Eternal embrace

Lia's POV It was my seventeenth birthday and my parents promised me a surprise. I was anxious to get home because the day is about to end but not even family or friends wished me happy birthday. When I woke up this morning I was disappointed to learn my parents already left for work.My elder brothers behaved as if I don't even exist which makes me sad.Me being the last born and the only girl of my family is a blessing.I've been pampered all my life so today I'm kind of hurt they don't even remember my birthday. When I told them it's my birthday this morning,they shrugged me off and told me it's normal to grow so it doesn't matter.I taught maybe my friends will wish me but so far none even mentioned it which is kind of weird. Both my parents were home early today and that was unusual.Sometimes,mom close early but dad never close early unless it's holiday,so I'm surprised that they're both in the house.My mom was sitting at the dining table drinking wine when we got home from school and my dad was at his usual place watching a football match. They are both dressed. My mom in a white summer dress and my dad in his usual bottom up shirt.Everyone around me seems to know something that I'm not aware of.Greeting my parents,I rushed upstairs to see whether there's a present in my room but I was once again disappointed. We were told to change into something decent because we'll be have a family dinner at a restaurant nearby in an hour.By 30 minutes later we're ready to head out still no one wished me a happy birthday. We arrived at the restaurant and the place was unusually quiet.My parents entered,followed by the twins(Sebastian and Leonard),Simon,Luke and I. I was surprised with a birthday song by my parents, brothers, friends and some strangers who was there. To say I was shocked was an understatement, a cake was brought to me, after making my wish, I blew at the candles and it was shared after I took a bite. I was given presents and among them a was car key which was given to me by my parents. Hugging and thanking my parents I ran outside and pressed on the key to a Toyota Innova Crysta which is Avant garde bronze in color.I was short of words as a tear run down my cheek. We are the Kingston family which consists of my mom Annabel,my dad Ivan followed by Sebastian and Leonard the elders,Simon,Luke and me Aurelia.My family's financial status was average so them buying this car for me showed the love they have for me and my brothers.All my brothers have their own car but I always go to school with my parents. I enjoy their company in the morning very much. But even though with all the happiness around,I can still see how tensed my parents were especially mom who is going around hugging my brothers and encouraging them to always remember they love us and every decision they've made was for our well-being.My dad was on his phone the whole time, he seems to be having a heated argument with the person. I found it odd that they are behaving that way but I brushed it off and enjoyed myself until the next day when we woke up to an empty house.My parents always leave a note if they were to leave the house early or they will wake one of my boys up and tell them where they are going,so waking up with no note or my brothers knowledge put us on edge especially after their behavior yesterday. We tried calling them but their phones were unreachable, we tried their workplace but both of them were on leave which was suspicious.We called relatives,neighbors and everyone we could think of but they were nowhere to be found. It seems like they vanished into thin air. Everything was in place including their cars, clothes,their bank notes was also there.Around 3pm,our aunt came and visit.That was the first time we've seen a relative considering my parents never mentioned or pay a visit to any of them. Apparently,my parents don't want them anywhere near their family.We were surprised because our parents are friendly with the neighbors and those who work with them.She stayed for 2 days and left us saying she has things to take care of.Apart from her,no family member came to our house. The next day,we reported them missing at the local police station and waiting for two days and went there again to follow up.Still no information about their whereabouts.Now it's up to us to take care of ourselves. Seb and Leon stepped in and took care of us.My parents left a huge amount of money in their account and a letter for them.They were to take care of us in their absence and will send money monthly into their account but they're sorry they have to leave us unannounced. They have to watch us from afar in order not to put us in danger.We should always know that they love us and their decision was to keep us safe so we should forget about them and move on. Later that they,our family lawyer came a delivered a document,inside was our new identity "the Jackson family",we're now the Jackson,everyone got a new identity card's.Everything about ourselves has been changed which means this is a serious issue. Changing everything was difficult,the house was sold by the lawyer including everything that can traced back to us.We moved to a new city,to a new house bought under the Jackson family name. We were to start everything all over again.I don't even have my phone again,it was as if we're the ones on the run and not our parents.That's the last thing we heard from our parents and whether they are alive or dead was a mystery to us.