The Story Of My Life

Chapter 10

I rubbed my eyes with my little fist. Seating up, I felt a little warm, no churn in my stomach, no nausea, no headache. But I was sweating a little. I looked at my bandaged arm, I could still feel a little pain but It was better than yesterday. 

"How do you feel?" A voice said, I turned to the doorway and saw the man standing. I return my stare back to the bandage on my arm. "Let's give you a bath." 

I shook my head "no" grabbing the sheet firmly. "Oh come on, I've seen everything yesterday, you wouldn't let the maid bathe you so I did," He said, sitting beside me. We stayed in silence before he spoke again. "It will be quick, I promise, and there'll be bubbles," he said while rolling his eyes, maybe he was thinking I'll jump off the bed, I didn't even care about bubbles. He picked me up. Dropping me in the soapy water, after pulling my clothes of course. 

"You're not very talkative, huh? You've not spoken since you arrived here." He said while washing my arms with the sponge. "You've got lots of scars for your age, how did it happen?" 

I immediately withdrew my hand from his, hiding them in the soapy water with little bubbles, where he couldn't see. I looked away from him as my eyes watered. 

"Okay, I understand if you don't wanna tell, is not my f*****g business, I understand." He said, before getting up and walking away. I felt a pang in my heart, I had hurt him and I was so useless. I thought about it while biting my bottom lip. He walked back in the bathroom with a towel, he didn't look happy. He rinsed me before wrapping the towel around me. He was about to walk away when.

"A-anthony," I said softly, he turned back staring at me.

"What or who is Anthony?" He asked, in pure confusion. 

I pointed at my burn. "Oh, so is Anthony that did that, but who is this Anthony kid?" He asked, crouching down to my height. 

"O-old p-papa," I stammered.

"Oh, your father did that? What of your mama?"

I looked down at my feet, "s-sleeping." I said.

"Sleep-ing?" He asked with a raised brow, and I gave him a little nod.

"Like she'll never wake?"  I nodded again.

"I can see you're not comfortable with this discussion, maybe we'll talk about this another time." He said.

He grabbed my hand while raising to his normal height, we walked back to the room, he left my hand walking to the cupboard, I dried my hair then my body but I had the towel around my waist. 

"I bought these clothes for you," he said, pulling out some clothes from the shopping bag. I stare at him, not knowing what to say. He gave me the red pants, which I put on without him turning around. I didn't know why, but I was slowly building a bridge of trust between him and me, "Lemme help you with the jeans," he said. I gladly agreed but didn't show it, I kept a straight face. After he'd finished dressing me, he lifted me up to stand on the chair so I could see my reflection in the mirror as he combed my hair. 

I saw a boy, a little sad, but the bags under his eyes were gone, the bruised and the puffy eyes too. The boy didn't look like an imp, he looked normal, but something was missing, a smile probably. 

"Done!" He said with a happy sigh, I looked at my hair that was combed to the back, it had its vibrant dark colour, they were touching my shoulders. I think my hair was longer than some girls' hair. 

"Now, we're done, I still have someone to speak with, then we can go out," He said. I hopped from the chair, he was surprised. "Didn't know you could do that." 

We came across Billy in the hall, I cling to his pant leg, hiding my face from Billy. 

"Yo man, I'll like you to watch the kid." He said.

"But boss, the kid is a pain to my ass." Billy said. 

"C'mon Bill, just this once." He said, and Billy nodded. 

"Come here b.... Uh... I mean little kid." He stuttered. 

I refused to let go of the man's leg. "Kid, let go, I'll be right back." The man said. I had a flashback of my father asking me to let go of my teacher's leg and when I did, he beat me. I quickly shook my head no, while tears welled in my eyes, I looked up at the man that seemed giant. His face soften and he said "okey, you can come, but be warned my pa is scary." 

Once Billy was gone, I released his pant leg as we walked. We entered an elevator and he pressed the 6th floor, we were in pure silence as the elevator moved. 

"N-name?" I said, staring at the elevator floor. 

"You mean my name?" He asked and I nodded. "Carlos. you?" 

"A-alexander," I said.

"Pretty long, huh? I'll call you Alex." He said.

"C-call you C-carle." I said.

"Deal," he replied. Just then the elevator dinged and we stepped out, we climbed the stairs leading to the rooftop. A man in black suit was standing staring broadly at the building and vegetation. 

"Oh, what's up Carlos?" He said.

"Don't what's up me! Were you about to send a kid to Mexico?!" Carlos yelled.

"Oh, that? No worries." The man replied.

"But why will you f*****g do that? He is a black like us! And that's child trafficking! Imagine the illegal stuff you maybe charge with!" 

"Son, I was doing it for his good."

"You bought him from his home!"

The older man chuckled while returning his stare to the buildings and vegetation. "Hellhole you mean, his father was a white that was constantly abusing him, he told me I could have him but in exchange I had to pay a huge sum of money, I thought about it, pay for the kid, ship him, obtain two times what I spend and offer the kid a safer place." He said. 

Carlos' eyes wander around looking for what to say. "How are you sure they'll treat him well?" He asked.

The man shrugged, "that's not my concern," he said.

"Dammit! Pa you're heartless!" Carlos growled. 

