Chapter 05

Alexa POV.

This last week has been painful. After I read that note from Morris, I ran to his room to find him, but I noticed some of his things were missing. I remember running down to the kitchen to look for Mrs. Roseline, and asking her if she saw Morris leave, but she only stared at me confused.

I showed her the note he left me and after she read it, we both started crying and hugged each other. She tried giving me food that day but I just couldn’t eat. It was not easy to wrap my head around what was happening, how I thought Morris was already warming up to me but he ended up abandoning me just like mum. I remember Mrs. Roseline calling my dad and telling him about what was happening, but he just shunned her and told her he was busy and would be back sometime this week. He hasn’t been back since the day I heard him on the phone in his home office. 

I had to go to school last week, hoping to wake up from this nightmare but anytime I come back home I always come back to an empty house. Mrs. Roseline is the only person I speak to after the driver drops me off. Even in school I have no friends, I am just an outsider, the weird kid who is always alone. At least when Morris was still around he was my only friend and I was okay with that, but now I am left all alone and I have become an outcast.

When I came back from school today, I saw dad's favourite red car parked outside. I felt a little relieved because I thought he might be back with Morris. On getting inside I hear him on the phone, when he sees me, he speaks to the person and reschedules his call to thirty minutes. 

“Dad, did you come back with Morris?” I say with a mean voice.

“Hmm, won’t you give your father a hug?” He asks, looking down at me.

I gave in and ran towards him, wrapping my hands around him, he squeezed me and gave me the comfort I needed. The hug didn’t even last ten seconds before his phone started ringing again. He dropped me down to answer the call and headed straight to his home office without looking back at me. 

Mrs. Roseline saw the look in my eyes and quickly took me upstairs to take a shower. After I was done she brought me a tray filled with cookies and orange juice. I ate a lot because I was famished from school.

When I was done eating I had to go downstairs to the study room, to go over today’s class even though I was not feeling good. I spent some hours there making sure to follow my timetable. 

The door opened and my father walked in wearing a black suit, obviously on his way back to work.

“Are you going back again?”

“Yes my love I have an emergency meeting, I will be back soon, make sure to be a good girl and always study.”

“What about Morris, where has he gone to?”

“Morris is already an adult and can take care of himself wherever he is, I started taking care of myself at a young age too, I am sure he is going to survive, take care of yourself okay and forget about him.” He says and stands up to leave. I look at his back and I just break down and begin to cry.

“I a-am all a-alone,” I say in between tears.

EIGHT YEARS LATER.

I am standing on the podium giving a speech as the valedictorian of this year. I look in the audience in search of him hoping, no pleading to find him there, but I don’t know why I bother, why I always give him the benefit of the doubt. I sent him over a hundred messages reminding him to be here today but as usual he has something better to do instead of being at his daughters graduation ceremony.

I finish my speech and I receive a standing ovation, Mrs. Roseline comes forward and takes a picture of me with my camera all while she screams at the highest.

“I am proud of you my love,” she says as we both make our way to our seats. 

“I wish mum and Morris were here today to celebrate with us.”

“They are sweethearts, right here,” she says pointing to my heart.

I finally have the chance to leave this hell behind. I chose a school on the other side of the world and can’t wait to leave. Obviously dad has no idea, he signed all the documents I sent to his secretary, but I am sure he never went through any of them. I am going to be eighteen next month and by law I would be able to make my own decisions. 

Everything was going according to my plan or so I thought. I remember the day dad came home, it was five days after my graduation ceremony. It was the first time I had seen him in five months. He came straight to my bedroom and asked me why I didn’t select the university that was an hour drive from home. I told him I called but couldn’t reach him. I remember how a call changed my life. 

He called the Dean of the University and put in a special request and in less than two hours I was admitted without the need for any examination. He even had me reject my offer to the university of my choice. It was at that moment I realised how powerful my father was and how my life was going to be ruined forever.

My predicament didn’t even end there, he made it compulsory for me to go from home every day, he said the dorms were not conducive enough and that I would concentrate more at home. He even went as far as changing my major from arts to business. I have always loved drawing and reading books. I remember when I was still a baby, Mom would always read me a bedtime story. The last gift Mom gave me for my birthday was a novel and a set of brushes with acrylic paint and other painting supplies.

I have never hated someone like I hate my father right now. I no longer blame Morris for his hatred towards him, now I understand why Morris was always angry. I don’t blame him for leaving, I understand the choice he had to make and I forgive him. My father always claimed that everything he did was for his family, but what happens when you end up losing them one after the other. 

I narrated everything to Mrs. Roseline and she just stared at me with pity. Her face is no longer how it used to be, she now has a few wrinkles, but she is still beautiful as always. She had decided to quit her job after I started college to spend more time with her family. She sacrificed a lot for me and taught me everything a woman should know, she was there at every painting class, every ballet class, every swimming lesson and every music class. I wouldn’t want her to sacrifice more for me, I would have to let her go but it means I would be all alone in this empty house, in this empty world. 

IT HAS been over three months since I started college. I never knew it was going to be this hectic.

From having to wake up as early as six in the morning, just so I can prepare for school, to sitting in the car for an hour plus in traffic just to meet up with my eight am class that I absolutely have no interest in. It has been straining and emotionally stressful.

Mrs. Roseline left two weeks after my eighth birthday. She calls to check up on me from time to time but I miss her so dearly.

Projects are a pain in the ass because Business is not my strong suit. I have had to learn things from scratch. I haven't even been able to make any friends because I leave immediately after lectures.

Even during my free periods, I am stuck in the library trying to make sure I don't fall behind. Life hasn't been so smooth lately. The only thing keeping me together is the hopes of finding my brother.

I have decided to use the money I have saved up to hire an investigator to try to find Morris. I promise to find him no matter what.