Josh Xavier The days always seemed the same when I spent it inside. Nothing really happened other than what was already not happening, my misery. That's why whenever I feel miserable I choose to remain indoors. There, I could drown in my nothingness. As a young man I had lived my life in tune with the fever, the rush. But I had been cautious nonetheless. I wasn't one to be dead drunk or deadly intoxicated by drugs or feelings. I played them all with caution and care, I wasn't one to be defined by errors and mistakes contrary to the case I was a perfectionist. But here I lay, an old disabled man, crippled by an accident. The same accidents I had somehow successfully managed to escape all those years when I was a bachelor. I have questioned every possible thing to be questioned on why it never happened then, when I was too immersed in living and working, why I wasn't destablised when I was most stable. Why it happened when I thought it wise to finally have a family, when I found who
Charlotte McCartney “And here is your coin!” Kelcie exclaimed as she brought the coin out of Josh's ear in attempt to show off her latest magic trick,“Yeah!” We both cheered as though we did not see the coin all along. Josh even applauded her which she received so cheerfully. It was a relief seeing both of them, my not so favorite person with my most favorite person both in tune with each. I was happy because I needed this for Kelcie, I wanted her to feel comfortable, feel appreciated and loved, not have to hide but on the contrary be free to roam as she liked. It was the best I could give her in all that had happened these past few months.“Mummy I want to be a magician for my birthday”, she said, opening her mouth to get a piece of the cake Lydia had baked for us.“I thought you said you wanted to be a princess the other day”, I said giggling.“But I want to be a magician now”, she replied, jumping.Before now, the only proper birthday party Kelcie ever had was when she was two, b
Charlotte McCartney “The birthday isn't till two weeks," I said, wrapping my friend in the most ferocious hug. “When did you get back?” I asked, smiling.“I came in last night," she said, returning my ferocious hug back until broke off the embrace to catch my breath. Maddie had always been a strong one, so this wasn't surprising. Her adult years were dedicated to endless exercises,training and travelling. She was as strong as two men put together when it came to combat.“How was Uganda?” I asked. Ever since we both signed out of college, Maddie had been in the habit of travelling from one third world country to another, immersing herself in one charity outreach to another. It was not a shocker. Her father, a rubber magnate, had been a passionate philanthropist who had hundreds of charity organizations around the world. Sadly he and his wife passed on after a fatal car crash leaving Maddie and her sister Tara as their successors. Tara had gotten married right after college to her hig
Charlotte McCartney Lydia and I sat watching Kelcie run around for what seemed like a long time. She was running back and forth. “I wonder where she gets all that energy. She's running a race in that little mind of hers”, I said, shaking my head.“You know sometimes I wish George was like that once more. Other times I thank God he's not anymore”, She said, blankly “Why is that?” I asked, chuckling.“The strength to keep up with that amount of energy. I used to have that before, but not anymore and trust me when I think about it myself now, I wonder how I had that strength in the first place and have none of it now”, she said and laughed.I laughed as well. “Keeping up is quite a job, I'm happy you had to point that out, you know several nights I’d really have aches all over my body. Sometimes I'll wake up so late because of how tired I got trying to keep up with her the previous day and in all of this the little devil wakes up stronger and earlier I must add”, I said and we both l
Charlotte McCartneyKelcie ran from one end of the field to the other as she set up what she called a race track. “Mommy you're going to stay here”, she said, running up to me and turning to point at a position. “Josh, you stay close to mom. Lydia, you also stay beside Mom but on the other side” she added.Kelcie had always loved races, it was the game she played when she felt most ecstatic, as well as when she had a small crowd with her. Moments worthy of memory are the times when she, I and Ron used to play these races. Of course, we would always let her win, it was a regular practice but everytime we did we never let her know. It was important to communicate winning to her, by concealing our strength and hiding our intentions. “I won! I won! I got here first!” Kelcie would scream and jump whenever she got to the finish line first which was all the time.We hoped we'd instill the idea that she could always win as long as she tried. I must say Ron was rather very supportive in that
Charlotte McCartney He caught me before I fell.“Are you alright?" Josh asked me.“I'm fine”, I said, successfully standing up. “You caught me”, I said, surprised. Before I could continue Lydia and Kelcie had hurried to meet us.“Mom, we saw what happened, are you okay?” Kelcie asked, looking worried in her childlike sort of way.“I'm alright, lucky for me Josh was able to reach me on time”, I answered smiling at my little girl.“You can stand too!” Kelcie pointed accusingly at Josh. “Only for a couple seconds Josh”, replied , waving it off.Lydia just stood there completely silent and shocked.“Josh, that was a lot of energy, you shouldn't be putting such strain on yourself, you're just beginning to heal", she said rather frantically.“It's alright Lydia, it was no problem at all. The whole thing felt more like an exercise”, Josh replied.“Charlotte are you alright as well, I didn't agree to this game in the first place because I thought it was going to go bad for you as much as hi
