you to answer for everything you’ve done to her! You’re a scoundrel, Willie!” Kristen replied through gritted teeth and gave a venomous look at her sister’s husband. “You’ll divorce Cynthia within the next month. If you don’t do as I say, you’ll end up in jail, got it?”
“Got it, got it, got it. I’m not a fool. If I were a fool, I wouldn’t have understood,” Willie mumbled to himself, rummaging through the clutter on the bookshelves. “The passport was always lying here, but now it’s gone.” It took about 40 minutes before he finally found the necessary document. Along with the passport, all of Cynthia’s other documents miraculously emerged from the depths of this dirty and terrible apartment.
Having completed all her tasks, Kristen hurried to leave Willie’s lair. She wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible and never see Willie’s unpleasant face again. She realized that her sister was also at fault in everything that had happened. If only Cynthia had listened to Kristen and heeded her advice, none of this might have occurred. But Cynthia had chosen this life for herself, not understanding the kind of repulsive person she was tying her fate to.
“Oh, if only we could turn back time!”
“Don’t dwell on the past; think about the future instead, which will be much better than we can imagine,” Mario tried to encourage his fiancée once again. He saw the incredible woman he had chosen as his life partner: Kristen, who at first glance might seem fragile and sentimental, was actually stubborn and determined. There was nothing that could make her give up on her goals.
New Beginnings and an Unexpected Revelation
The next day passed in a flurry. Mario booked plane and train tickets, which the travelers would use to get to the airport. Cynthia was particularly nervous. She had long decided that she would live her life in Skjeberg and would never see her family again. It seemed to her that this was her destiny. Remembering her life with Willie, she feared men in the big world. But now, beside her sister, she felt calm and confident. It was difficult to say goodbye to Alexandra and Carrie, who had embraced them as family, taking their word that they would definitely attend Mario and Kristen’s wedding. The friends left for the station; for this, Serge once again started up his SUV. Throughout the journey, Cynthia didn’t leave her sister’s side, holding on to her as if afraid she would disappear again and everything that was happening would turn out to be a dream. Kristen understood her sister’s state; she occasionally hugged her, letting her know that they were together now and would never part again.
After returning home, Kristen and Mario immediately plunged into wedding preparations. They had managed to do a lot even before the trip. The wedding took place just before the New Year. After the holiday season, the newlyweds embarked on a two-week trip to Bali. Kristen quickly returned to work as soon as she got back, and despite Mario’s attempts to convince her to take a few more days off, she insisted that her patients were waiting for her and that she had missed work terribly.
On the very first evening after returning, Mario and Kristen visited Cynthia, who had prepared an apple pie and brewed aromatic herbal tea.
“How are you doing here, Cynthia? Are you getting used to city life?” Mario asked almost immediately, observing the sisters hugging and kissing each other.
“I’m getting used to it, but…” Cynthia wanted to say something but stumbled over words and didn’t know how to formulate her thought.
“But what? Don’t scare me, Cynthia,” Kristen said, looking at her sister with concern. Kristen understood that her sister had long been an adult, but she couldn’t help it. Knowing what Cynthia had gone through, she was willing to look after her for her whole life, as long as her little sister was okay.
“Nothing happened,” Cynthia reassured her guests. “I just haven’t been able to find a job yet. I’ve been to several ateliers, but they all say there are no vacancies.”
“Have you shown them your creations?” Kristen asked. “I’m sure if you show them the wonderful clothes you make, no one will dare turn you down.”
“No, I haven’t done that,” Cynthia pondered. “I’ll do it tomorrow, just like you said. Maybe I’ll get lucky.”
“You definitely will, sis, don’t doubt it!” Kristen cheered her on. “And what’s that delicious smell coming from the kitchen? My favorite apple pie!”
Kristen and Mario quickly took their seats at the table while Cynthia poured the tea and watched with joy as they enjoyed the pie. “My grandmother Naomi taught me to bake this,” Cynthia sighed. “Honestly, I didn’t even think I’d miss her this much. I wonder how she’s doing.”
“Why don’t you write her a letter? She did ask you to write, remember?” Kristen reminded her sister.
“Yes, of course, I just haven’t had the time. I’ll write to her today; I think she’ll be interested to know how I’m doing here,” Cynthia replied with a smile. “And I can’t wait to take a stroll in our backyard, sit under the old apple tree. It feels like a hundred years since we were last there.”
“I often think about that too,” Kristen supported her sister. “But I want to go there with Sarah. Of course, it would be great to find Mom too, but I’m afraid we’ll never see her again. It’s been 20 years, and there’s been no news from her.”
“Mom,” Cynthia sighed. “I remember how I missed her in the beginning when they placed us in the orphanage. I would hug my pillow and imagine lying next to her. No matter what she was like, I loved her.”
“Cynthia, do you know how much you resemble her? Both the eyes and the smile, even your walk, it’s just like Mom’s,” Kristen said. “And most importantly, your character. That’s why I worry about you. Our mom was very trusting, easy to deceive, just like you. Remember when I tried to talk you out of going with Willie? Do you remember?”
“I remember,” Cynthia sighed once again and teared up. “I was so foolish. I endured so much because of him.”
“Okay, enough tears,” Kristen tried to comfort her sister. “We need to focus on something else now, like finding Sarah. Joseph asked one of his acquaintances to look into it before our trip. He promised to tell us what they found out tomorrow. Are you planning to look for work again tomorrow?”
“Yes, I have a couple of places in mind,” Cynthia answered.
“And are you going to work? You must be missing your patients by now.”
