1 What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

In the University of Ghana campus.....

"Hi girls," Meredith says hello to her friends as she enters the room. Her eyes sparkle ever so narrowly despite the dull energy coming from her friends.

"Hi, Meredith," Maria and Pamela responded with a face as long as a fiddle.

"What is wrong girls? Why the long faces...?" Maria reluctantly handed over the magazine to Meredith showing her a page, it was a publication about her father. Meredith's face suddenly changed, she had no smile on her face as her eyebrows lowered and pulled together, After taking a deep breath she broke the silence.

"This is just to slander my father. My father's companies are doing well, there is no way he will owe the bank even if he does it's not a big deal, he will clear it once his deal pushes through." Meredith chuckles making her friends feel relief, but deep down she had her doubt, even when she had no reason to smile she forced one on her face.

"Have you heard about the pool party for all graduates?" Meredith grins taking a seat next to Maria.

"Yes, It is going to be fun," Maria said adjusting herself on the bed.

"We are all going right?" Meredith whispers crossing her legs.

"Look girls, you guys go have fun because I'm not going. First thing tomorrow I have to go look for a job." Pamela announced.

"Really who is going to employ someone who hasn't served the country yet?" Maria asked looking at Meredith with her eyebrows squinted.

"I can only try my luck girls, I don't come from a rich family like you two," Pamela whispers with a soft smile, She wasn't jealous of her two friends but was trying to make her point clear enough.

"Come on, it is just a day party to have fun," Meredith said trying to convince her. Just then she gets a call from the hospital her mother was involved in an accident.

"Am I speaking to Miss Meredith Copeland?" a voice at the other end of the call murmurs. "Yes, this is Meredith Copeland, how may I help you?" Meredith mumbles.

"I'm sorry miss, we can't get hold of your father at the moment, your mother was involved in a fatal accident, you need to come to the St. Francis hospital right away." the lady at the other end of the call whispers as the phone went dead.

Meredith drops the phone in shock. She was completely in a daze, her lips drawn in tightly as tears pooled in her eyes. "What happened, Meredith why are you like this?" Maria asked.

"Who called Meredith?"

"My mother, I mean the hospital...my mother was involved in an accident. I need to go now," she murmurs pulling herself together and grabbing her bag.

"Sure we are coming with you." Pamela and Maria offered as they left for the car. On her way, Meredith tried to call her father but his phone wasn't going through. She called his office but he was not there and no one could tell where he was.

"Damn you, Dad, you are always not around when we need you." Meredith cursed.

"You need to calm down Meredith, he must be in a meeting or something," Maria whispers trying to calm nervous Meredith down.

Her father Mr. Ace  Copeland was always busy and always scolded her, all she had was her mother, she devoted her entire life to making her happy and protecting her from her father's abuse.

The thought of losing her is making her go crazy. Meredith and her friends arrive at the hospital, and when she enquires about her mother at the front desk, she is sent to a room on the fifth floor.

She was panicking, her two friends held her as they entered the elevator. A body lying on a bed was about to be taken to the morgue.

"Doctor I'm Meredith Copeland, I'm here to see my mother, Mrs. Edith Copeland," Meredith nervously asked the doctor.

"I'm sorry Miss but we tried our best to save her but her head injury was severe." the doctor said with a sad face.

"What do you mean you tried your best? Where is my mother?" Meredith pouts as she fixes her angry gaze on the doctor.

"I'm sorry we lost her." the doctor murmur with concern.

Meredith stares at him as if he was speaking a foreign language. Pamela and Maria hold her so she doesn't fall.

"You can say goodbye to her before she is been taken away. Once again I'm very sorry for your loss." the doctor said tapping her shoulders before walking away.

Meredith's mouth hung open loosely as her eyes widened and her jaw slacked. She trekked to the corpse and uncovered it. Seeing her mother lay on the bed covered in blood and lifeless, was more than she could take. Pearl of tears start to drop from her eyes.

"Mother, please no... no..." she cries hugging her.

"Pull yourself together Meredith." Pamela consoles having her hand on her shoulders.

Meredith Copeland is a fanatical person, she had her mother to rely on, all her life, and if she was to choose she would prefer his father be the one lying on the bed and not her mother, then she wouldn't have to share a single drop of tears. She refuses to leave her mother alone.

"Meredith, they have to take her away now," Maria whispers trying to hold her friend back for the nurses to take the body away.

"No, no one is touching my mother. I will not let you take her to that cold place, my mother hates the cold," she cries hugging her mother tightly. She suddenly felt dizzy and slowly collapsed on the floor, she was then quickly rushed to one of the rooms to be attended to.

