Episode 2 – Monarch.

Breeze kissing his cheeks as he walked down the slope which leads to his house,
Remembering how he ran in those same streets as a kid, fell down and got up countless times.

How he taught himself to ride a bicycle, and to get up whenever he crashed. As he crossed uncle Kern’s café  which always was the best to have the good tasting cookies he was fond of as a child in this weather. He stopped there only to surprise uncle kern, who was too old to recognize anyone now but he did follow the way Monarch smiled and called him ‘ol’ kern’. Nobody forgets the dorky kid who was thin and kept short hair; who used to get bullied by other kids and always hid behind the cookie showcase praying they don’t catch him. Uncle Kern’s bakery was a synonym of what a perfect bakery and coffee shop could be. Always serving the best coffee and cookies to the customers sitting out in the open garden of his café. As a kid, Monarch was always astonished by the things which were simple yet elegant;  filtered coffee, cookies, swords and knives.

So simple, just a bit of milk and coffee to get the blood running or just a metal which is sharp enough to cut through them. Whatever or whoever it might be.
As usual he drank his coffee and ate those amazing biscuits and went on his way home but the moment he was leaving the old man asked him why he is back  after eleven long years, all Monarch replied to this was: “we all come back home someday, don’t we?” and went out of the café smiling.

Although Valkin did not have anything so special to be missed for, only some thousands of people who live there, live because of the kind of town it was; always quite and mysterious, filled with trees and gardens for kids to play, a kind of town where a man would like to retire and spend rest of his life in.

Monarch used to wear glasses when he was in school, always sitting in the front to study and score good, because that is what his parents wanted. Although he was more curious in the field activities of the school but was always denied the request to participate by Klafh, his father. He had height and color typical to the people belonging to valkin, pale white and about six feet tall and always kept beard long enough to hide his lips. He was fiend when it came to disagreement among his family. He was always bossy and ended his day with two glasses of whisky. He was not the best father and definitely not a good husband and though Oris was always among the kindest women. She was tired and exhausted of the bruises she got everyday after little  Monarch went to sleep, sometimes even when he was awake.

She had the most beautiful eyes, large and blue. As if to teach anybody the deepest darkest secrets of the oceans once they look inside them. Her hair fell down till her waist, dense and black unlike most redheaded women in the town.

He was recalling that day, the one day that changed the  town and life of Monarch.

He was 15, returning from his soccer trials in the evening, the time Klafh usually returns home for supper, But today he was early from work only to find the house being locked as Oris was also out to get some batteries for the torch she bought earlier.

Klafh grew angrier as he waited outside in the harsh heat of his craving for his drink, he grew restless. He waited on the stairs outside his house which was on the road opposite of a small garden for the kids in his locality. He put his gloves and hammer down as he lit up his camel to give him some comfort. After a while he saw Oris returning from the road which was a little steep if an old man tried to walk down from it. “Gorgeous” he whispered to himself as he saw her smiling at him and showing him the batteries from a distance, as if to assure him she was only out because it was urgent.

All the time he waited, Klafh did not think of where his little son was.

Oris came close to her husband and said “let’s go honey, it is too hot to be sitting out”

Klafh nodded in agreement and went in following the love of his life.

As they entered Klafh helped Oris with her bag and coat then rushed in for his drink, only to notice  the house was quite than usual. He wondered where the little one was, not with worry but with anger. He told Oris not to let him out to play for somedays. He went back in the kitchen with his empty glass of whiskey to ask Oris about their son.

He asked, in a way it would make you hide the truth: “Where is he ?”

And Oris just reminding herself what she thought she would say when the time comes, said firmly : “He is out.”

Obviously, a drunk who is restless lost his calm. He threw his glass to the other side of the kitchen making Oris jerk out of horrors to follow.

He held her by the her beautiful black hair, asked her again : “ tell me where he is, and this time answer me with something that would make this less painful for you “

And she shouted in pain  : ” He is out and I ASKED HIM TO GO!”

He removed his hand, went in the other room for the baseball bat he bought to scare and fight if any theif came but today it was for Oris.

Meanwhile, Monarch being happy that he got selected in the team for the tournament, was almost home as he came running to tell this news to his father and mother.

By now Klafh took out all his adrenaline onto Oris, his bat was dripping in red, which got mixed with what was the artificial pink color Oris was putting into her cake for his son.

Oris lying down, unfortunatelty still breathing was saved more pain by the phone that rang in her bedroom, “the dial tone of the phone was never so pleasant” she thought.

Klafh went in to receive to call as he was done beating his wife to pulp. He went in and sat on the bed and receieved the call and the voice on the other side said: “we are here Klafh,  here in your shitty office. Come down here right now or we will make sure you never walk again “. Then the man on the other side hung up, the beep sound after  that made Klafh realise that this isn’t going to be an easy day.