“Yes, absolutely,” Kristen agreed and smiled. “No matter what, I really love my job. Just promise me you’ll come to the hospital for a checkup in the next few days. I want to make sure everything’s okay with you.”
After promising Kristen that she would do as she asked, Cynthia continued to sit next to her sister for a while. The two girls reminisced about their difficult childhood years: their mom, Candace, Uncle Evan, their old house, and the apple tree in the yard.
Amy and the Fateful Accident
“Kristen, meet Amy, our new nurse. She’s only been with us for a week, but she’s proven herself as a skilled professional,” Lynn introduced the new colleague. “Welcome her to the team.”
Kristen looked at the young girl with curious eyes. The hazel-eyed beauty with long chestnut hair in a dazzling white coat was probably turning heads among all the male staff at the hospital. “Hello,” the girl greeted and shook Kristen’s hand. “And you must be the famous Kristen. I’ve been wanting to meet you for so long. They talk about you here!”
“And what do they say about me?” Kristen asked.
“Nothing but good things! They tell me immediately only positive things: how quickly and accurately you diagnose patients, how well you connect with everyone, how fast your patients recover. Oh, I think that’s quite enough!” Kristen interrupted her young interlocutor. “So you’re doing your internship here? How long is it, if it’s not a secret?”
“Six weeks. I’ve completed one already, so I have five left,” the new nurse reported just as quickly. “I really like it here. I’m thinking of coming to work here after getting my medical degree.”
“So you’re not planning to stop here?” Kristen exclaimed joyfully. “Well, that’s really commendable! Are you planning to apply to medical school next summer?”
“Yes, definitely. Many of my peers are finishing college at my age. It’s just that due to my health condition, I couldn’t get into university on time,” the girl sighed. “I was in a car accident. They say I miraculously survived. My parents took me to Germany for treatment. I basically had to learn to walk again. Luckily, my head was okay.”
“Well, you wouldn’t guess that just by looking at you!” Kristen exclaimed. “And do your parents live in our town?”
“No, we’ve lived in Belgium all our lives, until the accident happened to me in the 10th grade. My classmates convinced me to go on a picnic with them. One of our friends who had just gotten his driver’s license was behind the wheel. But in our youth, you usually don’t think that something irreversible can happen to you. Gilbert, that unfortunate driver, sat next to me. I don’t know how it happened, but he lost control of the car. It went off the road and flipped over. I was the most seriously injured in that accident; my arms and legs were broken, and my internal organs were damaged. They operated on me in Belgium, and when I got a bit stronger, my parents took me to Germany for treatment and recovery, where I spent a year and a half. I finished school when I was already 19. Then I enrolled in college. I decided to start with becoming a nurse before becoming a doctor. I want to become a surgeon.” Amy shared her challenging memories.
“Well, I see you’re a very optimistic person,” Kristen noted. “I think we’ll get along well. Give me your documents; I’ll fill out everything that’s necessary. I’m going for rounds. Are you coming with me?”
“Yes, of course! I’ll just set up a few IVs in the ward and then come right away,” Amy replied and disappeared behind the office door.
“Amy, 22 years old,” Kristen read aloud. “That’s the same age as Sarah now. Oh, my dear sister, how am I going to find you?”
The workday passed swiftly. The endless stream of patients only stopped around five in the evening. Throughout the day, Kristen and Amy worked together. The intern turned out to be a very adept young woman. She followed instructions precisely, and despite working in a new place for only a few days, she had handled all the paperwork successfully, knowing exactly where everything was. At six in the evening, Kristen left the hospital building and hurried to the parking lot where Mario was already waiting for her. He informed her that Joseph and his assistant were already waiting for them at the restaurant. Kristen was eager to meet the person who had started searching for Sarah. She hoped he had managed to find out something and that she would soon be able to embrace her younger sister.
“Good evening,” Joseph greeted. “Meet Kurt, the man who agreed to help me in the search for Sarah.”
“Hello,” Kurt greeted, shaking Mario’s hand. “I know you’re really eager to find out something about the case, but let me clarify right away that I haven’t been able to locate the girl yet. Of course, I did have some suspicions. For instance, I know for sure that the people who adopted Sarah have the last name Smith. I found that out through my connections. Unfortunately, all the documents only list a city in the address line, no further details. I think the new parents intentionally did this to cover their tracks. They were told at the orphanage that the girl’s mother was alive, although her whereabouts were unknown. Often, birth mothers remember their children and assert their rights over them. It’s likely that these people acted this way to prevent anyone from ever bothering them about this matter. I also believe they were fairly well-off individuals, as they managed to plan everything so thoroughly. I tried to find out who adopted the girls 20 years ago in Madrid. You can imagine, I was searching for a needle in a haystack. I couldn’t find any Smith that matched. Most likely, they used a fake last name as well. Let’s hope they did this with good intentions, rather than planning to sell the girl.” Kurt reported.
Upon hearing these words, Kristen felt unwell. To compose herself, she took a few sips of water and took a deep breath. “So you’re suggesting that they might have taken her from the orphanage under the guise of adoption, but their true motive could have been different?” she asked, looking at Kurt.
“Calm down, Kristen. These are just assumptions; nothing more is known about the case for now,” Kurt realized he might have said too much. “I promise you, I will continue searching for your sister. I’ll do everything I can to bring you good news in the near future.”
