Mum, Dad and I had just moved to St Ives from Plymouth. It wasnt very far away but it did mean that I had to make new friends. For me, this proved to be very hard.

School was awful. No one talks to me, and I begin to realise that I really miss Plymouth. My dad didn't want to move here, but my mum insisted that we needed a change. We had to write this 'Who Am I?' essay in class. When I was younger I would have probably wrote about my brown eyes and blonde hair. But I wanted to write about who I really am. The problem is, I don't know who I am. I'm an adopted child, and my 'mum and dad' don't ever talk about my past.

I decided to confront mum when I got home. I spoke very clearly and slowly. 'Who is my real mother?'

Mum froze. For a second she looked terrified. Then her face went hard like a mask. No emotion. 'I am' she said. 'What do you mean?'

'Nothing.' This was going to be harder than I thought. So I decided to go and find dad.

He was unpacking a box downstairs, so I decided to help him and start taking some boxes upstairs. I came across, a very heavy box and decided to have a peek inside to see why it was so heavy. Paper, paper and more paper. It looks like files of some sort. And I saw a sticky-note on a folder with a website on it, 'Missing-Children.com'. That's very odd, so I decided to look at what the files are about. To me, it looks like a fact-file about someone. There was a picture paper clipped to the back. It was me. I suddenly panicked and I got a cold rush to my head. I felt really light headed and collapsed.

I woke up from what feels like years of sleep, on the sofa downstairs. I made out two fuzzy figures and soon when my eyesight focused, I saw mum and dad with the papers in their hand. I got the cold rush feeling again, but I did not pass out this time, I needed to know what was going on. What happened in those next few hours was mostly a blur.

I'd never felt more bewildered in my entire life. I thought I had an idea who I was, but really I had no clue. They told me that I was bought from a woman illegally, 12 years ago from St Ives. They were so desperate for a child, that they would do anything to get one. My mum has recently been in contact with her and found that she is still in the area. I'm told that when I was bought, they were given no information about me, so my mum brought us back here to see if she could discover anything new. She is meeting up with her tomorrow to find out more about my past and why I'm a 'missing child'. Well, at least I'll have a rough idea of what to write for my 'who am I' essay. But to me my past is desolate. I am happy with my parents now, so even though my mum is still meeting up with her, it won't change anything for me. I love my parents, and wouldn't change them for anything.

Chantel Sullivan