How it all began.

In September of 2022, my life changed forever. What was supposed to be my younger sibling spending time with their biological mother turned into my families worst nightmare. They were gone. The young individual I’d shared so many smiles, laughs, and yes arguments with, had vanished.

Kit Mora, came to live with my parents and I when they were 4yrs old. I was 10 and had to learn what being a big sister was to a child that had experienced severe neglect and abuse throughout their 4yrs of life. I acted out, I was probably a lot ruder than I needed to be, but we bonded quickly. Kit became my little best friend. From following me around all day and stealing my toys, to watching me draw over my shoulder and asking a million questions about my art, which turned into a shared passion between us. I can vaguely remember being there for Kit’s birth. But after that we hadn’t seen much of Kit as they were removed and returned to their parents a few times before my family gained custody.

Over the years I watched Kit smile through trauma, they used to eat “Mayonnaise and cheese” sandwiches because what seemed so strange to me had become a comfort food to them, from when it was all Kit was allowed to eat by a foster parent. But through the years Kit taught me something really important; it’s okay to smile through the hurt, that pain and trauma isn’t who you are. Truthfully, Kit is the strongest person I know. Having been so young and seeing the things they’d seen, experiencing what they had, and still managing to have the most beautiful smile? It was so foreign to me at the time.

As time went on we got closer despite our 6yr age difference. We would laugh about crushes, gush over celebrities, complain about friends who weren’t always the best, and we would knock. I know, “What the hell do you mean you would knock?” When we were older, I was a teen and Kit was still pretty young, we used to knock on the wall back and forth to each other at night. Three knocks was saying, “You good?” and a single knock in response was something along the lines of, “I’m fine.” We always knew based on the volume and force behind the knock how honest the other was being. Kit has more empathy in them than most experience in a life time. Kit would rage if someone upset me, and I’d do the same when someone upset them. I remember the first time another kid commented on Kit’s appearance negatively, I offered to go to the school and handle it myself. Of course I was shut down pretty quickly.

When I was 18 and Kit was 12, I was dating a boy who was a year older than me, and Kit couldn’t stand him. Kit would hit his hat off his head, never smile at him, just be rude in general. Completely out of character, but it was because he made me cry one time. One singular time was all it took. Kit has some fierce loyalty like that. It translated into friends and relationships down the line as well. Kit’s first significant other was a girl, she wasn’t the best. She had abused Kit in ways I won’t get into because it isn’t my story to tell, but I remember Kit defending it and saying “Well it isn’t her fault. It’s just what she knows, it won’t happen again.” but, it did. Until Kit finally listened and broke up with her. I was ready to make sure that girl never had another girlfriend again. Then, Kit came to me one day and admitted feelings for their best friend. I don’t think I’d ever been more excited.

Kit loved their best friend, we kind of always knew it, but it was this unspoken thing. They’d known each other since elementary school, and she was amazing to Kit. Never was there judgement, they hardly ever argued, and when they were together you could just feel how much they cared for each other. It was the kind of love you see in a Nicholas Sparks novel. The kind you yearn for. I was almost jealous. When they started dating their dynamic didn’t change a whole lot, but you could see the slight nervousness in their faces. The “Oh my god this is real” when they were together. Truthfully, I believe they are meant to be, even though they’d broken up later on.

That best friend of Kit’s is how we found out Kit went missing. In September of 2022 I received a message on facebook asking if I’d seen or heard from Kit, and where they were living. I hadn’t. But I knew they were in Omak with their biological mother. Red flag number one was Kit hadn’t spoken to their best friend. Red flag number two came after this friend went to Omak to find Kit, and Kit wasn’t there. Lorie Sue Nelson (Kit’s biological mother) claimed that Kit had run away from home, with an older girlfriend.

Immediately we knew it was a lie. Kit for one, would never leave their younger siblings like that. Kit is far too loyal and empathetic. Two, Kit was supposed to be an assistant to the art teacher, art was their second biggest passion after Paleontology. Three? Along with being Non-binary, Kit was asexual and aromantic at that time. This means that Kit wasn’t interested in sex and relationships, it just wasn’t in the cards. Unbeknownst to us, Kit also had an issue with age gap relationships that was later shared by an online friend of Kit’s. But in that moment? We just knew we had to do something. We called Police Departments, I made a facebook page called “Finding Kit” to raise awareness, and admittedly bully the school district and police department into listening to me and looking into this.

We felt lost. Empty. Broken. But we did what we could with what we had. I started adding people from the area to my friend list, messaging people, yelling at the police department, anything I could think of to be just annoying enough someone had to listen.

And finally? Someone did.