After discussing the main topic, the men shifted the conversation to another subject, trying to distract Kristen from her heavy thoughts. They returned home at nine in the evening. Kristen went straight to bed; she had no desire to talk or think about anything. Days flew by. Cynthia managed to get a job as a seamstress, which made her very happy. Sometimes Kristen felt as though all her efforts to find Sarah were in vain, so she tried to think about it less during these days. Conversing with Amy was a great comfort for her. Amy loved to talk and was an open and kind person. She particularly spoke warmly of her parents. Listening to her new friend, Kristen often reminisced about her own childhood. Amy’s parents indulged their daughter and never denied her anything. Her father owned a large agricultural company that brought in substantial profits. The family could afford frequent trips to European countries and vacations on the world’s best beaches. Amy attended the most prestigious high school in the city and had everything her heart desired. Despite all this, she grew up not as a spoiled girl, but as a cheerful and grateful individual. She was hard-working, intelligent, and always ready to help. Kristen noticed that they shared similar views on life; they never categorized patients as poor or rich, young or old, striving to provide assistance to everyone without exception.
One day, Kristen shared her childhood story with Amy: the poverty, her perpetually drunk mother, the constant fear whenever menacing men appeared at home. Amy listened to Kristen and couldn’t believe that one could live like that. She had never seen anything like it, so she couldn’t fathom such a life. Learning that Kristen had a sister named Cynthia, Amy expressed her desire to meet her. Kristen didn’t hesitate and invited Amy to visit Cynthia.
“You’ll see how wonderful Cynthia is as soon as you meet her,” Kristen said, climbing up the stairs. “She’s kind and very trusting. I’m always watching to make sure no one hurts her. There has already been one person who took advantage of her innocence. Remember I told you about finding my sister, about that scoundrel Willie?”
“Yes, of course. Something like that you never forget,” Amy replied.
Cynthia greeted her sister with her usual joy. The freshly baked pies were there, as always, so delicious. “Amy,” she said, taking a bite of pie, “Cynthia, you’re like a magician! My mom loves baking pies too, but yours are just… I can’t even find the words.”
“It’s great that you have a mom,” Cynthia unexpectedly said. “It would be so wonderful if Kristen and I could, so to speak, visit our mom, eat her pastries. But our dreams are out of reach.”
“But you have each other,” Amy replied. “I often ask my mom to give me a sister or brother, and she would just smile. As I grew older, I learned that my mom had health problems after giving birth and couldn’t have more children. Maybe that’s why my parents were so protective of me. My mom still calls me several times a day; she misses me a lot. In two weeks, I’ll be going to Belgium and finally be able to hug her and my dad too.”
“Yes, whatever the situation, there’s something to envy about each other,” Cynthia said, hugging her sister. “In a good way, of course.”
“I’m so glad, sis!” Kristen agreed. “We haven’t found Sarah yet, but we’ve met Amy, isn’t that wonderful?”
The girls stayed late at Cynthia’s place and agreed to see each other often. Amy even had the thought of applying to the local institute where Kristen and Cynthia lived. “My friends are already in their final year of the institute, doing internships, and here I am just finishing college. I’ll come to study with you. You have a great medical institute here, so expect me to visit you in the summer,” Amy shared her thoughts. “My parents never object to my choices; they’ll understand when I tell them about my decision.”
“That would be great!” Amy’s idea was supported by Kristen. “Now it’s time to head home. Mario has called a few times, worried about me. Amy, call a taxi. We have another busy workday tomorrow, and we’re also on night duty.” After bidding farewell to Cynthia, the girls hurried home.
The morning started as usual, and the day passed in a flash. “Oh, I feel exhausted today,” Amy admitted as she poured hot water into a cup. “Here’s another cake the patients brought. Let’s have some tea.”
“Sure,” Kristen agreed. “Do you know the main reason oldest doctors often get sick?”
“No,” Amy confessed. “Doctors get sick? I think they should know about all their illnesses in advance.”
“Not all, but yes,” Kristen explained. “Guess what gifts patients often give to doctors?”
“Well, sweets, cakes, I guess,” Amy pondered.
“You’re absolutely right: cakes and alcohol. That’s why no medical professional is immune to diabetes and alcoholism!” Kristen smiled and cut herself a piece of the fresh, fragrant cake. “Well, I think we’re not in danger of that for now. Let’s enjoy this culinary masterpiece together. In 15 minutes, you and I have to start our shift.”
“Kristen! Over there, over there!” Nurse Amanda suddenly burst into the room and tried to explain something.
“What’s going on, Amanda? Speak clearly!” demanded Kristen, pushing the cake away.
“They brought in a woman on an ambulance! They say someone from the passersby called for it! She’s all dirty, looks like a homeless person! I don’t know how to register her or whether to admit her to the ward at all!” explained a flustered Amanda.
“What do you mean, whether to admit her? Of course, admit her! Are we doctors or just random people who happen to be here?” Kristen sharply replied and left the rest area. Amy rushed after Kristen, trying to catch up with her in the corridor. Near the doors of the reception room, the girls saw a stretcher with a woman lying on it. From the woman’s appearance, it was easy to guess that she had likely been living on the streets for a long time.
“Kristen, I think we need to call the police. She has no documents with her, and I can’t register her. Let the police establish her identity,” Amanda insisted again.
“Why are you making a fuss? Why can’t you register her?” protested Kristen. “I took the Hippocratic Oath; I am obligated to provide assistance to anyone in need. Whoever this woman is, I will examine her, and then we’ll decide what to do next.”
A few minutes later, the stranger was alone in the room with Kristen. She carefully examined the woman and understood that the cause of the patient’s unconsciousness was a severe head injury. Most likely, she had fallen and hit her head. Dirty hair and the unmistakable smell of an unwashed body indicated that the ambulance had been called by genuinely compassionate passersby who noticed the freezing woman in the snow. The patient’s labored breathing and fever suggested that she had caught a cold.
