Among Thy Self: Part Two.
My son, my beautiful little boy, Joshua is running towards me. With both his hands in the air. My eyes are almost watering to see the one good thing that came out of my life. His mother only allows me to take him once a week. The other days get so lonely. Maybe that is my punishment for all the bad things I’ve committed. Now I’m standing at the side of the parking lot of her house. A modern mansion some might say. Standing taller than the long pine trees.
I wanted to name Josh after me. Robert Pattinson Jr. But his granddad died just before his birth starting a chain of events that resulted in something much bigger. The only thing of remembrance left from all that happened is his name.
Somehow Jonathan knew that it was his time and he will not get to see his only grandkid. I never liked that guy. Even with that king’s ish personality he had. Why wouldn’t he? From south side downtown to Pacific Boulevard, a self-made man. I respected him for that but never got to liking him. He knew how to use his God-given charisma and used that to grow an empire. But he was a snake with a twisted tongue. Always thought that everybody was beneath him.
I admired him for his achievements but I was only there for his money. So at his last breath, I made him a proposition and a promise. Something so evil that I have to pay for it with my soul when I’m in hell.
Nine years back, Just days before Georgina went to have her C-section, I went to visit Jonathan, her father, the grandfather of my kid…
I never get the gist of why everything has to be so milky white in a hospital bed. I have a bouquet in my hand which is unnecessarily expensive which put a large dent in my wallet.
I opened the door to his room, an old funky kind of smell mixed with bleach immediately hit my nose. How could someone breathe in here? I went to the window and pulled the curtains aside. The morning light started filling in the room with its soft warmth revealing how the city of “Jinjim” looked from 10 floors above. The dirty and wet asphalt reflecting the skyscrapers all around and the glass dome above the whole hospital creating an optical illusion. Like there’s another city in the sky.
I turn and look at him. How skinny he has become. Once a hard-built man now looked like an old pervert from Rhode Street homeless shelter.
Jonathan started waking up. Blinking his eyes to adjust to the light, he looks at me standing at the right side of his feet, little anger peaks out of his eyes.
—Why the fuck did you wake me?
He blubbers.
—What? I can’t hear you.
—Why are you here?
Grasping for air, he just pushed those words out somehow.
—Why are you talking like that? Can I not visit you anymore?
—Cut the bullshit.
He tries to sit up excitedly but fails and falls on the cushion and it triggers a very bad cough. I walk towards the filter. Bring him some in a luxury disposable cup proving a point that this rich fucker even shits gold. The manipulation of media has earned him a fortune. Owner of the second-largest media conglomerate in the world.
After drinking it he gets a slight grip on his breath.
—Now tell me, why are you here? What do you want?
—Do you always have to think that of me? Like I’m some poor beggar your daughter pulled out of the gutter.
— Coming out from the mouth of a junky alright.
That triggered a spark somewhere in me. I wanted to reply with something cold and harsh but calmed myself. I’m here for something too.
—The doctors have given a date for Georgina to go into surgery.
—What? Why didn’t anyone tell me?
—You’re not the king of the world. Everything doesn’t revolve around you. Besides she didn’t want you to know.
—First I had to find out through someone else and now this? What is it? A boy or a girl?
—A boy.
His eyes glistened for a moment there. A real male heir to his empire. Someone to succeed after he dies.
—But don’t worry. I’ll not let him know anything about you.
His eyes turned cold and bloodshot. The veins in the side stars to pop up…
—You took my daughter from me and now you even dare to say this to me. I would rip your heart out with my bare hands if I wasn’t in this situation.
His voice cracked in anger.
—Don’t you know the reason why? What you did to us? me and Georgina? But I’ll let that slide away if you say yes to what I have to say next.
—I knew it. You always wanted something from me, didn’t you? You little son of a rotting whore.
I stood up, thought that was it. Not going to allow it a second time. Then and there I could’ve choked him to death. Though I never knew my mother, who left me in the doorstep of the orphanage but Agatha, the care giver there never let me feel the emptiness. I was always the favorite among all the others. John knew how much I respected her and thus his choice of slang.
—The only male heir to your empire John. It is my child. All your sweets will rot away. I’ll take him away so he never gets to know who his grandfather is.
With an angry broody smile, I throw this into his face. That rudimentary bastard thinking everyone here is to serve him.
In a softer voice, he asks me again.
—What do you want?
—I want me to be included in the inheritance. In return I’ll allow him to keep your name.
Hello everyone. This is a fiction I wrote a couple of months ago. I am thinking about making it into a full-blown series with parts. Then This Will be the first one.
Posting more than a thousand words at a time might be too much. So I’ll be posting this every week. I have other concepts in my mind but I know my skills are not that good. This will be a journey for me too. I’ll post each around this day of the week. If you have any insights about how I should keep it going then feel free to leave a comment.
Thank You for Reading.