Torn Pages

I’ve read countless accounts on how people’s eyes ‘opened’ to see the reality they live in and how they got rid of everything that affected them negatively.
I’ve had two such experiences in my life that has till now spanned 17 years.

My first was when I was 10 and realized that the world was not the best thing ever as my parents used to make it a point to tell me every second of my life till I turned 10. The very next day after that, my mom told me that dad was going on a long vacation. Her eyes had been filled with tears and I recollect asking her where he was going and when he’ll be back. She had told me he was going for a very long time indeed and she wasn’t sure when he’d be back. That he was taking Derek with him, my older brother who I didn’t know I wouldn’t be seeing for the next seven years.

They divorced a month later; I was in mom’s custody and Derek in dad’s. There really wasn’t any legal restriction that barred me and Derek from meeting each other. It was just our parents that didn’t want to face each other, so they made up stupid excuses to get away with not letting us meet.
I did eventually find out that Derek and dad had moved to Cannes and were doing very well. That was three years after our parents separated when Derek managed to get in touch with me through a phone call that sent dad into a frenzy and he forbade Derek from ever contacting us. And so we grew up never knowing why our lives had taken such a turn because neither mom nor dad told us.

One question that always haunted me and now I know it haunted Derek too was why our mom blocked him out and why dad blocked me out.

We did find out later, and this is what the story is about. This and other things that lead to me opening my eyes once more to ‘reality’.
What was it?

Torn Pages.