it was a wednesday morning when i
received the letter
as i was taking a sip of my coffee
before work i immediately froze
it had been over 10 years since i
received any communication from my
parents
i was all grown up now and hadn't
thought about mother and father
for years i embraced the fear and opened
the letter
my heart stopped the twisted pair was
being released from prison next week
and let back out into society i began
thinking about the day
i decided to run away from home i had
drafted the perfect plan
in my diary it had taken me about a year
to perfect every angle
it was risky but i was finally ready on
sunday evening
when i knew my parents were asleep and
the maids would be gossiping down in the
kitchen
i grabbed my duffel bag out of the
cupboard i had everything i needed from
my journey into the outside world
in my head i had imagined escaping to be
so difficult but
it was a piece of cake i simply walked
down the spiral staircase
and out of the door into my oh so
perfect suburban town
it must have looked strange such a young
girl walking around by herself
but everyone in this town is so
self-obsessed i'm not surprised they
didn't notice me
the only thing they turned their head
for is money
the longer i walked the smaller the
houses got until i was no longer
surrounded by the mansions
and it didn't smell like freshly trimmed
gardens it was late night by this time
and the houses were gray and dreary i
was scared but
exhilarated i clutched at the envelope
in my hand that was
going to allow me to start my new life
as an ordinary person
you see a few days after my birthday
last year i had overheard mother and
father talking
what they had thought was a discreet
conversation actually informed me
that they are not my real parents this
is how my great escape started to form
after doing a lot of snooping around and
investigating when my parents were out
playing golf or drinking champagne
i was able to get my real parents
details the night i found out i felt so
relieved
i had always known that i was an
outsider in my picturesque life
i craved a reality that included tv
dinners baseball games after school
and a cozy family home where you didn't
have to use the intercom to ask for a
glass of water
i never felt a connection to my parents
we spent hardly any time together
and i was basically raised by several
underpaid maids anyway
after what felt like hours of walking
several buses and more than a few
strange looks
i had finally arrived at the address
scrawled on a piece of paper in the
envelope
i was ready to meet my real parents as i
knocked on the door
i immediately felt uneasy as i heard
several dogs rapidly barking in the back
garden
there were all kinds of noises and
smells coming from the house that were
new to me
and they set me on edge finally after a
lot of huffing and puffing whilst
turning several locks on the door
a very annoyed looking lady with uncomed
hair opened the door
what do you want she asked i was lost
for words
but finally managed to mutter my name
and whisper i think
you are my real mom her expression
softened for just a second
before she barked at me i don't have any
children and went to slam the door i was
unsure of what to do
and was just about to turn and leave
when a messy looking man opened the door
he told me that i had better come in and
led me through a grey hallway into a
messy living room
on one of the tattered sofas at the lady
with her head in her hands
as i was led to be seated the man asked
several questions in order to check my
identity
when he was sure of who i was he asked
why i was there
i explained my feelings of always being
an outsider and how i had always known
that i didn't belong with mother and
father
i want to live a normal person's life
with you my real family
i moaned the lady shook her head and
looked at the man who was supposedly my
birth
birth they asked to be excused for a minute
they asked to be excused for a minute
and went off into another room to talk
upon re-entering the room they told me
that they had come to a decision
that i could stay if i really wanted to
experience how normal people lived they
would give me three days with them
and see how i felt by the end of it i
was ecstatic they however
looked doubtful it was really late and
they told me it was time for bed
i agreed and gathered my things ready to
go upstairs and see my new cozy bedroom
however they asked me to stand up and
started to place a sheet on the tattered
two-person silva behind me
turns out that when you live a normal
lifestyle you don't have endless amounts
of rooms for guests to pick and choose
from
still undeterred i was ready to make
this work after
all perhaps we could negotiate the roomy
situation at another time
come morning i was starving and ready
for my usual breakfast buffet of fruit
pastries and juices i walked around the
house looking for the person responsible
for feeding me
but could not find anyone then i saw a
note we both had to leave for work
there was bread on the side and some
butter in the fridge help yourself
i was shocked at the prospect of making
my own meal
and even more so that my supposed
parents could leave me alone
all day maybe this wasn't such a good
idea
i had to try and make it work though and
i determinately grabbed the bread and
spread it with butter
by lunchtime my real parents were still
out and i was really starting to miss my
luxurious lifestyle
maybe it wasn't so bad with mother and
father i just sometimes wished we could
do the things i saw other families do on
television
yet i had gotten myself in a mess and
didn't know how to get out of it
i was going to have to be tough and
survive the three days finally when it
was dark
my birth parents returned they
apologized for being out all day but
explained that it was the only way they
could survive
they had to make money the woman was
being a lot softer with me now
and had bought all of the ingredients to
make a big hearty meal
she suggested we cook as a family and
boy was i excited
before we started cooking however they
wanted to explain something to me
they revealed how they had been worried
about sharing it last night in case
i didn't believe them but that now was
the right time
my birth mother began i think i know why
you have never felt at home with your
mother and father
you have come all of this way to escape
so i think you are old enough and
responsible enough to know your history
when you were very young you inherited
billions of pounds from me
this is money that i received from my
father when he died
but put in your name i don't want to
shock you but the woman that you call
mother is
actually my sister she was so bitter and
jealous that father left me the money
she decided to forge documents and put
the money in her name until you reach
the age of 18.
