Wilt and Ruin

Chapter One - Acceptance (King)

I am my father's son.

It's important that you remember that.

If you learn nothing else from this, you have to remember that I am my father's son.

Ever since I was a small boy, I learned certain things about my father that made me afraid and ashamed.

He was incapable of love but capable of great darkness lined with cruelty. He thought of no one else but himself and when the bad things came, he hid—my father was a coward.

Ever since I was a small boy, my father's eyes were portals of blackness that led to my nightmares at night. Other children feared the monsters under their bed—I feared the one sleeping down the hall.

Thankfully, he wasn't home much.

My mother either – it wasn't until I was older that I found out where she would jet off to—shopping, plastic surgery in other countries.

But that was a long time ago.

Over the years, I'd grown to know his darkness could never touch me. The only time I saw fear in my father's eyes was the day I left the house. I was tired of him, tired of his dark cloud, tired of living on eggshells.

That day, I wasn't sure why he was afraid of me. But the servants whispered. They said I'd become him. I was a sullen teenager—cold, distant, alone. 

After a while, I began thinking I enjoyed it. 

It was easier not to deal with people—and so I drifted.

It'd been years since I'd had a good night's sleep. But I had gotten used to it. I wandered the city at nights, the sound of my supercar rumbling in my ears.

There was a pride knowing I owned one of the only two of it's type in Thailand and my father's money didn't buy it for me. A year of none-stop working, barely sleeping, struggling through school in a cramped apartment—alone, bought me this car.

I revved the engine and sped through a green light.

It was the only lullaby I needed.

Early the next morning, I rose, showered and dressed in a white shirt and black pants as was customary. I hung my tie around my neck, grabbed my bag, phone and wallet and descended the stairs for breakfast. The chef had everything set up on the table and all I had to do was sit and eat.

While I had something to eat, I went through my schedule for the new semester. People couldn't understand why I was going back to school. But I had my reasons. With the money I'd made from selling my app, I didn't have to, nor did I have to work the rest of my life. But it didn't escape me that all the people I knew was my father's age.

I sipped from the white coffee mug and set it back on the saucer as I scanned through the requirements for my degree. The school was once again insisting that I participated in extra curricular activities.

I hated group work.

But sooner or later I would have no choice. I needed the points to graduate.

Frowning, I set the phone aside, drank the water and gathered my things.

The sun was vibrant outside. There was always something almost magical about the rays hitting my skin. Many Thai people hid from the sun, wanting to be fair skinned – I didn't care. My last trip to surf in Australia, I came back as tanned as I could without burning.

COR University sat on a stretch of land not far from the ocean. If I stood on one of the back balconies and inhaled, I could smell the salt on the air.