In the small town of Perrywinkle, there lived a little girl named Marley. Marley just turned 13 but for her age she was very mature. She always lived in her little town and knew the whole area like the back of her hand. She knew everybody and everybody knew her. She was a great kid, very smart, and well mannered. Marley stayed in the town with her mother, they lived in a small cottage and had a few livestock. Marley was in charge of feeding the chickens and making sure they were all accounted for when they were set free to roam around the field. She loved her life but deep in her heart she knew something was off. She felt there was more to her life story.

“Marley, make sure you make it to school on time. I have to leave to pick some things up from the market on the west. Do you need anything while I'm out?” her mother asked. “Um I do need another notebook for English and the chickens need another rope, it finally broke this morning.” Marley replied. “Very well. Breakfast is on the stove. Make sure you brush your hair. It's looking a bit frizzer than normal. Have a good day at school. I love you, I’ll be home by the time you get home.” her mother said while hugging her to leave out. “I will love you too mom.” Marley finished her morning routine and made her way to school.

When she arrived at school her first block was history. She loved it; she enjoyed learning about the past. Marley's teacher informed the class whilst passing out papers, “Today we will be doing a project on your family tree. This will be a 3 week project only cause will be sending in samples to a lab to get a little bit more details on who all your family consists of. Today I am sending you all home with a permission slip for your parents to sign so I am allowed to get the sample and send it off. You will have 1 week from today to bring it back signed in order to participate. Those of you who don’t bring it back you will have the same project just a little different.” She looked at the permission slip and project overview and was very excited about it simply because she rarely knew her family. She's seen her grandmother only a couple times and her mother only told her brief stories about any other family member so this project was perfect for her.

She arrived home exhausted, bookbag full of work, and a little hungry. She went in the kitchen and her mom was there preparing Marley an afternoon snack. “Hi sweetie, how was school? You got any homework?” her mother asked. “Hey mom, school was great we’re doing a project in history on our family tree and my teacher has connections with a lab that takes samples of saliva to find out more about people's families. He gave us permission slips for the parents to sign so we can do the lab. Here’s mine, I think it's a great project especially for us, since you said you didn’t know much about your family.” Her mother stood there like a deer in headlights. It looked as if she just saw a ghost, she was pale. “Oh, that, that’s, um a, a great, an amazing project sweetie. Uh leave it on the table I'll get to it. Here's your snack, go ahead up to your room and start working on your homework, I'll be up to check over it in a minute.” Marley did as she was told but was very suspicious on why her mom reacted the way she did, but she dropped it and moved along with her day.

A couple days had passed and Marley was starting to wonder why her mom hadn't given her her slip back. Her mom always signs everything for her school and gives it back to her by the end of the night. Right as she was walking to her mom’s room to ask about it, she overheard her talking low on the phone with somebody. “Her school is pretty much doing a dna test….. No I didn’t sign it, are you crazy!!.... Everything will come to light. I can't let that happen…. I don’t know, I think they’ll do it in class…. What am I supposed to do?... I really need you…. You're right but you don’t think she’ll wonder why she can't learn about her family, she’s smart she’ll figure something is off…” A slight boom, it was the picture off the wall, Marley accidentally made it fall, her mother heard it. “I’ve gotta go, I'll figure something out.” She rushed out of her room to see Marley there picking up the picture. “Sweetie, are you ok I heard something.” Marely could tell that her mother was nervous about something she could see it in her face. “I'm fine but the frame broke, we'll need another one, this is my favorite picture of us.” she said with a slight tone of wonder. “Ok I'll run down to the market real quick. I need some fresh air anyways. I’ll be back in a minute, straighten up the kitchen for me, a friend is stopping by.” her mother said before leaving it. Now this was Marley’s chance.

As soon as she heard the door close she ran in her mom’s room and started searching. She didn’t know what she was looking for but she knew there was something there for her to find. She looked under the mattress and found papers, papers with a strange name on it and she grabbed them. One of the papers was a newsletter about a baby stolen by a nurse at a hospital just a couple miles south from Perrywinkle. She continued to look through the papers and found all documents from the hospital like a birth certificate, a social security card, hospital bills, and a lot more newsletters. She was stunned, she didn’t know what to do. She remembered her mom telling her she didn’t have a birth certificate or social security card because she didn’t know she was pregnant with her and had her in the house. Her mom told her she didn’t want her in the government system so she never went to the hospital because she was afraid of them. Marley never thought anything of it because she was very healthy, any time she'd come down with something her mother knew exactly what she needed. She didn’t go to the hospital for nun of her shots her mother gave them to her when needed. She grew worried, was she stolen, who was her so called mother, and why did she take her? She put everything back and just as the bed slammed down a paper flew out. It was a newsletter, she picked it up, stunned by the first couple of sentences Marley answers were answered.

She needed a plan on how she was going to get to the police without raising suspicion. “Marley sweetie I'm back, I’m sorry I took long the market was very packed and they didn’t have many frames today. Why did everybody need frames all of a sudden.” her mother came in with many bags in her hand. “Mom, is it ok if I go down to the library for a few. I have a research project in my English class, and it’s a lovely day? I fed the chickens and latched the new rope. I’ll only be a few.” Marley didn’t even know what words were coming out of her mouth. She just knew that what she was saying had to sound pleasing to her mom but she hated lying but she didn’t care. “Go on, I’ll give you a couple dollars for you to stop at the bakery on your way back to grab a loaf of bread for dinner.” her mother told her whilst reaching in her purse. “I've still got sum money from the last trip I got. I'll be back in a few.” Marley said just as she ran out the door. She didn’t know what to do next. Her feet were moving fast, her mind was racing, she was scared. Once she got to the police station she froze. She didn’t know what to say, she didn’t know what would happen to her or her mother, but she knew it was the right thing to do.

“Hey there Marley what brings you here?” officer John asked. Marley pulled out all the papers she found under her moms bed and handed them to officer John. He looked through them and turned pale. “Marley, where does your mother think you are?” he asked. She answered, “The library.” Officer John called his sergeant and told him that they've located code Blue and have eyes on subject 26. Marley listened closely to the call, they were sending a task team to her house to retrieve her mother and taking her a couple miles south to a different station. Everything happened so quickly. The word got out fast in the small town, before Marley was transported to the other station she had to pack up her whole room, the whole town came bearing gifts and sending love and positive affirmations. For some reason she wasn’t scared she was ready for whatever was to happen next.