Chapter 1

<p>"It hurts" I muttered as I stumbled down the path that supposed to lead to my father's animal shed, I hissed at the sight of my leg that was practically covered in blood, the cloth I tied to stop the bleeding seemed to have become utterly useless, but at least I wasn't loosing too much blood. I turned my gaze to the boy I was carrying on my back, judging by his face and size, he's probably a four or five year old, luckily he had bearable weight unless I would've dropped him off hours ago . Due to my lack of attention to the road, I didn't realize when I bumped into a wooden pole, making me loose balance as I fell,<br/>"Shit", it then occured to me the boy on my back had flew elsewhere, I then turned my head sideways, "ouch", it was like every movement I make pains me to the core, searching with my eyes I finally caught sight of the boy with his head placed on a thick grass, lucky kid. On looking front to confirm what knocked me off balance, my face brightens as I realized I made it to the shed somehow, I then carried the boy and placed him on my back as I limped forward,<br/> "If what the description says is correct then it means my old man should be staying in that hut", i said looking forward at the bamboo made building with a thatched roof that appears to be in desperate need of repairs but the old man doesn't really care about that. Sometimes, I wonder why I feel sympathy for my bloody old man after all he's done to his so called family, looking at it logically, its annoying, but I can't just bring myself to hold grudges against my old man.<br/> "Here goes" I said as I slowly pushed the tattered bamboo door open, my real intention of actually coming to this place was because I and my old man has some unfinished business dealing with why he falsely accused me of..., No, it'll be better if I don't think about it now. As I entered the house, I wondered why my father left his luxury life for this shit hole because of his actions,<br/> "Mr Rogers" I shouted sarcastically, waiting for the devil to show his face but what I got in return was silence, then suddenly I heard a creak in the ceiling making me look up and behold, my father's lifeless body hanged to the ceiling by a rope, It then slowly occurred to me my father had committed suicide. Normally, I'm supposed to be on my knees crying bitterly while wishing for him to come back to life but I felt this inner joy as if that was what I wanted to happen, but still, with him gone, I'm officially an orphan now. As I was casually walking around, a neatly folded piece of paper which was placed on a desk caught my eye, I then picked it up and opened it, from the contents it seemed like a letter which I began reading. As I continued reading, tears began to form in my eyes and I couldn't read any more, I folded it and placed it my pocket, even though I stopped reading, I couldn't hold back the tears that forced themselves out, still crying, I walked to where I had placed the boy on a mat and laid beside him, I then gradually recollected my thoughts back to what lead to this moment, "oh yeah, it all started the day I got arrested...<br/>Some weeks earlier...<br/>I could not forget the school hallways that seems to be always noisy for some very insignificant reason, from the never ceasing and pointless chats to the female moans and gossip that seemed to be coming from every direction. Every time I walk down this hallway I can't help but wonder how they don't run out of gists, but I guess I have no friends so I'll never know. Due to my divided attention I didn't know when I mistakenly bumped into someone, a girl to be specific therefore spilling the books she had in her possession all over the place<br/><br/> "Sorry, my bad" I sympathized as I tried to help her gather her books that were all over the floor, but it seemed my concern and help weren't needed as she slapped my hands of the book I was planning to pass to her, as she did this, I could clearly feel her hands trembling,<br/><br/> "I don't need your help" she said, biting her lips in fear as she looked at my eyes, she then immediately closed her eyes and ran off with the books she was able to gather as if I was going to kill her. For some reasons I didn't seem to understand, almost everyone who came across me since I became a student of this school has this fear against me, but well it's been quite constant that one would have to get used to it, but sometimes one can't help but wonder. I then stood up, ignoring all the gazes sent at me and walked off, wondering if there was anything good life had in store for me.<br/><br/>It was already 1 PM, and all the students were in their classes been taught by the respective teachers in charge of the period, I looked at the man front of me, he seemed to be in his mid_fifties, he had a dark brown hair that rhymed with his brown striped suit and his well polished shoe, he would've been a well mannered man if only he got enough sleep as it was well shown on his pale face that he wasn't with his eyes swollen to the extent one might think they're going to fall off,<br/><br/> "Open to page 121 of your history textbook" the man said lazily, "there you'll find an exercise, get it done and submit first thing tomorrow and also...", he was interrupted by the sound of the door creaking open and a woman walks in,<br/><br/> "Good morning" the class greeted in unison,<br/><br/> "Good morning to all of you too", she smiles then faces our teacher and whispers something into his ear, he then nods,<br/><br/> "I guess I'll be taking my leave", she says as she walked out of the class, our teacher then faces us,<br/><br/> "I guess you students are aware a parent & teacher's meeting is to be held today" he said making the class to start murmuring among ourselves as we knew not of any meeting,<br/><br/> "I guess it can't be helped, well now you know a meeting is to be held, we already informed your parents but just remind them to be on the safer side as this is going to be a very important meeting".