DEATH HILLS: San Deamonia

CHAPTER 2

Dave stood there at the very edge of his room positioning himself in a way that he could get the best view of one of his paintings laying on the wall. A painting of a picture of his father, mother and himself. He remembered vividly the day his mother asked him to make the portrait of the whole family. He had worn the longest face he could have thought of. His countenance kept even the house cat Puskas at an arms length of him. He was having one of his worse days at school today, one of the days he wish was a bring your child to work day for his father. He got bullied again even by his teammates on the basketball team. He had walked into the house with the aim of going straight to his room without giving away unnecessary attention. As he walked with unimaginable speed up the stairs, he was cut short by his mom's voice. Stopped in his tracks he retraced his steps to where his mother stood beside the pillar, avoiding eye contact with her because he knew her finding out unlike his cool father would spell trouble for his teammates that beat him up.

"Hey mom good day, I'm sorry I didn't notice you were there, and besides I was in a hurry to get to my room".He said with one hand still covering his face.

"Oh not to worry, I actually called you back because I wanted to talk to you about something". Luckily she hadn't noticed the hand on side of his face

"Ok I'm really tired mom so I'd be back down just after freshing up." He smiled at her, trying so hard to suppress the obviously rising irritation in his voice. He went back up the stairs to his bedroom where he poured out all his frustration into his pillows. He hated days like this and would give anything to not go to school the next day.

He came back down after changing into something cozy and a good to cover up the little bruise on his face.

"Oh.. there you are, yeah.. I ran through your website today and saw some of your new paintings, it reminded me of my youth. I know I still got it but my work is taking so much of my time".

Dave looked at her and smiled, he knew she was lying, she hardly ever left the house and if she did she was going to visit her friend Mrs Smith Jefferson. Although painting was one of the things he got from her apart from her eyes and hair color, he hardly ever saw her draw again, since she stopped drawing after giving birth to him.

"So... what about that" he said still smiling at her.

"I would love it if you made a portrait of all of us, I mean your dad, you and me". It came to him as less of a shock because his mom had always loved to see him draw.

"Ok mom I'm going to do that as soon as the day breaks tomorrow" He said and was just about leaving before he stopped himself.

"Oh yeah.. just before I forget I'd be at jackson's, I'd be back just before dinner" he said and stepped out.

★. ★. ★

A second knock on the door jolted him back to the present. He looked around and realized how much he had strayed from taken a peek at the portrait. He walked to the door and opened it. It was his father knocking.

"Hey Dave... How are doing today". His father said without letting him utter a single word he added.

"What is this I'm hearing of you wanting to step down from the post I gave you in the office. You think telling Ms. Gladys will save you. You are not getting away from this that easy". A little pause there gave Dave a little chance to talk and he took it.

"Dad I'm not quite leaving per say, I just wanted to get time to go to college and maybe get a higher degree, so I can do a better job at the office." He looked at his father hoping that he wouldn't come up with something that wouldn't counter him.

"You are not going to be a manager at my office silly, you will own it, it's an inheritance, college is a waste". He had succeeded, now it was his turn to counter. They had fond a habit of continuous dexterous counters even if it is sometimes mendacious

"Dad it is a wonderful experience and I don't want to miss that".

Lord Herbert was quiet for a little bit more than a split second then he said

"I'd let you go to college, you study whatever you feel is best for you, but you must come back".

A nod was just enough as Lord Herbert left the room. They hardly ever had anytime for each recently. The distance between them had accumulated over time since his mother died.

He sat back and pondered on everything that went down since his mother passed. He knew his father hadn't always been this cold to him. They were no different from each other, so much that both their friends were envious of the relationship between father and son. He had grown to love his father even more than his mother, their relationship was a bit more than a father and son, they had grown into very close friends. Lord Herbert would look for the littlest reason to bring his son to work, he established bring your child to work day half a dozen times in two months. Dave was an only child but to Lord Herbert he worth more than five children. Dave remembered vividly a bring your child to work day in his father's offices. He had gone with his father to work and as usual he got the prince like treatment. Just few minutes after the day's work commenced his father took him for a joy ride and after that they went to see a kid show together and on their way back to the office they stopped by an ice cream shop to get some ice cream before heading back to the office. Even Lady Herbert had envied them and has also feared that someday this extravagantly lavished love on him would affect him academically but Dave had shown that even though he was being lavished with love he still had his head grounded in his studies. The only colossal quagmire he faced in his school was the bullying he got from his mate. His father being so cool had given him a competent remedy to that certain quagmire. He helped him build strength and stamina which had given him the sexy masculine body he had grown to have.

He looked up at the wall clock and discovered that he had been thinking for about two hours. He got up and left for the gym, he needed to build a lot of strength for the choice of college he had in mind.