Owed
"Before the owner of this shophouse passed on, he left this to us. He said it was very important," Neil explained as best he could, "He said with it, we would be able to call this place our home."
Laina received the paper from Neil. She unfolded it carefully and read its contents.
Neil continued to recount his tale. When people came to chase them out, Neil showed it to the authorities. But no one believed them. They claimed the piece of paper meant nothing. Neil and the other children could not read very well. They did not know what were the words on the piece of paper.
"I just know it's very important, but I don't know what it's for," Neil explained through gritted teeth.
He felt so useless. So helpless. He was the big brother that the other children looked up to. He felt like he let them down.
"This..." Laina read the paper twice before she explained, "This is a title deed."
"A title deed?" Neil did not know what it was.