BLOOD MONEY

Chapter 8: "The Twist"

                 "DERICK ! What are you doing here ?", the words that came out of her mouth. The man replied by saying "Sherran I could explain." Sherran being placed in a confused state of amazement and anger, responded sarcastically, by saying ''Damion, come say hello to your father." Immediately Damion angrily rushed up on his dad, gripped him, and pinned him up against the wall. Due to the thoughts that floundered Damion's mind at that point, his intentions were to physically hurt him. The adrenaline rush that overtook Damion's body, drived him to continuously choke his father, to an almost near death experience. But, his mom told him to release his dad, so that he can express himself. He respected his mother enough to disobey her, so he did as she requested. Coughing and grasping for air was Derick's sign of relief.
"All these years, I tried calling, texting, nothing!.. Christ sake, I even took it up to the police." , Sherran grieved in disappointment. The night of Derick's disappearance, Sherran informed the police on the matter. They told her that the case was still pending, as it remained unsolved. Sherran didn't even know how to live with herself. "Look Sherran, I'm sorry, I could explai..." , Derick said as he was reaching out to comfort her with his hand. "Hey!, get your filthy hands off her man!" ,Damion stopping the interaction, filled with rage. "It's okay, hunny .. it's okay..let him talk.", Sherran handing the mic over to Derick. (figure of speech). The look that was in that young man's eyes, was just pure hatred. He was only trying to standup for his mother, in the days she was left in misery.
                Derick fully explained that, he was deeply sorry for leaving Damion abandoned, when he was just a kid. He furthurly explained, that the night when they got into the argument, when he left outside to clear his mind, he was kidnapped. A bag was placed over his head,was tied up and placed in a moving vehicle. Then suddenly, they took him out the vehicle and the last words he heard was "shoot 'em. ", A voice he'll never forget. And there he got shot right above the chest, near his shoulder. He then felt that he was thrown below a cliff, and went splashing into the water. He blacked out and didn't know what happened after that. Until the next morning, a fisherman by the name of Michael Smith, was fishing and spotted what seems to be a man laying alongside the rocky shores. He was rushed to the hospital and by the grace of God, he survived. Fisherman Michael and his wife took him in, and took good care of him until he took off. To be a bit more convincing, Derick raised his shirt to show them the bullet wounds. The marks that continued to haunt him on a daily basis .

                        "Mixed Emotions"

               The story touched Sherran but Damion's guard on the other hand, remained all the way up. The main thing they failed to understand was, why didn't he return home after the incident. To make matters better, he could've dialed a phone call or something. Derick answered all her questions. "Wait, you guys didn't get the letter I sent ?",Derick concerningly asked. "What letter!? ",Sherran responded. He then explained that his boss reached out to him and came forward with a proposal . Which was to join the marines, and in this position he would get paid way more than before but, this was a 13 year contract.
                  "So you bailed on us for money?", Damion questioned in frustration. Derick then stared at Sherran for a little to few seconds, until she looked away anxiously. "So you didn't tell him?, Derick asked. A lot of curiosity was filling the air. Sherran kept her lips sealed and just remained listening.
Derick went ahead and told Damion that they were going broke, and they needed the extra money. He previously spoke to Sherran on the matter years back, on joining the Marines, but she disagreed. That was the reason why, Derick was always out and working, so that he could've taken care of home. These issues occured three years before Damion was even born, up until his disappearance. Derick knew if he had brought this idea to his wife once again, when he got back home after the incident, she would have stopped him, considering that it was a life or death situation. So, he joined the Marines on his own terms.
                       " I'm not buying any of that, because right now you're dead to me", Damion making a loud outburst. "All of a sudden when things are going good for me you wanna come back , and you expected me to simply do what?? Except you?", Damion also added. "Look Son, I've done a lot of things in the past what I hold accountability for, I wish their was someway I could fix things, but I did everything in my power..to do..what I thought was best for my family, our family", Derick responded. "Best???? , Is running away apart of your bEsT doings??", "Do you know what it feels like to wake up every single day, knowing that you don't have a dad to at least take you fishing, Not showing up on Christmas holidays, Nor Thanksgiving, You didn't even have the balls to show up to any of my baseball games, But you wanna stand in front of me and talk about Best?? You'd never be half the man your brother is...screw this I'm outta here", Damion dropped the mic jaw dropping response, and angrily rushed out the door.

"Who Am I To Judge?

Sherran tried to make things better, she yelled out Damion's name as he didn't dare to look back. Derick then put his hands over her shoulder, "Just let him go, I deserve all of this, the stupid argument, my job, everything!" , as Derick began contemplating.
"Things happen, you don't have to beat your self up for it, I know this is complicated right now, and I can't even believe I'm saying this but I forgive you.", Sherran said as she tried comforting Derick who was beating himself up about the whole situation. "How do you even know I'm telling the full truth to begin with?", as Derick looked at Sherran all confused. "I don't, but what I do know is, if you have the courage to trod all this way, after all these years to make a difference, then who am I to judge??", "We're all humans, humans make mistakes, although.. you did quite make a Big, Big One.", Sherran said. "Yea Thanks a lot , for making me feel way more awful than I felt already.", Derick sarcastically said, as his response to her last emphasized point in statement. Then out of no where, they began laughing as they brushed off the situation, the connection was slowly coming across once again.
                  Sherran then told him that, "It was your brother John who supported us, in the years of your absence." Derick was quite baffled, because as far as he knew, during their childhood, they got into a serious conflict. Before their Dad passed away, he placed most of the inheritance on Derick's name because, Mr. Donovan felt that he was far more responsible. Meanwhiles, John always got his self in problems, such as going out late, being accused of drug dealing and theft. So, their Dad felt that he would spend it foolishly. John left the house when he was just 16, and Derick was 18 at that time, in search for his own destiny. And from that moment, Derick never seen or heard from his brother ever again.

So why did Johnathan decide to help his brother's family out? .This was the question that was really needed to be answered......