A Mistaken Identity

Alabaster Burton. That was my uncle’s name. There was no doubt of that either. While I was in New York, I had been able to uncover what my uncle’s first name happened to be: Alabaster. I was clueless as to my mother’s maiden name though. Now I knew: Burton. And, if the orphanage’s address was sitting just in front of me, there was absolutely no doubt in my mind of the fact that my uncle was the head of the orphanage I grew up in. But, what made no sense at all was the fact that he never told me who he was; I never found out about the fact that I had been living with my mother’s brother for seventeen long years.

Why though? Why didn’t he ever mention his status as my uncle to me? For years, all I had ever wanted was to find my family. Evidently, my family was there the whole time. I just never knew it. Now, with the news that Alabaster Burton was my uncle, I would have to go back to the one place in which I never wanted to go back to. Though, in order to confront my uncle, this was the only thing that I could do. Going back was all I could do. I sighed. The tears that were falling from when I went out on my date with Nick continued to fall. This time though they were for my uncle rather than Karleigh.

I quickly pulled out my phone and dialed the first number that came to mind: Betsy’s. Once the call was picked up, I wasted no time in telling Betsy about what was going on. “Betsy, I know what happened. I know how my sister was killed. Get Amanda and come over here to my house. I’ll explain exactly what’s going on once you get here,” I said.

“Uh, sure,” Betsy said uncertainly.

“Is there anything wrong?” I asked.

“Later,” Betsy said.

As I waited for the Jonas sisters to arrive, I wondered why my uncle never told me about who he was. What was the reason that all of this was hidden from me for so long? He was my uncle. So, with that known, why was it that he kept all of this from me for so long?

Ten minutes passed before I heard a knock on the door. I ran over there and found something very shocking. Along with Betsy and Amanda, Joe was there. “Joe, why are you here?”

Joe shrugged. “Whatever you have to tell Panda and Lizard, you can tell me about. I have a right to know as much as them. So, tell us, Kimberleigh. Tell us what’s going on.”

“Okay, wait…what did you say?” I asked.

“I know who you aren’t,” Joe said.

“How?” I inquired.

Betsy winced when I mentioned that. “See, the thing is that you called me right while Joe happened to be in the room. And, with my phone on speakerphone, Joe heard the entire conversation. He heard you say that your sister was dead. When that was mentioned, I had to explain to Joe about the fact that Karleigh is dead and that you took her spot to impersonate her over the past month. Luckily for you though, Amanda and I convinced Joe to keep this secret for me. You won’t have to worry about him spilling your secret."

“So, Joe knows that, despite my absolute hatred of him and his brothers, I helped you guys hold the wedding by impersonating my sister after she was killed?” I asked them.

“Yeah, and with what Allison and Zora pulled at the reception, I’m rather glad that Karleigh has, or rather had, a twin sister. If you hadn’t shown up,” Joe said, looking at Betsy, “there’s really no telling as to what might have happened on Halloween when the wedding was to be held.”

When Joe mentioned that, I was reminded of the fact that Allison and Zora showed up to the wedding. Now I knew why. “Joe, I do know. They killed my sister in order to try and stop the Jonas-Weimar wedding. Allison and Zora even came to the wedding hoping to see that it wouldn’t be held once you guys discovered that Karleigh was dead. Of course, with me not letting that happen and going to the wedding in my sister’s stead, they were surprised to see me standing there, helping you. Even worse than that, Karleigh was killed as she tried to come find me; that’s what she was doing just before the wedding.”

“She tried to find you?” they asked.

“Yeah, when I was with my uncle,” I muttered.

“So, what are you going to do?” Amanda asked.

“No matter how much I may not want to, I need to go talk to my uncle,” I said. “He’s the only person in the world that can tell me the reason that Karleigh and I were separated. You guy know Karleigh; our parents were never around very much, meaning that they would never tell me why we were separated. To go talk to my uncle, I need one of you to be with me when I do this, someone who is aware of the fact that Karleigh is dead.”

“Nick should go,” Joe said.

“Not a chance, Joe!” I exclaimed. “Telling Nick that I’m not his girlfriend as well as the fact that he must accompany me to go see my uncle in the orphanage I grew up in is not an option. There’s a reason I hate you guys. It’s because all the orphans loved you guys, Nick in particular. They were pissed about Karleigh dating him. And, if they knew that I’m Karleigh’s twin sister, there’s really no telling as to what might happen. But, I do know one thing: they will flock around him while he’s there. If any Jonas is to go with me, it would have to be you, Joe, since you’re aware of the fact that my name isn’t Karleigh Mackenzie Fox as everyone thinks it is. One of you three will have to come with me then.”

“When would this be going on?” Joe asked.

I shrugged. “Quite honestly, I don’t know. It’s definitely going to be after the New Year though. Alabaster Burton is my uncle, so I know that he’s going to come looking for me. I want to make him understand how it feels to be searching for someone and not be able to find them. Afterwards, I’m going to go back to the orphanage and confront my uncle."