The whole room was silent as everyone anticipated the next word out of the newscaster’s mouth. In front of the newscaster, in the left corner of the television was an old picture with five young men and women, with some children sitting on the floor in front of them in a chain. It was easy enough to tell the relationship of the children with the adult. They looked so good while the children looked like they could barely stand without falling. They looked malnourished. The headline was the most captivating; Child Trafficking exposed.They had exposed the names of everyone involved in the trafficking and declared them wanted. Apart from those in the pictures, the journalists were able to fish out more people backing them up behind the scenes. It was a bigger syndicate than Mike expected. It might be one of the reasons; that it was easier for Alfred to cover up the death of his parents.The picture made it easier for Mike’s man to find out a lot about Alfred and to get more vital infor
Epilogue Amelia had slept all through the trip; being pregnant only makes her wants to sleep all the time. By the time she felt a little nudge by her side they were somewhere far from home. She could barely pinpoint exactly where Mike had taken them to, but the bright sun and the beach side felt strangely familiar. The air was different too. More natural and makes her lean more into him. She felt like she had seen this numerous time, but it also felt like she hadn’t seen it before. Mike assisted her from the car, and it all hit her like a wave. She had the picture of this in her room for a long time. She had sigh looking at him and thinking it there was heaven, this would be it. It seemed so out of reach then like she could never get here no matter how much she tried, but here she was with her husband. She jumped on Mike. “Are you serious?”He nodded, “Of course, I am serious. I bought this place for you.”Her heartbeat raced. It was a different thing visiting the place she had
Her footsteps moved slowly on the tiles, while she moved her head in every direction to make sure no one was following her. It was normal in her house to be exempted whenever they were having any important discussions, but this time around she was going to listen to everything they had to say. She was part of the family, so she had the right to know what was going on in the family.The family sitting room was silent at first and she thought she had the wrong room, but then, she heard her step-sister's voice, which was so loud that anyone would have thought she had swallowed a speaker."Why will she be getting married before me? I don't like that."Getting married. Who? As far as Amelia knew, there were only two young ladies in the house, her and her sister, and she had no betrothed, yet someone in their house was getting married. She pinned her ears to the door to listen to them better. Her stepmother's cold voice was what she heard next. "How many times do I have to tell you that
"You are drinking too many bottles," Steve, Mike's best friend said. As he had expected from Mike, he ignored him and picked up another bottle on the table, gulping the content in it like it was going to save his life. Steve sighed. Mike had never had a good relationship with his parent, but he had never tried losing himself in bottles. Whatever they had called to tell him about must had truly hurt him. "I thought you only wanted to take a few bottles, but you are almost drinking the bar dry."Steve had lost count of the bottles on the table. What was he supposed to do with Mike?Mike slurred, "I need to forget the fact they said that, and the only way is this." He picked another bottle and rested on the chair.Steve was more confused than he was. What did they say that he needed to forget? He picked up the one bottle he had been zipping since and tried asking Mike the same question, but when he lifted his head up, he was already sleeping with his head swinging in a different direc
Amelia typed, 'how to run away from home' on google. It was getting more difficult to pretend she had no idea about the arranged marriage. It was in the way her step-sister looked at her and smile all of a sudden, Her stepmother also came back from shopping the other day and brought clothes for Amelia. It had never happened before, she was always the one to request things before she was given them, and she had to request twice or thrice before she actually bought them for her. But she was the one to buy this for her, and it wasn't any clothes. It was all designers; the type Ava wore. Amelia had placed them carefully in her cupboard afraid to wear them because to her it seem it was a confirmation that she was agreeing to the marriage. Her father was indifferent to it, to him, Amelia was a mistake and nothing more than that.It took a while for the result to pop up on her phone. She sat up with her jotter carefully placed in front of her. She started jotting down everything she saw onl
Mike's gaze darted around the airport. Everything looked different from what he had known; well, it was bound to be different after fifteen years. He stood still to take a deep breath of motherland. Steve stood beside him and chuckled, "It's good to be home."Mike's response was a nod and a slow pat on his back. He moved to where people were gathered waiting for arrivals. He tried to see if there was a familiar face or if his name was on anyone's board. After glancing from right to left then left to right back. There was none. Steve must have sensed it or he just had the same expectation as him. "Did you tell anyone we are coming in today?"It was a rhetorical question. He was there when he called his mother after booking the flight, they know his arrival time, yet, they didn't see it fit to send just a cab man to pick him up. It was one of the reasons they had kept him unknown to social media. So, they could maltreat him without any newspaper having an idea of what was going on."
Amelia already hated the family they planned to marry her into. She got that they were eager to tie them together, but how could they come visiting without her said future husband? She knew she wasn't eager to get married but that doesn't mean she wouldn't have preferred seeing whoever she was meant to spend the rest of her life with. It was only those who had nothing to do with the marriage that had come visiting. She was seated between her mother and Ava, while her father sat in front like the chairman of the occasion. Her future-in-law was sitting opposite them, and the mother-in-law's gaze had not left her since she came. She whispered something in her father – in – laws ear.All Amelia felt at that moment was as if she was good about to be sold away. She felt her skin itchy and wished she could just leave the gathering. But, a gaze from her father was enough warning not to try anything funny."How have you been?" Her father said with a smile toward the Afonso. He had never smil
"Mum and Dad are back," Sharon said excitedly peeping from the door. Mike had settled quite well in the house, he had put his books on a shelf, his clothes were arranged neatly in the closet, and his art was carefully placed beside the bed. He was still looking for the best place to set them in. Sharon jumped inside, and settled on the bed, for someone who had not seen him in the last fifteen years, she felt way too comfortable with him. Maybe it was just the fact that they were siblings.Mike wasn't ready to face his parents, so he focused on looking for a perfect place for his art. Sharon picked one up, "What are these?" She shook it. "Is it some kind of paper?"Mike smiled, "It's my drawings. Do you want to see it?" He would rather do anything than go to his parents.She nodded excitedly. It was really great to have someone else in the house. Mike sat carefully beside her while he opened one. Her gaze was fixed on the drawing, "Wow! You are really good." She touched the drawing