Merida McDougal
Today was my fourteenth birthday and you would think I would be happy about that fact, but to be honest, it is just another day without my family surrounding me with their love. You see, I have been forced to live on this isolated island just off the coast of Newcastle Australia, with a friend of my father’s. All because my life went to hell in a hand basket, a few short years earlier.
Two years ago, when I had just turned twelve years old, both my parents were killed in a drive by shooting in our neighbourhood. We used to live in a middle-classed neighbourhood, were there was always seemed to be peace, at least that’s what I thought. I remember that night so clearly, that sometimes I feel like I am still back there, reliving it repeatedly. I was startled awake that night, to the sound of live gun fire going off down the road from our small brick house. I remember getting out of bed, and running around the small three-bedroom house, to try and find my quiet parents. Only when I entered the kitchen, did I stop and think about what I was doing.
As I walked around my momma’s favourite room, I found there was a note on the dining room table in my mother’s hand writing, saying they were just walking down to the corner store to get a few things, before it closes. I gasped as I dropped the and began running outside in just my pyjamas, and no shoes to try and see down our road. The first sight I saw, had all the blood in my heart rushing straight to my head, as it pumped so hard, I thought I was going to pass out. Nobody should have to see what I was seeing and as I stood there frozen, gasping for air, all I could say was, “no…no, not them, please not them...”.
There, lying on the ground, not twenty metres away from my place on the side walk, were both my parent’s dead and their blood pooling around them. I could see they were both riddled with bullets and as people milled around them to try and help, I heard one man angrily say, “it was those biker boys, that ride with the Four aces club out of the other side of town. They were trying to take out the store owner and this poor innocent couple got in the way. Such a brutal shame, that’s what this is…...”.
I don’t listen to whatever else he has to say, because I turn around and run back to our house and do what my father has taught me to do in case of emergencies. Thinking back to when I was only five years old, my dad had asked me to come into his office for a serious father, daughter talk. As I sat down on his knee, he gave me a tight warm hug and started talking to me calmly, “baby, I want you to listen to a very important story I am going to tell you and then you will understand why I am going to start teaching you certain things, alright?”.
Nodding, I settle in better on his nap, “okay daddy, I’m listening”.
He holds me even tighter and sighs before he starts telling me his story, “When I was a young man, my father, your grandfather, decided it was time for me to earn my right to stand by his side in the family business. What it meant for me, was that I needed to do some things that were truly bad, and could get me easily killed or worse, captured and tortured”.
I had reached up and touched his cheek, as if to say, are you alright. He simply pats my hand and goes on with his story, “it’s alright baby…. you see, I did as my father told me and I became his second in command within months of joining him. The business that we were in, had the ability to hurt so many people and after a while, I could finally start to see it for what it was and I came to resent it. That is why, when I met your momma, she started to help me get out of that life and to bring you into our world. Unfortunately for us, my father didn’t want to let me go and was willing to go to extreme lengths to get me back into the family business. When I took you and your mother away from him, he became obsessed with drawing me back to his side, but I stood my ground and got you two out of there. Now, I know you are only five years old but I need to get you to a place where, you can defend yourself and to live off the grid if anything was to happen to your mother and me. Now, little one, you will be a girl and let me prepare you, won’t you?”.
I look up at him and whisper brokenly through my tears, “I don’t want you or momma to get hurt daddy”.
He pulls me in closer to his chest and whispers into my fiery red hair, “I will always try to come back to you and your momma sweetheart, but I need to make sure you’re okay, if anything should happen”.
Nodding my head, I wipe my tears away and look up to the man who is my hero. Jutting my chin out determinedly, I tell him, “okay daddy, I will be a good girl and let you teach me new things”.
After that first day, my father taught me everything he knew about living a life on the streets and how to defend myself. I went to all the classes he sent me to, to learn self-defence and mixed martial arts. Momma even taught me how to stay in the shadows and not to be seen or heard, as she used to be an undercover cop in the police force. She also taught me how to live off the land and the public grid, because she used to do it when she was a teenager, out in the outback of Western Australia.
Since we now lived in New South Wales, her and daddy, taught me everything they could in the last seven years of my training and I showed them, how to do everything on the internet, to keep us hidden from anyone in their pasts.
Everyday my father would tell me to come into his office and grill into me, what I must do, if anything bad happens. He even once gave me a small special key, that I was to never take off and with the strict instructions, to go to the Jones street storage units and open the unit number on the key. Everything in the unit was to be used only for her and her alone. My daddy also said, if I ever needed help, I was to contact a man called Samuel Jacobson and he will help to keep me safe.
My parents also made sure we each had a to go bag packed in the linen cupboard near the front door, just in case daddy’s family ever came for us.
