NaNoWriMo 2014

Chapter One

I was born in Kobald on the planet Sardak to a merchant father. He dealt mostly in implants and chips but occasionally he would smuggle a slave or two through to boost his income. His hair was thin and light, his face round and flabby, short yet flamboyant in his dress. His only joy in life was in cheating and swindling other people out of their money. My mother was a quiet woman, an ex-slave whom my father took fancy to and decided to take on as a wife. I remember her as being kind and caring to me and always thoughtful as to the needs of others. My father hated how submissive she was but she was beautiful and attended to his needs.

My father never really wanted me but my mother begged him to let her keep me and after some consideration he decided that when I grew up it would be good to have help in his shop. I grew up happy enough I suppose; I never really had much by way of friendships with the other boys in Kobald due to the fact that they were discouraged by their parents because of my father's reputation. I loved my mother; she was always there for me whether I crashed my JetLift and broke my arm or landed in trouble in school for one thing or another. My father is another story, as a child it seemed that I could never please him; no matter what I tried to do it was always wrong. It bothered me but my mother was always there to assure me that it was all right and that I had done nothing that I hadn't been supposed to.

My first indicator that my father was out of control came when I was six, I had just got home from school and my mother had sent me to help my father. I walked in the door of the shop; it was a large, building, with expensive wood paneling, garish orange floor covering, and only the old dark yellow-burning light bulbs - as a result of my father not wanting to spend the money on the bright white-lit fusion lights - to pierce the gloom. I shut the door behind me and headed to the office to see what needed doing. I heard a man talking angrily and my father responding in a like tone. As I got closer the voices became clear and I could hear what was being said.

"...know you have it here somewhere! It's mine, you hear? If I don't get my shipment of Hovers back" The stranger said shaking his fist in my father's face

"No! Nurk, y, y, you have this all wrong you lout! I h, h, have no such th, th, thing in my storage, I assure you! If I get word of where your stolen property is I'll b, b, b, be sh, be sure to tell you immediately" stuttered my father.

"I'd better or else you'll be awoken one morning by the sound of flash bombs falling on you and your family" threatened the strange man menacingly.

"Most reasonable of course Nurk" said my father "a real pleasure doing business with you as always." He said the last part with a bit of a sneer; his composed look returning to his face.

The man my father called Nurk stood there breathing hard for another minute staring down my father before turning and striding out the door, nearly bowling me over as he brushed by. As soon as Nurk was out of sight my father's smirk turned into a horrible grimace, his entire face was reddened with anger.

"How dare he threaten me like that!" he shouted "How does he think he can get away with that kind of threat and expect no consequences!?"

I spoke up then and asked him "Father, what was he talking about stolen Hovers?"

I realized after I finished speaking that I'd said exactly the wrong thing.

"You!" He spun to face me with a menacing leer on his face. "How much of that did you hear?" he demanded.

"N, n, nothing sir." said I, too frightened by his expression to tell the truth.

"The hell you heard nothing! You heard everything. If you tell anyone I'll, I'll..."He made a twisting motion between his two fists as his voice changed to a sputter having lost his words to a fit of anger.

I stumbled back, scared. I'd seen him angry before but this, this was insane! I'd done nothing but listen in and he was talking his anger out on me. I began to realize what was coming so I started creeping slowly backwards towards the door.

He caught my movement though and leapt at me, I tried to turn and run but he was too fast for me and pinned me to the ground before I was able to take three steps. He kept one foot on my back as he reached for his camel whip on the wall. "A good lashing is just what you need to teach you not to listen at doors!" he screamed at me in his rage.

Then his arm fell.