“We need to do a head MRI, check the lungs to rule out pneumonia,” she said to Amy, who had just entered the room. “But before that, we need to set up an IV. I’ve written down all the prescriptions. Can you do it?”
“Of course, don’t doubt it!” Amy confidently replied. “I’ll do everything, don’t worry. You go to the neighboring room; there are new patients waiting for you.”
Kristen left, and Amy carried out all her instructions. Moreover, seeing that the woman looked unkempt, Amy brought water and used a piece of gauze to wipe her face, shoulders, and arms, and also tied her hair. “Well, there you go, much better now,” Amy said with satisfaction.
Kristen could only return after an hour and a half. She praised her friend’s efforts. “We have various doctors and nurses here,” Kristen said. “Some might have hesitated to approach this stranger, but you weren’t afraid and even cared for her. I, like you, believe that we should help everyone. This woman is in trouble. Everyone turned away from her. If we do the same, who will help her then?”
“Right, Kristen,” Amy whispered as if afraid of waking the patient.
“Yes, that’s right,” Kristen agreed. “Tomorrow, as she wakes up, I’ll conduct a full examination of her head and lungs. If needed, I’ll take care of her.”
“Who knows how the authorities will react to our ‘sick patient’ your kind,” Amy whispered softly. “Everyone should be like you.”
“Not everyone can be that way. I lived for a long time with my mother, who led an unconventional lifestyle. I loved her and still do. Moreover, I hope that someday I’ll meet her, although that hope fades with each passing year.”
“You’re amazing, Kristen. Another person in your place might not want to see their mother for abandoning them,” Amy guessed. Kristen shared her sister’s story with Amy. “I don’t know why I’m telling you all of this, but somehow it makes me feel better,” she admitted. “I’ve never been able to have such a heartfelt conversation with anyone as I have with you.”
“Speak, talk! Of course, I understand everything and support you,” Amy replied. “When I look at this unfortunate woman, I think of my mother. Maybe she, if she’s still alive, is wandering the streets the same way. I’ll help this woman, and someone will help my mother.” Kristen sighed.
A Mother’s Return and a Long-Hidden Truth
The next day, the stranger remained unconscious. She was placed in a shared ward under Kristen’s observation. “Look, Kristen, all responsibility for the patient falls on you,” warned the hospital’s chief doctor. “I called the police today. We need to establish this woman’s identity. As soon as she regains consciousness, please inform me immediately.”
“All right, Tom,” Kristen agreed, secretly relieved that the main procedures were already completed. Amy continued to administer IVs to the patient.
On the third day, the duty nurses informed Kristen that the stranger regained consciousness in the middle of the night but hadn’t said anything yet, as if she lost her ability to speak. “She looks at the ceiling and says nothing,” the nurse chattered as she followed Kristen down the corridor, then left for other patients. In the ward where they placed the stranger, there were no other patients. Amy was sitting by her bedside, explaining something.
“Look, Kristen, just look! She’s not listening to me, pushing my hand away, not letting me set the IV! She only said one thing: ‘Let me die!’ And that’s it! She’s lying there still, looking at the ceiling.”
“So, who do we have here acting this way?” Kristen approached the patient. “Let me examine you. How do you feel? Does your head hurt?”
Hearing the doctor’s voice, the woman turned her head and looked at Kristen. For some reason, she stared at her for a long time without saying anything. After a couple of minutes, tears welled up in her eyes, her chin trembled, and her hands shook. “Kristen… my dear, is that you?” she asked softly and burst into tears.
“Mom?” Kristen asked, also unable to say a word. Amy, understanding that they should be alone at this moment, wanted to leave the room, but Kristen indicated for her to stay. “Mom, is it really you? Mommy, you can’t imagine how long I’ve waited for our meeting. I believed you were alive, but I didn’t want to meet you like this, believe me, not like this! Tell me, how have you been all this time?” Kristen asked one question after another.
“My dear, forgive me. I’ve known for a long time that you work at this hospital. I just couldn’t approach you. I was glad that you became a doctor, that you got an education,” the woman smiled. “I don’t know if you’ll ever forgive me for abandoning you. I don’t deserve forgiveness.”
“Mom, where have you been all this time? Why didn’t you let us know?” Kristen repeated her question.
“Where was I? I left with Chris. He promised me that we would live happily. We went to his relatives; he had a brother there. He wanted to get him a job, but nothing worked out for us. Chris kept drinking, and so did I. Then he left me. I had to survive on my own. It wasn’t easy. I always hoped you and Candace were living well. I have no excuses, and no forgiveness either,” Kim continued to lament. “Once I came and saw you. You were about 17 back then, but Cynthia and Sarah weren’t with you. I didn’t understand why. I wanted to approach, find out, greet, but I was afraid. I thought that since you were with Candace, it was good. She’s a good, kind woman; she’ll raise you better than I could.”
“Mom, you were in our city and didn’t even meet me?” Kristen was surprised.
“Yes, I came for a couple of hours,” Kim admitted. “I thought I could talk to you, see you. I even hoped to stay, but I couldn’t find the courage to come near you. I watched you from behind the fence. I just didn’t see the girls. You and Candace were sorting apples, getting ready to make jam, and I sat by the fence and cried. It’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left my girls. That charming guy seemed more appealing to me then. I was searching for my happiness, but I never found it.”
“Mom, how long have you been living in our city?” Kristen inquired.
