YOU FOR
THIS!
14
The next morning Alexia was
putting the laundry out on the washing line when she heard and car
pull up on her drive, she walked round to the front and watched
James get out of his car and walk up to her.
‘ You look awful,’ she
said.
‘ Thanks, I didn’t sleep
last night.’
‘ Ummmm it was a strange
night.’
‘ Where are they
kids?’
‘ They stayed at Tracy’s
for the night. Do you want to come in?’
He looked at her for a moment,
‘yeah please, I think we need to talk.’ She nodded at him and
walked inside. James followed her and sat down at the table whilst
she made them a drink. ‘Alexia I want to meet them,’ he said to
her.
‘ I’d worry if you didn’t
after yesterday’s performance. When do you want to meet
them?’
‘ Today?’ he said hoping
she’d agree.
‘ Well you know what...I
have an idea,’ she said looking at him, ‘but hear me out before you
throw a wobbler.’ He was amused that after all this time she still
knew him so well. ‘Two weeks today is the twins’ birthday and we
are taking them to a Manchester United game and having a few
friends there for a party. Every birthday when they blow out the
candles....’ she started to cry, ‘they wish for their Dad to come
home to them,’ she took a breath and he looked at her with a pained
look and tears even threaten to leak from him, he took a deep
breath and got himself under control. After a moment Alexia had
gathered herself together and continued talking, ‘how about you
come to the game and as they make their wish, you walk in and
surprise them?’James sat and thought about it for a moment, ‘OK, I
can agree to that,’ he said with a smile on his face. ‘Wow, this is
going to be the longest two weeks of my life, I don’t think it’s
sunk in yet that I’m a father.’
Whilst drinking their drinks and
looking at photos Alexia stood and really looked at James. ‘James
how did you end up with this lifestyle? The fighting and becoming a
loan shark, because I've got to be honest I'm not loving the idea
of you been near the kids whilst you’re beating the hell out of
people.’
‘ That’s a fair comment,
but you know me better than anyone Alexia. I'd never put those kids
in danger or hurt them but to answer your question, anger is how I
ended up with this lifestyle.’ Alexia looked at him confused and he
moved to sit next to her and held her hand. ‘I was so angry,
disgusted and ashamed of myself when you left me. I became angry
and I mean really angry, then to top it off you wouldn't speak to
me. I was always in trouble at university for fighting and one day
one of the teachers said they were going to call my parents in and
discuss my behaviour with them. Knowing that my parents worked from
home the head teacher tried ringing whilst I was with them but
there was no answer. I knew then that something was wrong as they
always made a point of telling me when they were going out as you
know. Anyway because there was no answer I went home and the nearer
the stronger my gut feeling got something was wrong and I was
right. I ran in through the front door and my aunt and uncle had
been shot dead and were lying on the floor.’ Alexia gasped in
horror and put her hand over her mouth and squeezed James’ hand
with the other. ‘I then heard a noise coming from my dad’s office
so I walked in thinking it was mum or dad phoning for help and
found three men throwing things about. As soon as they spotted me
they grabbed me and tied me to a chair and started asking me where
the money was, of course I had no idea what they were talking about
so they knocked me about a bit and left. Long story short that’s
when I found out that mum and dad had gotten a loan from a loan
shark and couldn't afford to pay it back. The guys who had gone
round assumed that my aunt and uncle were my mum and dad. After
that my anger just spiralled out of control, so my dad sent me to
see one of his friends who ran an underground
Learning to Kill: Stories