RIA EPISODE 2
THEME: THE STORY OF US
SIX YEARS LATER
CHICAGO
RIA POV
My name is Ria Robert. I am the only child to my late parents. I turned 26 two months ago. I am blind and for as long as I remember I was born blind. The MML gang c@m£ to our house one night and killed my mother when my dad refused to sign his inheritance do¢v-ments then my dad was killed after he signed those do¢v-ments. I found out that night that Frederick Robert s£nt them. Frederick is my dad’s step brother. He was grandpa illegitimate child but he bec@m£ the CEO of Limos company cause he was Mr Robert favorite son despite his position.
My grandpa Mr Robert loved his mom Antonia but ignored my grandma Emma because she couldn’t bear him an heir after 10years of marriage. Antonia bec@m£ Mr Robert mistress in the 11th year of his marriage to Granny Emma then she had a son. Granny Emma had my dad two years after Frederick was born. Mr Robert made his will and gave his companies to Frederick and left a hvge Sum of Money for my dad which wasn’t compared to the value of the companies he willed to Frederick.
My dad never felt like a son to his dad and things got worse for him after his mom pas-sed away when he was ba-rely sixteen. He was maltreated by Antonia and her son and went throu-gh series of ha-rd sh!pin their hands until he left home when he was eighteen. He bec@m£ a driver at that age just to put himself throu-gh college forgetting home completely but it was so unfortunate that he couldn’t get a better job after he graduated.
My dad once said that as long he was still in Idaho he would never get a well paid job since his step mom had connections in companies in Idaho. And he didn’t want to leave Idaho because it was where he was born and where his mom was la-id to rest. He met my mom two years after he graduated and worked as a truck driver. My mom was a seamstress and was not all that educated like my dad. She dropped out of college when she couldn’t afford to pay the tuition fees and she had no one to turn to cause she was an orphan.
When I c@m£ into the picture my dad started working three jobs per day just to feed us and save up for my eye surgery. We were happy with the little we had,one could call us a happy family. My dad received a call one day that his father died few days before that day and left him some inheritance. My dad was not interested in owning any of his Father’s properties but my mom convinced him to accept it for my sake. He knew we could get my eye surgery done with the money and even have enough to get a big space for mom’s sewing business, and also enrol me into one of the best schools after my surgery.
My dad used his saving for the inheritance process. Everything was fine, he had received a call that he could have access to the money and we were happy our dreams was coming true until the MML c@m£,and all those dreams crashed in one night. April 26 2013, that night was a terrible night I want to erase from my memory. Frederick s£nt those men to kill us,Lucas the gang leader had killed my parents but he had spared only me.
He didn’t kill me but he used me to plea-sure himself. I spent months in his den praying for death to come but it didn’t. Lucas would come to me every morning and night to plea-sure himself. I was ba-rely 16 when he had R@p£d me repeatedly, I begged him to just kill me but Lucas said he was doing me a great favor by keeping me alive.
Lucas was a Monster, a beast in human clothing who didn’t deserved to live among humans but the jungle where his likes inhabits. He said I was paying him with my b©dy for saving my life,I should have been dead but he had made up his mind to take me in. That wasn’t a help or a favour it was wickedness! I regretted ever being born into this world.. I hated myself for being blind. I never saw the face of my parents while growing up. I’ve never seen the face of the man who ordered the killing of my parents or even the monstrous face of the man who R@p£d me and also the one that made a
Episode 3
LINT CORP OFFICE
IAN POV
My name is Ian Bryant. I am Mr Jack Bryant only son and the fourth born out of Four. I am 24 years old. I am currently the CEO of LINT CORP which is my father industry. Lint Corp dabbles in everything, h0tels, restaurants, spas,technologies and Textiles. It is a Multi billionaire Industry. My dad is one of the riche-st man in USA, he is actually the 3rd riche-st man in Chicago. Our first born is Josie, she is in charge of the h0tels. The second born Lauren is in charge of the Restaurants and Spas. The third girl is Piper who is just a year older than I am and she is in charge of our textiles industry. I am the one overseeing all their activities as the only Heir and CEO. My mom Mrs Perla Bryant is a Famous Jeweler in Chicago. She is the owner of “Perla Jewelries”, a big sto-re in our state. Well this is the little information about me and my family.