“About half a year,” Kim replied. “I lived in different places all these years, worked here and there, often ended up on the streets. I don’t even understand how I’ve survived till now. I’ve been sick so much and cold, yet I’m still alive. Can’t die no matter what. I’m tired of living, dear, very tired.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, Mom!” Kristen interrupted her mother. “I’ll examine you, treat you. Everything will be fine, don’t doubt it. You’re still young; you have your whole life ahead of you.” Kim didn’t respond to her daughter’s words; she just let out a heavy sigh and continued crying.
Kim’s treatment took several weeks. Kristen was right; the woman had pneumonia and a severe head injury. Gradually, Kim began to recover, cleaned herself up, and no longer resembled a person without a fixed abode. Of course, over the years, Kim had changed significantly; her dissolute lifestyle had aged her much more than her peers. At 56, she looked 10 years older. Kristen concluded that she wouldn’t recognize her on the street under any circumstances.
Spring had arrived outside; the snow was melting. By the time Kim was discharged from the hospital, Mario had helped her restore her lost passport, which she had lost who knows how long ago. Kristen decided to have her mother live close to her sister. Before her discharge, Kristen didn’t bother her sister with news about their mother. Right before her arrival, she called Cynthia and asked her to set the table, mentioning that a surprise was awaiting her. Kim didn’t know about her other daughters. To all her questions, Kristen reassured her that everything was fine with them and promised to tell her everything once she was discharged.
Cynthia welcomed her guests warmly as always. Kristen announced that their mother had been found and would now be living with her. The girl was overjoyed; she hugged her mother as if she were a little girl. Kim, on her part, couldn’t say anything; she just cried and repeated that she wasn’t worthy of such attention. Pain, sorrow, and regret for what she had done were reflected in her eyes. Kristen did her best to lighten the mood; she joked and supported Kim. It was particularly hard for the woman to hear the news about the missing Sarah. Back then, 20 years ago, she couldn’t have imagined the consequences of her actions. Her alcohol-fogged mind at the time caused her to completely detach from reality. She committed an act that haunted her for the rest of her life.
“Mom, I think it’s time for you to confess everything to us. Tell us, why did it turn out that we were born without fathers? Don’t hide anything from us; we have the right to know,” Kristen said, holding her mother’s hand.
Upon hearing her daughter’s request, Kim trembled for a moment. The girls thought their mother had become smaller than she actually was, as if she were trying to vanish, evaporate into thin air. In reality, Kim simply bowed her head. She didn’t know where to begin her story, so she sat in silence for a few minutes. The room was quiet. Mario left the women alone, thinking they would find it more comfortable to talk without him.
“In this life, I had many men, but I truly loved only one: your father,” Kim began her story, looking at her eldest daughter. “I met Jeff in the city when I was studying accounting. He was already working as a personal driver for a banker. I saw him, and I lost my head immediately. Jeff liked me too. We started seeing each other almost every evening. He would invite me to the movies, give me flowers, and a few months later, I realized I was pregnant. I was afraid to admit it to my beloved, but I had no choice. When I did, he was happy! He lifted me up, spun me around.” Memories brought a flush to the woman’s cheeks. For a moment, it seemed to her daughters that their mother had even grown younger with these bright recollections.
“But why didn’t you get married then?” Cynthia asked.
“They killed my Jeff. I was seven and a half months pregnant at the time,” Kim sighed heavily. Her facial features became as before: sad, intense. “Right before the wedding day, they shot him. They wanted to kill the banker, but they hit him instead. His parents weren’t thrilled with me even without that; they wanted him to marry someone wealthy and educated. And after Jeff’s death, they didn’t want to see me. I returned to my father’s house and began to wait for the day of delivery. It was hard for me then; no one would hire me. Who needs a pregnant woman who’s about to give birth? I lived on a pitiful allowance. When Kristen was born, it was clear how much she resembled her father. I’d look at her, and Jeff would appear before my eyes each time. That’s when I slowly started drinking. I didn’t notice how it consumed me. I couldn’t get a proper job; I scraped by here and there with odd jobs. And then construction started in the village. I decided to work there as a painter, and before that, I had my eye on Toby. And then we started working together. I thought he was serious, that he’d marry me, that’s what he told me! Oh, how many promises he made! But when he found out I was pregnant, he quickly left. He didn’t even wait for the project to finish; he asked for his payment and disappeared. I never saw him again. Throughout the pregnancy, I would go and beg God to make the child look like me, so I wouldn’t have to remember Toby’s face. And indeed, Cynthia, there’s nothing of your father in you; you’re my complete copy. Yes, I understood that I never loved Toby; we probably wouldn’t have worked out anyway. But Sarah…” Kim fell silent, lowering her head into her hands and started crying. The sisters sat in silence, refraining from bombarding their mother with questions.
“Sarah was born by accident. By then, I was already hopelessly drinking. On those rare sober days, I would remind myself, ‘Don’t drink!’ But what could I do? I tormented my child right up to her birth. Oh, I only hoped that she would end up in good hands, that they would give her all the warmth I couldn’t provide,” Kim said, tears streaming down her face. “The so-called father of Sarah appeared in my life as suddenly as he vanished, as if he never existed. His name was Philip. I didn’t even tell him about my pregnancy. Obviously, there were no real relationships.”
Kristen and Cynthia listened to their mother, finally understanding the true reasons behind her alcoholism. During the times when she needed support the most, nobody understood her. She was left to fend for herself, and by the time she was diagnosed with alcoholism, it was already too late. She couldn’t control herself. She directed her life and the lives of her daughters as best as she could. Trying to reclaim something now and holding grudges against each other was pointless. So the women decided that what mattered most to them at the moment was that they had each other, that they had found each other.
