DESPAIR

The boy looked out the window of the sorry excuse of a house he is forced to live in. He is 11 and had looked on helplessly as his mother was deprived of her worldly possessions in addition to her identity and home.

Her only crime...her husband died. This atrocity was committed by his father's kinsmen. The same uncles, loved and trusted by his father.

His no longer beloved grandmother looked on, laughing in glee. She kept saying, "serves her right...that proud foreign woman my son forced me to accept...take your bastard child and go. Take your evil with you!"

Tears rolled down his face as he watched his mother weep and beg shamelessly.
"Don't think of me please, consider my son only. Let him have something of his father. How do you expect me to cater for him without any means of livelihood? Please have mercy!"

All these pleas fell on deaf ears as they were thrown out of his father's beautiful mansion with nothing but the clothes on their back.

He felt useless at that moment. He had tried to help his mother but what could he do against five full grown men? His fists were useless against them. He could still feel the pain from the fall. His uncle had thrown him off his back without any regard for his life.

His mother held him close to her breast, singing and weeping while she prayed for divine intervention at the same time.

"It was unfortunate", he thought, "that his mother had no one". She was an orphan, the only child of her parents.

He wondered why his mother did not go to one of his father's many friends. Surely one of them would be happy to take them in. Even her own friends would be happy to help.

Little did he know they had been abandoned by their so called family friends. He would later learn that in the world of the rich, sincere friends are hard to find.

The perfect little world he had enjoyed from birth was destroyed that fateful day.

Memories of his father flooded his mind. His kind hearted father who never raised his voice at him. His mother always smiling around his father...the occasional stargazing nights.

He remembered in particular a statement his father had made. He said, "Son, do you know the nearest star to us is about 4.25 lightyears away, that's why wishes take at least 9 years to come true".

"It's true", his father had said. "I made a wish to meet the love of my life and my wish came true about 10 years after!"

"If only wishes did come true, then my most sincere wish is to become someone powerful, so powerful that no one would ever hurt me or my mother again. I would have my revenge and make them all suffer worse than this".

On the other hand, isn't it said that if wishes were horses then even beggars would ride. Does that mean wishes don't come true? If so, what hope is there for me then?

This story is inspired by the fact to fiction writing contest by @anikekirsten.

I really hope she likes it.

Image sourced from pixabay.com