she knew this left me without anything
and no proper tools to care for you
my daughter she then did the unthinkable
and took me to court over you
she built a strong case that you would
be better off with her and the money
and she won you're so young which is why
you probably don't remember
but the fortune is in fact yours not
your mother and father's
when all the fighting in court was over
i was in so much pain that i couldn't
bear to see you
this is why we stayed out of your life
but i hope
so much that you can forgive us both of
my real parents had tears in their eyes
i could not believe what they were
saying then i shocked myself as i said
out of nowhere
i think i know where we can get the
proof we need to fix this
my real mom and dad looked surprised but
allowed me to continue
i explained how the night i had heard
them talking in the study i also found
documents proving
they were not my real parents if we
could get to that
we could get back the money and put an
end to all of this madness
that night we sat up late and devised a
plan i would return home and apologize
for ever running away
as this created a distraction my birth
parents would sneak into the study
using the map i had meticulously drawn
from them they would snatch the
documents and go straight to the police
without mother and father expecting a
thing
well that was the plan anyway as i
walked up the familiar drive
lined with marble statues and fountains
i felt a sense of dread
i tried to shake it off i knocked on the
door and was greeted by giles our butler
he called for mother and father and they
came running down the stairs and swooped
me into their arms
it was show time as i sat down in the
living room to discuss what had happened
there was a loud crash from across the
hall darn it mother and father went
running into the study where he caught
my birth parents red-handed
trying to take the papers enraged they
called giles and our security guards to
take my parents away
it all happened so fast and there was so
much shouting i fainted the next thing i
remember
was being in the hospital with mother
and father by my side i drifted in and
out of conversation
and could hear the police officer
announcing that my birth parents
were missing my mouth went dry and i
couldn't speak
i tried to scream that they had been
kidnapped and were in danger but i
couldn't
i knew all hope had been lost as the
years went by and i grew up
there was one thing that kept me going
on my 18th birthday
i would legally inherit all of the money
i knew that the first thing i would do
would be to cut off the two criminals i
was forced to call mother and father on
a daily basis
just when i had found my one chance at
true family love
they ruined it i was filled with hatred
for them
i had no clue about where my birth
parents had been taken or where
i could even start to look for them i
also worried about what they were
capable of doing for money
i knew they had kidnapped my real
parents and managed to cover it up as
defense
i wondered what they would be willing to
do to me for the billions in the bank
this is why i tread very carefully and
never let them catch on to the fact that
i could not stand to be near them
finally my 18th birthday came around and
i was granted shared access to the cash
i had already decided what my present to
myself would be i hired a private
detective to do some digging
and find the proof i finally needed to
locate my real parents and receive
justice there must be a record of their
wrongdoing somewhere
i was willing to wait it out revenge
would be mine
a few weeks after i had paid the private
detective he asked to meet me in secret
as i walked up to his shady car i felt
nervous but hopeful
he told me what he found there were
copies of all of the transfers of money
with forged signatures
proof of phone calls to dodgy lawyers
the original copy of my grandfather's
will
which left all of his money to my real
mom the detective
had also found the details of a monthly
payment going out to a storage facility
in the next neighborhood
we were ready to take my fake mother and
father down
and maybe even find my birth parents we
drove together to the police office
and i walked in to speak to a detective
however as soon as i arrived
i could see mother and father it then
dawned on me that they had probably paid
off
a lot of police officers i felt hopeless
what was i going to do
then an idea came to me what about going
to the news
surely if people started to hear my
unbelievable story they would want to
help me
before mother and father could see me i
went running back to the private
detective's car
we went racing into town to spill all of
our information to the local newspaper
when we arrived at the news headquarters
we met a lovely young reporter called
sally
as we relayed everything i had found out
over the years backed up with proof
her eyes widened and her mouth fell open
she couldn't believe it but told us we
had come to the right place
she was willing to help and i felt like
crying with relief she wrote the
headline story as we sat there
and let us know it would be going out to
press in a few hours
she also called a news reporter friend
who worked on television and asked him
to come down to the station as she
repeated everything we had told her
he had the same expression of wide eyes
and a gaping mouth he was willing to
help as well
finally i had found kind compassionate
people
to help me seek justice for the family
and opportunities i lost at the hands of
these two
psychos i sat down for the interview
with derek the television news reporter
as i was retelling my story tears were
tumbling out of my eyes
i finally felt a release at being heard
everything was out in the open
the time came for the news story to be
aired and the newspaper to be printed
and i felt sick sally and derek were
there to hold my hand through it all
they reassured me that this was going to
work and i was so
grateful as soon as my story went live
on television
the phone calls came rolling in the
reaction to my story was crazy
there was no way the police were going
to be able to hide this whether they had
been paid handsomely or not
sure enough one of the phone calls let
us know that mother and father
had been arrested i finally felt as
though a weight had been lifted off of
my shoulders
was this going to be the beginning of my
happy ending there was one thing left to
do
the private detective and i drove
downtown and found the address linked to
the monthly payments
from mother and father's credit card we
explained the situation to the storage
facility owner
and he led us inside and down a very
dark corridor
to a door labeled one as soon as he
opened the door and shone the torch in
i saw two desperate faces looking up at
me my real mom and dad
i ran towards them and smothered them
with kisses they looked so pale and
tired
but relieved at the sight of me finally
we were reunited
they explained to me how for years giles
the butler had come to bring them food
and water in the storage unit
they were never allowed out to see
daylight and had lived years and years
of isolated life
but finally we were ready to be a family
together
upon mother and father's arrest all of
the money
all went into my name we sold their
stifled mansion
and bought a warm family home together i
took comfort in the fact that i would
never have to see them again
that is until this morning's