Star Bright
“
I am the
master of my destiny, the leader of my actions, the dictator of my
world for the power lives in me and no one else.”
Christina OW
Star Bright
by
Christina OW
This is a fictional work.
The names, characters, incidents, places, and locations are solely
the concepts and products of the author’s imagination or are used
to create a fictitious story and should not be construed as
real.
5 PRINCE
PUBLISHING AND BOOKS, LLC
PO Box 16507
Denver, CO
80216
Star Bright
Christina OW
Copyright Christina OW 2012
Published by 5 Prince Publishing
Smashwords Edition
Cover: Viola
Estrella
ISBN 13: 978-0-985334-2-9
ISBN 10: 0985334525
All rights reserved. No
part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief
quotations, reviews, and articles. For any other permission please
contact 5 Prince Publishing and Books, LLC.
First Edition/First
Printing April 2012 Printed U.S.A.
5 PRINCE PUBLISHING AND
BOOKS, LLC.
"
Invictus
"
by
poet
William Ernest Henley
(1849–1903)
Book of Verses
1875.
I dedicate my first book
to my mother Christina. Thanks for being our defender, our
provider, our driving force, our guardian angel, our blessing from
God and most importantly our mommy.
Out of the night that
covers me,
black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may
be,
for my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of
circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeoning of
chance,
my head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of
wrath and tears,
looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the
years,
finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait
the gate,
how charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my
fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
-William Ernest
Henley
Chapter One
Maria weaved through the
booths and walked to table five balancing four plates on her arms
and hands. Sometimes she wondered why she took this job in the
first place. But she didn’t have much of a choice, that and the
fact there wasn’t much in the small town of Jacksonville
Mississippi to do, and there weren’t many options of a job position
for a twenty- two year old girl who didn’t have a college
education, with a four year old son and a dead beat boyfriend. It
was a good thing her mother worked as a seamstress or they would be
struggling more than they already were.
“
Two burgers
with fries, a veggie salad and an omelette with toast,” Maria
repeated their order with a smile as she set the plates down on the
table. She placed the veggie salad in front of the girl silently
congratulating her on her efforts to lose weight. She was so round
and hefty, at first Maria didn’t think she would fit in the booth,
but somehow she managed. She placed the omelette and the burgers in
front of the three guys sharing her table. “Would you like anything
else?” she asked with a pasted smile that her manager had insisted
she needed to have on at all times.
“
You got our
orders wrong!” the girl answered, looking at Maria with lethal
eyes. Her freckled forehead was creased and her chubby cheeks
looked even bigger with her lips curved down.
Maria looked at her with
equally hostile eyes. She had a long day with many obnoxious,
perverted customers, there was very little polite left in her. “Oh,
I’m sorry which one?” she said feigning concern. She was sure she
had gotten the orders right and the girl just wanted to annoy her,
for some incomprehensive stupid reason, customers thought it fun to
make waitresses run around like hamsters on a wheel under the
notion of customer service. She was about to pull out her note book
from the front pocket of her apron when the girl switched plates
with one of the burger guys and pulled the omelette closer to her.
Maria looked at her shocked, “Those are both yours?” The shock
echoed in her voice.
“
Yeah, so?” the
girl barked.
Maria looked at the man
who didn’t have food, he was tiny and was wearing a shirt three
sizes too big. He sucked on his straw nosily, looking at her from
under his long brown hair and then she turned to the one who got
the salad. His clothes fitted tightly on his small frame. He looked
like a pubescent girl tossing the salad around on his plate. He
needed that burger more than the chubby girl did. The two were thin
enough for her to eat with one bite each “Enjoy your meal.” She
turned around and walked away. As she made her way to the counter,
she could feel several eyes on her. She suddenly felt under dressed
as she did on several occasions in the diner. Their uniforms didn’t
help much and made her discomfort even worse.
The manager made them
wear the tiniest black shorts she’d ever seen and tight grey tops
which they had to leave the front buttons open to show off more
cleavage than necessary. Their green aprons were only an inch
longer than their shorts. This was one of the reasons she hated
working there. She was relieved to see the friendly face of Jane,
her best friend, who’d been more like her sister since high school,
sitting at the counter. She too didn’t go to college, but her
reasons were for true love.
Her husband Tom worked at
a factory close by. She had insisted on not leaving the small town
to go to a big city like most of their class mates had. She said
she didn’t want to leave him alone, in case he found some other
girl to love. Her parents fought her left and right. They wanted
her to better herself, to find a job in a big city and to find
someone her own age to love. Tom was almost ten years her senior,
but she didn’t care, she loved him. Tom tried to get her to leave,
but she wouldn’t budge, so he broke it off and avoided her as much
as he could. Her parents were ecstatic of course, but she was
heartbroken. She got desperate and when she got desperate she came
up with the craziest ideas. She lied to her parents and said she
was pregnant, and since her best friend Maria was close to six
months pregnant at the time they didn’t doubt it. They blamed Maria
for corrupting their daughter. Maria put up with it, she wanted her
friend to get what she wanted, and since she was happy at the time,
she didn’t see why her friend shouldn’t be also.