Charlotte McCartney Josh's question took me by surprise. When he said he wanted to ask me a question, I did not think it would be such a serious question. “I wasn't expecting that” I thought, then I turned to him, “What would you want to know Josh?” I asked.“I would want to know what sort of man would leave such an adorable child alone with her mother and run off”. He said to me, sounding angry.“I don't know Josh” I said, and looked away.“Tell me who he is, Charlotte”, he said firmly.“What do you mean Josh?” I asked, surprised at why this became important.“I have lawyers, Charlotte”, he said, wheeling toward me. “The best I must add. We have everything to bring whoever this asshole is down at least we could get him to pay alimony. So please tell me who he is”, he went on.I said nothing, just stood there and turned my back to him.“Did he rape you?” Josh asked, looking more concerned than angry now. “Is that why you seem so hurt talking about this? Come on talk to me”, he encour
Charlotte McCartney “You sure do have a thing for barging into my privacy, don't you?” he said, sounding more embarrassed than angry.“That's because you always seem to be doing what you're not supposed to do. Before you fired your doctor, I remember him warning you again and again about pushing yourself too far”, I said, coming close to him.He growled in response.“What do you want? You want to go to the bathroom or…?” I inquired as he tried to reach his wheelchair.“I don't want to go anywhere”, he cut me short.“So what then Josh? What's all the fuss about ? I'm not even a doctor and yet I know that constantly pushing yourself the way you do is going to make your healing a whole lot slower than expected. Don't you know?” I asked, trying hard to ignore the fact that he was almost naked wearing only his underpants. It wasn't exactly an exciting sight, seeing him sprawled in such an uncomfortable position. The same Josh Xavier who earlier in the day had been joyful a good percent
Charlotte McCartney“Oh that's a very splendid choice Madame, but would you mind if I asked you a question though”, Maskatev said, in an exquisite manner.“Oh no problem”, I said. “Go ahead and ask”, The man was evidently not the kind you denied such indulgence.“Why choose the cream colour?”, he asked a simple question, even though it was not one I had anticipated for at that moment my mind had completely gone somewhere else entirely.“I don't know”, I confessed. “I guess cream suits me a lot better. I like it, it's simple and looks comfortable”, I said trying to give an explanation.“But you haven't even tried it on yet”, he said with a little smile on his lips. “Come on, people get her into that dress for me”, he said and almost as soon as this was said, about five or six attendants hurriedly came to my side and escorted me to the end of the room where the dressing room was. The rest of them stayed back with Kelcie.The girls had me in the dress in no time and before I knew what w
Whitney McCartney “Hi mother”, I said, as I approached her. “Whitney”, Mother replied simply, without taking her eyes off the magazine she seemed to be engrossed in. For some reason though, I did not think she was really interested in the magazine. It felt like she was only acting to be interested in it just so she would avoid talking to me. I know this because I know Mother. If there was anything really intriguing about that magazine she would have been happy to talk about it.“Or maybe there is something intriguing in it and she is just too angry at me to want to tell me about it”, I thought. The thought of this cut me deeply. “This is all because of that stupid Charlotte that just refused to stay where she was supposed to be. I still don't know what was the need to do a wedding to solidify their stupid marriage in the first place. Talk more of making a big deal out of it so much as to come all the way here, to this mansion to inform Mother and try to rub his love for her in eve
Charlotte McCartneyMr Peter Masketov himself along with a chain of assistants were outside waiting by the time we got there. “Mommy is that for us?” Kelcie inquired as soon as we got to where the small crowd of people converged.“I don't know Kelcie, let's see”, I replied, “let's see”, I repeated in my heart. “Alright, let's do this”, I said out loud, as the car revved to a halt, talking to myself much more than I was even telling her. We got out of the car. And set to head on to meet with the small crowd that was already smiling at us, a gesture of goodwill and show of an anticipated presence.“Ma'am”, the driver called back as we were about to join the convergence. “What time will be convenient for me to come back? I already have a time set to return but the boss signified that I inquire if you may want to take out some more time to do some other things before I return to take you to your destination” he said, speaking politely.“The boss, Josh” I thought. Up till now, I had not s
Whitney McCartney For the first time in my life I feel so insignificant. This house, this mansion where I was born, where I have always called home feels like a strange land to me. “What is this?” I asked rhetorically, noticing a fading drawing on a small part of the mansion’s entrance. I walked closer to see what it was. “What is this? Why am I just seeing this?” I asked myself as I stared at the fading image of a lion. “Oh it's probably Grandfather's lion painting, the one mother was planning to have redrawn. So this is where it was?” I thought. I had not noticed it in all the years I had walked past that entrance.“Everything feels so unfamiliar. This unusual silence that is screaming so loudly only began after Charlotte’s uninvited and unwelcome visitation. Why did she have to come here anyway? Why could she not stay where she was? Why did she come here? She should have stayed there, where she belongs, with that broken piece of shit that calls himself Josh”, I thought, angrily.
