The Savior Of Hades

"Why mama?...." Ed managed to ask and then his voice trailed away.

Why did she have to hit him again? Wasn't the first time she did so enough for her? Did she want to kill him? Was she that tired of him that she wanted to kill him before leaving?

"I'm sorry Ed but I couldn't control it. Your father spoke as if it wasn't his fault my life turned out this way. I hate him. I hate everything" she said in between sobs.

Ed watched her. He couldn't say anything either as she squatted, crying. He still held onto his father who sprawled unconsciously on the floor. He was still breathing, and that was the confirmation Ed needed to bother less about him.

He stared at his mother, awaiting her to be done with her emotional outburst. Perhaps that was why his father called him a sissy because he always did this. If he were the one and reverse be the case, his father would beat his mother with his old leather belt that has seen more decades than Ed, to give her a tangible reason to cry. Like he always put it.

But it wasn't his mother's fault. His father contributed to it. Ed had seen it all. Ed had observed it through the little keyhole at the door of his father's room where he stared at them most times from. Ed had been ten when it got worst.

Ed's mother sold loaves of bread at the market before but she soon stopped soon after when she noticed that his father always stole the little proceeds she made from it.

What pained her the most was the fact he never did any reasonable thing with the money,just drinking and bringing different women home. And it was from the keyhole that Ed usually watched the women bounce on him naked while sitting on his thighs.

Sometimes,he wouldn't even drink and would spend the entire money she made and he stole from her on one woman and in one night.

This had discouraged Ed's mother and given the rise in price of baking ingredients, she had stopped her business and began another, giving in to men who wanted to get a feel on what was in between her legs.

If her husband spent such amounts of money in a day on one woman, how much more would others be willing to spend of her, she who was prettier and more endowed than the others her husband usually spent on.

That had been her theme when she started and since then till now, that had always been her theme.

"Do you know that all my friends are married to wealthy men now? Ruth married a wealthy labourer, even Cordelia the semi ugly married a handsome Duke. How much more I, who was famed for being the most beautiful amongst my friends? Married to a deadbeat ugly cheat who doesn't provide for my needs?" She continued sobbing.

Ed Warren was tired of hearing her soliloquies and comparison to her friend's lives. So he thought of something to say that would cause her attention to drift.

He stared around the house but there was nothing for him to ask from it.

The torn and old chair that was in the middle of the living room was still there, and so was the old Black and white television that hadn't worked for years.

The house reeked of urine due to its poor sanitation, and given his father's uncontrollable bladder which made him pass it out wherever he found himself without caring.

Ed saw cobwebs by the sides of the room too and turned to look at his mother. It was obvious she hadn't cleaned the house for days. He was somehow dejected this was his life.

If any of his roommates at the monastery were to find out, he would be laughed at and bullied for coming from a depressing poor home, unrelated to theirs.

The woman he saw first. He recalled. That was enough topic to make his mother forget her sorrows and stop burdening his ears with her pity story of her marriage.

"Mama who was that woman I saw at the front door when I returned?" He asked loudly, hoping she heard him even as he made sure his voice was loud.

"Why didn't ask your father when you saw him bleeding?" She let out the minute his question escaped his lips.

His stare darted confusedly from her to his father. Why was he to ask him? Wasn't she responsible for the first bleeding he had?

He was aware she had seen the confusion on his face but she didn't bother to answer. Instead, she wiped her tears and walked up to where her luggage was, turning away towards the door the moment she carried it.

Ed Warren felt his life crumbling before him, unsure whether or not to go after her or to just return to the monastery, apologize to the nuns and plead with them to allow him to stay back there.

He would help them with cleaning, washing and the laundry in exchange for food and a place to stay. He was versed in those female roles, afterall he had been his mother's only child.

But another part of his mind told him to go after his mother.. He didn't know where she was going to, nor if she would ever return. He needed to mow if it was a place he could follow her to. Returning from the monastery to this place won't be possible anymore given his father's desire to sell the house.

"Mama, where are you going to?" He asked as he ran after her.

She had walked a reasonable distance down the house and it took him a while before he was able to catch up with her.

"Mama where are you going to?" He continued asking her, dragging her luggage with her as he caught up with her.

"Ed Warren. Stop making me look like a bad mother in front of the people. I have raised you myself since you were born till now that you're twenty one. Can't you let me go and live my own life now that you're old enough to live yours?" She asked, trying to release his grasp from her hand and her luggage.

Ed wanted to correct her. He wasn't twenty one anymore but twenty three. But that didn't matter. Especially now that she was going away to a place he didn't know.

" Mam please don't leave me. You can leave papa but please don't leave me" he pleaded, not wanting to let go off her arm he had a strong grip on, nor her luggage.

"Your father stole the money I wanted to give you and gave the woman you saw earlier. So you'll have him to blame for me leaving empty handed" her voice was barely above a whisper as she tried to control her tears in public.

But Ed Warren was already crying and didn't care if people insulted him for doing so at his age or not. His mother was leaving and that was all that mattered to him at the moment.

" Mama please stop saying things I don't understand. Let's go back home. You can't leave me all alone with papa. Please mama" He continued pleading.

" If I were you Ed Warren, I'd let your mother go. She has suffered enough, don't be the obstacle obstructing her blessings"

Ed turned to see who had said that to him and discovered Madeline's mother by his side.

On instinct, he let go off his mother's arm and her luggage. He had been blinded by tears to notice the crowd that had gathered beside them.

His mother stretched her arms after he released them and took off the necklace she wore and placed into Ed Warren's hand.

" If you seel them, you will be able to realize a little fortune. Use that to take care of your self till whenever you become a priest like you want to" she said and turned to leave.

He watched as a car drove up to here she was and parked beside her.

" I never wanted to become a priest mama" he confessed as he watched the door being opened for her, wondering who owned the car and why his mother was entering inside.