The Boy From The Basement

The Truth

I stared at the wall of old newspapers and tried to put together the story of this family. From what I had gathered, Beau McLennan was 100% the only son of Mike and Samantha, so then how was Trent related to them? My grandpa had told me that Samantha's first pregnancy ended in a miscarriage, and no one heard from her or saw her for months. So what if Samantha never had a miscarriage and did give birth to the baby in secret, that baby being Beau. Then on her second pregnancy when she did actually gave birth, that baby was Trent. Although I thought I had put all the clues together, I still wanted to find more information, just to be sure.
There were a few cabinets lined up together along the wall of newspapers. I noticed many locks on some of the draws, maybe we could find something in there. I bent down to the cabinet closest to me and tried to pick the lock on the cabinet with my wire. I managed to unlock it after a while and I slowly slid the cabinet out. There was a bunch of paper files stacked in the cabinet. I flicked through them all to try and find something. They were all bills, newspapers and notes. After searching through them, I came across something. It appeared to be Mike and Samantha' marriage certificate. I pulled out the marriage certificate, which read Mike and Samantha's marriage details.

I handed Trent the wire quickly.
"Try unlock some more," I instructed him.
He looked at the wire that was now in his hands, and tried to pick lock the lock on the cabinet beside me. After he struggled for a while, I closed my cabinet and shuffled over to him.
"Here," I said, taking the wire from his hands.
I picked the lock and slid the cabinet draw out. This cabinet was full of letters and envelopes, all piled up. Trent and I looked at each other and then began to search through the pile of envelopes.
"If you find anything interesting take it out," I instructed him.
"How do I know if it's interesting?"
I forgot that he couldn't read, so he wouldn't know what names or words to look for on the envelopes. I smiled at him kindly.
"Never mind, anything I hand to you, just put on top of the cabinet up there," I said patting the top of the cabinet.
I searched through the messy pile of envelopes and tried to look for any that regarded the McLennan family. I ignored all the letters from bank companies, real estate agents and advertising associations. I pulled out a few envelopes that appealed to me. One envelope which looked old and torn was titled 'Samantha McLennan, From Northern Sunside Hospital'. I handed it to Trent and continued to search. I found many envelopes from their relatives, which I also ignored. Hidden away in the middle of the pile was a small, dirty envelope titled 'From Samantha'.
This envelope caught my eye because it wasn't addressed to anywhere or to anyone. I handed it to Trent and closed the cabinet. "That's all."
I observed the 2 envelopes and the certificate I had found. I read the marriage certificate which looked normal. It stated the day of their marriage, May 12 2001, as well as their names and some other information. I brushed it aside and the picked up the old envelope from Northern Sunside Hospital. This envelope had already been open, so I just pulled out the sheet of paper from inside it. The sheet of paper was full of boxes of information. The box at the top stated all of Samantha's details, like her birthday, her gender and address. In the boxes below it, it stated information about Samantha's fertility. In summary, it said that she had low chances of conceiving a child. This must have been from before she got pregnant with her first child because it was delivered to her back in late 2001. She must have gotten pregnant anyways, but due to her fertility issues, led to the miscarriage.
"Your Mum must have had some troubles with getting pregnant, that explains why she had a miscarriage."
Trent looked at me confused.
"What's pregnancy? And what's a miscarriage?"
Of course he didn't know.
"Pregnancy... okay do you know how babies are made?"
Trent's face turned a little red and then he nodded.
"Well pregnancy is when a girl forms a baby inside of her from the DNA from herself and the boy."
Trent nodded.
"A miscarriage is when she is pregnant with the baby, but the baby dies inside of her, does that make sense?"
Trent squeezed his lips together and squinted his eyes while nodding.
"So, my Mum had a miscarriage? With who?"
I looked at Beau McLennan's missing persons report. It stated he was born on October 6, 2003 and went missing on  December 20, 2003.
"I think that you had a brother. Your Mum apparently had a miscarriage on her first pregnancy and the pregnancy followed through on her second, so I think Beau McLennan is your older brother who went missing."
Trent stared at me in shock.
"I... I have a brother?"
Trent seemed so upset, after all these years, he did have other relatives besides his parents. He put his fingers through his matted hair and bent over.
"Trent I'm sorry, I'm not 100% certain that it is true but, I think it is, there is no other explanation."
Trent began to breath heavily and panic. I walked over and rubbed him on the back. He straightened up and closed his eyes.
"This can't be true," he said in anguish.
"You're right, maybe it isn't, there is one way we could find out if it is."
I turned around and picked up the old envelope titled 'From Samantha'. It had not been opened yet and was sealed shut. I gently opened it, and on the inside of the seal flap of the envelope in red writing, read 'To my dear Beau'.
"Your Mum wrote a letter for your brother."
Trent opened his eyes and looked into my hands as I held the letter. He shuffled closer to me and looked at the letter in my hands. "Would you mind reading it to me?" Trent asked softly.
I pulled out the folded piece of paper and opened it. The page was full of writing and I proceeded to read.