I pointed up at him. “You know what, you right. This ain't my house! Me and Gabrielle will leave together!” I turned to march up the stairs to get my bag. Mac, Kenny and Mercedes who had all been standing there with their mouths opened in shock that I was talking to their boss like that, scattered out my way.
“The hell you are!” He said grabbing my arm. That was it. I snatched my arm away from him.
“No, the hell with you!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. “I'm sick and tired of you... you big a$$ bully!” My hands were balled up in a fist as I let out all the frustration I felt for this man.
“You pick on people weaker than you! Well you ain't picking on me no mo!” I stomped my feet.
“You can't tell me where to go! You can't tell me who to be! You can't tell me who can live in my house!” I was screaming so loud my throat hurt. But I didn't stop, I had gone crazy.
“Your mother need somewhere to live... and you’re going to let her live in your damn house or so help me God I will kill your a$$ up in this mutha fuc**r!”
“Eh! Yo! She crazy as hell! The pretty ones always is!” I heard Kenny whisper behind me. I whipped around to look at him. And using his thumb he pointed at Mac, before looking at him.
“You shouldn't say stuff like that about people!” Mac shoved him.
“Man… shut up!” If I wasn't so mad I would have found that funny. Kenny was completely incapable of being serious, not even for a minute.
When I turned back to Gabriel, he was looking at me contemplatively. Maybe now that he'd seen this side of me. He wasn't so sure he wanted to be married to me. Good! Set me free then. Be my guess brotha!
“It ain't too late to end this!” I told him. The frown came back on his face.
“End what?”
“This farce of marriage!” I spat. He chuckled without any humor.
“Oh, hell yeah it is! You ain't going nowhere!” He growled. “If having her live here will make your highness happy, then so be it.” He bowed real sarcastically.
“After all, your happiness is all that matters!” He turned, taking the stairs two at a time, heading back up toward his office.
“Don't follow me!” He spat to Kenny and Mercedes.
* * * * *
Gabriel
I saw him as soon as I entered my office. He stood looking out the window with his hands clasped behind his back. Exhaling, I closed the door. Why not? Why would I think this day couldn't get any worse?
“Now is not a good time, I'm really not in the mood to try and decode your cryptic speech.” I told him as I crossed the floor to my desk. He chuckled without turning away from the window. I sat down in my chair contemplating the many ways to kill this dude.
“You wouldn't be the first, and I doubt you'll be the last.” He spoke sounding tired. I frowned at his back.
“To what do I owe your invasive and unwelcomed visit?”
He turned to face me then, his hat casting the top half of his face in a shadow, leaving only his one sided grin to be seen. His long coat opened slightly with his movements, revealing the handle of his sword.
“I've come to check in on you.”
I chuckled, that was funny.
“Regardless of what you may think, I don't want to see you fail Gabriel. In fact, I'm rooting for you.”
“Are you? Rooting for me to do what exactly?”
“I'm rooting for you to make your transition into becoming a warrior for the Ancient of Days, as smoothly as possible.”
I leaned my head back against my chair feeling mentally and physically depleted. I let Kenny and Mac talk me into going to Slim Pheezy's album release party and ended up coming home real late, only to have to be up for an eight-o'clock meeting. Then I find out that my wife is falling prey to my estranged mother’s charms and has invited her to come and live with us, and now this.
“You know, when you say you’re rooting for me not to fail, you insinuate that the only way I can win is by becoming this, warrior.” I held up air quotes. “That you seem to think is my destiny, am I correct?”
He nodded. “You are.”
“And like I told you before, I ain't with it. I control my own destiny. I fight the battles I choose to fight. No—”
“Have you ever wondered why you can't control your urge to kill certain people?”
My mouth snapped shut.
“Have you ever wondered what is about you that caused your father to beat you? What it is that kept him from killing you? Why you were made to suffer such a fate?” He walked closer to me, and this time it was his words that held me unmovable.
“Have you ever wondered about the man with no shoes?”
Now he really had my attention.
“You can't change who you are son, and it's so painful to fight against who you were meant to be. The most futile thing mankind can do, is set his will against the Ancient of Days. It's as senseless as pissing in the wind.” He chuckled, amused at his own metaphor.
“You cling to the notion that you suffered because you were abused by your father. But I submit to you that it is far easier to endure pain, than to watch those we love endure. For it is written; there is no greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friend. Your strength is that you love your brothers. Which is a most noble quality, and a requirement to enter in the brotherhood that awaits you.” He came to a stop somewhere behind my chair.
“However, you will be made to feel real pain. In that hour,