Klafh was always neck down with the wrong people, Klafh sold them the raw version of what his company makes for cough syrups as drugs. Now the demand got larger and Klafh did not see a way to tell them he cannot supply it anymore.

Terrified , Klafh took his coat and as he walked through the corridor he saw Oris sitting on the  floor taking support of the wall in the kitchen with her head up  as if to gather some courage to get on her feet. He said : “ this isn’t over yet,  we will talk after I come back. “

Monarch  now could  see his home, he imaged his mother’s pretty smile which she would have when he will  return home and tell her about his selection in the team. He saw his house and his father walking in a hurry away from his house, he shouted “Father! Is mother home ? “

Klafh avoided even turning his head and answering.

“it is funny how fear makes love a strange feeling”

Little Monarch stood outside for about fifteen minutes trying to reach the doorbell, which he did for six times but his mother did not open the door. Exhausted he tried to open the door by himself and for his surprise he was able to open it, as it weren’t locked by his father. He went in with his dirty soccer shoes shouting : “ mother, I am home “

Meanwhile, Klafh was handed his ultimatum to provide the drug or to give the equivalent amount to it.

“ Give it to us Klafh or we light up this place with you inside it. “ said the henchman.

He promised them to get the money in an hour and started walking back to his home.

He first went to the bedroom without noticing what was in the kitchen, he got a little worried as Oris never made him wait for a minute for his food after he was back from his school.  He got thirsty and went in the kitchen, the table in the center was hiding his mother, as he was not tall enough to see beyond the table, he saw the pinkish red color blood on the floor, coming from beneath the table slowly flowing towards his feet. His heart bursted in shock when he found his mother sitting there, her head up, her feet straight and one hand on her thigh and one hand  on the floor. Her head was hit against a truck which did  not stop after hitting her once. Monarch stood three feet away, he was blank in his mind. He could not register what was happening, what happened to his mother. A  moment ago he saw her smile and how he will never even see her move again. All he could see was  red, and the box of color near her on the floor. He went close to his mother one more time, he held up her arm from her thigh,kept his head on her lap and asked her to wake up. He sang the lullaby she used to sing for him everyday but she wouldn’t wake up. He looked across the room while lying in her lap to see a shattered glass which was his father’s, he got up and ran to tell his father what has happened to his mother, he was scared. He couldn’t think of anything else except for his Oris’s face which was  covered in red. He ran blindly towards his father’s office, only to find him outside walking towards him. He was looking frustrated and tired. He ran into him, he hugged Klafh’s leg and cried : “ father.. mother….mother..”

Klafh lifted him up and went in the house, he saw his crime the moment he entered the house as there were his neighbours waiting for him. One of them saw Klafh hitting Oris with the bat and after little boy went out looking for his father, they got curious and curiousity of the neighbours caught Klafh red handed. As Monarch saw neighbours hold his father he felt something we wish we never have to feel. His mother dead, killed  by his father and he stood there, in the corridor watching his mother lying and the screams of all the people in the house.

Somehow Klafh freed himself from the grasp of the people and ran to his office where the people were waiting for him, he went there empty handed and fell down to his knees in front of the henchman saying “Help me and I will give you what you need. “

Henchman helped him up and whispered in his ear,

“ A man will tell you what you want to hear when he is dying, and that my friend will always be a lie “

And threw him inside the building and started the fire, Klafh ran to every possible way he thought will lead him to his freedom but little did he know, his time to answer to every sin he committed was today. He was burning alive, shouting and crying for help as the people of the town saw this as they stood outside with every eye eventually looking at that one little boy. He stood there, silent as he watched the murderer of his mother cry for help, no tear was shed. He stood there like the only survivor out of a war, a gruesome war. The rage, the fear and the sorrow of everything that happened in one day, it took away his soul to a place far far away.

After some hours, a lot of people left. Some henchmen stayed to check if Klafh was alive and between them was a man, maybe in his early 30’s, he was tall and built like an athelete. He saw the little crying boy in a way we see own reflection in the mirror. All the time, he stood stood there, he was told everything that boy suffered in the past ten hours. The little boy, standing the same way he stood the moment he came there. The man walked upto him and asked “ what is your name little man ? “

The boy, at first said nothing. After a pause he said “ you can call me whatever you want. “

The man was surprised and took the boy’s hand and said “let me help you, tell me what you like.”

The boy said “ soccer. “

The old man said “ alright let’s get some shoes for you then, you would like that won’t you.”

He held his hand and took the boy with him.

“Can you tell me your name now?” He asked with a smile

” Monarch” the little boy answered with a broken voice

“Do you know what your name means?” Asked the man

“the one who conquered everything ” said the boy.

And this name was everything ever since that day.

” what happens in life is never predictable, everything can change in one bad day. ”

One minute of his dream was the day his life changed, what came next gave him some relief.

Death, betrayel and sorrow changed his life, and love showed him hope…