It's not just on paper

In the confines of the ICU, my ailing father laid on his deathbed. He clenched my wrist as tight as he could and whispered to me something that I was unaware of since seven years of my life. He said, “Son, before I go, I want you to know you’re adopted.” And then… Silence! I sit in my seat besides the stretcher, still and stunned. My eyes shoot up instantaneously to look at the woman whom I’d called mother all my life. My glance pierces into her eyes. She turns around and weeps alone, without a shoulder to cry on… without 'my' shoulder to cry on! That night was dark and lonely. I walked to my mother’s room and asked, “Where are my parents? Who are they?” She looked straight at me and without blinking her eyes she said, “Your parents are dead and so is my husband! It’s just the two of us left to live.” I walked back to my room expressionless, just like a zombie! In my bed, I ran over everything over and over again. I lamented, “I’m an orphan. As an orphan, how would my life be?...