C10 The Pain Never Really Left

I kept pushing forward because I still had one goal left, improving my family’s life.

Most nights, I thought about her. About the time we shared. About the way things used to be.

Even though I had given her simple gifts, I still hoped she remembered them. I wanted to believe that somewhere in her heart, those memories still meant something.

I buried myself in work. I locked myself in my room for weeks, learning everything I could about computers. I started with simple systems, then moved on to understanding how networks worked, and how security systems could be broken and protected.

At first, it was just curiosity. Then it became obsession.

Six months passed without me seeing Samantha. I had accepted, at least on the surface, that she was gone from my life. But deep down, the pain never really left.

The questions were still there, unanswered.

During that time, my skills improved faster than I ever imagined.

Then came an opportunity I never expected, an internship at Wood’s IT Company, a firm known for providing cybersecurity services across the country.

But the name on the company logo hit me immediately. Wood. As in Ben Wood’s father, Kelvin Wood.