Alpha Jace’s Salvation

Weakling Wussy

ARIANA VAUGHN

He was back but not at Miss Brown cafe. He was back and standing right before me with the same expressionless face. It was the weird stranger I met earlier today. I was trembling in his presence already because seeing him in the shadow of the night reminded me of what I had faced when I returned home after our earlier encounter.

I had met Brady and his men trashing our house, demanding to see me. I had to show myself despite knowing what they would do to me, but I had no choice when they broke one of the windows. I tried to ask for more time, but none of them listened to me. My dad was beaten into a pulp while I was made to watch the scene.

My dad blamed me for making an impossible bargain with Brady, and he said he would sell me or my sister to clear the debts. Kara arrived just in time to hear our dad's statement, and she had been throwing tantrums since then, making me feel like I wasn't doing enough.

No matter how much I wanted to collapse and weep for my mom to return, I couldn't let the stranger staring at me see me at my lowest again. I didn't know him, and he wasn't introducing himself like how an average person would do. He was hiding something, I’m sure! This made me weary of him.

He said he came to rescue me, but what he didn't know was that I was running from people that were exactly like him, and I didn't want anyone else at that moment. All I wanted was my mom.

“I don't appreciate you stalking me, and whoever you are, please leave me alone. As you can see, I have more than I can chew on my plate right now,” I stated, referring to my tattered house, my shameless dad, and my teenage younger sister that thinks she is the only one that matters while I didn't.

“I don't like this too, but I'm here to offer my help again. Let me help you.”

He said it like it was some charity case, and he wasn't demanding a huge price in return for helping me. I had thought he was just some strange delusional man that usually goes around town to play mind games with ladies in pain because how else would you explain this? A grown man asks a minor he just met to have his child.

“Help me? At a huge price that will end my life the same way my current situation is about to? Please stop trying to exploit my situation and leave me alone.”

I whispered under my breath and left him standing on my front porch as I went after Kara. It was too late and dangerous for her to be roaming about. I thought I had gotten rid of the stranger who refused to tell me his name, but unexpectedly, he grabbed my arm and pulled me back. I winced and tried to free my aching hand from his hold, but he had it, and I saw pure anger in his brown orbs. How he reached me so fast was shocking, though, and if he thought he had the right to be angry, then I supposed I was allowed to be more than angry.

“You will show me respect! And remember, don't ever turn your back on me when I'm addressing you! Do you think I don't have better things to do than following you around and trying to persuade you?”

He shouted at me, and I let it all go as I allowed the tears I held to flow freely out of my eye sockets. I cried, not because I was scared of how he spoke to me but because that was just the right amount of push I needed to break down.

I cried for my missing mom, and I released all my pent-up emotions, submitting to his tight hold.

The brown-eyed stranger snorted, and he said, “I was mistaken. I thought you had it in you, but you are such a weakling wussy!”

I agreed with him because I knew I didn't appear strong to most people, but what I didn't agree with was his calling me a weakling because I was crying. Strong people don't cry? Or why can't everyone leave me to cry out my sorrows after what I endured in the past few days? To make matters worse, I now had a stranger who knew every detail about me and was stalking me.

“Please Leave!” I uttered silently.

“That is only possible if you agree to come with me and have my child.”

“I'm a child, and I'm not ready to be anyone's mother. Can't you see the mess I'm in?”

I stopped him mid-sentence. I still couldn't believe the audacity he had. He was alluring but weirdly alluring. The kind of charms that set up the warning bells in one's head, screaming, “Run away from him!”.

“You don't have to be there to care for him after birth. All I'm asking is for you to be the vessel that will carry my son and deliver him to the world safely. I don't need you to...”

“Get away from me! If you need a child so much, why can't you adopt one? And why me? Why do you keep bugging me? I'm the perfect weakling with no parental support who can be easily swayed by money, right?”

Why was life this unfair? He suggested that I abandon the son I was supposed to give birth to. How could he say that to me?

“Stop cutting me off, young lady! And I have all the right to bug you and make you do my bidding. Listen to me, and you won't have any other problems.”

He gritted ferociously, and I whimpered at his rage, but I stood my ground.

“No! I'm not giving up my life for my selfish father and sister, and if I'm to give birth to a child, they deserve to have their mom in every step of life. I know what it's like to live without one's mother.”

“I will find your mom, clear your father's debts, sponsor your education, and take care of your sister, and whatever you need or wish to have will be given to you if you accept my proposal. I want just one thing, and in exchange, I will do a lot more for you.”

His tone became gentler, and he sounded sincere. I would have done anything to find my mom, but there was something off about this stranger. Something I couldn't put my hands on. I stood speechless for a while because I wouldn't deny his mouth-watering offer.

My future appeared brighter with his promises, but as I contemplated if I wanted to take the stranger's offer, thinking about how I still didn't know who he was. My thoughts were interrupted by Kara’s groan of pain and her plea.

“You are hurting me! You don't need to tighten your hold on me. We are almost at my house.”

Kara appeared with two other guys. One was restricting her hand while the other followed them, and it was clear that they were angry.

“What’s going on, Kara?” I inquired, freeing myself from the stranger’s hold and rushing to my sister.

“Nothing I can't handle, so please mind your business.”

If I knew my sister at all, then I would know she was terrified at that moment. She didn't have the situation under control, and she was hoping I would help her out like I always do despite her attitude.

“I don't think you can handle this, and that's why we are following you to your house.” one of the guys said, leaving me confused.

“I will return all your stuff to you, and you w-will let me go, right?”

Kara's strong facade dropped, and every one of us could see the fifteen years old girl's fear in her eyes. She wasn't doing a good job, and I became curious, so I asked the guys what my sister had done to deserve to be treated like a thief.

“We are treating her like a thief because she is a thief. Are you her guardian?”

The younger guy holding Kara’s hand replied and threw a question at me. I couldn't respond because I was stunned by the subtle revelation of what my sister had done.

“I’m her sister, and why would you call her a thief?”

“She had been stealing from the small mall I own, and I'm here for the total cost of what she has stolen so far.”

The older guy responded, and my heart sank instantly. I struggled to ask them to elaborate, and they told me how they had been searching for Kara because their store security camera caught her stealing various valuable items. She walked right into their trap tonight.

I asked Kara if they were telling the truth, and she confirmed.

“Ari, I'm sorry. You have got to help me, or they will get me arrested. I don't want to go to jail. I just wanted to have some basic things my friends have.”

Kara began to weep loudly in the middle of the night. Meanwhile, the stranger man stood right where I left him—observing the scene with a contented smirk.

“Help me, Ari.” Kara cried, but I asked myself how I would save my sister from going to jail if the guys decided to involve the authorities.

“What are you going to do now, Ariana?” The stranger whispered, but somehow I heard him loud and clear.