It was a bright summer's morning when the streets of Golden Lane were filled with different musical bands and environmental advocates carrying huge made-up plants that the paraders artistically designed and colored. Curious citizens gather to watch the grand parade, thus the street becomes crowded with people standing tight against each other. This makes the place very alive.
A young beautiful lady in a formal black dress named Samantha Gutierez parks her black Ferrari in a private parking spot in the establishment inside the noisy street of Golden Lane. The joyful cheers of the crowd and the loud merry music bang harshly in her now irritated ears. Instead of being happy about the wonderful event, she goes out of the car and closes its door with a loud slam. "How dare they celebrate if one of their leaders is dead!", she said referring to the abrupt death of the most prominent senator in the country, Senator Rusell, her brother.
Samantha leaves the car keys to her driver and reminds him to pick her up at exactly seven in the evening. She walks alone towards the establishment, and from the moment she enters, all eyes are turned on her.
"Who is she?", a lady in a black dress whispers
"I have no idea-perhaps she's one of the mistresses of Senator Rusell", the man beside her uttered.
Afterwards, loud murmurs from the other people in the room follow. Samantha acts as if she has never heard nor seen anything in the room, since she doesn't mind their speculations at all. All Samantha could think of at that moment was the long white casket lying in the middle at the front.
Everything in her surroundings seems to vanish and turns blurry when she lays her sight on her dead brother, as in this world, she and the casket only exist. A sense of deep pain stabs her already bleeding heart from her last night of unending cry.
Three days ago, Samantha received the message via a call. Her only sibling, Senator Rusell Gutierez, was dead after leaving a grand lavish party. The autopsy found that he had a heart attack. Samantha didn't buy the reason behind her brother's death, since she knew Rusell was a health-conscious person and he had no history of any diseases. He would do anything to keep his body fine and in good shape. To find out the truth, she rushed home from abroad to see her brother.
Samantha spent the past three days, on nothing but endless weeping, she can't control her heart to stop all the pain she senses since the idea of the only person who cherished and took care of her is gone, which leaves a missing hole in her as a person. Samantha lies on her bed all day long after she received the news because her body feels lifeless and empty. Her world becomes dark, but she still finds the motivation to stand up and fight to find what happened behind her brother's death. Although the pain swallowed her whole being, her mind ran in circles. Was her brother's death an accident? Or is it murder? If anyone did end or even touch her brother's life, she'd make the man behind it pay. Samantha swears to make sure the man will rot in jail for the rest of his life, but for now, she must find out the truth–perhaps–maybe it's just an accident, probably she was overthinking because of grief.
She steps closer and closer to the casket with tears flowing like a stream of a river. When Samantha reaches the corpse of Senator Rusell she weeps louder, "Brother—m–my brother!". Her legs begin to tremble, they become soft and fragile, the pain must have traveled all around her body, thus Samantha falls sitting on the ground, drowning herself with cries.
"Get up from there!", her father, Edie pulls Samantha's right arm up and drags her out of the room.
"What are you doing?", she shrugs her father's grip.
"Stop making a scene! You're just putting shame on yourself and our family", he said
"Shame?", she scoffs "Dad, do you have an idea how shattered my heart is? I am torn into pieces! But you prioritize your reputation above my feelings, above your son's death?", Samantha cried,
"Pain and feelings are temporary, but a reputation lasts even after death, so if you don't want to be dragged out of this place, maintain your dignity!", Edie said, "Let's go back now, there are guests who want to meet you". Her father then goes back inside.
Although Samantha still has words to throw at her father's face to make him realize the mistakes of his perception, she no longer fights back because she must meet all the people who knew her brother, no matter what relationship they have towards him, anyone among them might be the culprit.
When Samantha left the country seven years ago, she lost track of Rusell's friends and his inner circle. The former Senator barely gives her updates about politics other than his victories and political campaigns. Samantha needs to gather as more information as possible about her brother's affairs, and this event is a great place to start, for there are many prominent personalities, and people who hold certain positions in power who decide to visit Rusell's dead body.
She follows her father inside, and Samantha sits between him and her mother, who didn't take much notice of her daughter but only wrapped her arms around Samantha, kissed her on the cheek, and whispers "It's good that you're here", then she moves to talk on the next guest sitting at other her side. Even after all the years, they didn't see each other personally, Samantha's mother brushes her off for an old tall man in an expensive black suit. This intrigues Samantha because her mother Lydia barely makes an effort to talk to a guest most of the time she lets her husband do all the socializing while she thinks of ways to grab the people's hearts."Dad, who is he? I think I have never met him before, but why he's so familiar to me"
"That's Senate leader Gibson, You must have seen him in news or in your brother's social media", Edie said
"Can you introduce me to him?", she asked and all of a sudden Edie looks at her in a wide stare, "Why?----Don't tell me your up to something else", he said but Samantha made no answer, "Stop whatever it is you are planning, especially if you will only implicate us",
"Remember, Dad, I'm a CEO and founder of multiple companies, so I know what I'm doing," she said.