Jane married Tom a month
later. Her parents didn’t want the embarrassment of having a
pregnant daughter in their house. A few weeks after the wedding,
she told them all the truth. Tom laughed, and couldn’t believe he
didn’t see through her plan, her parents however were furious. They
took her college money and moved to Miami. They were going to put
it to good use since Jane didn’t want to. Two years later she had a
child, a daughter, the splitting image of herself.
Maria leaned on the
counter, her hand in her long thick black hair. “Jane, why do we
work here again?”
Jane smiled at her,
“Because we have families to support,” She squeezed Maria’s hand
and went back to filling glasses from the soda machine. “Twenty
more minutes till our shift ends, suck it up.” She pulled her long
blonde hair into a pony tail then picked up the tray full of
drinks. Jane had one of those pageant faces, big beautiful brown
eyes, and the body to match. Maria always liked to think Michael
had Jane’s eyes, just so she wouldn’t see the resemblance of
Ricky.
Maria felt more depressed
at the thought of going home. It wasn’t her mother or her son, she
looked forward to seeing them at the end of a long day. The one she
dreaded seeing was Ricky. She hated the fights, the beatings, and
his unfounded jealousy. If she could, she would pack up her mother
and her son and leave, but with Ricky it wasn’t that simple. He
would find them and when he did, he would take her son away from
her. She could live without a lot of things, but not her son. Jane
saw the grave look on Maria’s face. She put her tray down and
hugged her tight knowing all too well what was tormenting her.
Maria held on to her grateful. If it wasn’t for Jane’s support, she
wouldn’t have the strength to hold on to life.
Jane pulled away, “Maria
leave him.”
Feeling defeated and
scared, “I can’t do that, he’ll take my son away.”
Jane looked at her, “Why
not reach down for the Latino in you and kick his ass.”
Maria let out a chuckle,
a slight smile on her face, feeling the tension from her shoulders
ease. She had never met her father, but her mother, Edna told her
everything about him. Miguel was one of the members of a notorious
Latino gang in New York. He was on the run when he passed through
their small town. Her mother fell in love with him and his
dangerous life. He fell in love with how innocent she was. He
stayed around for three months before he left, saying it was for
her safety. Maria however didn’t believe that, she believed he just
cut his losses and left. It was too convenient that he left so soon
after Edna told him she was pregnant. All men thought of number one
first.
She picked up three menus
for the three guys who had just walked in, “Jane, not all Latino’s
are gangsters and besides I’m half Latino.”
Jane picked up the tray,
“You inherited a lot from your dad and especially those green eyes
which I’m so crazy about, but what you should have inherited was
the gangster part. Whoop his stupid ass to the next decade.” She
turned and walked away. Maria smiled at the thought of giving Ricky
a taste of his own medicine, as she walked to the trio this time
with a genuine smile on her face.
“
Hello and
welcome to JJ’s diner. This way please.” Her smile was suddenly
killed by the lustful eyes the guys were now giving her. She pulled
her hair over her chest, trying to hide her cleavage.
‘Eighteen minutes to go’
she thought to herself as she led the way, so sure that their
eyes were stuck on her ass. She fisted the apron in her hand. She
wanted to turn it around to her back side.
Maria was a beauty,
courtesy of Edna and Miguel, and she knew that, she didn’t need
constant reminding. In high school, it was fun having all the guys
look at her and some even did her homework. But it also got her
into trouble, Ricky being the trouble. He bought her chocolates and
flowers, wrote her poems, and walked her to and from school, and
befriended Jane and Edna. He was a dream come true, like the lead
character in a romantic movie, until she got pregnant and once they
moved in together, he had her wrapped around his little
finger.
He hated the fact that
other men looked at her, and he was even more reviled when he
thought she liked the attention. When Michael turned two, Jane
threw a birthday party for Michael at her house. Tom’s best friend
Ned helped Maria decorate, since Ricky didn’t want to do anything
to help. He was very friendly and no one was immune to his jokes,
except Ricky. He saw it as Maria and Ned’s way to blatantly flirt
in his face. When they got home, they got into an argument about
his misplaced jealousy and he punched her, warning her to stay away
from him. Edna had insisted she leave, if she didn’t want to be a
punching bag, but when he came begging for forgiveness pointing out
how it was her fault he lost his temper, she took him back,
foolishly apologizing. After that day, Maria never spoke to Ned.
Worst of all, she was hooked to Ricky, with no way out.
He hit her more,
practically on a weekly basis, determined to disfigure her face and
her body so that men would find her repulsive. When people began to
notice, he hit her everywhere and anywhere. She tried to leave, but
he kept threatening to take their son away for good. She couldn’t
risk not seeing Michael ever again, so she did what she thought she
had to do, she stayed and took the beatings for three years. Maria
thanked God every day that Michael wasn’t a girl and therefore
wouldn’t bare the curse of having an abusive, useless and absent
man in her life, but she was also scared that her son may turn out
to be one of those bad men.