I come from a family with strict educational values. My parents, married 23 years, have designed my entire life with only greatness in mind. I have been a perfect model student from the day I stepped foot into an educational environment.
My parents' hard work and methods determined my amazing future and I was going to an Ivy League college in the Fall. I kept where I decided to go a mystery because I wanted to surprise my wonderful parents. I snuck around and filled out my applications for things like tuition, room and board, and all that other stuff by myself. One day, I needed my birth certificate and social security card. These were documents I have never had in my possession, so I had to get it from my parents' closet. They usually did all of this paperwork type of stuff for me, which I figured was because they worked for the Department of Health and Vital Records. They'd know the systems better than I did anyway.
I was too lazy or caught up in school to care about those kinds of things. Also, I admit, I was coddled through the hard application processes, which I would soon realize was an effort to keep the secret. While looking through their closet for my legal documents, I found two birth certificates, a passport, and two social security cards. One of the birth certificates was an original, while the other one was a newer version with a different name. The older one said, "Kelley Peterson" with missing information about my parents and the newer one said, "Kristen Channing" from Brooklyn, NY with my "parents'" names and their information. Strangely enough, the socials were the same, one a dirty, ripped card, and the other, seemingly a replacement. The passport matched my name, "Kristen Channing". Therefore, I paid the weirdness of my discovery no mind and I went on with my day as usual. I planned a family dinner where I announced my choice and left a few weeks later. The day I got in my car and drove to my new home for the next 4 years, I asked my parents if they were glad to see how I turned out and they responded, "we made the right choice" in unison, which something that sat heavily on my chest. I constantly wondered what felt so uncomfortable about those words, but would I brushed it off and focused on my one-track to success.
I look like my parents, the build of my mother with my father's face. That is why I didn't think anything of the documents I discovered, or searched out the meaning of their statement, "we made the right choice". There was never anything suspicious about my life, nor did I ever expect anything out of the norm. The only thing weird about my life was how amazing it was. Thus, I left the wondering in the back of my mind to do what was important.
That was
Now, I finished Law School at the top of my class and had already worked my way up in a top notch firm where I began as an intern. My dream was to be a family court judge. Within that, I tried to work the system in favor of good people, rather than the bucket of corruption justice serves to people at the moment. As my grades paved the way for me, I took it upon myself to do most of my work pro-Bono, specifically for families with low income.
I was never all about the money. To me, if I could help change a life by getting the settlement they deserve, I would. I'm good at what I do and have success stories for an array of different families. This one family came to me in distress by a word-of-mouth recommendation from a previous client. They, the Petersons, had lost a child when she was five years old and have been searching for her for years. It was a strange case nonetheless, but how they managed to cross paths with me is where my life took a turn into "Weirdsville" and truth began to unravel. The Petersons needed my help to make a cold case of almost 3 decades be re-opened for investigation.
I wasn't sure how I would provide that service to them at first, but all they needed someone who would give them a chance to find hope. Miraculously, I was that person, because my husband is one of the only detectives dealing with those kinds of cases in the force, and I was the family attorney who was determined to give them that chance. Sam, my husband, agreed to take a look at the case and even went as far as to get the provisions to reopen the case.
I got all of the needed court orders and worked alongside the family, my husband, and his partner to compile the evidence to solve the family's case. Little did I know, their case was my autobiography, before it was stolen and turned into my "perfect" story. Remember the name "Kelley Peterson"? That was me until I became Kristen Channing. I was that little girl the family was desperately trying to find dead or alive. Within months of working the case, I discovered my biological parents, the truth behind all the secrets, and the meaning of the words of my parents. It was the most satisfying heartbreak ever–I regret nothing, because it gave me clarity and peace.
Those people weren't even my parents; they were maniacs who kidnapped me and lead me to believe I was their first and only child they groomed for victory. I was literally their "choice", and those words from my past finally made sense; they actually "picked" me. I went so many years without knowing the truth, without questioning, but the Petersons never gave up.
