OhmFluke A Day II

06 October 2021

Slap!

"Ungrateful bastard!"

And another slap. The sound of the impact resonated across the house. It was a small house, 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, a kitchen and a living room.

The woman who was sobbing inside one of the rooms jolted up from the sound. She sobbed harder into a piece of clothing, trying to drain her tears and not to make a sound. She wanted to run outside, to protect her child but she just couldn't move.

The fear she had was overpowering her.

Outside, a man in his mid 30 looked at the 18 year old boy with hatred. He kicked the boy who was already crouching on the floor one last time before leaving the house. Slamming the door hard.

Once the woman heard the door, she moved from the bed and out of the room to the boy.

"Fluke? Fluke!" She called.

"Mom..." A soft whisper was heard by the boys who had bruises and blood dripping from the side of his lips.

"Oh my baby!" The woman cried, softly cradling her son into her embrace. "I'm sorry baby... I'm so sorry." She repeated her apologies again and again whilst still cradling her son.

"Let's leave mom..." Fluke muttered through the pain across his cheeks and lips. The woman sobbed. She wanted to leave, she wanted her and her son to leave the horrible man she called her husband, but again, the fear of the man finding them and something worse to happen kept her from moving.

"We will baby, we will." She said knowing it wouldn't be soon.

— — —

Fluke wiped the blood on his lips with the water and hissed. He should've been used to the hits by now but he hated that he can still feel the pain from them.

He looked at his reflection in the mirror, his eyes bloated from crying, the bruise on his cheeks starting to look purple, his lips busted and the eye bag was clearer than ever.

Without even realising, his eyes started watering, in his head the memories of him as a child, his mother's smiling face and his father running around their backyard chasing over him played.

The weather was beautiful, his father had just gotten a promotion and they decided to promote by having a small picnic but since Fluke was still too little to be at the beach, they opted for their backyard instead.

His mother prepared a lot of food even though it was only the three of them. But everything was perfect. He had loving parents, they didn't struggle. Everything was fine.

They had nobody else, both his parent's family didn't agree that they marry each other thus they were left. But his parents said that it was okay, as long as they have each other, it was enough. And Fluke was fine with it. Until one day, everything changed.

It was already late in the night but his father didn't return home like he usually did. He can feel that his mother was worried too, but every time he looked at her, she would smile and reassure him that everything was alright. "Your father just got a lot of work at the company, he'll be back soon." She told him.

But Fluke noticed that his mother had tried calling his father and never once did he pick up. She tried calling the office but they said that his father had left the office on time, at 5 in the evening. Not wanting to worry his mother more, he went to bed as his mother requested. Before he closed his eyes, he held onto his mother's hand, trying to reassure her too, that his father will return.

He never did.

He got into an accident that night.

The worst thing was that his mother was never informed of the accident until a week later because his father's family was there first and they didn't say anything about his father having a family. They only found out when they saw his memorabilia on the daily news.

His mother cried, and so did he.

They went to his paternal grandparents house and were rudely told off. They didn't even look at him and his mother.

It wasn't long before him and his mother started struggling. His mother hadn't worked after she got married to his father, but she started working at a nearby convenience store. When it wasn't enough, she started working at a nightclub.

Fluke will stay with his mother's friend who was nice enough to want to look after him.

A few years later, his mother met another man. And it didn't take long before they got married, thus, Fluke got himself a step father.

At first, Wasat was a wise man. He treated his mother and him with love. He actually believed that he and his mother were going to be better with his stepfather in their lives. But everything changes slowly. Wasat began going out till late at night and only to return at dawn, smelling of alcohol. At first, it was almost harmless, sure he would suddenly raise his voice at the two of them but then he'll quickly apologies for it. His mother had told his stepfather that she didn't like it that he started drinking and he promised he would stop.

And he did.

However, he was suddenly laid off from work because of the economic recession and he went back to drinking. That's when everything started going south. At first it was a small hit, he even managed to stop himself from slapping them but as time went on, as more alcohol he consumed, the will to stop himself from hitting the woman was gone.

Wasat never hit Fluke, and his mother was glad he didn't. But that also changed when the 8 years old Fluke walked in on his stepfather hitting his mother in the living room and as a man, he wanted to stop his stepfather from hurting his mother. And Wasat hit him instead.

That was the first time Fluke was hit by his stepfather, the stepfather that he's grown to love and believe was their savior.

That image was slowly dissolving, him and his mother becoming Wasat's punching bag.

And now, 10 years later, nothing changed. He asked his mother why don't they just leave his stepfather? But his mother just smiled and caressed his cheeks.

After asking a thousand times, he just stopped.

Love is weird. He just doesn't understand it. He never wanted to understand it.

If love is what makes him and his mother suffer, he'd rather be alone for the rest of his life.

He wiped the tears that started falling to his cheeks harshly.

'No more crying, Fluke.' He looked at his phone screen, that only he can see because of how bad the screen was broken and widened his eyes.

He's almost late for work. He quickly washed his face and hissed at the pain but he didn't have time to deal with it. It was almost 7 and he needed to be at the Ritprasert's household before 7:30AM. The young master is coming home after 3 years of studying in America.

The Madam said she needed to ask him something.

He slowly opened the door to the bathroom and picked his bag before checking on his mother who was asleep. The only time of peace for the two of them was when Wasat wasn't home and nowadays he's rarely home when the sun is up.

He kissed his mother on the temple softly before leaving their beat up house.

Work was something he looked forward to everyday, it was the only place he can be at ease. Plus, the Madam and Master were nice people. They treat their servant as equal and actually see him as a person.

With a smile, he walked with a light step. Awaiting for a better day.

—TBC—

A/N : Like always, I had no idea where this is going. 555 Bear with meeee