Charlotte McCartney“Weeeeeeee! That's how the plane goes mommy, weeeee!” Kelcie said completely ecstatic. I wondered how it was possible to not have been infected by this cheerfulness. Evidently Josh had made it happen. Her dream of flying was finally coming through and yet I couldn't find it in me to be happy because I knew what happened and certainly what lay ahead may only have looked good but was not at all. “Before I forget, your friend Maddie will be joining you two at the resort”, Lydia informed me. “She will be coming with a couple visitors”, she added.“Which visitors?” I asked, a little worried. I did not mind Maddie joining us at all. She would even be good companion. “But who else would she bring?” I asked myself, not wanting strangers. “It would be easy to face my embarrassment with Maddie and Kelcie alone. Maddie could even defend me if the need arises” I thought.“Don't worry, it's not too many people. She will be coming along with her sister and her sister's daughter
Charlotte McCartney“Mommy! mommy! Get off the bed, we are already late”, Kelcie said, shaking me from my sleep.“I must have fallen asleep again”, I thought, recalling I wanted to shower earlier.“Late for what?” I asked, still very much asleep. Apparently, her shakes were courtesy of the fact that her baby strength had very little impact in doing what she had intended to do.“Come on now Charlotte, you can't still be this sleepy”, Lydia said. I hadn't even noticed she was also here too.“I'm really having a hard time knowing what I'll be late for”, I answered her.“Oh so you really have forgotten then?” she replied even in my daze I could hear the mild surprise in her voice.“Mommy, we're supposed to go and see the dressers today”, Kelcie replied this time.“Oh yes Charlotte”, Lydia joined in,”Your appointment was set for this date, today”.“Oh that”, I recalled loudly. “Is that even still happening?" I thought to myself. Today I was supposed to go to check out my wedding dress, fin
Charlotte McCartney By the time I came out of the bathroom my baby was no longer sleeping. She had turned on the bedroom light and was already out of the room as she usually did in the mornings. I looked up at the antique wall clock in our bedroom, “7:41am”, I said. “Kelcie must be having her milkshakes by now or just talking to Lydia”, I thought, then it hit me like a blow.“Lydia knows”, I said out loud. “She knows. There is no way she doesn't know. She was the one who called Josh to come and conduct the wine tasting. We were supposed to do it together but she excused herself. I'm sure she would have expected me to do the same as soon as Josh arrived but I stayed, foolishly”, I thought.“That's what mother always talked about. This is the same thing mother always said about me, the same reason she's always complaining. I'm so stupid. I never think before I act. I'm just so stupid. I could have left. There was nothing stopping me from leaving. But I stayed. Why? I could have left it
Charlotte McCartney “Baby”, I said as I stretched my hand to reach my baby. “Oh she's out already”, I concluded to myself as my outstretched hand met an empty bed. “She's probably watching the sunrise now”, I added, as I tried to sit up in bed. “There is something hard about this bed”, I thought, rubbing my eyes with the back of my hand. “Did someone replace the bed when I was out?” I asked myself.I yawned and laid back down to sleep but my eyes flew open almost immediately and I sat up at about the same instance. “Where am I?” I asked myself, looking round to check my surroundings. “Where am…” I was going to repeat the question again, when realization dawned me. “This is Josh's room. How did I get here?” I questioned, quite confused.“Oh my God! No! No! It did not happen again”, I said, wrapping my hand around my naked body, as I realized I was lying naked under Josh's sheets. My clothes were folded neatly at the foot of the bed.“Oh God please! This did not happen. How could I ha
Charlotte McCartneyThe sound of his name had butterflies swimming around my stomach all of a sudden. I had deliberately avoided talking about him all morning and had tried my best to not spend my whole day thinking as well as talking about him but he was everywhere nonetheless.“What Is that?” Lydia teased. “You think I'm going to be carrying you around afterwards?” She asked, pausing dramatically. “No young lady, not when you have a loving husband”.I bowed my head feeling slightly embarrassed and mildly amused. “Lydia and her mean little humour could somehow take one off guard like that. But it's alright the lady means no harm”, I said to myself.“Don't you worry though? I'll go call him for you. I bet he's still in his room but definitely awake by now. Come on I bet it'll be fun too”, she said assuringly.As she hurried off, thoughts of the last night we were together filled my mind. I yearned so much for his presence but yet was still shy and scared to admit it. It just felt too