Emilia went back to her bed…her father trained her to be an ardent reader even as a child. He infected her with that love for poetry. Her favorite poet was her dad. It was time for her customary ritual: she pulled one of her journals and flipped the page to August 23, her birthday. And there was a beautiful poem:
My Most Priced Treasure:
In me is a Hero and a victim
I often wonder, in my secret place
Staring at the mirrored image of him in me
Strong, resilient, reflective of valor and hero
A two faced me, a hero and a victim
Victimized… shackled to the whims of my greatest fears.
So, I let the hero in me come out of the closet and wrath my greatest dreams
I dreamt great dreams, he made them reality
Among the boisterous adulation of the masses
I clasped, hidden, watching from the closet as I let him shine.
He was a better and stronger me
Behind the heroic costume and cape, was a bandaged man, a victim.
Oh, glorious adulations, why do you mock me?
Why decorate a victim as a hero?
Until the day I met my precious gem, my Emily…the oculus of my hopes
That day, the victim in me died forever,
You recreated me and abolished my weakness
When I stared into the mirrors of the eyes of my dear Emilia
I knew that I would forever be her hero
And she would forever be my most priced treasure.
I love you my gem, Emilia Lawkens
My very heart beat! Happy birthday!
It was dated Aug 23
Emilia cuddled the journal to her chest and reminisced some of the great time she had with her dad. She had always been a daddy’s girl and she loved that. Her dad was more than enough, he shielded her from her alcoholic and substance abusing mom, who always returned home too hooked on that stuff, to even realize that she had a little girl to be a mother to. Emilia would run to her room at any sign of her mother’s abuse, she would hide in the closet until her dad, her hero would come to her rescue. Sometimes she would catch her dad praying for her. Her dad was a decorated policeman, a real hero and vigilante, but in all this he was helpless before his wife, her mother. She couldn’t understand why her mother ensured that she was a thorn on his flesh. She recalled it was not up to a month after her Dad’s death, her mom was back to that stuff and would come home drunk and fornicated with Carlos on her dad’s matrimonial bed and when they were done, Carlos the beast would sneak into her room and abuse her. She felt broken, defiled and condemned to damnation. Even the day her dad’s case was dropped for lack of evidence, Carlos seemed very much pleased and had bought a stash of that stuff and they hooked on that stuff and made love while Emilia cried all night clinging to her dad’s ceremonial uniform. No greater man was to her like her Dad and hero, Mike Lawkens. She wept until she felt a cloud of hatred and bitterness overwhelming her heart: for the first time that day she had the mutant blood rage, it was the first phase but will eventually overwhelm her.
Emilia hated reminiscing that past, it was like every time she recalled, the wounds were opened afresh. She needed to get her mind off things, she activated her remote ball and switched on her TV by voice control. It was one of the Vellomn Metropolis TV. Channels playing the footage of her mom crying. Emilia was not moved by that Hypocrisy displayed by this wench that made her Dad’s life miserable and dumped her at the slightest chance. She died to her the day she slept with another man on her dad’s bed on the eve of his death. How dear her pretend as if she ever cared about her? She wished that it was her that died in her dad’s place.
The anger in Emilia was coming to a cup full, she felt bad for the young Lesner. He tried everything humanly possible to reach-out to her and assist her but, she couldn’t have another soul in the dungeon in which she lives. Mildroid was the worst place to share companionship. Her Dad always loved young Lesner and even took them out together on many occasions and would also take Ivy with them too whenever she was around. The day he died, Lesner was supposed to meet them at the candy bar, but he couldn’t, his mom always had a frail health. That day she was found partially unconscious and was revived, he was too grieved for fun. Dad had bought him a box of chocolate and they would have delivered it at the hospital but fate had other plans.
Emilia knew that this was an opportunity to change her identity, after all, Emilia was dead as the word dead could go. She rushed into her massive bathroom and trimmed her curly hair by half and dyed it all pure white and fashioned it into a beautiful fringe. She couldn’t deny that she carried her dad’s beautiful color. Her dad was a biracial but her mom was as white as the world could go, blonde, slender and beautiful. She herself was quiet a tall girl of 5.11 with beautiful fair skin, thick lips and brown eyes. Her dad always called her his beautiful black jewel, she felt it was contrasting to an extent but she loved both heritage a lot and identified with both.
Emilia looked herself in the mirror and admired how she looked. She had always been a Tom boy until last year when she busted out of prison. She felt like a lady, for the first time in her life, she felt sexy and very beautiful.
“Dad I wish you were here to beat the boys away like you always promised to.” she laughed. He with his muscular body would carry her up and then describe how he would beat the boys out, until he found her the one, the right one who will treat his daughter like the treasure she was. He would summarize with a clownish smile followed by his muscular display of strength. She would giggle aloud as a child, with the slightest comprehension of what he meant. He would reach out to her with a poetic smirk and tell her
“Emilia, let nothing take away this smile, it is my greatest accomplishment.”
“Dad I still got your accomplishment.’’ she pouted stylishly, mimicking her late dads’ poetic smirk. “Dad, you will always live in my heart” she whispered and coiled up her fingers to form a love shape. she was to clock seventeen in few months’ time, making it eighth birthdays without her dad. She looked at the picture of him, she gummed to the upper end of the huge mirror. He was smiling, clad in his ceremonial uniform, as he posed with the former mayor of Vellom Metropolis. She closed her eyes for a second and wished that he would be in her 17th birthday. It sounded stupid knowing that he was dead and buried but she just loved doing that.
“you will always be my only birthday wish.” She whispered emotionally and heaved for a second. “Grandma, take care of dad...please. I love you both so much.” She muttered, as two drops of tears formed her eye lids and drippled down her cheek. She wiped them away and smiled for a second.
“Wow, I can’t just get over both of you” she quipped as though they were there.
Emilia tapped a part of the mirror and it became a screen, she tapped it again to access the information’s in it. A bot appeared on the screen, she asked it several questions and it answered, telling her the time, temperature and other things. She finally tapped it again and it became a normal mirror. She knew that she had a mission at the Clibbers bar today. She wore her star of Vixor necklace and rushed back to bed to get enough sleep before she it was dusk. She switched on music by the mutant rebellion band. They were the most beautiful music band she ever heard. She reminisced until she fell asleep.