Chapter 4 - The File
After the ceremony, the auditorium became chaos.
Flowers.
Photographs.
Laughter.
Families embracing.
Hannah stepped backstage and found Dean Grant waiting.
"Congratulations."
"Thank you."
He handed her a folder.
"This came in yesterday."
Hannah recognized the handwriting immediately.
Richard.
She opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of an old document.
A hospital record.
Her hands went cold.
"What is this?"
Dean Grant looked at her.
"I don't know."
She read the date.
Twenty-eight years earlier.
The year she was born.
Her eyes moved across the page.
Mother.
Linda Barrett.
Father.
Richard Barrett.
Everything appeared normal.
Until she reached the final line.
Patient transferred from neonatal unit.
Transferred to another facility.
Hannah frowned.
"Why would this be in my university file?"
"It wasn't."
She looked up.
"What?"
"It was delivered to my office anonymously."
"Who sent it?"
"We don't know."
Hannah looked at the document again.
There was a handwritten note attached.
You deserve to know why they never celebrated the day you were born.
Hannah's heart pounded.
She read it again.
Dean Grant watched her carefully.
"Do you want to go home?"
Hannah shook her head.
"No."
"Then where?"
She folded the paper.
"Somewhere my family can't find me."
But before she could leave, her phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
"Hannah Barrett?"
"Yes."
"You need to stop asking questions."
Hannah froze.
"Who is this?"
"You don't understand what you're looking for."
"What am I looking for?"
The line went dead.
Dean Grant stood.
"What happened?"
Hannah looked at him.
"I think my family has been lying to me."
"About what?"
She looked down at the old hospital record.
"I don't know yet."
Outside, Linda was waiting.
Richard stood beside her.
Allison was several feet away.
Linda approached.
"Hannah."
Hannah said nothing.
Linda reached for her.
Hannah stepped back.
Her mother looked hurt.
"Can we talk?"
"About what?"
"About everything."
Hannah's voice was calm.
"You had eight years."
Linda's eyes filled with tears.
"I know."
"Why now?"
Linda looked toward Richard.
That was enough.
Hannah saw the answer.
Her mother wasn't afraid of losing Hannah.
She was afraid of losing something else.
Hannah turned.
"I'm going home."
Richard followed.
"We need to discuss your future."
"My future?"
"You have opportunities."
"So do you."
Richard's face hardened.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I don't need your help."
"Everyone needs family."
Hannah looked directly at him.
"Then why did you stop being mine?"
Richard had no answer.
Hannah walked away.
Behind her, Allison whispered to her father.
"She knows."
May you like
Richard stared at Hannah's back.
"She doesn't know enough."