The phone on my desk binged and I picked it
“Hello sir, the files you requested for from the technological br@nch just c@m£ in” Grace my secretary said over the phone. “Transfer it to my system now” I ordered and she replied “okay Sir”. ” plea-se call me Ramsey”. “Okay Sir” Then the line dropped. Seconds cli-cked by and my system beeped signifying files transferred from Grace system. A soft knocked sounded on the door
“Come in Ramsey” The handsome looking personal as-sistant walked in with the company’s tablet on his hands and some paper works “Here are the paper works you requested Sir”. I tapped on my desk and he dropped it. Being a CEO is stressful and tiring. I ba-rely have time for myself or even some breathing space cause I’m buried in files, paper works from several br@nches,contra
cts and deals. ” do I have any meeting today?” I asked. “Yes sir” Ramsey replied as he checked in his tab. “With who Ramsey?”. “Miss Lorna Simmons” I rolled my eyes. “Call her and tell am too busy meet up with her today”. ” Okay sir…but she might decide to come here herself”. “If she comes..just tell her I’m in a meeting with the board of directors”.
” okay sir…but -“
“What is it again Ramsey?” He never gets tired of using the word “But”
“Well Sir, you know how funny Miss Lorna can be..I mean she might decide to come into the meeting to see you”
Yeah he is right! Lorna can actually do that to confirm if I’m really in a meeting. I placed my palms on my face
“Do I have any other meetings again?”
“No sir”
“And..are there files remaining after these ones?”
“No Sir”
I loos£n my tie
“Okay..okay then I will leave the office soon. I nee-d to clear my head”
“Should I get the car re-ady?”
“No I will just take a taxi and probably st©p by at a park to relax”
“Anything you nee-d Sir?”
“Hmm yeah…get me my dark glas-s”
Well just to hide my identity
“Okay Sir”
Ramsey the walked out of my office
RIA Ap@rtMENT
RIA POV
“Miss Ria! Miss Ria! The children who used to live next door but now lives with me called out my name from the sitting room. ” Phoebe I’m in the kitchen!” I said loud enough for them to hear and in no time they were alre-ady beside me. “Hey guys how are you doing?” I asked as I cleaned my hand on a napkin to give them a high five. “We’re fine!” They chorused and I laughed. “So what are you cooking?” My little man Phoenix asked. “Well I’m just trying to prepare lunch.. Or have you eaten at Mrs Elise’s place?”
“No she is not home” Phoebe the princess answered. “Okay now both of you should go inside the room and take a shower..after that you will eat your lunch -“
“Then we will tell you what happened at school today!” Phoenix completed my intended statement. Well that how I do all the time. They both get the chance to tell me whatever happens at school or in their various clas-ses.
“Okay Miss Ria!”
They both rushed out of the kitchen. Telling me what happened in school is one of the best moments to me. Phoenix would argue for his turn anytime Phoebe wasn’t re-ady to st©p talking and sometimes he ends up crying and I have to pet him with a chance to write in the measurement book. Phoebe and Phoenix are both siblings.
FLASHBACK
Phoebe is 10 years old while Phoenix is 7 years old. They used to live next my house with their dad Mr Lawson until he left them about three months ago. Their mom left three years ago after Mr Lawson lost his job. Well they actually moved to Chicago a year ago cause Mr Lawson thought he was gonna secure a better job in Chicago. The bills of putting his children throu-gh school and also paying house bill and others was too much for him seeing that his minor Barman job wasn’t paying well so he felt the only way to escaped his responsibility was running away. He left his kids alone in the house un-der the pretence of going to work. Phoebe c@m£ to me the next day and said that Phoenix pas-sed out. I asked about the whereabout of her dad just to let him know his child was unconscious but she said he hasn’t returned home since yesterday and that was so unusual of him. She led me to their ap@rtment to where Phoenix was and truly he was unconscious, his pulse was weak and I feared that he was going to die. Then without wasting time I called Mrs Elise who stays next street to inform her about it. She ordered me to call 911 and I did as she instructed with the help of Phoebe who wouldn’t st©p crying. Miss Elsie arrived almost immediately after the ambulance c@m£ in and Phoenix was taken to the nearest hospital. Mrs Elise and I managed to calm Phoebe by as-suring her that Phoenix would be fine. “No he won’t be Miss Ria” she had whispered and I knew there was more to her words then she spoke up again. “We haven’t eaten for days now because our dad didn’t have the money to buy us food” and I said to her “Phoebe if it about food I will buy enough for you and your brother. Your brother will be fine”. ” no it not just about the food -” she cried
“Tell me what is wrong?”
