A Sad Story

Origins

My father was a marine serving our country in the war on terror, he came home on leave before his first deployment hoping to make his high school sweetheart his wife.  He took them to the place where they had their first date, Lake Greenwood, to propose to her.  When he got down on one knee ready for her to say yes, but when he opened the box to show her the ring she immediately closed it.  She said "no, I can't marry you," my father was confused but soon he realized that she was sleeping with his childhood best friend.  After they landed in Iraq in hopes of stopping terrorism, they went on a patrol through the outskirts of a town suspected of being allied with a terrorist group.  His unit was ambushed, since he was in charge of them he fought off as many as the attackers of he could allowing the rest of his men to run to safety.  Then they soon were surrounded, he was held to the ground as the captain of the attackers stepped forward picking people to live as prisoners or die in order to make a example.  My father had to watch as his fellow brothers and soldiers in arms were gunned down knowing that he couldn't do anything to save them.  Then the captain walked over to him and with a forceful stomp to his temple knocked my father unconscious.  He awoke in a cell, the captain was looking at him and said "your awake, good, guards bring him to the ring." Two guards entered my fathers cell, he tried to fight them but he knew it was hopeless, the captain walked in with a AK-47 and hit him in the gut with the butt of the rifle.  Then the two guards recovered themselves before dragging my father to a ring, it looked like a makeshift octagon that you would see on UFC.  They threw him into the ring and locked the door behind him, then the captain went to the microphone an introduced my father's opponent. "Gentlemen this will be a very entertaining match as we watch Sargent First Class Richardson face off against John who was convicted of being a traitor to our organization." The crowd of soldiers and guards cheered filling the ring with noise as a guard pushed in John, then the captain threw down a knife from his raise balcony.  "Let's see some blood gentlemen, whoever survives gets to live another day, while the other lies dead in the middle of our ring." My father stood and faced his opponent, he channeled the rage from being rejected by his ex-girlfriend into fighting, he lunged for the knife before John got to his feet.  He quickly grabbed John by the throat pushing him up against the chain link walls that surrounded them, he drew the knife back and sent it through John's gut making me fall to his knees bleeding out.  It took seconds of bleeding before he died, the captain said "we have a killing machine gentlemen, he lives to fight another day while our traitor's body gets to be drug down the streets of his home town."  Two guards walked into the ring and picked my father up off his feet and begun to drag him back to his cell, he saw one of the other survivors from his unit being dragged to the ring.  They didn't speak to each other but instead exchanged a stare that meant only one thing needed to be said "survive."  Once he was back to his cell the captain said "good fighting Richardson, I can't wait to see your next match," my father ran to the bars and grabbed the captain by his collar saying "your a dead man." He smiled and two guards came into the cell and began to beat him until he passed out from pain, hours passed and he woke up to find it was night time.  He heard a voice from behind him, "here's your food prisoner," then the guard dropped the food onto the ground and returned to his post.  My father walked over and investigated his so called "meal" he ate some food because he knew he would have to keep up his strength if he would ever escape this place.  Days past, he didn't have a match because the captain said he was setting up a match that wouldn't last only about 5 seconds.  He saw some of the survivors of his unit being dragged toward the ring, most didn't come back once they went into that ring.  When he didn't see someone return he made a mental list of who was still alive and who had died fighting in that ring, he knew that about 9 other survivors were left by the end of the week.  Then at midnight of Friday as he was sleeping he was dragged to the ring, thrown in for his next match the captain said "okay Sargent, before you stands three people two are guards, the third is one of the survivors from your unit you have to kill all them to escape alive."  He waited for the crowd to settle down, "so, that means you have to either find the survivor and he can help you or you can take all three on by yourself you may begin."  He looked at the masked figures running toward him, he looked at their fighting style while he fought trying to figure out which man was the survivor.  Then he got knocked down to the ground and his opponents tried to kick him until he was dead but he got up slowly.  With one swift motion he snapped one of the guys necks and the captain said over the speakers "one down, two to go." One of the men began to strangle my father in attempts to cut off his oxygen supply killing him quickly but my father had a stronger grip and sent the man colliding with the ground dead.  The captain announced that it was now a stand off, the last opponent was ordered to take off his mask showing my father their face, it was his childhood best friend, the one who stole his high school sweetheart.  My father grabbed him the throat saying "you," he said "you know she was happier with me then you so why are you mad," my father tightened his grip around the man's neck.  He said "you know she loved me James, you knew it" he laughed and said "what are you going to do kill me ha you don't have the gut."  My father lifted him up with his hand still gripped tightly around the James' neck, he tightened his grip slowly cutting off his oxygen supply.  His friend spit blood into my father's face, my father stopped holding back and with both hands gripped James' neck until he snapped his head clean off his body.  He dropped him and said "who doesn't have guts you piece of shit," he walked to the door to be taken back to his cell.  