Her mother's friend Mrs. Sandy, a famous model came to the hospital to take care of all the paperwork since her father Mr. Copeland was nowhere to be found.

A few days later...

Meredith returns from her mother's burial, Her vision is blurry and her face is red due to extreme crying. She thought her whole world had been buried alongside her mother, her mouth dropped when she saw strange men in the house together with the police.

"What are you people doing here? Don't touch that it belongs to my mother." Meredith scoffs as she struggles with the policemen over her mother's laptop.

"I'm sorry Miss, we have to take everything out of here. Your father is still missing and the bank loan needs to be paid." the man in charge informed.

"This can't be happening, I said don't touch that!" she yells as the people continue to move things out of the house including their personal belongings.

"Miss please calm down." the maid consoles. Meredith broke down in tears. It was  too much for her to take.

Everything came crumbling at her all at once, just a few days ago, she was the daughter of one of the famous gold jewellers in the capital.

She was named one of the youngest billionaires worth 15 billion dollars once she inherited her parent's properties. Now she is tagged as an orphan whose dad abandoned swimming in debt. The police had taken everything valuable, practically emptying the house and left.

"You need to leave Rhoda, tell the other maids to pack and leave as well, take any of this as your pay," Meredith said as she opened her safe and brought out all her expensive pieces of jewellery, she always felt the need to lock her jewellery in a hidden safe away from her father, she never thought that will be what will save her, the police would have taken them too.

"No miss, I'm not leaving you alone." Rhoda cried. The other maids and guards have taken the jewellery worth millions and left.

"I don't even have a place to stay Rhoda, I need to sell this house and almost everything we own to pay the bank debt so please take this and find yourself another job," Meredith said as she held back her tears.

Rhoda finally takes the jewellery and leaves. Meredith sat on the staircase as her eyes travelled around the empty house, all the expensive paintings and vases that used to light out the place were all gone.

She cried her heart out. "I'm not surprised dad disappeared the way he did, but not even showing up at mum's burial makes me wonder if I was his daughter," Meredith recoiled in disgust running her hand through her long brown curly hair.

She had cried her eyes out, making her hazel eyes swollen up, she stood in the middle of the huge living room and wondered what to do next.

The next day she had a visit from her friends Pamela and Maria. "Meredith, I admire you a lot, I don't know what I would have done if I were in your shoes right now," Pamela whispered.

"What are you going to do now? I can talk to my grandpa you know." Maria mumbles holding Meredith's hand.

"Um... after emptying the house and freezing all our accounts, they took possession of all other properties we have, and yet still it didn't cover up the debt. So I have to sell this house too." Meredith let out a sigh.

"Oh Meredith," Maria sobs as she hugs her. Meredith tried to be strong and not look pitiful in front of her friends.

"Don't worry about me, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," she whimpers faking a gentle smile as she brushes her hair backwards.

"You girls are going to the pool party and you are going to have fun and yes without me, I'm not taking a no for an answer Pamela, you can use my golden ticket," Meredith whispers as she squints her eyes and a stoic expression.

"I wish I was strong like you girl," Maria said hugging her. Meredith sniffs as Pamela joins the group hug.

"Lassies, on a more serious note Matthew invited me out and I want to look my best so help me out here please," Maria said as she pulled out her tablet and went online to pick out a dress for her night out.

Pamela and Meredith draw their lips in tightly and then smile, Matthew is new on campus, he's not a student, he only came to visit a friend and no one knows anything about him.

Where he is from? what does he do? Nothing but of course, Maria cares about none of that. She agrees to be his girlfriend right away.

They tried to warn her but she won't listen. They have been friends since junior high school. Maria Garcia is an orphan from Italy both her parents die trying to save her. She was 8 years old when she started her dad's car without knowing. Her mum and dad ran after the car to stop it from crashing. They managed to get her out but they were both run over by a big trunk when the car stopped at a junction and they both lost their lives.

Mrs. Victoria, Maria's grandmother never forgave her, she always blamed her for the accident. She sent her to a boarding school far away. She's the heir to a very great empire, and her grandfather Mr. Martin visited her every year.

On the other hand, Pamela also lost her parents when she was very young and was sent to the same boarding school by her grandmother who later died. Now she has no one but her friends.

Pamela and Maria left after a while. Meredith calls the lawyers and arranges a meeting with them. The house was finally sold. She settled the rest of the bank loans, what was left of the rest of the money was something small.

She even sold her new car and decided to start a new life in another place. "I decided to move to Paris, girls," Meredith informed her friends.

"What! But why?"