That was where I ran to first, after witnessing my parent’s dead bodies on the pavement just down from our home. I did everything my father told me to do, besides quickly getting out of my pyjamas and into some warm clothes. Running down the hallway, I grabbed my to go bag, from the cupboard and as I walked to the door, I also shoved a family photo off the fireplace mantel, into the front pocket. Not going out the front door, as I have been trained to do, I ran out the back door and down to the nearest taxi stand. When I had hopped in, I gave the driver the address that was drilled into my brain since I was five years old and sat back for the long ride through the streets.
When I walked into the storage centre, I pulled the key out from under my shirt and went on the hunt for the unit with the number thirty-two on its door. As I walked through the build looking, I kept taking in deep breaths as to not break down and cry for the loss of my family. The feeling that kept trying to surface was very strong, but I knew I had to be stronger, so I can come out of this situation alive. Momma always said I had an old soul, so I guess the way I am fighting this grief is proof of that.
Determinedly I walked the corridors, I knew I needed to find what my father left me and to call his friend for help. Daddy said this Samuel bloke, was one of his best mates and he could be trusted with the one person he treasures over all others. Me…...
Finally finding the storage shed that belonged to the key, it didn’t take long to find the key hole and when I finally opened the small door beside the large roller door, you could have knocked me over with a feather. In the large cavern of a room, there were shelves upon shelves of all things from food to clothes, and let’s not forget also shelves full of money. I quickly close the door and lock it, so no one can sneak up on me, and turn back to look more closely around the room.
Flicking the light switch on beside the door, I looked towards the centre of the room, to find a small table with a closed laptop and a white envelope sitting in its centre. Walking over to it slowly, I find a letter had my name on it and it looked like my momma’s beautiful hand writing.
Opening it quickly, I begin to read it out loud, “my darling Merida, if you are reading this letter it means your father and I have been killed. For that I am truly sorry my darling girl. We never wanted to leave your side or pull you into our personal family hell. That is why we pushed you so hard in your training little one, so you can stand on your own two feet if this day ever happened. If the way we were killed was by a biker club, know it was a paid hit my darling, as there are no accidents in life where they are concerned. Your grandfather liked to use those type of men, to make the cover story more plausible. Now to other things, everything in this room is for you to use in your life in one way or another and all I wish for you to do, is to live well baby. There is paperwork on the laptop in front of you, that has been authorized on our deaths, to make you into an emancipated minor, as we know you can take care of yourself and not have to depend on. With that being said, at the bottom of this letter is the phone number of your father’s friend Samuel, who is willing to be your guide through this life. Please let him be there for you, as we can’t any longer. He will expect your call as soon as he sees we have passed away.
Oh, before I forget, I placed something I want you to wear always in a small wooden box on the second shelf to your right, it was my mother’s, now it’s yours. Also, remember my precious daughter, we both loved you with all our hearts and we will watch over you from heaven.
Samuel Jacobson cell number is zero four one three six two four five four one.
Love your mother
Emma McDougal…...xxxoooo
When I had finished reading the letter, I had a good cry while holding onto the family picture of us. Thanking my lucky stars, I had grabbed it at the last minute, before running away. Sighing I look around the large room, I found the small box my mother wanted me to have and opened it. Inside it, was a gold necklace with a single black pearl hanging from it. Not thinking twice, I put in on over my key necklace and walked further around the room, touching it as I go. The way everything was placed and in bulk, it made me wonder if my father was preparing for the end of the world, instead of his young daughter. There was large stores of food and bottled water. Clothes for a girl all the way to a woman and enough money to keep me going until I can stand on my own two feet.
Yawning, I realised I was starting to walk slower and slower around the room and there was the fact I could barely keep my eyes open. I knew I had to get some sleep soon or I was going to pass out where I was standing. Turning towards the back of the unit, I made up a makeshift cot to sleep on and then quickly took my shoes off. When I was finished, I didn’t even bother getting out of my sweaty clothes, before I curled up on the blankets and promptly fell quietly asleep.
After that first day, I would only venture out of the unit an hour at a time, to scout the area and to check the papers, until I remembered I could look it up online. The unit came with internet service and a bathroom, so I really didn’t need to go anywhere. On the fifth day of my seclusion, I finally found in the obituaries my parent’s death notices and what made me cry, was the fact they said they had no living relatives. I knew I was alive and I had grandparents, so why would the paper leave that important information out of the paper.
The misinformation made me start to think about a few confusing things and as my fingers fly over the computer keys, I tried to find any trace of me in the system. It took me a few hours but I eventually found an article of a local family from my old neighbourhood, that lost their daughter to an accidental pool drowning six years ago. When I scrolled down the page, there was a picture of my parents, holding each other crying, while holding a picture of me, when I was younger and that was it. Why did they kill me off? Was it to keep me safe or was I someone else’s daughter and I was a stolen baby?
