The Dying Wait

Our story begins with a fourteen-year-old father, Nathaniel Cole, and his girlfriend, Charlotte Young. Nathaniel’s son(me) was soon to grow up without parents before that let me introduce myself. My name is Erik Marcus Cole and this is the story of how I finally found out the truth about my life story and what really happened after I was born. I was born on November 11, 2005, in San Francisco, California. From the way I hear it, my mother died weeks after I was born due to an overdose. Although it seemed strange at the time I just accepted it. My question was why weeks after she had just had me. Why would she choose to die? My father was arrested at my 10th birthday party and I had no idea why. I was scared and alone. My social worker Elizabeth sent me to a group home because she couldn’t find a placement for me. I didn’t understand because I had always been a good kid, but it was my dad’s name that kept me from having a home. Years later I finally graduated high school, but I had also aged out of the system so I had no idea what was next for me. I never got to go to college because no one wanted to help out the boy with Cole’s name. So this leads me to the streets but lucky for me I found someone who made things happen for me. My uncle found me and got me a job and an apartment. After being on my own two feet for about three years my uncle comes over for the twentieth birthday and he sat me down. He said to me” Erik, your dad is out of prison and wants to see you soon. I gave him your address so he could come to see you today for your birthday. Remember he has been gone a long time and just wants to see you.” He walks out right after not even letting me talk. I sat there thinking about my tenth birthday and even before that. Everything we did together. The relationship we Had. He is gonna want that and I can’t give that to him I thought to myself. Right then I hear knock at the door interrupting my thoughts. I forget to look through the peephole and open the door expecting it to be him. The next thing I know I’m on the floor. After waking up with a killer headache I notice I’m tied to a chair. I look around and see some of my dad’s old workers. People who got arrested with him but then released a year later. Benny my dad’s right-hand man walks up to me and says,” Sup Cole, here is how this is gonna go. You’re gonna call your dad and tell him you want him to meet you at 7482 black bear road. Tell him you want to talk and catch up, then hang up. You got me, Cole?” I node. He unties one of my hands and puts a phone in it. It’s already ringing. My dad picks up. Hearing his voice for the first time in years brings a tear in my eye, but I dont let it get the best of me. I do as I am told and hang up. Benny takes the phone, ties my hand back, and walks off. I drift off to sleep not knowing what’s gonna happen next, but one thing that sits in the back of my mind is that it might be the last time I ever get talk to my dad. I get woken up by Josh. He unties me and tells me to come with him. Josh and I went to high school together so he is just now in this. We go into town without anyone knowing. Josh told me what going on and why they wanted my dad. He has handed me a folder but said not to open it until I was alone. Josh took me home and I never saw or heard from him again until his face was all of the news. Josh had been murder. Benny went down for it too. It put a pit feeling in my stomach like I could have helped Josh. After seeing that it made me think. Just maybe my mother didn’t overdose, maybe she was murdered.  The next day I got up early it had been weeks since I had heard from my dad so I week to look for him. I knew he had enemies so that meant I did too. No matter if I tried to escape from his problems they seemed to follow. With Benny in jail and josh dead, I was alone. My uncle left therefore I was stuck cleaning up dad’s mess. I got in the car and drove to where josh woke me up. I found my dad. I put him in the car and we left town. By the time he woke up, we were halfway to Texas. He told me to stop and he got out of the car. So did I. I needed answers and I was gonna get them one way or another. So I confuted him and asked what happened. I asked if he killed my mother. I was surprised by the answer I got. I knew the answer would haunt me and it did. After that day I never saw my dad. I drove home hurt and angry. When I got home I finally opened the folder and it proved my dad’s answer it had photos, names, numbers, etc. Right then I had a moment where I knew my dad was telling the truth. He didn’t lie at all when he said. This is what surprised me. The words he said were straight pain. “Erik, your mother is alive. We had to fake her own death just so she would be straight. I’m sorry I lied but I did it for your mother, and we did it for you. If you knew she was alive you would be dead not josh. I had to tell one of my sons that their mother was alive and I knew josh could handle it.” Why after telling me, you run was the question. It proves you have something you have something else to hide. Something that you don’t want me to know. I call the number josh gave for my mother. We planned to meet the same place her and dad met.So there I standing right where dad was when he met her. I knew she scared but I didn’t know she wouldn’t show. This was a pain I had never felt before. This was was my life was. Everyone running. So again there I was alone waiting for someone to show.