“Dad found out Phoebe was ill”
“What illness?”
“Phoenix was diagnosed of Appendix and dad doesn’t have the money to get his surgery done” my jaw dropped. “Do you know where your dad might be?” Elsie asked
“He is gone..he is not coming back again”
“What do you mean?” I asked
“I saw the note he left un-der the TV. He left because we are nothing but a burden to him” she sobbe-d loudly
“Do you know his workplace?”
“I went there alre-ady..but a man said he st©pped working there about two weeks ago after he got fired for fighting a customer”
I pu-ll-ed her in for a hvg
FLASHFORWARD
What she went throu-gh three months ago was too much for a ten years girl to bear but I must tell you that what happened had made them stronger. What she said was true,the doctor confirmed it that Phoenix had appendix and he nee-ded to un-dergo Appendectomy to re-move the Vermiform Appendix immediately or he might die. Phoebe had pleaded with the doctor to save her brother that she was going to repay him after she had saved enough little did she know that hospitals don’t work that way. I knew there was only one way to save Phoenix which was using the money I was saving up for my eye surgery to pay up the medical bills. It wasn’t an easy decision to make,I went throu-gh a lot to save up that little amount of money but if I decided to keep saving it for my eye surgery then Phoenix would die. Paying the bills would save Phoenix so after much thinking I paid for it. I’m blind but I can still do some thing with my condition but being dead means it the “End of Existence”I thought of what I went throu-gh in Lucas’s den and how Andrea had saved me..if she could br my saviour then I could be a God s£nt to another person.. To these children. Phoenix surgery was successful and in few Weeks he was back to being the Exuberant child that he is. I never regretted giving my money to save his life. What would become of them now that Phoenix was fine? Elise suggested that I take them to the Children center but the children refused saying that they would rather starve to death than go to the children center. I didn’t want them to wonder about the street or get separated at the Children centre so I made another decision to raise them like my own children since I don’t see myself trusting any man or have anything to do with one of them not after what Lucas did to me. I bec@m£ their guardian and Ever since then they’ve been staying with me and they were glad I had offered to take them in. They both promised to repay me someday but that isn’t necessary cause I keep praying for their dad to get a better job and think of his children. This is all I can say for now about the kids but note I did not just take them in like that i got the court order to raise them but I didn’t achieve that without the help of Mrs Elise
“Miss Ria are we re-ady for Lunch?” Phoenix asked and I giggled. “Sure we are re-ady for Lunch” I replied him
“Okay sit down and let me serve you”
“Lemme help you” I s-en-sed Phoebe pres£nce by my side as I dish the food. You might be wondering how blind people go about living their lives like other normal people do. How they can walk without tripping on the ground, without crashing themselves into something that can injure them. You think of how they re-ad, will there be someone who will re-ad them something interesting or stories or the newspaper. You also ask yourself how can they know people. Since there are a lot of bad people out there,anything can happen to us such as Rob. Many times I have always wished that I could see just once, my eyeba-lls are always opened but I couldn’t see anything. I only rely on my s-en-se of t©uçh. I was born blind and I learned what normal people usually did using my other s-en-ses especially The s-en-se of t©uçh. Usually disabled people would be discriminated from the rest of the society simply because we did thing much slower and they presumed that we could not do things that normal people could do as well, I could possibly prove that all these were bull$h!t!. I started using the nee-dle to mend clothes at the age of 7 and could use the machine in my blind state at the age of 12. Disable people could not do anything you said? But I could pick up a pencil and draw out any design of clothes you can think of. There are aspect to being disabled. Your other s-en-ses would become more s-en-sitive like your s-en-se of hearing and s-en-se of t©uçh. Enough explanation about being blind now
“Miss Ria on our way back from school Phoebe said she wants to tell you something when we get home” Phoenix said
“What is it Phoebe?” We were all settled to eat our food
“Nothing Miss Ria” she replied in a low tone. “You’re such a lose mouth Phoenix” I heard her whispered to Phoenix
“Phoebe it fine if you don’t wanna talk about it now..you can say it later”
“Of course she wants to…but she doesn’t know how to pres£nt it to you” Phoenix answered
“Okay..don’t worry Phoebe tell me whatever it is you want to say when you are re-ady.” I paused
“Phoenix you will re-ad one of your books to me”
“Okay…but are you not sewing today?” Phoenix asked
“I will tomorrow”
“Why not today?”