Looking at the mobile phone I found in the equipment in the unit, I finally had the courage to call Samuel to see if he had any answers. It rang for a few minutes before a husky man’s voice answers, “hello this is the Jacobson’s residence, how may I help you?”.
Speaking up in a small voice, I ask, “um…. can I please talk to a Samuel please, it’s important”?
The man on the phone asks, “who may I say is calling, as the master is a very busy man?”.
I take a few deep breaths and answer him, “my…my name is Merida McDougal and he was a friend of my daddy’s. Can…can I… talk to him now?”
The guy in the phone, sucks in his breath and softens his voice, “yes sweetie you can, now don’t you hang up and I will get him on the line straight away, alright?”.
Now that the serious man, was being more friendly, I let out my held in breath, “I won’t hang up, ah….”?
“David sweetie. Here is the master honey”.
I listen as David, speaks away from the phone, “master, little Merida has finally called”.
There was some rustling in the back ground, and I could a deep voice in the background talk “quickly David, give me the phone before we lose her”.
The phone goes quiet for a few seconds, then I hear the soft warm voice of my daddy’s best mate, “hello little Merida, I have been expecting your call for the last few days. Are you alright and in a safe place right now honey?”.
Not hesitating to reply to the concerned questioning, “I’m safe but far from alright”. Taking a deep breath, I blurt out my worry about being so called dead too, “were…. were, my parents really my parents, because I found an obituary of their daughter dying in a pool accident and I am very much alive. Were they my real parents or was a stolen baby?”. I knew I was starting to sound a little hysterical but I couldn’t really handle the thought I was forgotten or worse stolen.
Samuel chuckles into the phone, before trying to answer my questions, “first, yes they were your real parents. They had to pretend to kill you off, as your grandfather was trying to steal you from them and use you as leverage over your father. The pool accident was all a fabrication to get your family, off your dads back and for them to keep you safe from harm. Now where are you exactly so I can come and get you, then bring you home to my island?”.
Chewing the bottom of my lip, I don’t answer but tell him what I am going to do instead, “before I tell you that, I want to research you for the night first, just so I am not going to go with a stranger. Is that alright?”.
He sighs and says, “honey, you won’t find anything on me through the internet, as I am a very private man and have kept to myself for a very good reason”.
Little does this man know, even though I may be only twelve years old, if I get a computer in front of me, I could take over the world with it. My daddy once said, that he was amazed at all the different things I could achieve with just one laptop, he couldn’t imagine what I could do with a whole lot of them.
“Please give me a day and I will let you know where I am. I…I need to do this Mr Samuel sir. It was what my father taught me to do and this is one way, for me to keep myself safe. The place I am in right now, is off the grid, as it isn’t in my family’s name and can’t be traced by anyone on the planet”.
Samuel sighs but eventually gives in, “I will call this number back at exactly ten o’clock tomorrow morning. I will make sure I am on the main land by then, so I will be able to get to you faster, alright?”.
“Yes”.
After my short answer, I hang up and put the phone back on its charger before grabbing a bunch of food and water, for the long internet search I have ahead of me.
As I cracked my knuckles, I booted up the laptop and got to work stalking for the precious information I needed. Now the first thing I did after the computer started, was to double check that the program I installed the other day, was still doing its assigned job.
When a message pops up stating someone tried to hack my system and failed, I growled out loud at the balls of the bugger. Sighing, I quickly check the main part of the program I wrote when I was eleven, and found it had done its designed job of bouncing the hacker back onto themselves with an added virus along with them. When I had first created this program, I designed it to seek and destroy any one, that was a threat to my family namely my grandfather, but as I got older I turned it into a guard program instead. Giggling I type a few keys to rest it to a stricter lockdown, before clicking out of the program, and whispering happily to myself, “take that you bully”.
After I sorted that crap out, I got down to work. It takes me about thirty minutes to find my first titbit of information about Samuel and I was happy to say, it was all good. He is regarded as a reclusive billionaire who lives on an island, one hundred miles off the coast of Australia. He bought the island through one of his many companies, as to not let it trace back to his name. Little does he know it; the Australian taxation office are very good at keeping records with large companies and I figured out he spent a cool hundred million on the purchase of the island. The next lot of information I found out on him, was that he was a well-respected business man, but he was also a well-respected crime lord. Go figure. That doesn’t bode well for his character, but like momma used to say, don’t judge a book by its cover. He could be a good man inside and all hard arse on the outside….