Kristen suggested that their mother live in the city near Cynthia until summer. The elderly woman was eager to return to her home, but Kristen insisted that it was too early to do so. Kim needed treatment. Additionally, the sisters understood that their mother could relapse and start drinking again at any moment.
“Mom, promise us that you’ll never touch alcohol again!” Kristen demanded. “Your heart might not handle it. The test results showed that you have serious blood pressure and heart issues. Alcohol will simply kill you.”
Kim herself realized that her health was in terrible condition, but she wanted to see her younger daughter, who people like Joseph had been searching for, though without success so far. Cynthia took care of her mother, happily continued going to work, and seemed to be forgetting about what happened with Willie. One evening, warm and April-like, she met a young man whom she liked a lot. She introduced her older sister to Scott and received her approval. Kristen understood that her sister couldn’t live alone forever, so she didn’t oppose her new relationship. Scott seemed quite serious to her, so she wasn’t worried about her sister.
Time passed. June arrived. Summer was warmer than ever that year. Finally, the girls decided to fulfill their mother’s dream and take her back to her homeland. For this, Kristen had to request a week off from work. The old house needed repairs; over the years, who knows what might have happened to it. Carefully reaching the gate, the woman tried to open the door. The iron latch had rusted and didn’t immediately let the owner into the house. With a creak, the door opened, revealing the entrance to the yard to the owners. Tall grass had grown almost knee-high; only the remnants of the sidewalks remained. They needed replacement even 20 years ago, what to say about them now! Carefully pushing his way inside the grass to reach the porch, Mario realized Nolan didn’t know where the key to the old, rusted lock could be. Mario had to put in all his strength to tear off a lock and let the women into the house. Inside the house, chaos reigned as well. It took Kim, Kristen, and Cynthia more than a day to bring the house back to order. Mario was busy in the bathhouse all this time; he repaired the stove, mowed all the grass in the yard and garden.
“It’s good, isn’t it?” Cynthia said, sitting on a bench under the old apple tree. “It’s as if we never left. It’s hard to believe we’re back home.”
“Yeah, if only Aunt Candace could visit us with her pastries,” Kristen sighed, looking at the neighboring house, which was equally dear to her. “Tomorrow we need to go to the cemetery and visit Aunt Candace and Uncle Evan’s graves. We’re leaving soon, and we haven’t been there.”
“Let’s go, we definitely should,” Kim’s daughter supported. “And now try my pastries. I haven’t baked them in a while, but I haven’t lost my touch.” The girls were eating pastries, washing them down with mint tea. Mario and Kristen were set to leave the next day. Cynthia was on vacation, so she decided to stay with her mother for a while. Kristen secretly felt relieved that her mother wouldn’t be alone. She knew she needed time to adjust to the new way of life. Her treatment wasn’t over either. The hosts were glad that the house was alive again, just like before. It meant one thing: life goes on.
Sarah’s Identity and the Full Circle
Right after arriving in the city, Kristen hurried to the airport. She arrived in time. Amy’s family had just retrieved their luggage and stood in the middle of the hall, trying to spot their daughter’s friend.
“Kristen! Hi! Here we are!” Amy shouted upon seeing the familiar face.
“Amy! I’m so glad to see you!” the girl responded and hugged her long-awaited friend.
“Meet my mom, Bridget, and this is my dad, Peter,” Amy introduced her parents.
“Very nice to meet you! Very nice to meet you!” Amy’s father replied. “So, you’re the wonderful doctor and friend my daughter has been talking so much about! If you truly are that wonderful, we won’t be afraid to leave Amy in your city.”
“You can be sure that Amy will be under my supervision here,” the girl smiled and led the guests to her car. They promised to stay in the city for about a week. They would then leave for Belgium, ensuring that all issues related to their daughter’s admission were settled. Amy’s happiness knew no bounds; she chattered incessantly, asking about everything new that had happened while she was away, how Cynthia was doing, and where Kim was now.
The next day, Amy promised to visit Kristen at the hospital to meet the entire staff. In six weeks of practice, Amy had gotten to know everyone who worked with Kristen, so she was looking forward to seeing them. However, at the appointed time, Amy didn’t show up. Kristen tried calling her, but her friend’s phone was switched off. Sensing that something was wrong, Kristen couldn’t sit still.
“Kristen, have you heard the news?” a nurse from the reception area asked. “They brought a girl in recently. A car hit her at a pedestrian crossing. They say she’s in very critical condition, unlikely to survive.” Upon hearing these words, Kristen’s head spun and her vision darkened. She didn’t want to believe it, but her intuition wasn’t wrong.
At the doors of the operating room, she met Bridget and Peter. They were sitting on chairs, unable to say anything. Only after a while did Amy’s father regain his composure. “I had a feeling that Amy shouldn’t come back to the city! Why, why did they send her for an internship here of all places?” he asked, grabbing his head.
“What do you mean, Peter? What do you have against our city?” Kristen was surprised, not expecting to hear this from her friend’s father.
“Nothing, he just says things like that, can’t you see he’s in shock?” Bridget answered for her husband, wiping her tears with a handkerchief.
The operation lasted for about two hours, but for Kristen and Amy’s parents, it felt like an eternity. When the surgeon came out of the operating room, Kristen was the first to approach him. “Well, Mark, how did the operation go?” she asked the exhausted doctor.
“We did everything we could. The first 24 hours are the most critical. If she survives, she’ll live,” the doctor replied shortly. “And yes, please donate your blood just in case. The patient has lost a lot of blood. Are you her parents?”
