1 Banished

Star Country,

CCT,

Gold District.

A man was woken by the splash of cold water, he jumped up with shock, he looked around. Standing just by the door was his father, stepmother and a few guards. He was a little bit surprised. 'What would have caused them to wake him up with a bucket of cold water?' He wondered.

"What is going on?" Carl asked with a frown on his face not caring the least bit about what the problem really is. He was already used to his father's irritated face and the mockery in his stepmother's eyes.

His father grew more irritated by his question. "Bastard!", He screamed, "How dare you ask that?" He matched towards Carl in rage and slapped him, his palm print was of his face. Since it wasn't the first time, he was hit without knowing the reason why, he wasn't bothered. His eyes where lifeless, tinged with indifference, he sat down and repeated his first question; "What's going on?"

His father's expression grew darker when Carl sat down. So after what he did last night, he had the guts to remain indifferent, without respect for him, his father. This made the hate in his heart surge to a new level. He pointed to his guards, "You and you, hold him down." At this point, Carl knew he would have to suffer being whipped again. It had become more regular that he had lost count of the number of times he was whipped these past few months. The guards went towards him, he did not try to resist or even react. His eyes were still inexpressive as he received the whips. For five minutes, the only sound that was heard was the sound of the whip hitting his back.

"Stop!" Yelled his stepmother. Since Carl didn't scream or beg for mercy, it didn't please her, nonetheless, she must keep up her image as a good stepmother, an honourable madam. So she began her next ploy to infuriate her husband. With hesitation in her voice, she began, "Carl.. I know I am indeed beautiful, bu.. but I am your stepmother and.. no matter what.. what you did last night is unpardonable..." She said with pitiful sobs, her head hanging low. Like she was frightened by Carl but was courageous enough to face him. His father couldn't stay calm any longer, seeing his pitiful wife made his heart wrench in pain. With a scoff and a look of derision in his eyes he said, "unpardonable? He should be locked up! He is a disgrace to the family name, what would the people say if they find out?"

At this point, Carl was more than confused, he could not comprehend what they were talking about. His head was hurting, he tried to recall the last twelve hours, yesterday was his stepbrother's birthday, he retired to his room early with the help of a maid because he felt a little light headed, that was all he could remember. What could have possibly gone wrong in twelve hours? These thoughts kept running through his head since no one was giving him a proper answer.

"You tried to r*pe your mother last night and you have the guts to sit down here with that face?!" His father yelled again.

When he heard his father, he was more than surprised. "R*pe?..Who?..Me?..When?" The more questions he asked the more his father's face contorted in rage.

His father thought for a while, he couldn't possibly lock him up in jail and he didn't want to see him again. What punishment could he possibly give that would be justifiable to his feeble wife?

"Seize his cards and his phone, do not let him take a thing from this house, escort him to State A, City 1, Lower province, he is not allowed to leave for the next 5 years. I want him out of my house in 5 minutes". After saying those words, his father turned around, leaving Carl speechless, without a chance to tell his side of his story. Damn! He didn't even know his side of the story.

"Leave." His stepmother said to the guards, they couldn't object so they immediately left the room but they didn't go too far, they were just outside his room.

With a smirk on her face, his stepmother looked at him, "My dear Carl, you might be wondering what is going on, since you're already leaving, I might as well tell you.. or may be I shouldn't..." She laughed as she walked out of the room.

~~~

State A,

City 1,

Lower province.

Two hours later, Carl was thrown out of the car by his father's guards, the car immediately turned around, leaving a trail of dust in the morning air. He stared at the retreating car... In less than twelve hours, he was homeless, penniless and hopeless. He couldn't fathom what went wrong, when it went wrong or even how. He was worn out, his clothes still cold from this morning. His stomach growled.

Not long after, he started moving, he didn't know where he was headed to, he hasn't been to these parts before, it felt weird. He felt out of place. All his life was with the bounds of the capital, he had never left, even after his mother's passing, after everything, he only knew the capital.

He saw a bench, he sat down, staring at the slippers on his legs, he scoffed. He wasn't given a chance to change out of his clothes or even wear shoes.

"What happened last night?" He asked himself, for the love of God he couldn't remember. He tried putting two and two together. "I drank just two glasses of wine, surely it shouldn't have much effect on me.. except..."

"Haha haha haha" he went in selfmockery, how could he have fallen for another one of her traps. The only conclusion he could come up with was that he was drugged by his stepmother. Apart from that, he was clueless.

While he was in deep thought, he heard someone scream...