Page 1 of Mika's Heart

Prologue

Standing on the stage after my name is called to accept my high school diploma, I look out at the parents waiting for their kids to walk across the stage but mine aren’t there.

It’s not a total surprise since we’ve been growing apart lately but it still hurts.

The greatest achievement of my life to this point and nobody is here for me.

Everything started going wrong when I turned 16 and wanted to get a job as well as my driver’s license.

My dad, Gerald Butler, told me I didn’t need those things and my mom, Hillary backed him up.

I heard arguing later that night after they thought I had gone to sleep. Mom was saying something about my birth certificate.

I knew I had a birth certificate, I had to have one to enroll in school but I’ve never actually seen it.

A few days later when I got home from school and the house was empty, I went looking for it.

Knowing where Dad kept important documents led me to the one drawer in his desk that was always locked.

It only took me a few minutes to get it open.

Quickly flipping through all the files, I found it and took a picture with my cell phone to study it later. If I took it, then he would know.

My best friend Jan and I compared it to her’s. Mine didn’t look exactly right.

I did some research on the computer during my library time and the only conclusion that I could come up with is that my birth certificate was a fake.

It looks real but there is information missing and the raised seal of the state isn’t there.

If a 16 year old girl can see that it’s a fake, how in the world did my parents get away with it all these years?

And are they really my parents?

For the last two years, I’ve been searching for leads to who I really am.

I’ve also been working at the local diner as a server. It wasn’t hard to convince the owner to let me work for cash, and I have saved every penny.

All my free time was spent in the library using the computers to find any information I could get my hands on, which was basically nothing.

About six months ago Jan suggested I look outside of Ohio. I felt so stupid because it never crossed my mind to look elsewhere.

That’s when I finally found something.

I did a nationwide search for missing kids that shared my birth date.

That’s when I stumbled across an article from Virginia about a baby that went missing from the hospital.

The mother died in childbirth and the father was out of the country for work. The only witness was a little boy.

There was a family picture with the news story. Looking at the woman was like looking into a mirror.

The little boy’s name was Taylor Burns. The article didn’t really give any information about him except for his age.

Using that, I guessed what year he was born and searched his name online.

The only Taylor Burns I found that fit his age and location at the time is a big time lawyer that lives in Alaska.

Coming across a more recent article that had an interview with him. I paid attention to every word.

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