Chances

Chapter Two

Marisca got home and all she could see was red. David treated her badly and she wasn't going to forgive him. He thought he knew her just because she gave him the one thing she made a bet on with her friend but in reality, there were so many things hiding behind all those lashes, make ups, dresses and flashy cars she was always seen with.

She had to fend for herself at a very younger age. That was when she met her bestfriend; Leah. She gave her somewhere to stay and food to put into her empty stomach. Leah had also ran from home because she realized her foster parents couldn't cater for them all as soon as she crushed seventeen years. She felt she was a bother to them.

Marisca's mother died when she was giving birth to her. Her dad went mad thirteen years after and was taken away for treatment. She was later sent to an orphanage home. She was the shy girl who had the voice. The shy girl who was pretty and good looking no matter how dirty she looked. The shy girl men would kill for and because of that, she wasn't really the favorite girl since their caretakers were females.

Marisca left the orphanage home at age sixteen and nobody bothered to look for her. At first, she thought they'd look for her and bring her back to punish but that didn't happen. It wasn't long after she met Leah.

When they both met each other, it was like they both found their missing pieces. She spent her life toiling to make something better out of her life. During those years, she thought she'd be cleaning washrooms for the rest of her life. She thought she would be selling bread until God knew when. She thought she'd die without even having a family of her own. She never thought of the things she had gained now. She never thought she'd be having it all in the next years to come.

Not until she joined a show which by God's Grace, she came third. When she started her career as a young singer, she had a lot of her songs stolen and most of her recordings sold without her permission. But that never brought her down. She fought so hard to get to where she was and she wasn't going to let David or whoever he thought he was, get into her head or make her feel low. She was going to fight back and wasn't going to give him another chance to touch her the way he did.

****

LATER that night, Leah came home with her son; Tyler and thankfully she was done preparing dinner. She gave Tyler a kiss on his forehead, which he also did the same thing on both her cheeks. With his tiny body, he ran to his bedroom which was upstairs.

Tyler liked to play the guitar and as young as he was, his mother was proud to say her son played better than his music teacher.

Settling himself on his bed, Tyler thought about the things his friends usually said and talked about. They mostly talked about their parents having dinner together, shopping together, and doing everything together. As lovely as it seemed and sounded, he always asked his mum about his dad, but his mother always brought something else up. If not that, then it was just silence. As much as he wanted to see and know who his dad was, he also wanted his mother to be always happy and he realized whenever he asked about his dad, his mother's mood changed into something he had no idea of.

He knew his mother loved him and he loved her back. And as young as he was, he knew when not to say and ask much. But he couldn'd help but feel lonely and abandoned. He had friends who kept him company, friends he played with and friends he studied with. But he wanted a complete family.

Even though his friends liked to be with him, he knew they were his friends because they often saw his mother on the television, bill boards and newspapers. Even though he was young, he knew his friends wouldn't have been with him if his mum wasn't a star...his star.

Taking off his shirt, he sighed knowing it was supposed to be the job of a mother to take her son's shirt off whenever he came back from school.

He looked into the mirror and wondered if he, in a little way resembled his dad. If his dad were like one of his friend's father; who beat both his friend and her mother or he was the father who loved his family. He didn't know what was keeping him away form his family.

From the bedroom, he could hear his aunt screaming his name and his mum asking him to come down to eat. He then smiled and knew the next moment, one of them would be bursting into his room soon.

“1,2,3” he counted, “4,5,6”

He raised his head when he heard someone enter. His smile widened as he saw his mother calmly leaning behind the door and reaching her hand to him. She smiled at her son and he again smiled.

“Are you not coming down to eat? Do you want your food to get cold? Come on, lets finish eating so I'll help you take your bath. And aunt Leah will help you with your homework, darling. You know you didn't finish your food this afternoon so I hope you drink plenty soup today. Do we have a deal?" she asked while giving him her cutest smile.

“And what is in for me? I have to drink a lot of soup and then?" he asked her while he looked under his bed as if he had left something important there.

“Ok let's see. You drink the soup; I mean plenty of it, and I'll give you a kiss," she teased with a smile.

“Come on mum, you always give me that. Try a different thing," he told her and she sighed and gave him her, 'I am in no mood to play. Now make it quick before I punish you' look. But as lovely as his mum was, she told him he'd give him a new video game.

****

As they sat eating, Leah asked Marisca about how her show went and the anger she had already forgotten about, came crushing her fork onto her plate. She gave Leah the look which told her she'd explain later.

The little boy who knew better than he was supposed to know, shouted, "Yeah I know. I'm not supposed to hear it. I'll leave immediately after I'm done eating.”

Leah smiled and nodded at Marisca. She knew better than to push her to say it in front of her son. After eating, Leah bathed him and his mother told him his bed time story.

After pulling the sheet over her sleeping son, Leah pulled Marisca out of the room. As they stood on the stairs, Marisca took a deep breath and looked Leah in the eyes and almost screamed her frustration out on her. Leah raised her eye brows at her and her lips drew a thin line as she saw the frown on her best friend's face deepening.

She urged Marisca to take in a deep breath, which seemed to have helped after she did that. She finally told her what had happened between David and her. And as much as she wanted to see the look she was expecting to see on Leah's face, Marisca didn't find any. Leah cleared her throat as she bought herself time to think of what exactly to say.

