Journey of Life.

Chapter 64.

After a few minutes he confessed his past. I was shocked and petrified by his story. Especially what he faced, at a still very young age- and so innocent. Basically, before Thomas and Merlyn became his parents, he already had a family in Russia. He was born in a poor suburb on the outskirts of Moscow, a few years after the fall of communism. So the country experienced a serious period of economic crisis. But he didn't care much about that. There was a person, who gave him hope that future could be better than the present.

It was his mother named, Anastasia. He described her as a sweet woman, full of kindness. Despite not having much, she often helped those who were in difficulty. So from childhood he had her as a role model. Also because he spent most of his time with her. It made him happy, or at least what he hoped for. Instead, the more he stayed with her, the more he closed himself, in a world where only his name existed. Unfortunately he was unable to create it, because his reality was stronger than his imagination.

So, from an early age he had to face, and witness scenes, that no child should ever see. In fact, behind the kindness of the mother, there was the suffering and hatred of her life. She often curled up in the bathroom crying, and wondering, why does a woman like me have to suffer this way?

James said that she deserved all the happiness in the world, but it was evident that wasn't her destiny. Hers was to suffer mistreatment from her drunken husband, every night and every second. The father, whose name he did not want to pronounce, was absent during the days. He only came back in the evening, spending it drinking, and playing cards with his friends.

Anastasia had to be a maid serving everything that was asked. Obviously the father forced his son to attend his games, and how a man he had to be: dominant and strong. James knew it wasn't a fair thing and his father often tried to change his mind. In fact, sometimes he went with him to various houses, where many of his colleagues organized parties on Sundays. He saw him cheat on his wife multiple times, with women never seen and known before. His father said it was a way to make friends. But the little James knew that all that was wrong.

"He told me that to get a woman, a man must show his power, and his strength towards her." James affirmed, without looking me in the eyes. "He showed me how I was supposed to be one day, or like him."

He felt so dull in saying those words. It came naturally for me to hug him, plus without commenting. Sometimes having company, and someone to talk to, is more than enough to someone. And that was what he needed right now. As a result, he resumed his story, but this time more serene.

He revealed that his father was a gangster working in a small businesses. He had a career in that world, but never as a leader, only as a hitter. So it was a habit for him to use violence. For this reason, oppressed by money and success, he ended up becoming an angry man. More than anything, he thought that his wife considered him a failure, and that it was his cause, if she and so their son lived in misery. He did not take it well, so full of anger, he began to take pleasure in filling her with beats, kicks, punches and straps. Thus when he got job in the criminal world, he became dominant towards her. By treating her like a dog. Not only her unfortunately. He also targeted James, his only son and very often he pushed him to follow what he did. So yeah, his father forced him to assist his mother, to be beaten mercilessly or forced him for example to steal money particularly from mothers and elderly people. What happened if James hadn't done what he said? Simple, his father would have beaten him up, most of the time with his belt.

"He often gave me lessons of life, based on his perceptions." James explained announcing "He repeated many times the lesson number one, never let a woman get in your way."

He gazed me in the eyes, I could see in his, the little James listening to those words. "He thought that a woman have the power to completely influence the state of the man, to make him weak and miserable."