Mistakenly Eaten

98. Fighting Through Fears

A thirteen years old Nicholas fell down the ground, his sleek and straight hair falling over on his face and blinding him even more then the dirt did that got in to his eyes when he fell right on to his face, over the side planting bed, off the soft grass.

“Ouch!”

Nicholas complained, while his brother Lucas and his cousins, Vincent and Salva only rushed past him, not caring even if they hit the poor meek boy with their feet as well, as they rushed after the ball that rolled through the large lawn on the mansion.

Nicholas got up and swept off his clothes that were smitten with dirt and at the same time, he ran his fingers through his smooth straight hair, that were different than his brother’s curly ones. Their hair were the only differentiating points between the two boys and it had been for their mother, who had forced Lucas to keep his hair long, so that she could always differentiate between the two brothers. Seeing how Lucas got attention for his long hair, Nicholas persisted on keeping his hair long as well.

But Rachel, their mother, had him straighten his hair so that she could have something to differ him from his identical brother.

Nicholas ran after the ball just like everyone else and the moment he reached the gates of the mansion, he watched as the two of the young lads stood in a singular line, with his brother, holding the football in his hands.

Nicholas rushed towards his brother, and snatched the ball right away from him, still pumped with his adrenaline of playing soccer with his buddies.

He giggled loudly, while keeping his eyes on the ball that he tossed in his hands “Loser.”

He spoke out loud, making Lucas immediately hold his hand up and place it on top of Nicholas’s mouth.

Nicholas looked at his brother in confusion and his gaze went towards his cousins, who stood right behind Lucas. And instead of looking at him, they all had their eyes glued in horror and shock, right ahead of them by the gate of the mansion.

Nicholas slowly turned his eyes towards the large iron gates and squeaked out loud, dropping the ball from his hands on the ground and creating a loud thudding sound.

His shock came in fairly, seeing the horrific scene right in front of his eyes, where the guard at the gate laid in his own cold blood, that ran out of his deep piercing wound that he had sustained somewhere in the middle of the chest, making him fall face first on the ground. All the four young men standing by the gate could see was the dead man’s right side of the face that was planted upwards, with blood oozing everywhere from right underneath him.

The blood flooded the entire grounds of the entrance of the mansion and reached out for the feet of the murderer, who stood holding a knife in his hands with an empty satchel hanging right over his shoulder with a panty hose smudged over his face, as he tried his very best to keep his identity hidden.

It was clear as a day to the poor boys, that they were robbers, who unbeknownst to whose house they had ended up at, had already intruded and ended up killing one of the guards as well.

Another similarly dressed in an all black costume, robber popped out of the security surveillance room, having thinking that he had disarmed the security system.

But just as the second one stepped out, he jumped back in surprise and looked at his partner, who held his bloodied knife out and looked back at his partner in crime.

“What are you looking at my face, kill them.”

The second one yelled at the first one and listening to his words, the kids made a run back to the house, with Lucas taking the lead and it was only after a second when he realized that both of his cousins, Salva and Vincent were sprinting after him but except his own brother, who stood frozen still by the gate.

Lucas’s eyes bulged out of his sockets, as his heart drowned in fear seeing his brother standing frozen in front of the murderers, who approached him with their knife.

Lucas dashed back towards his brother and before the robber could’ve hurt him, who extended his knife forward, flicking and slashing through the boy, he was pulled back just in time by his brother, who yelled out loud at him.

“Are you f*****g serious?” Lucas yelled at Nicholas, who fell over on his back, as Lucas pulled him back.

Nicholas felt snapped out of his trance, where he was stuck when he looked down on the blood and that was all he saw and ever since he saw that dead body, his eyes had been stuck on it. he didn’t even see the murderer, until he was pulled back by his brother and that was the moment when he saw the robbers.

Of course by that point, more guards had gathered around the place and took the robbers down and everyone was safe. The two were simply naïve to be oblivious that they had intruded in to Alejandro Santiago’s house and definitely paid the price, when Anthony and his men tortured the two to death. And when Anthony returned back at night from his little tormenting expedition, he went straight to Alejandro’s office, where he saw Rachel perched down on a couch with Martha holding her hand and Alejandro pacing back and forth inside the office.

“What happened?” asked Anthony, noticing the grim environment in the office.

“It’s Nicholas! He is extremely sick, ever since he saw the blood scene in the afternoon. He’s been vomiting and has a fever. He’s on an IV, currently.” Martha notified her husband, all the while soothing her best friend’s soul, who sat in extreme schism.

“Alejandro, can you please call his therapist, already?” Rachel complained to her husband, who held his phone to his ear.

