Once Upon A Time in 2016

The Beast: Chapter 5

                  

"I have had an eye on you for a long time Mr Khan. The past 7 years in fact. You see it had a lot to do with your relationship with a certain Miss Chakravathy."

Raef felt as though someone had reached out, grabbed his heart and had started shredding it to pieces. Her face came back. Her hair. Her voice. Her laughter. "You can't catch me! You can't catch..."

"Mr Khan! Mr Khan! Oh good god! Raef!..."

Raef stirred slightly. Slowly his surroundings came into focus. "Bloody hell man", the Duke looked down at him. "How...how do you know her?"

"Miss Chakravathy... Tina, she is my late wife's little sister. My wife, Sheena, was the Chakravathy's eldest child. The relationship with her family wasn't great after she married me. But you see, she kept in contact with her sister, and knew of you. She encouraged Tina to pursue you, and made me promise to help. Luckily, you broke it off yourself. I wish I had the strength to. Instead I selfishly hogged her, and now well, I'm sure you know she's dead. I wasn't here when she bled out. She didn't have her beloved family around her, and died quite alone. After that I really didn't want to see another's life be wasted away the same way. Their family is awfully close you know. And I single handedly broke them apart."

"Still doesn't explain why you're a crap dad to Lucas." Raef glared at the Duke, fighting the urge to cower in his presence. For a second it seemed as though the older man was going to reach out and strike him, but then his face relaxed, and it almost seemed as though he found Raef amusing. He looked away as he answered.

"I remember when she got pregnant. We were so happy. But...she was very small, you see. And the child was quiet big. In the end, there was a very slim chance both would survive. She refused to let me choose her. But...no matter how I looked at it, there could be another child, but there could never be another her. It caused a great amount of trouble between us, the child. I worked away much more, leaving her here, alone. It was a difficult pregnancy from the start. She could never keep anything down, and she ended up going into premature labour. I received the call when I was in Italy. Too late. By the time I got here she had passed on, and the doctor gave me a child. The boy. The thing she loved enough to leave me behind."

"That's not his fault! He's just a child! These things happen! You're his father for god's sake! You can't blame him for what happened! He thinks you hate him!"

"I don't", the Duke said looking at Raef confused. "Why would I blame him?"

"Wait, what?"

"I don't understand, I love Lucas. He was Sheena's most precious thing, he came from her for Lord's sake! Her final gift. Why would he think I hate him?"

"Dude. Are you serious right now?"

"What?" The Duke looked genuinely bewildered.

"Lucas thinks that you hate him! I think that you hate him! You're never around, go off for days on end without telling him anything and even when you are about you hole yourself up in this room! Look, I get that you're upset about Sheena, but you need to stop being so selfish! Your actions have made your son blame himself for his mother's death. He has hated himself since the day he was born thanks to your beastly behaviour! You need to sort yourself out. For Lucas' sake at least."

"You don't understand...I'm sorry he has felt that way, but the pain...the pain is too much. He has Ana and Judas, they love him like their own. I'm a failure, I accept that, but I can't stay here. She walks through these halls, I hear her laughter echoing through the rooms. You of all people should know how that feels. After all that's one of the main reasons I put that advert out when I found out you were looking to move."