1 CHAPTER 1 - The Boy and The Missing

Luck plays a role in everything the day you are born. You can be born attractive or become the ugliest of monkeys. You can be born from a rich family that does not have a problem buying anything you want or you can be born poor that cannot afford anything.

You can become someone popular with your natural talents or a nobody that no one even knows, like a ghost that does not exist. Every event that happens in your entire lifetime is caused by a series of good luck or misfortunes.

But who writes your fate and decides your luck? Someone like an author? Maybe.

5 PM, It's getting dark. Vehicles are moving all over the quiet town. A nine-year-old girl was walking on the roadside. She walked past several houses. She is lost in her thoughts, thinking of something.

I can't wait to see Tristan. The other girls always tease him that he is ugly. He is not! He is nice and cute. The girl blushed while imagining a boy with curly hair and a soft face.

Can't wait for him to taste this strawberry cupcake I made for him. Hehe. The girl is excited. She's holding a food container with cupcakes inside.

Suddenly someone grabbed and covered her mouth. She giggled and thought that it was Tristan trying to make a prank again.

However, It is a huge man in a black t-shirt wearing a black face mask. He dragged her into a white van that was parked nearby. The girl dropped her food container with cupcakes.

She tried to resist but the man was too strong for the young girl to loosen up on his grip. She tried to scream even with her face covered with a handkerchief but there was no passerby around. The kidnappers waited for the perfect timing.

The man carried her inside the van. Another man inside closed the door. There are a total of four men inside. One of the men incapacitated the girl with an electric taser. The girl cried and thought of Tristan before she lost her consciousness. The white van started moving.

On the road, the van driver saw a young boy ahead of them running in the opposite direction. The other man on the front seat of the van smirked while looking at the young boy through the van's window.

The van passed by the boy. The boy was running towards their house which is two houses away. Upon reaching the front of their house, he quickly opened their gate. The boy went home safe.

He entered their house and saw his mother in their living room. "Ma! I was the MVP of our basketball game this afternoon," the boy said to his mother.

Her mother is using her laptop for typing documents, his mother is an accountant that is working at home. Her mother glared at him. She is irritated by being disturbed.

"Okay. And then what!?" She paused for a few seconds then added, "You are still bad at academics. Your grades in Science, Math, and Literature are average! Look at your younger brother. He got the highest score in all of his exams. He has a bright future ahead of him. And you? You can't even do your chores properly." Her mother said loudly.

"Trisha, that's enough!" An older woman shouted at her mother. The kid's grandmother.

Trisha held her temper and said, "Just go to your room and study." Trisha calmly said.

Tristan stood there then slowly walked away like the scolding was nothing. He entered his room.

He closed the door and started shedding tears. He held his tears earlier to look strong. He did some inhale and exhale then goes to his desk and started reading books.

*****

After some time, her grandmother knocked on the door. "Tristan, Your friend is here." Her grandmother said. A cute nine-year-old girl entered his room.

"Hello, Tristan. Are you done studying?" the girl said.

"Yep. You're right on time." Tristan closed his books and reached for the box of toys under his study desk. "Let's play with my toys."

The girl moved closer to his desk and saw Tristan's drawing of her in one of his notebooks. "Hey, is that me?" The girl asked.

Tristan looked at his desk and saw that his notebook was open. He immediately closed it and blushed. "Ahaha." He's nervous because his heart is racing.

"Tristan. Ummmm, I have been meaning to say this to you..." the girl said while blushing.

"What is it?" Tristan asked while blushing.

"Tristan-"

Before the girl can finish what she is saying. A voice is echoing inside Tristan's head. "Tristan, Tristan, Tristan." Tristan can't hear what Anna is saying because of the voice.

The voice was from his grandmother who is shaking him while he is sleeping on his desk. "Tristan. Tristan. Wake up, You have fallen asleep on your desk." Her grandmother said.

"Huh? Uhh... Where's Anna?" Tristan said with a sleepy voice.

"What are you talking about? Anna did not come here today." Her grandmother is confused.

"What? But she entered my room?" Tristan thought his grandmother was joking.

"You must be dreaming. You like him?" His grandma said. She realized that Tristan was dreaming. "Even while you're sleeping, your dream is her. Hehehehe."

Tristan blushed, "What? No!"

"Hmm. My boy has grown up." Her grandmother smiled at him. "Dinner is ready. Your mom and brother are waiting." Her grandmother left the room.

Tristan looked at his drawing of Anna in one of his notebooks and blushed. He tilted his head and then rushed outside his room.

The drawing sketch is detailed and realistic. Tristan is already a pro at drawing at the age of ten.

This girl, Anna, drawn in the notebook has a resemblance to the girl that was taken by the men in the white van earlier.

On the roadside. The container with cupcakes was picked up by an old man. He recognized the container.

*****

7 Years Later

It is 2 AM past midnight. The white walls of Cruz Mansion are still bright because of the light poles surrounding the area.

Two middle-aged guards wearing white t-shirts are patrolling the Cruz Mansion's backyard. One guard was looking at his phone when a fast-moving object headed in his direction. He was hit in the head and he fell. He was tranquilized by an electric arrow.

The other guard did not notice the other one as he was looking in the opposite direction. Another arrow hit him in his left shoulder and he fell.

In the distance, a guy with a black jacket and a robber bonnet mask is climbing through the 10 feet stone walls using a stick-like object, a baton with special features.

Upon reaching the top, he jumped down and now had successfully entered the 500-square meter mansion without the CCTV cameras seeing him. It was because the camera was hacked sixteen minutes ago by his lookout, the self-proclaimed hacker wearing a hoodie and inside a black van.

The masked guy is running at the speed of a horse. He went past the two knocked-out guards. He pointed the baton he was holding to the doorknob and it instantly opened the backyard door. These batons are multi-purpose. He had now successfully entered the mansion.

One guard is inside, sleeping on a chair with his head covered with a cap. The masked guy smashed the guard's head with the baton he was holding to make sure that the guard do not wake up. The guard was double knocked out.

The masked guy rushed to the stairs of the second floor. There are no guards there. He quietly opened the bedroom door of the mansion owner, John Cruz. The door opened without the use of the baton because John did not bother locking it.

John Cruz, is a guy in his thirties with a skinny body and a pale, rotting appearance that may be caused by smoking or drugs. His eyes are already reddish while staring at his super expensive phone and laying on his king-size bed.

John and the masked guy had eye contact. John trembled, panicked, and then reacted by jumping out of his bed and tried to grab the handgun on the table beside his bed.