Painful memories of the past

Painful memories of the past

Ivan stared foolishly, surprised and shocked at the face he thought he'd never see again in his life. Two other men, apart from the ones he came in with, stood beside him, carrying heavy guns in their hands.

"Father" he called, when he was finally able to speak.

The aged man stared back at Ivan, alarmed. The shock was evidently written all over his face.

"Ivan," he called, and stood up from the chair he had been sitting on. The cigarettes he held fell to the ground in shock.

"Father…I can't believe this" Ivan replied, he couldn't believe his eyes. "You're…. you're still alive?"

The three men that came in with Ivan watched them in confusion. Their eyes went from their capo and back to the strange young man they had just brought in.

"Son. My son" The Capo called out and walked slowly to meet Ivan.

"Stop. Don't come close" Ivan screamed, as anger surged through his veins.

The ugly incident he has locked up deep down within him, resurfaced and he went down memory lane on the unfateful incident that happened one fateful night.

The past
Ivan was just returning from where he went to play ball. He carried his ball in his arms, and was jogging into the house when he heard loud noises, someone was screaming.

The noise could only mean a thing! His Mom and dad were fighting again!

They're always fighting and the ten years old Ivan couldn't understand why they were always fighting.

His dad's very aggressive and violent and a drunkard and Ivan dreaded whenever his father was drunk, because he's always causing a fight even when his Mom tried to avoid it.

The worst part was that his Mom always got beaten up badly by his dad. His dad caused her so many injuries and bruises and maltreated her and that made Ivan hate his father.

When Ivan walked into the house, he saw his dad was on top of mom, punching her as she laid on the floor struggling to free herself.

"Mummy" he screamed and ran towards them.

With the little strength he had in him, he tried to push his dad off from his mom, but his dad pushed him hard and he fell to the ground in pain. Ivan had groaned loudly in pain.

"Ivan," his mom screamed when she saw her son wriggling in pain.

"Shut up you bitch. You fucking asshole, you whore" his dad swore as he kept on hitting his mom.

"Mummy," Ivan screamed. He was crying now. He tried to stand but he couldn't.

This was one of the times he wished he was all grown up so he could defend his mummy from his Daddy.

"Daddy, please stop," he begged, still in pain.

Ivan would have called for help but it'll be useless as they live alone in this big house.

His dad didn't listen to him as he kept punching her. She's bleeding already.

Painfully, he crawled to where they were and held his father in his leg. His father kicked him so hard that the kick sent him flying to the other end of the room.

"Ivan," his mom screamed louder this time. Her voice echoed in the room.

To see Ivan in that state made her very angry and somehow she managed to push her husband away from her body.

His father staggered back as he wasn't expecting the push and his mom ran to him and crouched beside him.

"Ivan, darling, are you okay?" She asked with a shaky voice as tears rolled down her cheeks.

His mom was always like this. She's always putting him first even when she's in danger. She loves and cares for him so much.

"Mom.. I'm…I'm fine" he forced himself to say, as he wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Can you stand? Does it hurt too much?" She asked.

"It hurts mom" Ivan replied, wincing in pain as he moved a part of his body.

"Damn it!" She screamed, then stood up and ran towards his dad, and began hitting him hard on his chest.

"You bastard!" She screamed, and hit him. "How could you do this to your son? You're a monster"

Ivan's dad retaliated with a punch and his mom staggered back but she came forward again, throwing dad weak punches.

"Mummy, please stop," he begged.

"You can hurt me, but not my son! Not Ivan!" She retorted.

The last punch she threw at his dad got to him as he forcefully pushed her away from him. The push was so strong that his mom staggered and hit her head hard on the wall. She collapsed to the ground immediately.

Still not able to calm himself down, his dad grabbed a flower vase and threw it at her. Blood gushed out from her head.

"Mummy" Ivan screamed and started crawling to meet her.

She didn't move. She laid in her pool of blood. His mom is dead!

He got to her and held her hand.

"Mummy, your son's here. Your darling son is here, open your eyes" he screamed.

She didn't move.

"Mummy don't die, please don't leave me here alone, don't die mummy" he begged as more tears kept rolling down his cheeks.

His dad bent low beside him, touching his mom's face.

"Kira, open your eyes," he said and began to shake her.

"Damn it! Open your eyes Kira. Don't play games with me" he screamed. His screams fell on deaf ears.

He stood up, raking his hair with his fingers aggressively.

"Fuck. What have I done?"

"What have I done?"

"You killed mom! You're a murderer" Ivan screamed.

"No, I didn't mean to. No, no, no. I'm not a murderer" his dad denied.

"You killed my mom" Ivan screamed, he was crying hard.

"It's not true. It was a mistake, it's not true" his dad protested.

Then he ran out of the house and left just Ivan and his mom behind.

"Mummy, Don't do this to me. You can't leave your precious son behind. Open your eyes mummy" he pleaded.

His mom had always listened to him and did everything and anything he wanted, but this time she didn't listen to him.

"Help, I need help" he screamed. "Mummy please don't die"

"Despite everything, don't hate your father. He's still your father and it's not his fault he's being this way. He was not like this before" his mom's words replayed in his ear.

She had always advised him not to hate his father most especially after their fights.

His mom still loved his dad despite everything he did to her. She still defended him. How can someone be so nice, so sweet and caring till her last breath? It's not dad's fault he's this way? Then whose fault?

How can he not hate the man that killed his mother? His father!

"I hate you daddy," he screamed.

He looked around and saw his mom's phone laying on the center table. He crawled to the table and picked the phone up.

He went through his mom's contact list, and searched for his aunt's number, his mom's younger sister, saw the number and dialed it.

"Hello Kira," his aunt said when she answered the call.

"My mom is dead," he told her.

The phone slipped from his hand to the floor as he collapsed due to the pain and shock.


When Ivan woke up, he was lying on the hospital bed. Aunt Alexandra was sitting on the bed beside him and staring at him with pity in her eyes.

For a moment, little Ivan had wondered what he was doing in a hospital, then everything came flashing back. He screamed loudly and collapsed again.


"Ivan, sweetie. Are you okay?" Aunt Nicole asked when he woke up for the second time.

He didn't speak and remained mute.

"Are you fine? What happened to your mom? Where's your father?" His aunt asked. Her eyes were swollen, she must have cried her eyes out.

He tried to sit up and she helped him sit up.

"Talk to me Ivan. What happened to my sister? I saw her lying lifeless on the floor when I got to your house. You passed out too and your dad is nowhere to be found. His number is not even going. What happened?" His aunt asked, she was really worried.

He remained dumb and stared blankly into the empty space. He was too shocked to speak or say anything and was too traumatized. And what more? He didn't want to implicate his dad because he knows his dad would definitely get arrested and he didn't want to lose another parent too.

"Dad? Why was he trying to protect him? Why was he trying to protect the man who killed his mother? His wife?"

But he had no choice. He didn't want to be an orphan. His dad might be killed and he's sure his late mom would want him to forgive his dad.

He'll never ever forgive his dad and he'll definitely get revenge on his dad. But he'll do it his own way, when he's all grown up.

"Ivan, talk to me," Aunt Alexandra urged him.

He wanted to speak but couldn't. He wanted to say something, anything at all but he couldn't bring himself to speak. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he envisioned the ugly future that laid ahead of him.