"And you are the holy one? What will you do with the kid?" He asked while looking at me, I shifted uncomfortably. Indeed the man was scary.

"I-i will keep him!"

The man started laughing, "you? You can't even take care of your own self, you're a party man! A member of the mafia!"

"I'll and you'll see it!" 

"I give you one week, you'll be pleading for me to take him away!"

"Bull s**t! I won't! I am not a d**k like you!" 

"Whatever son, papa is still here if you need him," the man said, petting Carlos cheek and walking away. We walked back to the elevator, I noticed Carlos was staring blankly at the elevator door. I thought he was mad.

"A-angry?" I said softly. 

"Huh? Me? No I am not, he's my old geezer, I can't be angry at him, even if he's a pain in my ass. He's still my papa, and I am sure he's not angry too, we often have discussions like this, it is not a big deal. I'm just worried about his challenge." He said with a bright smile exposing his diamond white teeth. The elevator dinged and we were off, walking in the hallway. We met a few people that I didn't appreciate, especially the white ones, like Billy. We finally succeeded in going out of that man-full building. Carlos drove as I stared at the window blankly, wandering away. I was sitting in the car but not actually there, it was just like my spirit left my body to another world, my world of not nightmares. 

The place was a little dark, like five to six o'clock in the evening, people were running and screaming, children were crying. Somehow they didn't notice me, I heard a loud cry, and I ran to the direction of the cry, I stopped in front of a locked glass window. I peep through the window and saw myself when I was five, crying and hugging himself, he had bruises from a belt on his body, just then the door was bursted opened, Anthony matched in, I banged on the window screaming, but they didn't react, then he brought out a knife raising it high. I flung myself on the window, trying to break it down, the window was just too strong. He brought the knife down on my chest and I screamed laying on the floor with blood oozing out from my chest. He turned to face the mirror like he could see me, he matched toward the window with a firm grip on the knife that had blood dripping to the floor, my blood. I backed off slowly. He ran toward the window successfully breaking it, he had a smirk plastered on his lip. When he was standing two feet away from me he raised the knife striking my chest. I screamed! 

I ended up screaming out. 

"Hey buddy are you okay?" Carlos asked, looking through his rear mirror. I nodded while panting. The car parked in a parking lot close to what seemed like a hospital. He cut the engine and hopped down. Helping me with my door. I slowly came out. Holding Carlos's hand as we walked to the building. There were lots of people, most of them were in white, walking quickly either with a clipboard or with a tray containing medications. 

Carlos crouched down to my height after talking to the receptionist. "We're here for a shot, your shot." He said, at first I didn't say anything, didn't know what it meant till we entered the room, a man in a long white top was already waiting for us, I was asked to sit on what seemed like a couch. I did as told while the man reached for a syringe, that was when I began freaking out. I had a flashback of the crazy guy tucking something on my arm and it hurt. I immediately screamed and ran to Carlos who was waiting outside. He picked me up. 

"What's wrong?" He demanded. 

"H-hurt m-me." I said in tears, hiding my face in the crook of his neck. 

"He will not hurt you," Carlos chuckled, walking back to the room, "he'll just give you a little pinch, then everything will be over." 

The man walked to us mentioning my arm, I held Carlos tightly, shaking my head, no. 

"C'mon baby, I know you can do this." For some second I thought it was mama. I released my grip a little, Carlos ceased the opportunity to grab my arm, the doctor whipped the spot and pressed the needle on my arm causing pain. I cried softly on Carlos' neck. 

After the shot, Carlos calmed me and we were back in the car. "Alex?" Carlos called gently.

"Hmm," I hummed softly. 

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

"N-no," I said while shaking my head, That was when my stomach decided to betray me by growling loudly, causing Carlos to laugh. I squeezed my face in a frown.

"I can see or hear, let's get your little Tommy a food," he said amusedly. We parked in front of a restaurant, Carlos and I came down from the vehicle and walked in the restaurant, we were given a table and we ordered our food. We also met a girl named Rosa she's a black. She was walking in the restaurant. According to Carlos they were best friends. When our order came, Carlos got spaghetti with a red sauce, while I got a pizza against my wish. Carlos took a fork full of spaghetti in his mouth and gulped it down. His expression changed, he began gasping as sweat broke on his forehead, then he switched to a cough fist. He coughed and coughed till tears were pouring out of his red eyes.

"Oh Carl, pepper, it burns, don't worry I'll get you a cup of milk. Rosa said sarcastically with a smile. 

"f**k! Water!" Carlos said between coughs. When the waiter came with a cup of milk, Carlos grabbed it and drank everything in one gulp. My lip cracked in a smile, Rosa fell to the floor laughing out her head. Carlos wiped his eyes and sigh, he glared at Rosa. 

"Is not funny, I almost died of that f*****g thing! Ugh! I hate pepper!" He said, rolling his eyes. I tried all I could, but the feeling was stronger than me, so I started giggling. Not noticing that everyone was staring at me, even Rosa had stopped laughing. When I looked at their shocked expressions, my giggles ceased, not only were they looking at me, everyone in the restaurant was, and a coo erupted from the crowd, including Carlos and Rosa. I blushed, staring at my lap. That was the first time since years I felt any other emotion than sadness.