Digging a little deeper into his personal history, I saw he was once in love with a woman called Sarah but she married a man called Terry Blake. I looked a little closer at Samuels love interest and figured out, she was in a screwed-up marriage to an outlaw, who belonged to a motorcycle club called the Death Dealers. Scratching my nose, I instantly thought, I can see that relationship going south in a hurry. Which it did thankfully for her and her young daughter, as she is now married to Samuel…...
I worked deep into the night, until I found every scrap of information on Samuel and his staff that could be find and be happy with, before I fell asleep for a few hours. Before my eyes closed completely, I thought if funny, that some of the details I found, I had to go through some government files, and lucky for my daddy’s friend, he was only being watched and not hunted, not like some other criminals in the media.
The first fellow I spoke to was David Potts his butler, then he had a man called Doc who was Davids father, as his live in medical doctor. Then there was the personal helicopter pilot, a man who goes by the name of Thomas Phillips, he was also clean in the outlaw department. They all came across on paper as good men and I couldn’t find a single fault with them. The only drawback I saw, about going with Samuel is the crime lord deal and possibly me getting put six foot under. I just hope he doesn’t sell me or something, so as a backup plan, I will leave this place as a secret. Another little titbit I found on line regarding the unit I was in, was that this unit has a long-time lease on it and will only need to updated in twenty years. With this place having such a long lease, it makes me wonder what my parents were planning, that would warrant a place like this. It is set up for just a child and not for a small family like ours.
Rubbing my eyes, I saw that it was a little after one in the morning and I knew my would-be saviour was going to ring in about nine hours, so I should get some much, needed sleep. Shutting down everything, except a small light near the cot, I fall into a deep sleep, thinking only of one thing. My grandfather is going to pay….
My daddy said once, that his father was a very powerful man and should not be underestimated. As he controlled some of the toughest and most highly skilled men in the world. And wouldn’t hesitate in using them for his own benefit, that was why my father was happy that he got us away from him.
Finally nodding off, the nine hours of sleep flew by in no time, because I was soon woken up to the incessant ringing of the cell phone I had on the charger. Getting up and answering cautiously, I was glad I did, “hello”.
“Hello again little Merida, it’s Samuel. Are you ready to tell me where you are, so I can come and get you?”.
Sitting down on my bed, I look at the time and see it is ten minutes past ten in the morning and I had overslept. I quickly stand up again and go over to the map of Newcastle to see where I should say I will meet him and find the perfect place. Taping the map, I clear tell him where I will meet him, “okay, I’ll meet you but not where I am right now, this is my special place. I will be at the Jesmond neighbourhood centre in one hour, if you are not there by then, I’ll leave. Daddy always said you were a man of your word, and could be trusted with me, so will you be there?”.
Samuel chuckles with my small challenge, and says, “I’ll be there little one, do you know what I look like, so I won’t scare you?”.
Smirking at the phone, I thought I will try to be a little honest with him as he was coming to help me and all. So, I start ticking off my fingers, what I know about him, and smile saying it, “you are six foot four with dark brown hair, grey eyes and a solid build. You always wear a suit when your away from home and you travel with a constant companion, whether it be Thomas or David, it depends on your needs. That about cover it Samuel or would you like me to tell you about your financials too”.
He chuckles lightly, “Well it seems little one, that you know quite a bit about computers, if that is some of what you turned up on the internet. I will be at your preferred location in exactly one hour. So, to save confusion on my part, care to tell me what you look like, so I don’t approach a strange kid unintentionally?”.
Smiling at his simply request, I walk to the bathroom mirror and look at myself closely, so I could best describe my features. Humming softly, I say clearly, “I have long red wavy hair and green eye’s that daddy said always reminded him of the clearest emeralds he has ever seen. Um…I am about four foot eight I think and I have a few freckles running across my nose”. Stopping to think about what I was going to wear, I describe some of the clothes on the shelves, “I will be wearing a black baseball hat, blue jeans, green t-shirt and a dark brown leather jacket. Is that enough of a description for you to know what I look like or would you like me to send you a picture too”.
He doesn’t say anything for a few moments and as I listen harder on the phone, I hear in the back ground a car starting up. When his deep based voice pours into my ear, “that is enough for now. I will be meeting you soon honey and remember don’t talk to anyone you don’t know”.
Shrugging to myself, I say, “goes without saying. I may be young but ain’t stupid”. I quickly hang up on him, so I can race around my little haven and repack the back pack I brought in with me. I didn’t know how long I was going to be going away for, so I packed enough clothes and essentials just in case it was going to be for a long time. As I got dressed in the clothes I told him about, I looked at the necklace of my mother’s hanging around my neck.
Stopping for a minute, I touch it reverently and whisper, “I miss you daddy and momma. I will make them all pay, for everything they did to our family, just you wait”. I was out of the door, five minutes later, on the way to the centre and hopefully to a better future.