“Rachel Upton. As bright as a light bulb, as sharp as a tack, a magnificent star shone down to Earth to share her inhumanly genius mind with the rest of the world.”
“Oh, stop it, Dad! You’re embarrassing me!” shouted Rachel Upton, a fifteen-year-old star college student from Houston, Texas. It was the beginning of her second year of college and her dad was just dropping off her things on campus.
“I have to go Rach, but do good for your mom and dad.” And there her dad went, off to go work as an FBI agent. She rarely saw him anymore because of work and since her mom had died when she was little, Rachel was pretty much on her own at that point in time.
Going and thinking back to that special moment in her life now, five months later, wasn’t it odd that her dad didn’t say ‘Do good for your mom and me’, not for your mom and dad? Her mind raced a thousand miles an hour with thoughts coming and going, bouncing around in her head like a basketball on the court. Why haven’t I noticed behavior like this before? Is this the first time he has acted like this? Could he just be a stranger taking the place of my dad? After a long while of contemplating the situation Rachel came to the decision that she was over-thinking everything and that she just missed her dad. Later that same night she was in her dorm room watching a TV show called ‘Undercover’ that went behind the scenes of undercover FBI agents in America. As she watched and her brain processed all of the information coming to her, a thought hit her. What if her parents weren’t hers, just two people trying to cover something up?
As she tried to satisfy her suspicions by browsing through some of her old photos, she noticed that she hardly looked like either of her parents. Emotions came rushing toward her like a freight train and suddenly her thoughts began racing again. During her mini panic attack the phone rang and she proceeded to pick it up. “Hello?”
“Rachel?”questioned a deep voice.
“Dad? Is that you?” she returned. As soon as she heard the familiar voice her muscles relaxed and she began to let her guard down. All of her thoughts rushed away from her as fast as they had come and she was in a state of unconscious thinking. Talking to her dad made her feel so safe, like nothing could ever bring her down. She carried on the conversation as long as she could before he hung up. Finally satisfied and with control of her emotions she sauntered off to bed and fell into a deep slumber.
Rachel awoke the following morning and was relaxed and energized for the day ahead of her. She got ready and headed for her psychology class at the university. As soon as she sat down her professor, Mr. Randon, began his lecture on compulsive lying. “Many jobs in our society today require their employees to take this class to learn the art of compulsive lying. Police officers and FBI agents are the main source of students because they need to be able to tell when a criminal is lying and how to bluff when they need information from someone. Some of the easiest ways to tell if someone is lying to you is by them taking more than a few moments to answer a simple question or they may have a certain twitch every time they tell a lie. The twitch may be minute but is quite noticeable after it is performed a few times consecutively…” His voice droned throughout the lecture hall but that was the last thing on Rachel’s mind. She had drifted into a state of unconscious thinking again, replaying her last face to face conversation with her dad in her head over and over; she tried to find some clue as to if what she had thought about last night had a possibility of being true. Sifting through every hand gesture, mouth movement, eye blink, and every word that came from his mouth she could only think of one thing that had consecutively happened. Every time the words mom or dad came out of her father’s mouth, his left eye twitched. Or was it his right? Before she could think any more she got up in the middle of the lecture, sprinted out to her car, and sped to the airport.
“I need the next ticket out to Boston.” Rachel demanded. She had remembered in the car that the night before, her father had said he was part of an open investigation somewhere in Massachusetts and she was going to find him even if it killed her.
“I’m sorry, the next flight to Boston is just about to take off and the next flight doesn’t leave until 8:30 PM tomorrow night,” the boisterous attendant announced over the counter, “But if you would like we can book you a hotel room to stay in until…”
“I need to get on that flight! It’s a family emergency that can’t wait another day!” Rachel interrupted.
“I’ll see what I can do, miss.” The attendant picked up the phone, called down to the Boston gate, and talked to the boarding captain for what seemed like an eternity. Then she finally hung up and said, “They are going to let this one slide. Head down to gate 14B and tell them Laurie sent you. Good luck.” Rachel took off sprinting toward the gate, talked to the boarding captain, and got onboard. When the plane touched down in Boston, Rachel called a cab. While she was waiting she found an old newspaper on the ground from a few days in the past. She read the headline article and her jaw dropped. Her father was on the front cover! The caption below his picture read ‘Brian Upton, FBI agent, caught the biggest criminal in the tri-county area today. He brought him into the Boston Sheriff’s Department where they both will reside until further notice’. Rachel instantly asked the nearest person to her where the police department was located and she booked it all the way there.
Once inside the station, Rachel began conversing with the nearest policeman. “Would you happen to know where Brian Upton is?”
“Yes ma’am. May I ask who I am speaking to?” answered the policeman.
“Rachel Upton. I’m Brian’s daughter.” There was that word, daughter. Rachel’s mind started spinning as the policeman led her to where her dad was sitting. “Dad? I came as soon as I could! I have so many unanswered questions that have been in my head since last night,” she explained, “I never got to ask you them over the phone and I thought it would be best to do it in person. Do you have any time?”
Her dad got up from conversing with his friends and replied, “For you, anything.”He led her to a family room with a couch and a few chairs, offered her some coffee, and then finally sat down. “What questions do you have for me?”
At that precise moment everything came gushing out. How she felt, why she felt like she did, what was happening, why she had come so suddenly, everything. After she was finished letting everything out her face went completely serious, she became quiet, she looked her father straight in the eyes and began, “Are you who I think you are, or are you some stranger that I just call my father? Are you my real dad?”
As abruptly as she had answered the question her father answered with a left eye twitch only Rachel could identify, “Yes, I am your dad.”