The summer of my fourteenth my father had planned
a visit to Kingston. He was extremely busy, so I was lucky to see him and it
happened to be his first visit since Easter that year. His business was doing
fantastic, already in the top ten of the richest men in Britain, so no wonder
he was busy. I was eager to see him, despite my anger towards him for leaving
me with mother, he was still my father after all and I still loved him even
after what he did. I had a comfort with him unlike mother. But
the problem was... he never came.
Apparently he had landed in Britain and had even
arrived in Kingston. The police had traced his phone after he went missing, but
no sign of him at all. Three years later and I’m still reminded of his
disappearance every day, new news stories breaking out with various theories
and stories of what happened to him. He was after all one of the richest in
Britain, possibly the world. I knew none of it was true and I hadn’t a clue
what happened to him. I didn’t understand why he never came to visit or why he
went away. At first I thought it was me but when possible stories of murder or
kidnapping got involved I no longer knew what to think. All I wanted was my
father back, why was that so hard?
To make matters even worse, a year later, summer
of my fifteenth, Ashley also went missing.
I was wrong about the time when I was nine and the day my father told me
I was going to America without Ashley and I had said that was the biggest
tantrum of my life. The day she went missing, most definitely tops them all.
I just broke down. Which I’ll remind you, isn’t
easy for a guy to say.
But this was different, this was my friend my
best friend, my Ashley and she was gone. I searched for days, I didn’t
understand. I didn’t understand why history was repeating itself or why life
decided to be cruel or why she was taken away from me. I didn’t understand why
we deserved this. I just wanted her back, why was that so hard? I decided to
blank out any possibilities of murder or kidnap; I wanted to remind myself that
she would be happy, that she’s in a better place somewhere. Yes I was in denial
and yes I was completely breaking down, but I had no other choice, I just no
longer knew what to do.
I snapped out and remembered I was talking to
mother. Don’t end up like them. The
words raged in my mind. Keep
your cool.
“I’m not coming home. Bye.” I
hung up and placed my phone back on silent into my front pocket.