Zara by KD Jones

people?” Zara asked.  She couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
    “ Yeah.  Some of the human kids said the couple that came only adopted the halfsie kids and they were mean.”
    “ Do you remember what these mean people looked like?”
    “ No.  I wasn’t there when they came.  I had fallen and had to be taken to the urgent care place.  Are we finished?  I want to go for ice cream.”
    “ Yes, we are done.  Ice cream sounds great.”
    “ Can I have my autograph now?” Caro asked shyly to Zara.
    She smiled .  “Sure.” She grabbed a blank paper that Trig had produced from somewhere.  She signed it and handed it over. 
    “ Thanks so much.  I hope you find your little girl.”  Caro beamed at her with innocent eyes.
    Both Trig and Zara looked at her in shock .  Zara asked, “Why do you think she’s my little girl?”
    “ She looks just like you.”
    Zara had always thought Angel looked more like Tiger .  When she was a baby, her hair was a little more brown than the black like Zara’s.  And her eyes looked brown sometimes instead of blue.
    They went through four more interviews .  Two of their interviews cancelled on them.  The ones they did interview didn’t tell them much more.  Most kids didn’t remember a lot or chose to forget.  But they sometimes added a name or description.  No one got a clear view of the mean couple that adopted the halfsies.
    Their l ast interview hadn’t arrived yet.  Zara was shocked to see Maya and Taurus with their newly adopted son, Luke, and daughter, Lucy, be shown into the room.
    “ How are the interviews going?” Maya asked, sitting down in a chair.  Her little girl climbed up in her lap.  Taurus and his son stood behind them.  The boy mimicked Taurus’s stance with his hands folded behind his back and his legs spread apart slightly.
    Trig answered .  “We have a few things we can check out, but no one had a really good description.”
    “ We came by because we thought even though our kids might have been in a different orphanage, the couple adopting the halfsie kids at their orphanage might be the same ones going to most of the orphanages,” Maya explained.
    Zara nodded her head at Maya and T aurus.  She felt a strange overwhelming appreciation for them.  They truly were her closest friends.  “Thanks.”
    “ It’s no trouble.  How do we do this?” Maya asked.
    “ Let me show Luke and Lucy the picture Taurus did of Zara’s daughter.  See if the girl might look familiar.  She may have been brought to their orphanage for a time.” Trig handed the picture to Maya who showed it first to her little girl who shook her head no.  Then she handed it to her son.  He stared at the picture for a long time.
    “ Son?  Do you recognize her?” Taurus asked, clasping his shoulder.
    “ Yeah…I do.”
    “ How?” Zara leaned forward in eagerness.  Here was someone who actually had seen her daughter.  She couldn’t believe it.
    “ She’s one of the kids being forced to fight.  She refused to hurt me more when we fought.  Her handler was furious with her.”
    “ What did he do to her?” Zara asked.  She felt sick to her stomach before she had heard his answer.
    “ He whipped her.”
    “ Zara?” Trig called her name.  He was worried.  She sat there motionless, saying nothing and staring into space.  He saw this plenty of times.  People would go into shock, their systems seem to shut down, and then they finally come out of it.
    Maya waved to Taurus to take the kids out of the room .  “See if you can find Zara a soda!” she called after him.
    Zara barely heard what was happening around her .  She had images of her sweet innocent Angel being whipped.  Oh God no.  How could anyone hurt a child.  Her body started to wake up and she felt the prickly feeling when her foot would fall asleep and then it would finally wake up.  When she came back into focus, she felt humiliated.
    “ Sorry.”
    “ Are you okay?” Maya was at her