Stray

Rosé Pt. 1

A New Day

"So, your a mafia leader...." - Ximena

"Boss but, yes." - Acse

"Boss, sorry. But why?" - Ximena

"It's just how life played out I guess..." - Acse

Ximena sighs.

"Your being too vague....do you really even want to tell me any of this?" - Ximena

"S-sorry, your right." - Acse

"He stuttered....as long as I've known him, he's never....." - Ximena

"Uhm, let's try again. How about....let's start from the beginning. I feel like things changed in middle school really...or we can start wherever you think is best, like your mother..." - Ximena

Augustine looks down.

"Sure." - Acse

"Not prying....do what's comfortable." - Ximena

"Clear the room!" - Acse

The staff quickly stop everything they are doing and clear out the area, closing the doors behind them.

"Fine...let's do this shit. Could possibly get some uh.....some sort of closure from this shit..." - Acse

Ximena sits up, prepared to listen.

"Uhh, Augustine left the day before my 5th birthday so I only had a dad until I was 5.....asked my mom about it and she would only talk me in circles...she wouldn't really say if he was a good or bad guy. She prided herself on letting me make that decision myself....so I didn't know much other than she really loved him. My mom was loyal to him and still to this day, I don't know why.....he left us to suffer alone with her health..." - Acse

"Holy shit....he really is just an open book...if that's all it took..." - Ximena

Ximena nods, showing that she is listening and that Augustine has her undivided attention.

"There are a lot of children without fathers so as sad as that may be, I could manage without him....until I couldn't. Mom had given me a set of tags from my father and that's when shit went down hill. The tags made me a target. It was like everyone around me knew what they meant except me....They would use my tags as a excuse to bully me. So I stopped crying and started taking beatings like a man." - Acse

Augustine seems numb telling the story.

"As you know, my mother died in middle school....her last day on this earth was a week before our graduation day....in her last week alive, it was like she was preparing to go. She told me more about my father than she had in my 14 years of being her son. I had finally knew his name and that I was a spitting image of him. She also told me that he was alive the day before she died....not having a father meant that I had to fight for everything I wanted.... I was bullied for my height, my nonexistent dad, and being an orphan essentially. So in middle school, I wasn't taking no shit. I got smarter, stronger, and faster than all my bullies so that's why I fought so much." - Acse

"Wow,....we're just gonna gloss over that? There is so much to unpack there..." - Ximena

Augustine sits back.

"You say I changed in high school?" - Acse

"U-uh, yeah. Everyone liked you out of nowhere...even people who bullied you." - Ximena

"Yes, so one day in middle school.....maybe in the last couple weeks of school. I was filled with so much hate and anger. I had just gotten out of school and I was walking home. 4 kids had followed me off campus...I knew they were following me because they all rode the bus....when I got to my shortcut I take, down that ally-way.....the kids tried to jump me. A few of them got a couple licks in before I went absolutely berserk....I still don't exactly remember how that fight went that day, I saw red... but I do know that....I beat those kids so bad that there parents could barely recognize them.....that was the day I met Ms. Rosé....." - Acse