The captain walked down from his platform to the door and said "your a killing machine, you killed the soldiers under you command, wow I like you."  My father spit into the captain's face knowing his punishment was coming, two guards began beating my dad until he was a inch from death before dragging him back to his cell.  He was unconscious for a few days so he lost track of how many men died fighting in the ring, he asked one of the guards who was nice enough to answer his question "only two other men from your unit are still alive besides you."  Months past, the three of them survived every fight and tortured that they went through and soon they were dragged to somewhere new in the complex.  It seemed to be a garage of some sorts, they were tied to chairs facing the captain and a few of the soldiers who helped in the ambush that seemed to happen ages ago to them.  The captain pulled a revolver from his belt and aimed it at my father's temple, he said "you pick who goes first in a game of Russian Roulette sergeant." My father answered in a whisper because he could barley "I choose to go first captain," he put a bullet into the chamber and spun it making it a surprise where the bullet was in the chamber.  He aimed at my father's head and before he could pull the trigger he fell onto his back dead, marines began to fill the complex taking out any hostiles they encountered.  A group of marines ran over to them, they freed my father and the other two men with him.  They escorted them outside where a line of military vehicles was parked with marines ready to take prisoners to safety, my father thought about what had happened during his months at the compound on the trip back to the forward operating base.  He killed the men that were under his command just so he could survive, he killed his child hood best friend because he wouldn't get over his girlfriend rejecting his proposal.  He got a dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps because he killed soldiers under his command knowing they were there.  After that he began to drink, he would go to his favorite bar every night and drank until he couldn't remember anything about himself.  My mother worked at my father's favorite bar as a waitress, she only planned to work in the bar until she had enough money to get off her feet then one night as she was walking to her car to go home my father forced her behind the bar and raped her.  A week later my mother told my father that she was pregnant, my father hated the idea of being a father.  When my sister Ashley was born my father tried to abandon her at the hospital, but my mother told him that she wanted to keep the first child she had no matter what he said.  So he brought my sister home in the trunk of the car, to him he was still doing what his wife wanted but in his own way.   My father made my sister sleep in a cabinet drawer because he didn't want to waste money on something that would waste years of his life even my mother said that drinking was wasting years of his life.  He now was the father of one child, he didn't care for her at all and would always blame my mother for getting pregnant.  My mother would work two jobs a day to keep the family afloat while my father basically spent money on beer that he used to drink his sorrows away.  My father first laid a hand on my sister when she was 1 when she spit food out on him he slapped her knocking one of her only teeth out and making her cry like she was in a horror movie about to be killed.  My father was 40 when he married my mother in a shotgun wedding, she was only 23 and she wanted to give her child a good life.  Every time family came over my father would hide my sister, he would tape her mouth shut so no one could hear her.  When my sister was about to turn four I was born, my dad argued with my mother that he could abandon me at the hospital because she got to keep her second child but my mom some how won that fight and I came home in my mothers arms.  She protected me from my father taking me to work with her, she still worked two jobs but now she worked overtime in order to keep her growing family afloat.  My father would beat me whenever he got the chance but he really showed me how he felt on my first Christmas.  It was a white Christmas, he got me a teddy bear that year, my mother thought it was nice of him to finally grow attached to the kids.  He said "this teddy bear is like you, sweet and innocent," he let me hold it for a minute before he turned and threw it into the roaring fire.  Then he turned back to me as I began to cry and said "this is what daddy wants to do to you, because you ruined my life," while he looked toward me he didn't notice my sister stick her hand into the fireplace pulling my teddy bear out before it was burnt too badly.  She handed it to me, then my father lost it he said "here let me treat those third degree burns you have with some ice."  My father picked up Ashley on his shoulders and took her outside, I watched helplessly as he slammed my sister down on the snow and ice repeatedly until she was bloody and bruised all over.  He brought her in and lied her down next to me, that's also when I said my first word "Ashley," my mother came in and saw my sister lying next to me bloody and bruised.  She picked me and up and helped Ashley to her feet, then he screamed at my dad "I'm leaving you Levi and I'm taking the kids with me your a horrible father and abusive parent." He shook his head no and pulled his hand back ready to strike my mother across the face, that's when Ashley got between them blocking my mother with her body.  My father sent my sister falling to the ground with a blow to the temple, then he threw me down and dragged my mother into the kitchen saying "you need to learn your place."  I was unconscious, barely breathing my sister told me when she told me about my first Christmas, I didn't know what my father was doing to my mother to put her in her place but I only assumed it was bad.  The coming year went by quickly, beatings given day by day to me and my sister, my mother didn't talk anymore after my father put her in her place on Christmas.  This was the origins of my story, please don't feel sad for me or pity me but if you want to continue reading then follow the next part in my story.  Thanks for reading my origins.