“Yes, great,” the surgeon said. “Please donate blood right now; it might be needed at any moment.”
“Can I donate too?” Kristen asked.
“Just in case, sure, go ahead,” the doctor agreed and went back to his office.
After donating blood, Amy’s parents stayed in the hospital. Kristen did everything to make them comfortable. Amy went to the institute in the morning to submit documents to the admissions committee. Bridget began telling the story: “When she was crossing the road, the car hit her. She miraculously survived. How could this happen? How could this happen to Amy?”
“Try to calm down,” Kristen tried to console her friend’s parents. “We have wonderful doctors at our hospital. Mark is a brilliant surgeon. You’ll see, everything will be fine with Amy.”
“It’s easy for you to say!” Amy’s father unexpectedly protested. “You can’t understand the feelings of a parent! You don’t have your own children! You can’t even imagine what we’ve been through before she came into our family!”
“Yes, I don’t have my own children yet, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand you,” Kristen began to defend herself, feeling that Amy’s parents were accusing her of something.
“Please excuse my husband,” Bridget began to apologize. “He doesn’t know what he’s saying. It’s stress, it’s just regular stress.”
“Okay, you stay here for now. The doctors will find you if they need anything. I have to attend to my patients now. Take care,” Kristen said and left the room. For some reason, she felt that Amy’s parents were hiding something or afraid of something that made her even more nervous. She couldn’t figure out what was happening with them, so she decided not to dwell on it and immerse herself in her work.
Amy spent the evening and night without any changes. Mark asked for patience and to wait until morning. Amy’s parents asked Kristen to let them stay in the hospital. Kristen had to explain things to the chief doctor before getting such permission.
“Cynthia! Sarah appeared in my dream today. It was like she was two years old again, running around the yard and asking me to open the gate,” Kim started telling her daughter about her dream as soon as she woke up. “Running, crying, insisting that I let her out! But I know it’s dangerous out there! I told her, but she cried even harder and begged to be let go. What do you think this means? Did you open the gate for her?”
Cynthia asked, pondering. “No, I don’t think so.”
“No,” Kim began recalling the details of the dream. “Maybe it’s good that I didn’t let her out. I feel something heavy on my heart, like something’s about to happen. Stop worrying, Mom, it’s just a dream. How about we call Kristen and check how things are with her? Do you want me to call her?” Cynthia suggested, trying to comfort her mother who was clearly distressed. Kim didn’t respond; she sat on a chair near the window, nervously fidgeting with her fingers and sighing.
“Hello, Kristen? Hi! How are you doing? Everything all right?” Cynthia asked, hearing her sister’s voice on the phone. “Are you going to work? Has Amy arrived? Did you meet her? What…?” Cynthia fell silent for a while, listening carefully to Kristen, understanding that she shouldn’t make her mom nervous. She tried to pretend that everything was fine, but she couldn’t fool Kim.
“Tell me what happened there, and don’t lie to me!” Kim demanded an answer from her daughter.
“Kristen is fine. It’s just that Amy got hit by a car,” Cynthia had to admit. Cynthia explained everything that Kristen had told her over the phone. To Cynthia’s surprise, Kim’s condition didn’t improve upon hearing these words.
“We need to go to the city to see this Amy! I don’t know why, but we have to! Cynthia, do you know how we can get to the city?” Kim asked her daughter.
“My suspicions were correct,” Mark reported. “My patient urgently needs blood.” Amy’s parents and Kristen listened in silence to the surgeon and were ready to do whatever he said, just so the girl could recover and survive.
“Bridget, Peter, we tested your blood. Unfortunately, it’s not a match for Amy,” he said. “But yours, Kristen, matches. We will start the transfusion right away. Be prepared that you might need to donate more later.”
“Of course, of course,” Kristen whispered. Time seemed to drag on slowly, like never before. The pre-donated blood turned out to be insufficient, so Kristen had to give some more. She wasn’t allowed to get up immediately after the procedures, so she lay on the hospital bed, seemingly not thinking about anything, almost asleep. But in reality, Kristen’s mind was in turmoil. As soon as she was allowed to leave the ward, she rushed to the office and started studying Amy’s medical history. After reading all the documents, she immediately understood that neither Bridget nor Peter could be Amy’s biological parents. So Amy wasn’t their biological child. They talked about what they had to go through to have her in their family.
“I could actually be her sister! Oh, my God, I think I’m going crazy!” Kristen said aloud to herself, flipping through Amy’s medical history. “And her birthday is on October 6th! How did I not notice that before? Amy told me! Can my suspicions turn out to be true?”
When she stepped into the corridor, to her surprise, the first people she encountered were Cynthia and her mother. “Cynthia, how did you end up here?” she asked, sounding as if she had just woken up. Cynthia explained the reason for their sudden arrival.
“Imagine, Mom dreamed about Sarah!” Kim began to recount her dream to Cynthia. She vividly described everything she saw in the dream to her sister. To all that she heard, Kristen reacted differently than Cynthia had expected. The elder daughter approached her mother and embraced her.
“You did everything right, Mom. Well done for not opening the gate for Sarah. It’s too early for her to run outside,” she whispered barely audibly and hurried to the Intensive Care Unit.
The Intensive Care Unit was quiet. It seemed that if you listened closely, you could hear the medication dripping through the IV. Amy lay on the bed with her eyes closed, unable to hear anything yet.
“Well, hello, little sister,” Kristen whispered. “I’ve been searching for you for so many years, but I never could have guessed you were this close to me. Just recover, you must recover, can you hear me, Sarah?”
