Life

Episode 3

its been years. So many years i chose to be a lousy father and husband due to my selfishness and bad drinking habit, and now, I feel like I’m losing all.’’ Joe paused to inhale, closing his eyes to prevent the tears from falling and trying not to make any eye contact with anybody present.
He was just here to get help and confess all he had done admitting her was sorry.
If only Mandy was here with Susan. In the past, she’d give her all to follow him and stand by him if he’d agreed to this but now that she was gone, he knew he had lost her for good
16years!!
For sixteen years, she’d endured everything, even on days when he would transfer or vent his anger on her if he got drunk or if things with his mistress didn’t go well that night. Years when he wouldn’t even touch her and years she’d always be awake just to make sure he returned home safely.

Any reasonable woman would have walked away many years ago, but yet Amanda stood like a rock and endured all. Even the nights when he would come home drunk and while their child was upstairs, he would rape her and leave her to lick her wounds alone. The next morning, she’d be there to act normal and look cheerful preparing Sue for school and trying to cover up everything so that Sue wouldn’t be affected.
She was a rare gem but he’d let her slip out of his fingers. If only he had made her understand that what she had seen was nothing but Beth’ s way of manipulating things. The woman had a strong hold on him and she wasn’t letting go easily. When he complained, she cried and wailed about him ruining her life. about him being the only love of her life. he’d promised her things out of foolishness but he could never have promised her his marriage.

He didn’t want a divorce, she had initially agreed to the whole arrangement and she would have to cope with it.
But now, all she talked about was the trouble she had sharing him with another woman.
He got scared when she threatened once to hurt his family if he didn’t give in and he’d called private security to watch over them unknown to his wife and daughter.
If things got complicated, he would tell the police to intervene.
Mandy knew he cheated and she hoped he would change and see the light. He knew she had this strong belief against divorce in Christendom and so he used it to her advantage.
But now, he was the loser.
He choked on his emotions as he continued. ‘’I don’t wanna lose my wife. I cant find anyone like her.’’ He knew other women would cheat on him. even Beth did and he knew it. if she could cheat with him, she could do it with anybody else.

‘’I know I’m going to get better, and I do wanna be a better person, which I’m already becoming. Alcohol wont destroy my life anymore. I’m taking that decision to be a better man and I’m glad to say for like a month now, I’ve stopped drinking.’’
Someone clapped, and then another, and then the whole group joined in the applaud of a broken man who was ready to change his ways after realizing all he had lost due to his attitude towards life and alcohol.
Many of them were encouraged.

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Joe threw on his jacket and was about heading to his car when a young woman walked towards him and smiled warmly. Beside her was a man looking quite younger than her although he suspected them to be a couple since he’d seen them in the group.
“hello.’’
“hi’’ he tried to be polite
“we noticed your regular visits to AA and we heard your story. Just wanted to give you this.’’ She passed him a pamphlet which he recognized to be a religious one. He saw the image of a bleeding man on the cross which he was quite familiar with and shook his head.
“thanks, but I’m doing fine.’’ He opened the door to his car and settled into the seat ignoring the couple who stood right in front of him.
It was when he settled on his seat he saw them moving away and at that moment, he felt something he had never felt before and the image he saw came right into his memory in a way he’d never experienced. There was just something about the bleeding man and his situation.

Mandy was a religious woman so she’d know much but he didn’t since he had never been interested in the first place.
But he had the urge to just look at the pamphlet again.
He suddenly stepped out of the car and hurried towards them.
“hey!!’’ he called out. ‘’helloooo..’’ he kept moving towards them till they turned.
“can I have that leaflet please.’’

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With arms akimbo, Josh looked at the beach and basked in the afternoon sun glad that summer was here and majority of his time would be spent surfing and swimming.
Alone.
He recognized the teens on the beach and tried to ignore the glistening bodies of the girls that were sunbathing and giggling, while some just strolled around in bikinis stopping to wink at him or throw a smile his way.
His mind flashed back to last summer when he’d been the one applying sunscreen lotion on Sheila’s back while she la!d down and they’d made out on the beach with intense passion but he’d slowed it down due to self-control on his own part and the full realization that they weren’t the only ones present.

Scarlett’s face suddenly came up and he felt guilty knowing fully well she had left because he didn’t play his part well. But what would he have done?, beat up the whole team, or try to protect her from girls like Sheila which was so impossible
Maybe they had tried too hard, or rather, maybe they were not meant to be. He suspected her parents would send her to a Christian College and she’d hook up with a Christian guy who shared her beliefs and who wouldn’t make her cry like he did.
She didn’t know the number of times he’d been to her house to see her just to end up being humiliated by her father or treated like a dog. He hadn’t done anything wrong yet the man deemed it fit to threaten him and tell him to buzz off. The likes of him didn’t deserve his daughter.

