Side show

Ever wondered the fact that most times life isn't fair , you just don't get everything you asked for, when I was still a little boy I believed if you asked so kindly you might just get what you want but now I don't know what to believe anymore cause life has other plans for me. Not walking down a coffee shop along the street is always what I wished for I have always wanted a bike I could take where ever and whenever I deemed right , but guess what, I end up walking two mile to meet a friend at some random coffee shop. " Took you long enough to get here"said Bella. " Sorry am late, I had things to do" . " What could have been so important" " It's really not necessary to discuss this " . " Ok but it's fine to keep me waiting for about an hour now" Bella complained. " I said am sorry already, look am here now" "You bet you are, so what have you got " " Am done with the play ,you can have it now" " I suppose you didn't have any trouble writing this" she asked " All troubles are long gone , now what matters most to me is your own side of the deal, I kept mine it's your turn" " Easy Andrew , I know , no need for the rush" she said She kept swiping through the pages , eventually she stops and smiles " This is really good, you must have out done yourself now" . " Thank you bell but I really have leave now " " It's fine go on, I have your details , I'll make you a transfer" . " Go on, you can trust me" I had no time waste and the fact that I had about two miles to walk didn't make the case easier , it was almost five in the evening and I had to get home for dinner. " Jane dear, have you seen Andrew " asked Mom. " Not really but he left some hour ago" Jane replied " Where did he go" . " I don't know he never said" The mailbox in front of the house was in a pretty bad shape , infact it was practically broken , I have never seen a storm cause such damage , that of yesterday was really terrible. " We sure do need a new mailbox" I said taking off my coat and leaving it on the coach next to the window. " No Andrew , take that coat up your room we have more thing to worry about , that mailbox is the least of them " . " What could be more pressing than mails mom?". " I don't know , maybe you telling me.where you have been" " I went to see a friend, it's really no big deal" . " You know it was almost dinner time" " That's why am back mom, don't worry" " Am not worrying, its been really cold outside this few days since the storm and you chose to leave, you should be more careful sometimes" . " I am careful, you are the one that worries a lot , now please can we go have dinner am really starving " " Mom! Mom!" Jane shouts running down with a laptop by her hands " Mom it's Alec" .she said. " Alec, He called ?" . " Yes, now" Jane replied , she flips the laptop open. " Hey Mom, Andrew " said Alec " Hey, you never call " . " No mom, it's really not that I don't want to, but school have been really tight now" . Alec is in blooklin , he attends a film school school there , it's has always been his dream to be an actor ever since dad died " What's up big bro" I said. " Hey there , what have you been eating you sure are adding a lot of weight" " What ! Me!" " And you are sure losing some, do you ever eat there " Mom asked " What, mom am fine, just keeping fit" Alec replied. " What is that, you are awfully lean not keeping fit " . " Mom its fine , you worry too much " Jane said " So Alec how is blooklin and school " she continued " It's all well" " How about your student film Alec" I asked " What student film" asked Mom " Am directing a student film here in school" . " How come you never told me" " That's why am calling mom , and part of this is the reason I have been very busy recently" Alec replied " And the auditions Alec, have it started" I asked " No not untill next week, am looking forward to maybe staring in it as well" " Oh Alec, I wonder when you be coming home, we miss you already" Jane said " I miss you too but am in school now , I can only come visit and this coming months may not be convenient" " You leave what ever she is saying, we all miss you and want you here but you have concentrate more on your studies, we all love you" said mom . " Yeah Alec and am sure your student film will be a hit" I Said " Thanks mom, you too Andrew and my sweet Jane , I will make sure to call whenever I can" " And you have to start feeding well you look like you never had a good meal in days" . " Okay mom I will see you all later, bye" " Bye" And the call ended . " Oh my the food is getting really cold , we have to go eat now" .. There is a time in our lives when we all go through the worst experience and tragedy, the worst moments that we wished had never happened, that one time we all feel we should go back and make things right ,we've all been there, and we have all seen those day , only our loved ones that helps us get through all this. I remember very well when our father died , I was four and Alec was nine , Jane wasn't even born yet, our mother was devastated. That day we all waited like every other day for him , he always had one of his tourist trip every now and then, that's what he did for a living, I know I didn't have much connection with my father like Alec did but I know he was a man that dared to dream, and that's one of the things that keep me motivated. He was to arrive on Christmas Eve for the holidays ,we have all missed him because he has stayed in Africa for a very long time then , I wouldn't blame him for that , that was his home , he was a true African man and a loving father only that death took him away, we were all worried when he didn't make it to Eve ,it was