Chapter 70
Athena smiled, "Sean, most of us have done things we are not proud of, but that doesn t make us evil, I believe whatever it is you did, you did it for a reason."
He nodded with a smile, not looking up at her, "yes, for a reason."
"Well, you have my promise that I won t judge."
He chuckled, looking up at her then, his hazel eyes shining brightly with the lights surrounding them, "I can feel that you won t."
"See, even your heart believes in me."
He laughed softly then and closed his eyes, he sighed, "I wasn t burn rich."
"I know that already."
He nodded, "I have a traumatic past. You see, my family was the perfect one when I was growing up. But then, my dad lost his job when I turned six and everything changed, he began drinking, wasting all his savings in gambling and alcohol. My mom would often try to understand him and would tell him that it was not the end of the world but, he never listens, and soon we don t have enough to feed and mom was pregnant then. She started doing odd jobs for our neighbors in order for us to feed. She finally put to bed to Amber, her hair was the brightest blonde I have ever seen, I started calling her sunshine from then," he chuckled and closed his eyes, "a month after she was born, dad came home drunk as always, there was no food and mom wasn t back yet. I was hungry too and she had told me to look after Amber and that she was coming.
When dad didn t see anything to eat, he became angry and mom happened to come back at that time, he questioned her about food and she was angry, asking him if he had bothered about giving her some money to cook. He got angry and he hit her," he licked his lips, "he didn t stop, and he drew out his belt and started flogging her. I didn t know what to do, I just carried Amber and watched everything before me, I guess I was crying, I can t remember, I was in shock. Our neighbor, the kind woman that often gives me something to eat when mom wasn t around rushed in and took the belt from him; he staggered out of the house then and didn t return until the next morning.
He apologized, telling mom he didn t know what came over him and she forgave him, I didn t," he shook his head, "I couldn t, I may be young but I see what mom goes through every day to feed us while he drinks and gambles, and the least he could say as thank you was hitting her? He turned a new a leaf after that and held Amber for the first time since she was born. He started hustling for new job, and every night he would return slightly drunk. When I turned eight, Amber was two, she was sick, we knew that but we didn t know what was wrong with her, she was always weak, pale and tired. Dad came home drunk, mom was surprised, although he was often drinking, he has never returned drunk again since apologizing, she asked him what happened and just like that, he started hitting her.
Amber was crying by the side and I had to hold her to console her while I watch my father hit my mom again. He stopped when he was satisfied and left, coming back the next day and apologized. Again, mom forgave him, I didn t. When I was ten, he hit her again, an apologized, when I turned twelve, he hit her again, this time, I didn t sit in a corner and watched, I attacked him and he hit me as well. He left and returned the next morning to apologize and I broke a bottle on his head where he was kneeling and pleading to mom. He was rushed to the hospital by the neighbors, mom wasn t happy with me and just to make her happy, I apologized to the idiot," he clenched his teeth together, his eyes shut tightly.
Athena stood up from her sit and went to him, she hugged him and he calmed, releasing his teeth, "but he didn t change, every night he hit her and me, Amber would wail like a lost child and it wasn t good for her. She was growing weaker, mom knows but there was no money to take her to the hospital, she would just go to a pharmacy and pick a few drugs for her if she got sick, but she needed medical attention, we know but the stupid man I called father didn t care, rather he would hit mom and me, and she would leave the house with bruises in search of what to feed me and Amber," few tears seeped out of his long lashes and trailed down his cheeks. Athena was no better; she was trying all her best to be strong for him.
"At fourteen, I started doing odd jobs to assist mom, dad was still busy drinking and gambling and sleeping around, a lot of times I had seen him in front of a hotel with different women, I didn t tell mom, I didn t want her to cry. He hardly comes home and whenever he did, he would hit her. I had dropped out of school because I couldn t continue, it was adding to the expenses. Amber was too weak to go and was often at home alone. One day I was coming back from work with Leo, I had cries coming from the house and I picked a run, Leo joined me. Dad hadn t been back in four days and when I pushed open the door, there he was, beating mom as always. I couldn t stand it, there was a knife lying around, mom seemed to be cutting vegetables when he came back, I didn t think, I just acted, I took the knife and I stabbed him.
Mom couldn t believe what happened, even though her body was filled with bruises, she was worried about him and it pained me, it pained me that she was worried about him. I refused to take him to a hospital, prepared to watch him die but Leo couldn t stand it, he carried him out and neighbors joined and he was rushed to the hospital. When he was discharged, he didn t return home for three months, I knew where he was, I have seen him with her always and I secretly prayed he shouldn t return but every time I see how my mother was worried about him and missing him, I couldn t take it so I went to him and told him to come back but he pursued me out of his presence.
He later came back a week after, it was few days to my fifteenth birthday but when he did, it was to tell my mom to forget about him and to raise her wicked son and sick daughter with her, he didn t fail to tell her how lowlife she was and insignificant to be called his wife. My mom was broken that day, she cried for two weeks straight. Then people he owed started billing us, telling us to pay up, he owed a lot of people through gambling. Mom cried and I searched for him, again for her sake, and when I did find him, it turned out he ran to the city to live with a rich widow. I couldn t tell my mom about my findings but I told myself I would make her better and I would show him that just because my mother was poor that it doesn t mean she isn t a woman and don t deserve to be recognized. I started working twice as much, doing every possible job to raise enough money and pay up his debts and also tried my best to make mom happy, and soon, she started forgetting about him.
Life started turning better for us, I was paying off the debts and they allowed me to pay them weekly, it was hard but it allows us to live in our home. One day I came home to see her taking pictures with amber with our neighbor s camera, Amber saw me coming and wanted to run to me when the picture was taken, it was the one that you saw that day. I was approaching seventeen, I had almost paid off the debt but Amber got too sick that even the drugs mom buys for her couldn t do the trick anymore. We took her to the hospital and that was when we found out she had cancer, and she needed to undergo chemotherapy. I pleaded with the doctor to please do everything he could but he said they don t do it at their hospital and we need money to take her to a bigger hospital in the city.
I didn t know what to do, the money he called I have never seen in my whole life, he said there was nothing he could do and she needs the surgery as soon as possible because it has been in her system for long. I ran out of the hospital, ready to beg every single person I see, then I had seen my mom going into a hotel with a man; I didn t need to be told she didn t want to do that so I rushed after her. When she saw me, she started crying, telling me to forgive her that she didn t know what else to do. The man with her tried to push me away, I punched him, no, I beat the hell out of him and I rubbed him off every single cash he had. Mom was telling me to stop, the hotel security was approaching and I grabbed mom and ran away. She wasn t happy and I told her to forgive me that I didn t know what else to do and I would rather do that than have her sleep around.