<br/><br/>Knowing my parents, them attending is on probability, especially my Dad, the busy old man barely had time for his family of three, him, my mum, and me. The bell then rings repeatedly signifying end of school for the day, students who apparently had no reason to wait began to take their leave leaving a few who had to wait till the end of the meeting, normally I would've taken my leave but laziness I was feeling wanted otherwise, I then rested my head deciding to get some shut eye<br/><br/>Hours passed and I was still asleep which was not really want I intended, that aside some things seemed to have been happening around me that I was not aware of, it was not until I heard the room door crash to the floor that I was gradually pulled back into reality Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice call my name ,"Daren" the voice sounded frightened but it still felt familiar, "Daren" I heard the voice again and that was when I realized,<br/><br/> "Mum" I said almost inaudibly as I immediately opened my eyes and faced the direction of her voice, then I noticed apart from her, quite the crowd of adults were present<br/><br/> "Why are they all gathered here" I thought, looking at them one after the other, then I noticed they all had similarities between themselves, they each had a mixed expression of disbelief and fear all over their faces, including my mother who placing her palm on one of the chairs with a posture that made her look like she had lost her ability to walk,<br/><br/> "Mum, what's going on?" I asked her but she didn't reply me, I then noticed I wasn't the only one attracting attention, some of the parents and teachers had their gaze fixed on something else, I then turned my head in the direction they were facing to see what was drawing their attention, I then suddenly felt thrills down my spine as I froze due to what I saw, bodies all over the room floor, blood splashes everywhere, it was as if a massacre had commenced there but I still didn't understand why the grown ups were looking at me with such terror in their eyes, I then put one and two together and realized what was at stake, they're all thinking I'm the murderer, I immediately stood up,<br/><br/> "It's not what you think it is, I didn't do any of this" I defended myself when a woman spoke up,<br/><br/> "How do you expect us to believe that, you're claiming you didn't do it but the look in you're eyes and the way you are not terrified..." she couldn't complete her statement due to the fear she was feeling, then immediately my mother ran to my front and stretched her arm across me in a protective manner,<br/><br/> "I believe him, if my son says he's not the one then he's not the one" she said while bitting her lips, from her expression I could tell she didn't fully believe in what she was saying,<br/><br/> "You're saying that just because he's your son, your feelings are clouding you're judgement" another woman blurted out making the rest grown ups yell at my mum with their hunger for justice<br/><br/> "That's not the reason, you're all adults and you should try looking deeper into this, if he was the killer, why was he fast asleep in the same class he killed people, and also, there aren't even blood stains on his hands or any part of his body, please, think about it, he can't be the culprit" my mother said with her building confidence. Gradually, I could see the terror leaving their face after realizing my mother had a point, I heaved a sigh of relief thinking I was not going to be held guilty when,<br/><br/> "Wrong" I heard a man say, I looked forward to see who said it, "Dad" I said to my father who was now standing in front of the adults,<br/><br/> "Just wrong" he said walking forward slowly<br/><br/> "Honey what are you doing?" asked my mother but her husband simply ignored her,<br/><br/> "I'm here to reveal to you people that this boy is guilty as charged" my father said out of the blue after which my heart started racing, everywhere became strangely hot and my breathe became shaky. There are some things one needed to know about my father, firstly, he's a man of great influence who has unwavering boldness and is also good hearted or should I say was, another thing one needed to do was to tread with caution when around him, for he's able to ruin someone's life with just a little snap of his finger, rumor has it that he once had the government thrown in jail only because he was pettily teased, and now he was facing me but I'm he's freaking son so why is suddenly acting like he had been waiting for me to suffer for a very long time,<br/><br/> "Dad what are you saying?" I asked him with fear in my voice hoping he didn't really mean what he said but I saw the determination in his face, did he really want me sent me to prison, did he actually hate me to that extent, he didn't even reply me, my own father,<br/><br/> "Sleeping here was just part of his plan for us not to suspect him, and he could've also washed his hands and had a change of clothing so he's just decieving us..." My father continued saying against me, this is so absurd, my father was way more smarter than this, something was definitely wrong with my dad. I gradually losing the feeling of my body, my sight became blurry, I couldn't understand why this was happening to me, what had I ever done to my dad to deserve this, from the remaining sight I had, I could see my mother trying to stand up for me,<br/><br/> "You don't know what you're saying, I can see you're clearly insane, raising charges against your own son a..." He didn't let her finish as he cut her short with a heavy slap that made her loose balance as she fell, hitting 1 her head hard on the ground, knocking her unconscious. That was enough, he was certainly out of control, how dare he raise his hands against mother, his wife, I wanted to get up and shout the hell out of him but I had not the courage to carry that out instead I slipped from the chair and fainted on reaching the ground.</p>