10 Years A Secret

Prologue

PAST

Imagine losing someone at 10 years old.

Imagine never having your father around.

Imagine living in a world without your dad with you to do those specialthings.

That's how I, Taylor Brunche, have lived for the past 10 full years of my life. I miss him dearly. I miss everything about him.. except his temper. Daddy got mad sometimes and hit me sometimes, but he was a good guy underneath. That's why mom never left him.

How could no one have seen? How could no one have known that someone has come to attack my daddy. One day i'd be playing soccer with him in the yard, and the next he is murdered in cold blood.

As a little girl I wondered how it was like to live without a parent. I used to feel bad for the kids without a Mother and a father, but now i'm the one with all the sympathy. I don't want it. I don't need it.

Now everyday i'd wake up, eat breakfast, go about my daily routine, but since 10.. I'd do this without my daddy.

No one to hold my hand when the scary movie starts to play. No one to coach me when i'm running down the field. No one to kiss me goodnight the way your daddy does. No. Now it was just me and mother.

I was stronger when daddy died. I wasn't a male, and their wasn't a male in the family anymore. I had to step up. It was my job to keep mom safe. For years I lived in fright of the cold person who took my daddy's life, coming back. He never did. The cops never solved it either. It was a cold case. No witnesses, No fingerprints, not even a strand of hair. This person was good at being bad.

Sometimes I thought mom did it. It's crazy, I know, but I couldn't know for sure. The way she'd turn around and moan every time I asked if the police found anything. She'd never say a word about it.

Maybe someday i'd grow up, and know what happened to my daddy, but today? This month? This year? No. No not in this decade at least.

Present

10 years old without my daddy. 11 years old without my daddy. 12, 13, 14 years without my daddy. 15,16,17,18 years without my daddy. 19 years without my daddy. It's my 20th birthday now. Another miserable year not knowing anything about my daddy.

You can't tell if you'll see that special person again. You just cross your fingers and hope they come home safe. You pray that nothing happens while you're gone. Something did happen though. My daddy was murdered, and 10 years later, I still don't know anything.