“What Sarah are you talking about? Who are you talking to in here?” Bridget asked quietly, entering the room. “Don’t go crazy, young lady. You need to get some rest and really relax.”
“Bridget, Amy is doing fine. She’ll keep sleeping for a while, but you and I need to talk,” Kristen said insistently, making it clear she wouldn’t back down easily. Bridget had no choice but to obediently leave the room with Kristen. In the corridor, three pairs of eyes were waiting for them: Kim, Cynthia, and Peter, all eager for good news.
“Please come into my office. We all have something to talk about,” Kristen said mysteriously and opened the door to her office. “Bridget, Peter, I want to make it clear right away that we are not your enemies, and we don’t wish any harm to you. On the contrary, I’m very grateful to you for everything you’ve done for Sarah… well, for Amy,” she began her speech. “But right now, I’m only expecting the truth from you. For a long time, I’ve been trying to find my sister. She was adopted from an orphanage 20 years ago. Her name was Sarah. Admit it, Amy is Sarah.”
Upon hearing these words, Kim clutched her heart, and Bridget and Peter exchanged silent glances. They realized that there was no point in hiding their secret anymore.
“For so many years, we’ve tried to hide it from our daughter as best as we could,” Peter finally confessed. “That’s why I didn’t want Amy to come here, because this is where we took her from. We adopted her to permanently cut ties with her birthplace. We changed her name, gave her our last name. After selling our business in Spain, we moved to Belgium and started from scratch. But at least our girl grew up as a true gem. We gave Amy everything she could dream of: she studied at the best gymnasium, visited many European countries, vacationed at the finest resorts. But it was as if an evil fate kept pulling her back to her roots. I knew all of this wouldn’t end well, so my heart was sensing that something happened to Sarah.”
“Amy is indeed our Sarah!” Kim exclaimed. “My goodness, my dear child!”
“All right, let’s say we all know the truth now, but how do we tell Amy about this?” Bridget asked, clearly against the idea of Amy finding out the truth about her birth.
“Did anyone think about Amy in all of this? Amy isn’t a little child anymore to react inappropriately to this news,” Kristen responded. “I’ve gotten to know her well, and I believe she will take this news calmly and understandingly. Believe me, it’s very important for a person to know the truth about their birth, no matter what it is. And having two mothers isn’t that bad either.”
“You’re right, maybe you’re right,” Bridget whispered in response.
Before Amy fully regained her strength, three weeks passed. During this entire time, her family took turns caring for her in the hospital room, never leaving her alone even at night. Cynthia didn’t remember her younger sister as well as Kristen did. However, the elder sister spent these days reminiscing about how Sarah and Amy used to spend time together when Kim wasn’t at home. Back then, Kristen had learned to cook porridge for her little sister and understood all her childishly mangled words. She had memorized lullabies that Sarah couldn’t sleep without. And now, Kristen was singing a lullaby to Amy. The room was dark, with only the light from a streetlamp illuminating the surroundings.
“Sing me more,” Amy requested, holding Kristen’s hand. “I don’t know why, but I feel so calm when you sing. It’s like I’ve heard this song before. Funny, right? Because that can’t be.”
A couple of weeks later, Amy was able to stand up. The long-awaited day of her discharge had arrived. It was a beautiful summer day outside. In the courtyard, Kristen and Amy were greeted by four people with flowers and balloons. Mario had bought many balloons that created an atmosphere of celebration and excitement.
“Well!” Amy exclaimed as she saw her loved ones crossing the hospital threshold. “I’m so happy to see all of you! I’ve finally left this hospital!”
“Just don’t tell me you don’t want to become a doctor anymore?” Kristen asked, looking at Amy with a questioning glance.
“Of course not!” Amy replied. “Moreover, I’ve been accepted to the first year already, so from September 1st, I’ll continue to pursue my studies!”
After hugging her parents, Amy exchanged a glance with a woman whom she felt she had seen somewhere before. “Amy, there’s something we all need to tell you,” Kristen said, “but for that, we need to go somewhere. Are you up for it?”
“Of course!” Amy agreed eagerly. “I’d go anywhere with you, even to the ends of the Earth!”
Taking their seats in cars, everyone headed to the village. The old house eagerly awaited its inhabitants, its shutters creaking impatiently. It was especially eager to welcome its youngest owner, Sarah, whom everyone now for some reason called Amy. In the evening, a large table was set up in the yard, adorned with various delicious dishes by the hosts. Joseph also joined the gathering, eager to finally find out the conclusion of the story about Sarah’s search. He knew she had been found, but the specifics of how it happened remained a mystery to him. Amy felt that there was a secret hanging in the air; it sent shivers down her spine.
“Well, I guess I’ll start talking,” Peter said. “Our dear daughter, I’m not sure how you’ll react to what you’re about to hear, but know this: your mother and I love you very much, and we can’t imagine how we would have lived all this time without you.”
Amy listened to her father with curiosity. The longer he spoke, the wider her eyes grew. By the end of Peter’s speech, tears began to flow from her eyes – tears of happiness and astonishment. Amy embraced her parents, her mother Kim, whom she had cared for in the hospital while interning, her sisters whom she had previously considered friends. In short, the evening turned out to be wonderful. The family was reunited. Among them all, Kristen was the happiest. She had managed to gather everyone together under one roof. They had all gone through a lot before realizing that in this life, nothing was more precious than family and loved ones. It was necessary to learn how to forgive them if they had once made mistakes, and now they all genuinely regretted what had happened. Kim was incredibly happy too; for a long time, she didn’t even dare to dream that she could simultaneously embrace all of her daughters.