the next day that we got the news that he was in an accident, a terrible plane crash, I couldn't believe that was the last of him I would ever hear and the fact that happened on Christmas made me hate the holiday seasons. I have never seen mom in that way before , she was miserable , dad was all she had literally, her parent was against her getting married to an African man but she fell in love right from one of dads tour here in New York ,they got married against all odds from both sides and ever since all tides were cut from Mom's family , so you could tell how devastated she was . Dads family denied ever knowing he got married and the fact that he already had an African wife and a son made matters worst , those few weeks were the worst for her, you could tell that it wouldn't end well, at that time mom never knew she was pregnant with Jane and her unhealthy lifestyle affected her health condition, I remember spending days at the hospital wishing that all get well soon , it was a miracle that Jane happened , because the chances were very slim. Alec lived on dad's legacy, he has wanted to be an actor and all his time with Alec he thought him so many things , Alec took on him to fulfill father dream and his too, that's why his in a theatre college and to be honest I have never seen him any happier , I just wished my life was just that certain. Everything about us sucked, the fact we were black kids living in a white environment we always faced stuffs like racial and social discrimination , the only thing we had was our mom, she knew she had to be strong at least for us and she had been a blessing, it's really not easy taking care of three kids and the bills , we had needs and wants but we had no privileges and life just wasn't fair, the only thing that ever kept me going was my books, at a very small age I formed the habit of writing to help escape all of my little worries and up untill now it has always worked for me, now I had bigger fish to fry. Another day in the life of a multi billion publisher in New York City, it feels like everyday is the same but it's not, evenings is the time to escape from the world and responsibilities and have some peace of mind, most times it's impposible to ever have peace, Mr Blake Washington could agree to that He was in his mansion after a long drive from pressco , his feet were weary and tired, he felt like they are falling off, he slumps down on the cushion and pulls tiredly at his shoes. Looking around at most times you could tell he was searching for something or someone. " Mary" he called As Mary the house maid ran in from the kitchen "Sir" . " Please make me some tea" " Yes sir , right away" she said and made a run for it. He kept looking around just like the last time when Mary came back with a cup of tea. " Where is Bella" he finally asked " She has left the house saying she was meeting with a friend , she should be back very soon" she said leaving for the kitchen. Bella was Blake only daughter and child, since Bella mother died she became the only thing dearest to his heart apart from having a great passion in his work and owning the biggest publishing company in the whole of New York pressco, he still loved his daughter very much. Blake is one of the most successful men in New York City, his publishing company has published so many of the worlds greatest writers and activities , his love for young talent had driven him to follow this life long dream of owning a publishing company and it only grew and grew that his spread out other cities and town, Blake Washington is not a foreign name for the people , because he is well known and acknowledged . This was the same company my mom walked for , for over six years now and she is still at it , practically pressco is our savior. Bella walked up the door and came in the living room where Blake still sat probably waiting for her. " Bell , you are back" . " Yes, have you been waiting for me" " But of course, I couldn't sleep without you getting home first" . " You are really too much dad, am fine and I can take care of my self" she said " I know you can, but you are all I have , I just wanna makes things easier" " I understand you care , but you don't take good care of yourself, you are always up in my business and work that you neglect yourself" . " You come first before every other piority , you come first " " You never listen to me am surprised you didn't send a search party today too" she said " Honestly I was going to" . " You see, you take thing way out of proportion, ever since mom died you have always been this way" " Bell , I promise your mom nothing will happen to you, I owe her that last wish for all her kindness " " Mom never deserved to die , but she was terribly sick and you will too if you don't take care of yourself, if you remain this way I will never be happy with you " . " You are my responsibilities" " Yes but not your whole life, I agree I am a part of your life but you still have a whole that you neglect, you have to get up dad and stop hiding your sadness behind your career and responsibilities, move from them "she said before walking off to her room. That Bella loves Blake is no longer a news, she loves him so much and though she tries all means to put him at his best and push him away , she feels it's for his own good, Blake enrolled Bella in an arts private school, he wanted her to be a writer but the truth is that she is fairly good at writer and not at all enthusiastic to learn , she tends to seek for short cuts and that's why she comes to me to help with her assignments and I too needed the money she was going to pay that how I manage to get my text