He hadn’t given up and came to her window at night throwing little pebbles to get her attention but it seemed she didn’t even sleep in that room since there was no response
The day she had come back to school was the day he was going to play. He couldn’t let anything distract him but he’d tried to see her but he couldn’t.
What else could a young guy like him do to show her he cared about her, die for her?
She was fragile, and insecure and people loved to take advantage of people in that category. This was high school, but he’d do anything to reverse back time and tell her He was sorry for everything
But it was too late.
He might never even see her again.
He remembered her shy look, her eyes and her lips. He remembered the beautiful blush that stained her cheeks whenever he complemented her or caught her looking at him or him looking at her, and he knew no one could replace Scarlett Ruby in his life.

He would move on, but he would never forget her.

He pulled off his shirt and strolled with his surfboard to the water hoping to drown out the memories of her.
Rea hurriedly ran downstairs knowing she was late already most especially when she’d seen Susan text her like more than five times tonight even though she was downstairs chatting with her parents. She wondered how good she was texting while managing to still make eye contact with the adults downstairs. She could hear her giggling and Mickey’s noisy voice could be heard loud and clear from her room.

The twins were not excluded and when they screamed, she knew the girl had bought them something.

Very typical of her.

The last thing she threw on was the locket her mother had given her few weeks ago when they’d been talking. It had her father’s old picture in it and she’d kept it for so long only to realize Rea was the one who needed it most and at that moment, Rea burst into tears.

The woman had been going through pain for years, she still remembered her father but tried so much to forget him and move on.
“He’ll forever be in my heart. Or hearts.’’ She had whispered and embraced her crying child.

Rea fell in love with her mother once again.

And not only her this time, everybody else, and she found it so easy to relate with Rick these days. If only she hadn’t wasted so much time.

He was warm, loving and caring and she could tell the man loved her mother to the core. He volunteered to take her on her driving lessons and she didn’t object and as far as she could infer presently, she was doing good.

Her hair in a ponytail, and a touch of lipgloss and mascara on her face, she smiled when she saw the life in the sitting room.

“why do you have ugly make-up on your face?’’ Mickey pouted and ran far away before she caught up with him.
“now go upstairs to your room.’’ Her mother cautioned. ‘’I’m coming to join you and your homework.’’
“mum!’’ he sulked
“’you heard me right young man’’
He marched upstairs angrily while Mrs Rivera turned to smile at her daughter. ‘’ready to zoom off?’’
“yeah.’’ She briefly replied, kissed her mum’s cheeks and Rick’s and stepped out with Susan.
“make sure you come back home in time for dinner!’’ her mum cried after her
‘’I’ll keep that in mind.’’ Rea replied knowing that was just a precautionary statement.
She most definitely wasn’t going to be home in time for dinner.
That was a fact, most especially with the rock concert that was going to last till midnight.

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“never knew you liked rock.’’ Rea began when Sue arrived at the venue and stepped out of the car smiling at the guy and some girls who came over to greet her.

“Ryan invited me. I just had to agree since home was kinda boring.’’
Rea’s heart skipped a beat. ‘’Ryan?’’
It was then she looked up and saw him coming out of the hall looking all dashingly young and handsome, like he didn’t even break a sweat.
“hi’’ he smiled at her
Rea managed. ‘’hi’’
“sorry about the other day.’’ He extended his hand. ‘’friends’’
She received it scared he might notice how awkward she had felt. He was the first guy she would ever fall for ever since she was in high school. Even in elementary school, she didn’t have any particular boy In mind. She’d always try to act tough and independent.
Right now, she wondered what was going on with her. when she lived like Sue, she felt she could do without him and didn’t mind him breaking up with her. infact she wanted the space.

But right here and right now, after knowing him so well and sharing lunch and conversations with him, she couldn’t say what exactly her feelings were
Why didn’t Sue tell her Ryan was the one who had gotten them the tickets. At that moment, she turned around and saw the girl had strolled off with her other friends and only Ryan stood with her.
She felt the heat up her bones. Susan Brews had done this on purpose.