Alejandro groaned, who held the phone in his hand and being just as agitated and worried for his son, took the phone off his ear and looked at his wife.

“What do you think, I am trying to do here, Rachel? I can not get through that mother fucker.” He yelled back, showing just how much anxious he also was.

“Just do something already.” She cried back and Alejandro shook his head.

“What do you want me to do? I have sent men to get that bastard already and I am trying to get him on the phone but he just won’t pick up, okay? It is probably three at night, where he is right now in some stupid country, gone for a conference. My men will be there soon, so relax down.”

With that Alejandro walked towards his desk and grabbed the glass of his scotch, finishing it down in just one hard gulp.

Rachel got up from her seat and stepped towards her husband, “I know this thing doesn’t matter to you, because according to you, our son is a wimp, who gets sick at the sight of blood but Alejandro, that is normal human behavior. I can tell you don’t think it is important and you won’t put much effort in to this…”

“Gosh! Woman, I have told you already that my men are on their way and besides, what is the most that I could actually do. That kid was supposed to have most innately determined ability to be able to kill people because he has mine and your genes and yet here he is, getting sick at the sight of blood. So, if anything, I do realize it even more than you that our kid is absolutely in need of mental health. Because he has normal human behavior, which is not normal behavior for us.”

Rachel gasped out loud, with her eyes bulging out of her sockets, at her husband’s audacious words.

“I probably have to think of a different business for that kid. There goes my family business.”

Alejandro complained, pouring himself another glass of scotch and irritated by his words and indifferent behavior, Rachel knocked the glass out of Alejandro’s hands.

“You are so mean.” She complained and Alejandro shrugged back at her.

“See! Even you have violent tendencies and you are someone, who did not grow up in your mafia family. That kid grew up with guns and I just don’t understand how could he turn up like this.”

Disappointment – sheer disappointment was quite evident through Alejandro’s words.

Rachel grunted, shaking her head and walked out of the office, making Martha rush after her.

“Could you just for once, not be an ass.” She told her brother, who once again held his shoulders up in confusion.

“I am actually being curious.”

Once left alone in the room, Alejandro poured himself and Anthony a glass of liquor and at the two sat down on the sofas inside the office, with a moment of silence that was disturbed by Anthony.

“Have you ever tried to wonder, why Nicholas is this way? Why he is so different from his brother and his sister?”

Alejandro simply shook his head.

“Him and Lucas grew up in the same environment, how could they even be so different? One is already naming his favorite gun, while him, is getting sick at the sight of blood.”

“Maybe, the kid is just traumatized because you killed a traitor in front of him when he was five.” Anthony reminded Alejandro, who remained unbothered.

“Lucas also watched the same thing but look at how he turned out to be.”

Alejandro snickered, making Anthony shake his head at his brother’s innuendos.

“Every human being is different.”

“But Nicholas’s genetic composition is the same as his brother and sister. There is no way, he doesn’t have it in him to just kill someone.”

Alejandro gritted in aggression and Anthony only heaved a breath in confusion.

“What if the boy requires some sort of trigger? Something, that would urge him to kill people? What if when something precious is on the line? Then people tend to not just kill but go to war for that.”

Alejandro scoffed, “Oh! I hope that ever happens. I would truly live a hundred years, in hopes of seeing that happen one day, if promised. That would definitely be a recreational sight for my eyes.”

As the two sat in that office, changing the topic to something else, little did even one of them know that, the day to watch Nicholas shoot a gun did occur and Anthony himself got to witness it.

But he also didn’t know that he would not very much enjoy that day, as he would also have to see his nephew get stitches on his arms.

“Luckily the wound wasn’t that deep enough and the bullet was also made out of non toxic metal. So, you are safe for sure.” The doctor softly smiled at Nicholas, who sat up against the headboard of his bed and nodded at the man in charge of his health and care at that moment.

“Just don’t skip your medicines and I will come back, the day after tomorrow to change your dressing and check on your wounds. They are just a four. I also made sure to keep them dissolvable, so that they don’t leave a much visible mark.”

Nicholas once again nodded and thanked the young lad, who picked up his bag and Gigi guided the man out of the bedroom, leaving Nicholas behind all alone with Anthony, who all the while when Nicholas was undergoing the procedure stood by his side, all quiet and grim.

He had his palm fisted underneath his chin, as he looked at Nicholas, who also remained conspicuously silent. He didn’t even flinch when the doctor injected him with anesthesia and all the while, his eyes remained glued on the door of the bedroom, as if he was expecting someone to show up.