books for school. I really don't see why she wouldn't tell her dad she doesn't love writing , maybe he would understand but she just won't , I don't have any idea what that feels like because I still don't know what I wanna do and it my final year in highschool but there are still no pressure at all. I lay on my bed and kept staring at the ceiling, it was quarter past curfew and everyone was asleep but I couldn't sleep, I just can't stop thinking about tomorrow and how terrible it may go, it's was school time tomorrow and I have to go through another day of horror , if they is any phobia I could develop then it's fear of people , I am anti social and so terrified to socialize mostly because people are mean and most of them don't want any thing to do with a broke black boy of low status whose dad doesn't own a multi billion enterprise, who is also awkwardly dressed and talks like a cave man from the 60s. I always wished I was home schooled so I won't have to deal with people and all the drama, I usually am feed up with the ones at home that I can't keep up with anymore. I brought out my phone and logged in my f*******: account , I only had five friends and they basically my family and Dorathy and some weird spanish-speaking man, I understood entirely nothing of what he said, that was another fail of me trying to make a friend like normal people do. I went off f*******:, that wasn't doing any good I seeked closure for my self I decided to bring out my journal, but I ended up staring at empty pages and wondering why I was brought it out, that wasn't it , the only thing that made sense now was staring at the ceiling listening to music hoping that soon I would eventually fall asleep. I still lay there wondering what we would be doing if Alec was here , whenever he noticed I couldn't sleep he always had a way to put me to sleep , he was just filled with ideas and game that I won't even know when I sleep off, I had to admit it I missed him and ever since he has been away things were not the same, I turned at looked at where his bed used to be and how he would cross his legs over and played endless videos games, am sure he is happy where he is now and very exited, I remember his first audition for a commercial he walked about all the room practicing , he kept on asking if he got the lines right , it was really lively with him here. All this thoughts kept clustering my mind and many more still no sleep , it was true I had headset on but I couldn't help but hear faint sound of a woman screaming, at first I thought it was just my head making sounds up but it kept coming back each time. I took off the headset and looked off the window , it was then I was certain I heard a woman screaming, what baffles me is that at this century and age women are still exposed to domestic violence and trauma , Everytime I try to give my self a good enough reason why a man should lay hands on the wife and I come out blank, I don't understand the rage that build such emotions , I have always been a little bit of a feminist, and my whole life has an experience of hate and total discrimination, I hate to see when any one is been treated like trash. This happens almost every day and Everytime I try to avoid getting myself involved but it just doesn't get better , a lot of times I have tried talking with Mrs Smith about the way her husband treats her but she shorns me all the time , one time she completely denied she was ever beaten. " Good morning Mrs Smith" " Oh Andrew , morning dear , how are you" she said " Please , I would really like to speak with you" " About what exactly son" . I could see some scar showing on her right cheeks and besides her neck , what ever concealer she may have used didn't do much Justices to her wounds, and obviously she noticed I have seen them because I couldn't hide the bitterness on my face at the sight of it, she only pulled her hair forward and gave the faintest smile I have ever seen. " I do not mean to prey in yourself affairs , but it's have come to my notice that your husband hits you" . She immediately pulls me into her house and locks the door behind. " What do want" she asked " And who said my husband hits me" " How else do you explain this scars on you" . ' I have had some rough days , that doesn't make it true" " I have seen you , I can hear you every night , when everyone is sleeping , I can hear you wailing while he lashes out on you, why don't you say anything" I asked , but she falls down and starts crying. " He loves me" was all she said " He says his sorry , he just doesn't know what comes over him" she continued " But he repeats this almost always, why don't you say something, why are you still here, you might get hurt" " You don't understand, you never will" . " Am only trying to help" " Leave " . " But why" . " It's my life and I don't need your help, I don't have any other option just leave me alone" I was unsure of what I felt then, I got a door shut on my face and all I did was help. Here I lay once again in the same situation, I should probably mind my business , she doesn't want my help before neither would she now, I put back on my headset but I just couldn't help it , she only wailed and wailed each time louder than before , I sometimes wondered if I was the only one hearing all of this , why are others so reluctant don't they care what happens, I figured she may have asked them too to stay away. All I kept thinking was what if she died , what if she gets badly hurts, I really don't care now, I knew what I had to do , I didn't want to know if she was objected to this , all I want to do is save life. " Hello , is this 911, it's an emergency".