Clarissa Bradford - Foster Aunt

- to be added later -

Cornelia Bradford - Foster Mum

To be added later - -

And which proved to be the greatest mistake of her life. Few weeks after that night, the brunette found herself hurling her guts into the toilet, something that had become a part of her morning routine in the past few days. And as she experienced the infamous morning sickness, she knew she had screwed up pretty bad. With the news of her pregnancy a secret, Alyssia moved back to her hometown, almost immediately rejected by her parents. She took up residence in a small flat, deciding that even though she had made a mess of her life, she was not going to let her mistakes affect the baby that grew in her. She would give the child everything she had, the best future she could imagine for it.

During her pregnancy, Alyssia worked tireless, shops, cafes, anywhere she could find a vacancy, to save money for the child, not knowing that the strain of working multiple jobs would eventually cause her demise. It was exactly 35 weeks, the baby due in almost a month when severe pain caused her colleagues to rush Alyssia into the town hospital. The doctors at first warned the female about the complications of the child-birth, informing her that only one of the two lives could be saved. She, of course, chose the life of her son and on 7th of April, Alyssia gave birth to James Smith at 11:48 pm. At 1 am, barely after the new mother had held her child, she slowly passed away, marking the boy as an orphan.

However, before dying, Alyssia had made sure her sister, Brooke would take care of her child. She trusted that whatever savings she had, along with her trust fund, would be enough for her sister and her husband to bring up her son in the best way possible. The illegitimate orphan was hence taken in custody of Brooke and Chase Canning, who instead of having their own financial problems, were ready to honour late Alyssia’s wishes as long as they could keep the money flowing.

By the time James was ten, Brooke and Chase had milked out all the money Alyssia had left in his name and their attitude towards the growing boy completely changed. James was aware of his situation: he was an illegitimate child, an orphan and for years he was forced to feel indebted towards his uncle and aunt for taking care of him. He was definitely not given the best childhood while growing up. The Cannings made sure he got all the essentials, forcing him to live as austerely as possible, wasting away the rest of the money in gambling and drug abuse. Young James was treated as a source of income for the Cannings and by the time he found out what was actually happening and why his foster parents’ attitude had changed towards him, it was already too late. Abuses in the form of verbal grunts and throwing things had become common for the tween. He was forced to do all the housework while Chase spent his days sleeping on the couch and Brooke went out in search of work. They soon began to despise young James, reducing him to a servant at the tender age of twelve.

James, however, was not one to open up to anyone about his problems. In the years growing up with the least amount of luxury, he was taught to forever be grateful to whatever the Cannings did for him. He swallowed back every amount of bitterness he felt as they hurled abuses at him, and bit back every urge to punch Chase as he hit the young boy and even occasionally his aunt. He had no friends, everyone in town knowing of his illegitimacy and often teasing him about it. The young boys at school would have bullied him if he didn’t have an unparalleled love for fights already. Young James was used to all the beatings from his uncle and all the suppressed anger he would let out on the large punching bag at the town gym. The boys knew better not to bully him. Some even feared going near him.

James had barely turned 14 when his life turned upside down once again. On a cold winter night, Chase had come home drunk. James snuck out of his room, peeking into the hallway to hear shouts and screams coming from the living room. He could hear glasses smashing, a male roaring, a woman spitting abuses and a loud angry howl that pierced his ears before everything went silent. James ran upstairs, breathless, jumping into his bed and shutting his eyes close out of fear. His aunt’s scream still rang in his ears, lulling him into a dreamless slumber. He was woken up the next day by police sirens and although he wished everything he had seen and heard were just a dream, the young teenager was forced to face the harsh reality: his aunt was dead, his uncle was caught a couple hours back and arrested and now he was to be put into the foster system; he had no one to provide him shelter anymore, not even his mother’s fund.

James refused to be put in the system with the rest of the orphaned and abandoned children. He couldn’t believe there was no one out there to help him. Life was too cruel for the young boy and his one glimmering hope was his father. Not long after he was made to stay in an orphanage, James ran away one night, away from everything, determined to find his father. He believed this wasn’t the life his mother would have wanted to live. He knew she’d want him to look for his father and so, he did. He went back to his town, going from one doorstep to another, asking for any information anyone could find on his father. It seemed like a waste of time when months later James had no results but finally, when he knocked on the door of one of the nurses that had helped in delivering him, fate seemed to finally be kind to the young boy.

Sofia Crane, a fifty year old who had bonded with Alyssia during her pregnancy, seemed to be the only one Alyssia had revealed to the name of the male whose child she bore. It wasn’t like a secret she had trusted Sofia with. It was during a mental breakdown during the early months of her pregnancy when Sofia found the young mother-to-be crying in an empty corridor and she had blurted out the name of the detective who was the reason behind the mess that was her life. Alyssia never mentioned the mysterious male again and Sofia knew better not to intrude on her privacy.

Finally James felt like he had hope again. He now had not only a place, but also a name - Harrison Chadwick. Sure, Evermore was a big city but the lonely teenager was determined to find his father, to finally have the family his mother would have wanted him to have. So, with only a few crumpled notes in his pocket and no food in his stomach, James hopped onto the back of a truck heading for Evermore. Even though hunger pangs kept him awake during the whole journey, he was excited to meet his father, to finally belong somewhere; be home.

As the truck approached the welcome sign, James found nervousness slowly overshadowing his excitement. He feared that his father would not recognise him, let alone accept the young lad, but James was determined. He firmly believed that his father would be a great man who would instantly welcome him with open arms. Optimism; the only thing he had gotten from his mother for he was told he looked nothing like her, and he was going to make sure he held on to that hope, unaware of the painful fate that lay ahead.

(Code Credit to Sariah )