Leah finally separated her lips. And with the way she held her neck, Marisca knew Leah was nervous. Leah had the habit of rubbing her nape when she did something bad. Mostly, her nose also became red. Marisca urged her to at least look at her.

“So what happened?" Leah asked as she climbed two more stairs down. After a while, she realized it was better to have the conversation in the bedroom. She then held Marisca's arm and pulled her into her bedroom.

“You weren't listening; I told you he threatened to take my son away. But of course that wouldn't happen. That will be over my crying and pitiful soul," she barked at Leah. She was angry. But what she was angry about was what she really couldn't put her finger on. She was furious he touched her and awoken those desires she had long ago buried while at the same time, she was angry he threatened her.

Marisca combed her fingers through her hair as she paced the room. Her attention was far away that she failed to realize her best friend wasn't even sharing the same mood as hers.

Leah again pulled her to the bed. She finally looked at her and she gave her a sweet smile. She wasn't really going to interfere because she wanted nothing but happiness for her friend. But she was also going to make things right when there was the need to do so. She was ready to go extra miles to give the father and son a chance to meet each other. She grew up in a family who cared for her but had to run away when things went harder. She spent the rest of her life needing the touch of a mother and the voice of a father. She also grew up with a very jealous foster sister who hated her for occupying a space in her parents' hearts. So she exactly knew how it felt to love and yearn for something or someone.

Leah gave Marisca a faint smile and murmured, "It's good then.”

“No! No it isn't. Do you know what that means? Huh!" Marisca asked as she shook her head in a negative way. She wasn't going to allow that to happen even if she was going to oppose.

“See, I saw him. I mean David, yes I did. He approached me when I was training. It was like he knew I'd be there. So he saw me and that man was able to put me on a soft spot which hardly happens. I had to tell him where you would be today. Sorry about that, but I agree with him. That boy sleeping just a few doors away from here, needs his dad to play with and to learn from. He is smart. Give him more years and he'll understand what exactly is going on," Leah also defended while her hands settled on her waist. She sighed as she found a big frown on Marisca's face. She knew it wouldn't be easy convincing her friend but she hoped she'd consider her son's emotions. Besides she didn't exactly know what could've gone wrong exactly when they conceived their first child.

Leah smiled as she thought of the other children they'd be giving birth to. She knew things wouldn't settle even if David met his son. She knew and hoped they would go through long and many seasons.

Marisca was shocked after hearing her bestfriend telling her that. It seemed to take more than necessary for her to recover from her shock. She had her eyes growing bigger than it was. She gave herself a mental kick before her lips were able to open. She went over to Leah and as much as she wanted to shout at her for going behind her back, she couldn't because Leah was like a big sister to her and wouldn't do anything foolish. Deep down she knew Leah was right.

“See, consider and think about what I just said and lf they don't make any sense, it's your call. Live your life like nobody's business. You know how bad I am at giving advice. It makes things worse. I hope you get what I'm trying to say all along.," she hoped. So much she wanted to say to her but she couldn't. She wasn't the emotional type of friend who would cry with you when you are in pain. She was the type who would pull you to your feet and ask you to go with her to the gym or boxing training to release stress.

Just then, Leah remembered Tina; her foster sister called that same day. She then asked Marisca if she had talked to a strange number too.

“Why, who are you expecting?" Marisca enquired as she saw Leah digging her eyes into the ground.

“She is the daughter of the parents who took care of me when I was little. Do you remember? I told you about her when we met,”she tried reminding her friend.

“Oh yes, I do. Why would she be calling me?" She asked and as Leah expected, it was rhetorical, “Unless you gave it to her. And so that means, you found her. I'm happy for you.”

Leah cleared her throat and took in a deep breath before clarifying, "More like she found me. She came to the gym, after your man left.”

“He's not my man. He just happens to be my son's father,”Marisca corrected, eyeing Leah from head to toe.

“Sure! So she came and she looks nice. She said she has changed. The girl has been through a lot and you can't even imagine. If I had seen her years before she was arrested, things wouldn't have been that serious. She would've been ok," she tried blaming herself.

“Wait, are we talking about the same Ernestina I know? If yes, we both know she deserved it. So don't blame yourself,”Marisca assured her.

They all knew how Tina was and Marisca wasn't surprised the girl ended up in jail years ago. Even though she didn't know her personally, what she saw few years ago when they went to the prison to visit her told her a lot had gone wrong in the head of the girl.

She wouldn't want her living in her house but as long as Leah wanted to keep her and make up for the things she couldn't give her; she was going to keep her also.

“I didn't believe her when she told me she was a changed person, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt and bring her in but when after some time, I realize she lied, I'll kick her back on the streets,”Leah finally considered the look on Marisca's face and told her that.

“Ok, so when will she be coming?" Marisca asked.

“I gave her the address, I even thought she'd be coming today. I'm surprised she didn't. Well, if she comes, cool and if she doesn't come, it's also cool," Leah said as Marisca wondered when her friend will have clean feelings. She never showed weakness and when she did, she immediately turned cold. She had a good way of hiding her real emotions.

“Ok, it's now time I go and take my bath and sleep. See you tomorrow and have a nice sleep," Leah declared as she walked toward the door.

“Good night and sleep tight as well," Marisca also announced as she followed her to the door.

It wasn't long until sleep came. She cuddled her pillow as she pushed herself more into the bed.