Introduction (Draft)
When Sara Ziegler was born both of her parents inexplicably died of heart failure.
The doctors could not explain the phenomenon as both individuals were of sound health and had no pre-existing family history of heart trouble. Sara had no legal guardian on record and no immediate family so she was put into pre-natal foster care at the hospital in the hopes that even some extremely distant blood relative could be found before the insurance ran out and she would be put up for adoption.
Exactly three months after her birth, her parent’s nephew Cyrus and his wife Helena surfaced after escaping from Gaza and resettling in Monterey, California. Helena had miscarried two children in her time in the Middle East and had resolved to adopt, which is precisely how the HMO was alerted to their existence. Cyrus had been out of contact with his uncle for over a decade, and knew neither that he was dead nor that he left behind a child.
Sara, at four months, was given to her cousins who were happy to take her in.
She showed signs of great intelligence and at three years old already understood that these people were not her parents. She referred to Helena as “Aunt Tent†due to Helena’s unfortunately shaped face. Cyrus was a marine biologist who specialised in aquatic snail species, and Sara had a slight speech impediment so everyone assumed “Uncle Snell†meant, “Uncle Snailâ€.
Sara’s life was uneventful. She grew up in Monterey, married a math professor who lived in Watsonville, and had two daughters, Margot and Mary. She never thought about her parents and why they had suddenly stopped living when she had only begun. She never questioned why things happened in the world the way they did. She wanted a quiet life, away from anything controversial.
And She Got it.
Those around her did not.
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