Chapter 4

Allen

Flashback continues.....

Giving one last look at the lying form of my mother I walked out to the front hall taking the hand of my sister but what I saw ahead bolted my feet to the ground. A middle aged man around the age of forty was standing in front of me. He was dressed in a Gray suit and his face was in a serious expression which clearly said no nonsense but only business. His eyes were piercing blacks as sharp as the orbs of a tiger before catching its prey. A shudder passed through my veins absorbing his terrifying persona. Dipping his hands in his pant pockets he stood straight examining me from head to toe.

There were two younger men standing behind him dressed in black suits. Looking at me his eyes sparkled with curiosity. Twisting his head slightly he whispered something to the man behind and looked ahead of me noting the corpse of my parents. Raising both his eyebrows in an amused simper he asked me in a controlled expression. "What did you do to your parents young man?" My face went pale in a matter of seconds.

I am caught.

Thank God he doesn't seem to be a cop. "Who are you? What are you doing here in my house?" I gathered all my courage and asked him stern keeping my head straight while questioning him. He looked puzzled for a brief second but slightly smiles extending his hand for a shake. "Hello, I am Harris Richmond, your father works for me." After completing his sentence he assessed me thoroughly with his gauging irises. "There was an important last minute assignment that came over and I had to meet him personally to handover the work but it seems like he is not anymore available to discharge his duties." There was a tinge of derision apparent in his statement.

I walk to the entrance with my sister hand in hand maintaining a bold charade. "If you may please leave I am going out to file a complaint at the police station. Somebody killed my parents." Harris shook his head, a teasing snigger playing on his lips. He swiftly caught my arm arresting my scurry. "Not so early young boy, I know who killed your parents." He tells pointing frontwards with his eyes towards the carcass of my parents.

My sister begins to cry looking at the heavy muscular men dominating us and my confidence was slowly receding to a thin thread. "Julie please do not cry, I am right here with you." I whisper to my little sister kneeling in front of her and wiping away her tears. Suddenly all that comical attitude was gone in Harris's behaviour looking at my crying sister. "Arrest that pretty mouth of yours before I chop it to nuts and serve it to the crows and vultures outside." He tells me in a warning.

Harris tries to reach Julie but I pull her behind me away from his hold. The determination in my heart to protect my sister by all means was firm in my kernel. "Before you reach my sister, you have to win me." I tell Harris intrepid reaching him in the eye. He claps his hands appreciative in a tickled sneer and speaks to the man beside him in a language unknown. "I admire your guts to counter me and protect your sister young man but I would also like to know why you killed your father?" There was the same spirited attitude in his intonation.

"That is none of your business and for your kind information I did not kill my father. Now if you leave..." He grits his teeth, murmuring to himself a series of profanities and his hands reach his pockets pulling out a revolver. "Stubborn ass I suppose that you are." I gulp heavy gaping at the man's devilish aura. Julie starts to wheeze shedding tears in silence.

"Julie, go inside our room." Looking down I tell my sister in a forbid. She runs through the steps and races to our tiny room bolting her inside it. "Your man isn't available here anymore to do whatever the bullshit you came to ask him of doing." I tell him blinking away my tears and facing him audacious. "No playing games with me. If you want to stay alive for your sister, furnish me with the right answers." Harris tells me placid but with a command in his voice.

I take in a shuddering breathe and my hands form in fists with nails piercing inside my palms. There was some kind of ripped emotion in the old man's eyes that gave house to a twisted confidence in my heart. I thought I could trust him and opened my bleeding wounds supplying him every ounce of information he needed in a valiant howl. "My father beat my mother brutally and killed her. Do you think such a monster needs to stay alive? So I killed him." Harris's voice goes gentler peering at me in pity. "What is your name?"

"I am Allen and there is no necessity to ruth. I am proud of what I have done." I tell him in firmness straightening my shoulders. "Good name that you have and I like your smartness." He ruffles my hair sitting beside me in a sofa. "Allen, I have got two choices to offer you and I think you are shrewd to opt for the right one." He glances around and locates some of my books and stationary that were scattered in the house. The first is - you can surrender to the cops and let your sister grow in some kind of nasty children's home depriving her of the precious things in life she ought to enjoy. You will be sent to a juvenile prison, your career and education will be destroyed for the ..." I do not let him complete. It was already horrific "What is my second choice?"

"Good, I know you are a clever boy." He pats my shoulder. "The second choice is, I will take care of this situation you are in, bail you from all the charges of your father's murder that you are supposed to serve and rephrase your record clean so that you have best choice of employment in future when you grow up."

"Your dad once told me you wanted to be a doctor and so I will finance you to attain your education along with your sister's including maintenance, medical emergencies and everything pertained to your survival. In short I will take care of you and your sister like my own family. But in lieu of this you are supposed to ride out two wishes to me that I will claim when you grow old and capable to handle my requirements." He rests his left leg on the knee of the right one leaning back relaxing on the sofa like a king of some God's own country. "So will that be a deal?" A sunny smile rested on his rims as he asks me with expectancy forwarding his hand for a shake. I look between his extended hand and his sparkling blacks running my vision through his extravagant business suit.

I contemplated the pros and cons for a few moments. "What are you thoughtful off? This is the best deal I have ever offered to any human in this world." Mr Richmond tells me slightly bewildered. "I think my father saved us enough money and assets for our survival. I don't assume I am in need of your charity." He brings out his full blown chuckles. "That means you do not know the actual truth young man. I am sorry to say this but your entire inheritance is lost in betting and gambling of your father. He is penniless and a pauper on the streets.

An involuntary soft gasp escapes my rims and he nods his head at me in understanding. I did not have anything else but forced to opt for this deal. I put my smaller hand in his giant one. "I accept the deal." I tell him with toughness. "But I have a condition." The smile on his face was replaced with concern. "What is it?"

"I and my sister will be guaranteed the safety of our lives. There should be 24/7 security with us." He pushes his head back and bursts to chortles. "Who do you think I am? I am the world famous American mafia leader, Harris Richmond. Nobody dares to mess with me but to be on the safer side I keep my safety controls always working. Security is already included in the package I am offering you." He tells in confirmation. "Is there anything else that you would wish to have?" I shook my head in a slightly relaxed smile and placed my hand in his.

"It is a deal."