SEPARATED

EIGHT

SARAH:

I had always encouraged myself to be enthusiastic and optimistic about life. I had always held high hopes and shown undying determination in everything I did. Giving up, for me, wasn't an option.

My strong will, however, had only rewarded me with disappointment after disappointment. My hopes had been crushed time and time again.

Once, I had dreamed of attaining a good education and being independent and successful. But instead I dropped out of school after getting married at seventeen years of age. I dreamed of the day my father would love me like a father should love his daughter, but instead he attempted to abuse me sexually and married me off to a stranger without my consent.

When I returned to Freywood, I wanted so badly to meet my family again and maybe grant them my forgiveness for selling me off, but even this I couldn't do because they had moved away from the place I once called home.

It had been a warm Friday evening. There was a mild breeze in the air. I had listened to my used-to-be neighbours explain to me that my parents had left shortly after I had disappeared. They told me my father had landed a promotion with the soap factory he worked for. Of course I knew it was my father's tale to cover up the five hundred thousand dollar scandal in which he sold me off.

My father also told our (former) neighbours that I had won a scholarship in a boarding school and that's why I had dissapeared. After hearing all this, I no longer cared if I met my parents or not, I would never even think of forgiving them. All I cared about was seeing Jacob again; but I was faced with more disappointment when I learned non of my former neighbours knew of his whereabouts.

With all this mishaps and disappointment, one would not get his hopes too high again, right? But I just never learned... All it took was Eve mentioning a young man, sixteen or so, with sky blue curious eyes and brown carly hair who had asked about me and once again I allowed my hopes to touch the sky. I bombarded Eve with so many questions you'd think I was investigating a murder case.

"We only talked briefly" Eve told me, "why don't you wait till tomorrow then you'll speak with him yourself; he works here now.."

"I know, I know.... but I'm just too anxious Eve." I explained.

"Do you know him?" she asked.

"Maybe; I can only be sure after I meet him."

"Well then get some sleep. You'll meet him tomorrow." Eve persuaded.

"Fine." I said and got in my sheets. Eve put out the light then made for her own room across the hall shutting my bedroom door behind her. I shut my eyes and tried to visualise Jacob. It had been ages since I'd seen him. But his face was crystal clear in my mind. I thought of what I'd say to him. Would he even remember me? Of course he would; he had asked about me. Maybe he would embrace me and kiss me and we would go some place far away together. Was I hoping for to much? I certainly hoped not.

***********

JACOB:

Most men love soccer. But my father is different; because my father loves soccer more than most men. He watches every single game like he is literally part of the game. He even actually takes notes sometimes. Okay, so he was once a soccer coach. But I really don't know any other man with such passion for soccer.

And so my father is not the kind of man who would take his son being kicked off the school soccer team lightly. He would let just about anything else pass; poor grades, ill discipline, he wouldn't even notice. But just lose your place on the soccer team like I had and he'd bring the roof down on you.

Well technically, this isn't what he had done to me; but it was close. I had been sentenced to an entire weekend of soccer practice. My dad was my personal coach and trainer. And he was hell bent on getting me back on the school team.

"Seven! Eight! Nine! Ten!" he yelled as I barely lifted my chest off the ground.

"What do push ups have to do with soccer?" I grumbled to myself. That was the tenth set I'd done in less than an hour.

"Come on son; we'll show that coach of yours what the Stewarts are made of! Ten laps around the around the yard, go!" My father called. I groaned and set off slowly. Man this was like rugby training!

On an ordinary day, I'm a real sportsman. I love soccer and physical exercise. But it wasn't an ordinary day. It was a Saturday, the day I get to spend entirely, at the mansion in the woods. It was the day I was meant to find Sarah and know for sure whether she was the Sarah I knew, or not.

What was I gonna tell my boss, Antonio? Yes he was kind, patient and maybe lenient. But missing two consecutive full days of work is no way to go about a new job. I wouldn't be able to return to the mansion till Monday. And if I got my place back on the soccer team like my dad wanted, then I wouldn't have any spare time left at all for the mansion.

I couldn't get back on the team. I couldn't abandon my job, not after all the progress I'd made. I was so close to seeing Sarah again. But I didn't wanna disappoint my father either. We didn't spend much time together and I had never really done anything for him. I knew my being on the school team meant everything to him. So what was I gonna do?

I needed a plan. I needed a friend. I needed Gabriel...