Bloody Valentine

III. Gabe

III.
Gabe Ugliano
My father was a fucking dead beat, an abusive bastard, I grew up in the slums of Boston, the south side. I had this part time job at a small grocery store and had to give half of my cheque to my dad, because I needed to contribute my pay to live here. My mother was silent, she never raised her voice, and never argued on what my deadbeat dad said. I loved and hated her, why didn't she stand up for me? Why wasn't she loving me? A lot of other students in my school had mothers who cared for their sons! I was 13 when I realized she was an empty shell. My father had beat her, broke her spirit. I swore I would never be like him.
But I failed in college, got into drugs and alcohol drank all day and finally lost my job, I was at the local bar one night, I had decided that this was going to be my last beer, I would try get sober.
I bumped into this beautiful young lady, she had long curly black hair and the bluest eyes ever. She was gorgeous, she wore a work uniform, and I just had to know her name!
I dug my hand into my pocket and came up with a fifty.
"Miss!" I called out and jogged to catch up to her. She stopped. "You dropped this!" I said and handed her the 50-dollar bill.
"Thanks!" She said and put a black curl behind her ear.
"My names Sally," she said in a soft voice, I turned when she did, and a little boy walked out of the daycare and barrelled into her arms yelling “mummy!” I recoil, she already had a child? That must mean she had a man ready… I sighed.
2 months later…
It was after being two months of sobering up when I bumped into her again, the little boy was still with her and her hair was in a messy bun. They were walking to a fair, the loud music and children screaming grated on my ears. I decided to follow them, my friend Sean had said he needed to get home to his wife, and I had nodded, and went to the vendor I was covering for the night. Kids candy apples, they came over after an hour being there, the kid was talking and gesturing with his arms and exaggerated on some things. They bought two candied apples, one was blue and the other was green.
“I remember you,” Sally said to me with a small smile, her eyes looked tired, but she was young and full of life.
“Gabe,” I introduce myself to her and we talk, she allows Percy to go try win a fish and we watch and chat, me closing and going for a break.
“Percy time to go!” Sally yells as we watch him win a blue fish that was swimming in circles.
2 months later….
I got to know Sally Jackson well, she and Percy loved blue food, and that she was single, kind and worked five days a week at a candy shop. It was called: Jackson’s Candy Store, in bold blue writing.
I asked her to marry me, she said yes. I wasn't entirely sure why she did, but her son was upset, I knew why, I had become my father in some ways since he had thrown me my first bottle of beer. The day after our wedding, I got notice that my mother died. I went to the bottle and that’s when I no longer remembered what I did. Some part of me hated it and some parts of me loved the power thrill I got when I hit Sally, or the fear in Percy’s eyes as he handed over money or the way he took punishments so well.. that lil punk Percy was off at boarding schools and the like, Sally always sent him to those schools even though it was expensive, she said her son was going to get the best education as possible, she had even hired tutors to help him with his struggling studies!
Sally was the type of mother I had always wanted, she was kind loyal and so many things that it scared me, she sometimes summoned things to her without thinking, and once I had even caught Percy talking to a horse! When freakish things like that happened, I told myself I was hallucinating, Sally had her secrets and I had mine.
Angry and drunk, is what I was all the time, I had managed to not hit Sally, despite her anger at me for drinking, she told me I was an idiot to waste my life away like this, I didn’t give a dam. She may be my wife, but I didn’t need to listen to her, the day I died is one of them where I wish I listened to her and hadn’t gotten that beer. Sally had smiled at me and told me once again that alcohol was going to be the death of me, and she was right.
When I opened the fridge, I saw snaked head and heard hissing then I began to freeze. Turning to stone.
It was cold and it spread up and all into my body, making me fall as my limbs no longer obeyed me, I felt like I was being yanked out, and in a way I was, my soul was escaping the body,
I was a horrible person.
I went to the Underworld and awaited my verdict.
I gazed as a tall man with raven black hair and dark black eyes, his face was pale, and he scared the shit out of me.
"Child beater aye?" He asked his voice smooth and cold as ice. He grabbed my chin, and sneered in disgust, I was disgusted too.
"You'll feel all the pain you inflicted on my nephew," Hades the god of the Underworld said. "One thing about being Greek, especially me, I may hate my family, but when an outsider ever hurts them, we defended each other and kill the competitors." Hades bared sharp teeth I jerk back as he grabbed my arm; Screamed as a hot red rod went onto my forearm and I faintly recognized the sign of slavery and then I was sent into the Field Of Punishment.
“Hello Gabe, finally decided to come home?” I gasp as the familiar figure of my father steps forward and I cry as the first punch hits me.