Being his Uncle, who was quite close to Nicholas when he was growing up and was also part of his nurturing, Anthony knew what were his Nephew’s limitations. He knew all too well, where Nicholas drew a line of safety and what was extreme danger for him.

Nicholas’s older brother, Lucas clearly the gunman of the family when the two brothers were sixteen. And despite of having an unlimited access of guns and armory, the guy refused to touch even the metal of the harmful weapon and puked at the very sight of blood.

And then, there he was, not only having incurred an injury but also having shot a man dead, with his own bloody hands. And it wasn’t even something that Nichoals had to go through great difficulties to ponder on and to make up a decision to do it.

It just came to him so naturally, that one might assume that it wasn’t Nicholas but instead his other identical triplet, Lucas. It was just so casual yet cruel of Nicholas that anybody who knew him couldn’t believe his or her own eyes, that Nicholas would do something so abrupt. Because there would be no way in seven heavens that the guy would ever end up firing a gun and the only plausible explanation would be that it was Lucas, all this time and all along, pretending to be Nicholas.

But it was only Anthony, who knew why Nicholas had ended up making such a decision and that also within a glimpse of an eye, not giving anyone the window to even come up with a more reasonable means of solving the situation.

It was like Nicholas wanted to do it and he had already planned on doing so, with that guy, who was trying to hurt Althea.

Althea…

Anthony knew that the girl was the reason behind Nicholas’s abrupt actions. She was the one, who had sparked the dead fire inside Nicholas’s genes. She was the one to make Nicholas act upon his instincts that even though innate and have been blessed to him through both his father and his mother, both of the two belonging to mafia families, with his father being the lord of the biggest money laundering mafia in the world. Those genes still remained dormant inside him, never even threatening to come out.

But something triggered him and Anthony knew exactly what it was.

It was Althea.

Seeing the girl in danger, suddenly Nicholas had forgotten the fear of guns and blood.

With blood oozing out of his own deep wound, that he completely fell numb to, he took a gun, all of a sudden even knowing how to remove its safety and shot the preparator right in to his chest, killing the man right on spot.

This only made Anthony feel even more worried. Because it meant that Nicholas was in love with that girl.

He was still in the process of getting over one girl, who had hurt him extremely grotesquely and Althea, was actually being used to help and treat Nicholas, get over Cheryl, who hurt him gruesomely.

And yet here Nicholas was, falling in love with Althea and to Anthony, it only sounded an extremely ruined and puzzled case of Stockholm Syndrome. Only, he couldn’t tell which was the one under influence.

Nicholas, who was falling in love with the girl, that he had manipulated to stay on the island or the girl herself, who completely oblivious of who Nicholas actually was, might also be falling in love with him.

It sounded something extremely grave that deserved Anthony’s attention and a magnifying look in to the matter.

“Should I be worried?”

He asked Nicholas, who was in the middle of straightened up more erectly against the headboard but stopped when he heard his uncle’s words.

“Worried about what?” he asked nonchalantly, acting oblivious to the situation but Anthony knew better than how to handle him.

He didn’t lose his calm and kept his tone monotonous.

“About your wound.” Anthony played coy, taking Nicholas off guard at his own game and Nicholas shook his head.

“You heard the doctor, it won’t even leave any marks.”

“So, about informing your parents?”

“They don’t need to know about anything that happened today.”

“Including the part where you shot a man dead?” Anthony stated calmly, pretending to be speaking nonchalantly and incoherently but his words did make Nicholas go silent for a moment.

He cleared his throat and shook his head.

“Yes!”

He remained precise with his answer and Anthony smirked, knowing that he had gotten under his Nephew’s skin.

“Come on! I think you Dad would be beyond excited and happy to know that you finally shot someone. Don’t you think so?”

Nicholas breathed out his agitation, suppressing back his urge to scream and yell at his Uncle and controlled his anger.

He wasn’t proud of what he had done and still had not processed and how and why it ended up happening at his hands. But it wasn’t a dream. In fact, he had not even done something so violently freakish even in his wildest dreams and yet, it occurred in reality. He shot a man dead.

He wondered how could he ever become so different from his true self and what made him act so ferociously vicious.

He shook his head at Anthony, shaking away all the cloudy thoughts that hindered his mind from thinking straight.

“Make sure that anybody who was not present at the sight of the incident knows about it.” he made himself clear, about the audience that he wanted to reach out to and Anthony simply shook his head.

“Have you realized why you ended up doing so?” he pressed the question and Nicholas shook his head.

“I would get to think about it, if you would stop nagging me.”

Anthony couldn’t help but snicker.

“Oh, now you find me nagging? I wonder who you don’t find nagging these days. Althea?”