"Then answer me. Why do you want to talk with him?"
"I want to build connections for my business—--you see—---never mind, I'm going to do it," Samantha stands up. Her father tries to call her subtly to stop her, but she turns deaf to him and
proceeds to approach the Senate leader.
The Senate leader stands at the back of the room, a few feet away from the door, alone and seems to be waiting for someone. Samantha takes this opportunity to get to know the man. Maybe he knows something about her brother or his death. She picked up a glass of water along her way and stopped next to Senator Gibson.
"Isn't this a tragic day for the country?"
"Yes, it is indeed, especially when the election is a few months away," he sighs. "A lot of people expect Senator Gutierez to run for the presidency in this election. He is the citizens' hope for this nation," Gibson told her,
His words touched Samantha's heart and made it leap a bit. Gibson's statement confirmed the news she heard from abroad about how great, influential, and powerful her brother is. She feels proud to have a brother like him, but as people are disappointed with the sudden loss of their hope, Samantha too finds it unbearable to find hope in her own life when the most precious person in her life is now gone.
"Don't worry, sir, there must be other politicians who share their leadership views with my brother," she said.
"What views?" sneers Gibson. "What they all know is greed—greed for control over the people beneath them, and a hunger for more power. Look at Vice President Owen right there laughing as if this is a party," the Senate leader utters in disgust, but then turns his gaze to Samantha as he recalls something Samantha said previously. "What do you mean, brother?" "Are you Samantha? His sister? "he asked.
"Your right, sir," Samantha offers her hand. "It's nice to meet you, Senator Gibson," she said.
"So you know me? It's nice to meet you too," the two shook hands.
"Of course, how couldn't I? My brother mentioned you to me before".
"Mentioned? For example?"
"At the party!", she said, trying to catch the man if he too was at the prestigious event where her brother died. "He said, he wants to talk to you if you will attend."
"Talk?" For a moment, Gibson was perplexed, "Ah! Perhaps it's about us forming a political party. Anyway, it's useless now since nobody anticipated that his life would end all of a sudden."
"I didn't even see it coming. It hurts that I have no idea what happened to him and how did he die", she said, wanting to know indirectly if the Senate leader knows any valuable information.
"Well, I don't have a lot of idea how it happened since I wasn't able to attend but, from what I heard, Senator Rusell along with other two businessmen and three politicians are with him in a private room inside Owen's mansion. They had a couple hours of conversation until he passed out, then after that he was dead", the Senate leader said,
"Can I ask sir, who is the person who told you that or who are those people with him?",
Before Senate leader Gibson could even say a word, a man with a deep, husky voice answered her question. "It's me," said a tall, broad-shouldered, handsome man who appeared a few steps behind her.
"Mayor Harold! I was about to talk to you! " Gibson greeted him with a smile.
"Sir, I saw you looking at my father, Vice President Owen, earlier, so I thought you might want to say something to him—" Harold walks closer to Gibson. He taps the Senate leader's shoulder and looks into his eyes. "But my father is currently busy with some of the ambassadors, yet I now see why you are looking at us." He then turns his eyes to Samantha. "Who is this young lady here?"
"I'm Samantha Russell's sister. I spent my years busying myself abroad managing several agencies and businesses, to the point that I neglected my brother—-it's devastating news for me that he died all of a sudden. " Samantha picks up a handkerchief in her pocket and pretends to have a drop of tears in her eyes. "He is perfectly fine and healthy—-it's a joke how he died. Sometimes I don't even believe he died of a heart attack, "she sneers.
"What do you mean by that?", he asks.
"Nothing, all I can say is there are many possibilities and uncertainties out there."
"Possibilities and uncertainties, huh?", he scoffs. "Are you implying that your brother was murdered?",
"No, sir," she laughs. "You read me wrong," Samantha sighs. "How can my brother be murdered if he is such a kind leader?" she asks.
When tensions rise, Gibson cuts their conversation to an abrupt end. He thinks Samantha is being foolish to subtly blame Harold for Rusell's death. He couldn't even dare say any negative comments against Harold or his family in front of them. He fears that if the family finds out he's stabbing them in the back, Harold's father, Vice President Ralph Owen, would make him face terrible consequences.
"I think Ms. Gutierez here is saying that her brother might have had a heart attack out of strong emotions. Do you know any words or news delivered to him that might have caused him to suffer such a terrible fate?" he asks.
"No, none," Harold said, shaking his head.
"Speaking of news," Gibson clears his throat. He then pulls an envelope from his black coat and shows it to Harold. "We need to discuss this, sir."
"I see, come follow me." Harold then glanced at Samantha for a brief moment before walking away, but Gibson hadn't followed him yet. He first stands beside Samantha and whispers, "Don't ever do that again, if you don't want to be in trouble."
Samantha looks at him, and utters no words, so he replies, "Thank me later," and afterwards he goes to follow Harold.