Chapter 1-3

About 10 years ago I was in Dallas, Texas, standing outside a hotel in a small suburb called Richardson, having a smoke, and there was an eerie quiet about the place. People were still going about there business, driving their cars, doing their deliveries and coming and going as usual, but just standing there, detached from it all, the quiet was overwhelming. Maybe we are just too busy these days to notice, but it was there. As I returned to my room the receptionist told me I had to head to the basement as a big tornado was on it's way, there it was, the storm was about to hit. A storm that would change the face of this sleepy little suburb forever.....

 So I had the best life any 9 years old boy could want... Yeah right, now don't get me wrong it wasn't bad, but this isn't a fairytale, my life back then was good, yes mum and dad had arguments, yes there were fights between me and my sisters but generally life was good, we weren't rich or poor, but we always had clothes on our back and food in our bellies, we had a nice house on a tree lined avenue with a nice garden. I used to spend a lot of time playing either in my room or in the back garden, hours and hours up and down the gravelly back alley on our bikes. For a 9 year old life was good, until that one fateful day.

 It was the quiet before the big storm, Dad was watching TV, mum was cooking, my sisters were doing whatever it is they did and I was in the dinning room playing, then there was a knock at the door. My mum answered and I heard her call my dad. Now I would be lying if I said I remember everything that happened, I don't, what I do remember is 3 policemen coming in to the house and there being talk about a warrant, I remember the feeling of complete helplessness, as my dad was questioned by the police and the feeling of complete hopelessness as the other men started to search the house, they looked everywhere, I remember shouting at one of the policemen, "my dads not done anything. " Or maybe I just wanted too. But that day my world fell apart, my dad was my hero, he was strong and clever and funny and now these strange men were as good as saying he was a criminal. It was devastating, my mind was racing at a million miles an hour, every 'what if' senario was racing through my mind. What if dad gets taken away, what if they are right, what if mums involved. Nothing made any sense anymore.

 I hid behind the big rocking chair in the dinning room, sobbing my heart out, as they took my dad away in the police car. Would I ever see him again? Was this it, was my dad gone forever? All I knew is the storm had hit and it had changed the face of my sleepy little suburb forever, little did I know the worst was yet to come....