TRAPPED BY LOVE

Episode 5

Death doesn’t spare anyone, no matter who they are. I cried so much as I watched the priest say the words, "dust to dust, ash to ash."

It was the hardest moment of my life. Through a blurred vision from the tears, I saw the coffin being covered slowly with sand.

My foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Brian watched in sorrow as their dear friend was buried. It was a sad day for all of us.

"Stop crying, Anderson," Mr. Brian said gently. "What’s done is done. We can only pray that his soul finds peace."

I felt broken inside, full of bitterness.

Why did life have to be so cruel? I thought. I had searched for someone I could call my own for so long and just when I found one, he slipped off my grip in only a few months.

What is happening to me? I wondered.

Time was something I thought held the power to heal the pain, but it did appear as if time was standing still.

It was in my head, in my mind and heart all the time. It tore at me. My father left without saying goodbye, without warning. I cursed the people who might have caused his sudden death every day.

I tried calling him that morning. After several attempts, he finally picked up.

"My phone was charging while I was in the bathroom. How are you, my beloved?" he asked.

"I'm fine, sir. Good morning. How are you today?" I asked.

"I'm good, as usual," he said, laughing lightly.

"I just wanted to hear from you this morning."

"Thank you, my boy. God bless you. Have a wonderful day."

"And you too, Dad. I love you."

"I love you too, buddy," he said before hanging up.

Talking to him was a routine that gave me hope. It felt like everything would be okay.

My friends, Harrison and Beckham, helped me heal faster. They were the gift I needed after losing my father. I began going out more, meeting new people, and discovering new interests. It helped me a lot.

One evening, Mr. Brian came home from work, looking angry. He was holding a document in his hands.

"Anderson!" he called. I quickly ran to him, my heart pounding.

He handed me a brown envelope. "You need to see this". I broke the seal and took it with shaking hands.

I never thought that would happen. It felt like a nightmare. My dad had given over the reins of his company to someone named Mr. Bradford who I'd never heard of.

Anger flooded through me. It was my father's net that a stranger had stolen away from us one night.

I racked my brains about what to do. I didn’t understand what was going on, it felt like I was living in a dream.

How is this even possible? I kept asking myself.

"I don’t know how this happened," Mr. Brian said angrily. "Your father couldn’t possibly give everything to someone like Bradford. Never!"

"Maybe we should contact the lawyer," Mrs. Brian suggested.

"He’s out of town," Mr. Brian replied. The lawyer had left a week ago to visit his family.

"So how do we get these properties back? They’re definitely in the wrong hands," Mrs. Brian said, looking worried.

"I know they’re in the wrong hands, but we can’t do anything until the lawyer comes back," Mr. Brian said, clenching his teeth in frustration.

"He won’t be gone long. It’s just a holiday. He’ll be back in a couple of weeks," Mrs. Brian said.

"A couple of weeks?" Mr. Brian scoffed. "He’s probably not coming back for years. It looks like he’s relocated, and if we want to claim your father’s property, we need solid evidence. Bradford could sue us for defamation if we can’t prove that Smith had a son. It would look like we’re trying to ruin his reputation."

I stood there, my hands covering my face, unable to process what was happening. It felt surreal, like something out of a movie.

"So what do we do now?" Mrs. Brian asked, his voice full of concern.

"What else can we do?" Mr. Brian replied. "We’ll have to wait for the lawyer to return. But even waiting is risky. What if the company collapses before then? And we can’t just let Anderson’s identity be exposed to anyone. We can’t afford to make any mistakes here. We know what he told us before everything happened."

I began to understand why my father trusted Mr. Brian so much. He was one of the smartest people I knew. The way he thought things through was what had drawn my father to him in the first place.

"Let’s just wait and hope that things will improve soon," Mrs. Brian said. "The most important thing right now is that the lawyer returns before it’s too late."

"But we can’t just sit here doing nothing," Mr. Brian said with determination. "We need to start preparing. The lawyer might come back at any moment, and we need to be ready. First, we need to find Anderson’s birth certificate. Then we can figure out the next steps."

Just then, Mr. Brian’s phone rang.

"Hello, who’s calling? What? How did it happen? When? Where?" he asked, his voice suddenly filled with shock.

I was lost in thought, trying to understand everything that was going on.

"What happened?" Mrs. Brian and I asked together, both of us eager to know.

"The lawyer’s been murdered!" Mr. Brian said, his voice shaking.

My heart stopped. The lawyer, the one person who might have helped us, was dead. I couldn’t believe it. What would happen now? How would we ever get the company back? My mind raced with fear and confusion. This wasn’t just bad luck; it felt like something much darker was unfolding.

I felt so frustrated, with nowhere to go and no one to run to. Just then I made up my mind to get to the root of this..., I looked at my foster parents and saw a great amount of grief helplessly burning in their eyes. Just then, my foster father went into their room. He came back with a very large box one would think he wanted to travel. I was about to ask where he was going, when he opened the box and, to my surprise, it was filled with money in different currency. Your father gave us this on his last visit, soberly he said, and I think we should use it to leave this country for a safer place.

What? I muttered!!!, but what then will happen to this home? What happens to my schooling, business, everything I've been trying to build here?

Be calm dear, my foster mother said, we can never tell who might have seen him come here the last time he did. This is for our own safety and I promise we'll make an effort with you to build it all back and promise to put you in one of the best colleges out there.