Nicholas snapped his neck right at his uncle, who smirked back at him.

“I know you and I know what made you shoot a bullet today. Don’t play around too much with me or even the girl, if she really is the reason behind you taking such a bold step. Consider this moment important and honor this moment in your life.”

“What do you want me to do now?” Nicholas sighed as he looked up at his Uncle. “I once thought that I was willing to give up things that I enjoy for a woman and ended up proposing her. How did that turn out to be?” he c****d back and Anthony shrugged.

“Were you ever willing to shoot someone for her?”

Nichoals fell in complete silence as Anthony’s words hit him hard. He shook his head right away, remembering how even with Cheryl he never considered shooting somebody for the sake of love.

In fact, she even once argued with him over the very fact. She had randomly ended up asking him the question, whether he would ever take a bullet for her and he had blatantly, very straightly told her off that he would never go anywhere near a bullet or a gun.

Well, and then there he was.

“That doesn’t matter. It only means that now if I am willing to shoot for one, tomorrow this might take another intensity and I might end up bombing someone for another and…”

“What? Why are you even thinking about something that has less chances of happening compared to the chances of something that you have now, growing and blossoming to become something evidently beautiful.”

Nicholas scoffed at his uncle’s words.

“Please! Had I thought that Cheryl would leave me at the altar? Things with her also seemed perfect and…”

“You made things with her perfect but assuming that she was the perfect fit for your family and your name. you didn’t love Cheryl for her tendency or ability to be a good person. You loved her for the value that she carried and she loved you for your name and your status. You both found yourself befit according to the social structures and thought that you two would add more value to each other. And if anything, I believe that Cheryl was the one who sensed and realized the truth before you because you were too high on your achievement of perfection. You thought that Cheryl was perfect but what you didn’t know what that relationships are not made perfect by perfect people. Two imperfect people get together and make things work by balancing them. Son…”

Anthony sighed, patting Nicholas’s head gently.

“I don’t know what you think about Althea and I truly have no idea what is going on between the two of you but you are like my own son. I don’t have any children and all that I have is you. So, I would give you advice, like I would give my own son. Go after what you think makes you happy. You will find many people telling you to reach for perfection but I would tell you to after your happiness and happiness doesn’t comes with perfection, it brings the feeling of satisfaction which is the ultimate perfection one could achieve.”

Nicholas remained silent, listening to his uncle’s words but something within him told him that he should talk his concerns out at least for once.

He took in a deep breath and nodded back at Anthony.

“What if Althea, does the same thing as Cheryl? What if she doesn’t see it now but if I give her my everything, she would leave me as well? I don’t want to go through that again.”

Anthony sighed and perched down on the mattress next to Nicholas, looking right at his face and understood that the poor boy was actually afraid of the past being repeated.

“You know, I can not guarantee you a safe future with anyone. In fact, no one can. I know your father would always say that he would break or kill anyone who would hurt his children but he just says that, staying far away from the realities of life which are far worse than anyone could tell. Human behavior is unpredictable and no one knows how one thinks or act, unless and until, we don’t get to be with them. Every individual behaves different alone, and differently when put together with different individuals. Our behaviors are not even the same with different people. That’s just how humans work. Give that girl a chance, I can tell that you like her. don’t let your fears ever hold you back from getting the one that you want. Fight your fears and that girl has it in her existence, to make you look your fears right in the eyes and go against them. You are someone who would get sick after even seeing blood and yet here you are, wounded, stitched and having a man shot dead. All that for what? It can’t be just for a chef, who makes this delicious food that is helping you function better now. It is for someone, who holds a very special place in your heart. And if I am being very honest with you, I know only a little about the girl and as far as I have seen her, she is worth giving a shot, I guess.”

Nicholas looked at Anthony, who somehow, had tamed his fears a little and had given him a push in the right direction, where he wouldn’t be sure and determined and not lose the spark of thrill that comes with uncertainty. And yet the only certain feeling is the feeling of love that one has in his heart, that makes the one in love, cut through even the most tallest mountains in the world and be ready to give up even on their life.

Nicholas leapt forward and hugged his uncle, grateful to have him in his life.

“Thank you.” He told him and Anthony patted his back.

“No! you shouldn’t thank me. You should thank Althea, she is healing something that she didn’t break and if that isn’t the most blissful thing to be grateful for, than I don’t know what else would ever be.”

Nicholas nodded at his uncle, who finally got up from his bed and left, leaving behind a much more determined Nicholas, who had it in his heart that he would do everything in his power to make sure that Althea would remain his.

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Well, what do you think Nicholas would do now?

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