After the sad, dark funeral of my mother’s I went back home to my empty apartment where I found my cat scratching up my new leather couches. Walking past her I went to my room and flopped down on my bed.

I have no one now. I never had a father growing up, mom recently passed away, no siblings just me and my cat for now on.

Knock, knock



Hearing the door interrupted my thoughts. I slowly got out of bed and started to walk to the door.

Knock, knock

“I’m coming!”

Opening up the door two cops stood there with a guy in a suit.

“Can I help you?”

The short man in the suit said. “Your mom hasn’t been making payments on her house for the last 6 months. We are going to need to move her stuff out.”

“How soon do I need to get her stuff?”

“If her belongings are not gone within the next two days, then we will get rid of it for you.”

“Thank you for telling me, I’ll start working on it tonight.”

The drive to my mom’s house was miserable. Whenever I would drive to my mom’s it would be for dinner or for holidays. Good memories started playing through my head and the joy they used to give me was now replaced with grief. I wish that I could see her warm smile one more time. As I pulled up to the drive way, there was little box on the front porch with a note attached to it. I got out of my car and read the note that was on the box.


You’ll understand my love.

I walked into my mom’s house. The smell of lavender filled the room. It seemed like my mom was on vacation and she’ll be back. I went to the kitchen and started to organize her food and utensils in a box. After three hours between the kitchen and the living room, I then started to do her room and bathrooms. I’m thankful that she didn’t own a lot of stuff, otherwise it would take me more than two days.

I opened up her creaky door and saw her clean room. She never cleans her room, there were always clothes everywhere. I started to clear off her bed, and then I found another note.


There are many secrets that you are not aware of, sorry my love

I kept wondering about who was writing these notes. Was it directed to my mom? Or was it directed to me? Did she leave me notes? I went back into the kitchen to open the box that was left on the porch. There was a tape in that said: explains everything. I had no cassette player to listen to it. Rummaging through my mom’s house to find one, I finally found it. I put the tape in and pressed play to hear my mom’s voice.

“My time has come I’m gone now. Sorry for hiding so much from you, I didn’t want to see you get hurt. Your dad didn’t run out on you. The day you were born I was lying on the bed waiting to hold you. A nurse came up to me and said that your dad had passed away. I knew he was going too soon because we both had dangerous jobs. We were both spies, your dad was spying in North Korea. It’s a very isolated country, no one gets in and no one gets out. He was there filming what was happening. When I found out that I was pregnant with you I quit spying and started to work at a daycare, something safer and more normal for parents. I am really sorry that I kept this from you. Something I did find out thought was that there was an article where your dad was discovered. I thought he was dead but it turns out he wasn’t ready to be a father. ”
This could not be true. I can never imagine my mom to be a spy, she was so motherly. She was even scared of spiders. There were no violence between me and her. Should I be a spy if both my parents are? I can’t really imagine myself getting into trouble. Maybe I might be good at spying because I’m pretty good going through my mom’s stuff. My mom would never lie to me, we told each other everything. Being torn up about the lies that she said, I still rummaged through her belongings. Everything I found was junk until I came across an old news article. It was balled up under her bed. The title said “The family is to be separated.” I didn’t understand what this meant. I thought she said he died and that he was a spy. This article was dated four months ago. Maybe my dad was still alive and I can find him.
My mom’s house was cleaned out within 6 hours. I wanted to hurry and get this done so I could go home research my father, Chase Owens. My last name was Whitman so I believe that my mom didn’t inherit his name for working reasons.
As I got home I got onto the computer and inserted Chase Owens into Google. There were many ads popping up but one site really interested me. The webpage was saying how he did a good job for the US on the spying of China’s health. This webpage was updated this month, I scrolled to find personal information. It said nothing about him, but it left an email from the journalist. I sent her a email describing my situation and if there is any way to reach him. She responded quickly and said that she had no contact information about him, but that he will be in town tomorrow at 8 am and left where the location he would be at.
I reached the little café and saw a journalist and a man sitting down at a table. I knew that it was my dad because of the photos from the internet. I decided not to go in and meet him, my mom kept me away from him for a reason. The man was smiling while he was talking to the journalist, he turned and saw me, he stared at me for awhile. Neither of us looked away. Finally I started to walk off so I didn’t have to talk to him. Looking back I saw my dad following me. Why is he following me?
“Samantha, wait up!” He called for me.
How’s he know my name? I stopped without looking around. I felt his strong hand on my shoulder so I turned to look at him.
“Remember me?”
With a dumb look on my face, “Are you kidding me? Do I remember you? You were not there for me when I was growing up. I thought you were dead. You come up to me and ask if I remember you?”
“You’re right. I wasn’t ready to be a father. I was there for you, I helped your mom out with money and I would visit you. You didn’t see me though. The reason why I wasn’t ready to be a father was because I loved my job to much and I didn’t want to quit and take care of you even though you should have been my first priority.”
“I’m not going to fall into your sad story. You weren’t there and that’s the end. I don’t want no part of you now.” I started to walk away when I heard him say that he will see me soon.