Was there ever a day where everything was sad but everything was going by so fast that your emotions couldn’t catch up? 2nd grade was one of the hardest years of my life.

In my classroom, I remember my teacher answering the phone. She hung up and looked at me. Her face had a serious, yet compassionate look; as if she could feel my emotions inside of me and was already trying to comfort them. Then she said, “ Go ahead and head to the office, your parents are picking you up early today.”

It felt like hours that I waited; as time ticked on, and the expressions on the staff at the school's faces changed in ways that I couldn't explain or begin to understand then, but now I do. My parents weren't normally this late when they had to pick me up early from school, and that should have been a sign of things to come. Something I didn't realize then, but I didn't realize a lot of things back then.

"Miss Young, come this way," the principal's secretary, Mrs. Carly, said as her face scrunched up like she had smelled something really bad.

My parents normally met me in the office, so I wondered why that wasn't the case this time. However, hindsight is 20/20. I walked behind Mrs. Carly, whose high heels clicked across the hard floors of the hallway before they stopped in front of two police officers in blues, and a short, chubby woman with a sweet smile, and a red cardigan.

"I take it you can take it from here," Mrs. Carly said, but she didn't wait for an answer before turning back to the office. She didn't even look at me.

"Go ahead, Ms. Matthews," the taller officer said, looking at the only woman in the hallway.

"Hi there, Daniella. I'm Ms. Matthews, and I am from the Department of Children and Family Services, and I am here because, unfortunately, your parents can't be here right now." Ms. Matthews lowered herself to my level as she started to talk, but nothing she said made sense, though it would.

"Why can't they be here? I need them," I knew enough to be scared at what Ms. Matthews was saying to me.

"This is very difficult, but your parents told you that your name is Daniella Young, and that they were Richard and Ellen Young?" the second officer with red hair asked me.

"Yes," I answered, but my voice was small, and things were not adding up. "That is our names." I didn't understand why they were questioning that.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, but Daniella is not your name, and Richard and Ellen Young are not their names. You were kidnapped as an infant," Ms. Matthews responded.

And my world collapsed.