“Sue told me you like rock and went on and on about you being this crazy chic who could do stunts with her skateboard. The other day was….’’
“the concert.’’ She cut in immediately. She had to run away from him now. How come he smelled so good. “’I bet there’s some good old rock song happening in there.’’
She was about strolling off when he caught her by the wrist and looked at her face. ‘’If you don’t want us to be friends, I can understand. Although I doubt if I ever did anything to hurt you.’’
“no, you didn’t.’’ she mumbled
“I have a feeling we’ve met before. Like I know you somewhere or someplace and somehow, you’re trying to prevent me from finding out the truth.’’
“I know you as part of the football team.’’ He released her, obviously disappointed. ‘’don’t mind me acting so weird, I lost a friend and I’m trying so hard not to get myself drunk. I’d be a total mess in the morning and you wouldn’t like that side of me.’’
‘’I’m sorry about your friend. Is it Scarlett, Josh’s girlfriend?’’
“yea, she moved out a couple of months ago and I feel its kinda my fault for not being there for her.’’ she looked up at him and saw the look on his face. ‘’I don’t need to bore you about all this kinda s–t that’s happening in my life right now. Maybe I should just go in and have fun. The good part will come up anytime soon.’’
“I doubt you’ll remain the same when you come out of there with the way you’re feeling. C’mon, I know a good place where we can get high.’’
Rea’s eyes widened. ‘’pot?’’
“hey’’ he laughed. ‘’better than pot.’’
“you better hope its better than pot’’ she followed him while he led the way.
“you smoked pot before?’’ he turned on his car
“haven’t gotten to that stage of my life yet.’’ She giggled. ‘’I still have years ahead of me and a college to attend in a few months time.’’ she jumped into the passenger’s seat and smiled at him.
He smiled back and drove off.

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Rea returned home laughing loudly. A way she had never laughed before in years and she had to keep using the back of her hand to wipe her eyes dry.
She’d never had a good laugh with a guy like Ryan and he just kept gesticulating a funny incident that happened at the cream and cakes shop they had spent the whole night. He told jokes he’d heard on TV and those his uncles shared when home since he had a large family. He described the incident that happened with his Italian great aunt who kept poking her grand son-in-law for sugar because he’d refused her some and her doctor had warned her about her sweet tooth. She had a long cane and used it to poke the poor man when her own grandchildren refused to give in to her blackmail of exposing the childish things they did when they were young.
He would be quiet and she would urge him on telling him there was nothing interesting about her own life.
And then they talked about school, what they were going to be doing for the rest of the summer and colleges they had applied to.

They talked about their likes and dislikes and everything else
When he finally parked a few blocks away from her house, he looked into her eyes then and used his fingers to wipe away the tears that still found way to her cheeks and then his eyes went to her lips.
Rea froze.
His gaze strolled down to her locket and he held it. ‘’I’ve seen this on you all night and I was waiting for the right time to pop the question.’’ He looked into her eyes again. ‘’a long distance relationship secret love?’’
She laughed. ‘’of course not.’’ She opened it and showed him the picture of her father. ‘’my Dad. He passed away some years ago. Talking about it brings memories and so I just like keeping it locked up in my chest like the locket.’’
“its beautiful.’’
“yeah, he bought it for my mum when they got married.’’
He still held unto it and stared for a moment before looking into her eyes again. ‘’are you okay?’’
“I’m fine.’’ She mumbled and before she knew what she was doing, she had leaned close and kissed him softly on the lips. It was a moment before she pulled away and looked at him.
There was a blank look on his face and she quickly apologized. How stupid was she? Her first casual date and she was ruining it by being so forward.
“I’m sorry I—‘’ but he stopped her short when he kissed her this time and she could do nothing but let go.

When Ryan broke free, he looked at her again. ‘’why do I feel like I’m cheating on Sue’’
And they both laughed awkwardly
“I guess she wants ‘us’ to happen’’ Rea was glad that they could talk about Sue at moments like this when they should feel weird. But it didn’t feel bad at all.
“do you really feel you’re cheating? Or we’re cheating?’’
“nah, I guess not. Just thought I’d chip that in.’’ he breathed against her lips and kissed her again. ‘’love the spark in your eyes when I bring up weird conversations out of nowhere.’’
Rea could only laugh and broke free finally. If she didn’t leave now, it might get intense and she wasn’t ready to go that far yet.
“it’s late. I have to get inside.’’ She blushed but recovered quickly.
‘’I’ll call you tomorrow.’’ He brushed her cheek slightly and raked his fingers through her hair. ‘’okay, now you have to go.’’ he inhaled deeply and she knew he was taking him all his strength not to pull her back and kiss her.
‘’g’night’’
‘’g’night’’
And she was gone.

Rea knew she didn’t walk to the door. She floated.