“I can’t do anything today because I’m expecting Mrs Elise to bring in the materials”
“Okay”
Phoenix loves my sewing business and one if his favorite aspect of sewing is writing down measurement while Phoebe job is to take measurement according to my instructions and at times to confirm the numbers on the tape rule whenever Mrs Elise is not around and I’m doing the measuring. They’ve known about this things even before their dad left, we always work together whenever their dad isn’t around to watch them at night and during weekends. We all worked together on weekends after I’ve made sure that they’re done with school home works. That excitement of calling out measurement whenever am about to cut a dress makes them do their home works without being told to do so. At 10 now, Phone can mend dresses of her age and I’m indeed blessed to have them around me cause they both made my life whole again.
We all ate in silence for few minutes until Phoebe dropped her spoon and cleared her throat
“Miss Ria” she called
“Yes phoebe”
“Well…actually Phoenix and I have been thinking of everything you’ve done for us.. Even what our parents couldn’t do for us…like you enrolled us in a good school,you feed us three times a day and you even give us whatever we nee-d. So we realize that you’re just like a mother to us..and that why we decide that we st©p calling you Miss Ria…we want to call you -“
She paused
“Mom” phoenix completed
“Mom?” I repeated
“Yes” they chorused
“We want to call you Mom since you’ve decided to raise us as your own children”
I blinked back tears that threatened to spill any moment from now. I never thought of having Kids to call me Mom but now my adopted children wants to call me Mom. Phoenix noticed the sting of tears and he said “Mom you don’t have to cry,we only nee-d someone we can look up to as our mother and you fit in that picture” Phoenix c@m£ to my side and held my hands
“It also the best thing we can do now to repay you for helping us” Phoebe wiped the tears that strayed down my cheeks with her f!ngerti-ps
“Even if we can’t repay you back with Money now…am sure we’ll someday” she said again and I pu-ll-ed the both of them in for a hvg
“You don’t have to repay me…You both are one of the best things that has ever happened to me”
“Same here” Phoebe whispered
“Look Mom We alre-ady informed our friends at school that you’re our mother” Phoenix said after I re-leased them
“You did that?”
“Yes…they are always questioning us about our Mom so when we didn’t know what say we told them you’re our mom” Phoebe said happily
“And they didn’t mock us for having a blind mom” Phoenix spoke up
“Well actually a boy mocked us but others at school defended us. They said that our blind mother was able to out us in a pri-vate school and not a public school”
“Yeah Phoebe actually kicked his as-s” Phoenix giggled
“Hey Phoebe you shouldn’t go about kicking as-ses at school. I don’t want you to get into trouble with anyone”
“Well I’m re-ady to get into trouble with someone who thinks ill of you” Phoebe replied
“Same with me too…I will cut their heads with my homemade sword” we all laughed when Phoenix talked
“Oh My little man” I pinched his cheek
“We love you” They chorused
“Thanks for loving me..and I’m glad am able to help you guys”
“Thanks for taking care of us” they k!$$£d my cheeks respectively
“Since you’ve haven’t been out for days now.. So I suggest we all take a walk mom” he said excitedly
“Yeah that’s a good idea..we will do just that when the sun goes down”
“An evening walk around the park” Phoebe added
“Yes…eat up so we can wash the dishes before heading out”
“Okay” They replied
We all ate our meals. Phoebe and I washed the dishes while Phoenix was busy arranging the house. Then we settled to finish up their home works. We head out of the house for an evening walk after everything planned was done.
Tbc