Nicholas Wild rushed to the track with his heart beating fast. Pam was close to him. Her heart was beating fast too. The medical team were already at work, trying all they could to restore Christabel Bloom back to life. Pressure was mounted on her chest. Her arms were flipped several times to check for pulse. Everyone in the medical team was busy until there was a sign of life in her.
*
"I don't know if she will be fine," Nicholas Wild said to Pam as they walked away from the scene where the incident had taken place. "I can assure you that I saw her running as if she owned the world."
"It happens," Pam said with a slight tone of fear. "I wonder why you are so concerned about this girl when you haven't been bothered about a lot of people in your life. If it will do you a lot of good, I want you to know she is not your problem and there is no need for you to act as if you care."
"I am not acting," Nicholas tried to explain. "I am just trying to be a human being for one second in my life. You said a lot of things to me before today. You made me to be aware of how selfish and self-centred I am. Seeing a girl who deserves a place in the state championship collapse when she was leading the race made me feel bad. The least I can do is to share my sympathy with her. I don't see anything wrong with what I am doing."
Pam spat on the grass and rubbed her foot over it like someone who was close to the stage of giving birth. "I don't know if it will ever be easy for me to believe the words that comes out from your mouth, Nicholas Wild," she explained. "I smell so much deceit in you that I wonder if there is a place for sincerity inside of you. And, considering your past records, this girl could be another tool you want to explore for your own personal gratification."
"That is not true," Nicholas raised his voice as he turned to look at the ambulance carrying Christabel Bloom's body drive away from the track.
"What makes my statement untrue?" Pam asked. "You want to tell me a girl suddenly fainting has changed you? Or, you want to say you have suddenly found a hole in your heart you want to mend? Stop making a fool out of yourself, Nicholas Wild. If there is something I have known about you for a while now, it is the greed that eats every part of you when you are at rest."
"That is not true," Nicholas said again. "There is more to me than you think. You just know me for what I have decided to show you. I can show you different parts of me and yet, you won't be able to completely understand me. I have some good in me, Pam. It is your choice to accept my words as truth or neglect it."
"Truth?" Pam spat on the grass again. "Never!"
*
On his way home, Nicholas could see the words he had said to Pam appear suddenly in front of his face like a splash. He could see himself trying to prove his dignity while Pam tried everything possible in her power to make sure he still felt like shit.
On his way home, Nicholas Wild could see the familiar street cars that led to his father's grand house. He could see the stores that were the memories of a childhood where he got almost everything he wished for.
"Hello!" He said to his mother, Jennifer Wild as he got home and sat down on a rocking chair in the large sitting room.
"Just hello?" Jennifer was stunned her only son and child did not have much to say to her apart from a casual greeting she had been accustomed with since she was a child.
"Sorry, ma," Nicholas said. "I had a really bad day. It is just sad how someone can get to you without touching you with a finger."
"What happened?" Jennifer asked, trying to show concern. "Did someone hurt you son?"
"No! No one hurt me physically, ma. I am fine."
"Then, what is wrong? If there is anyone who is threatening you, I want you to know your father has every power to make life miserable for them. No family is more powerful than 'The Wilds'.
"I know, ma," Nicholas responded with complete acceptance. "I know my father is well connected, ma. I know he can talk to certain people in high places in society and get me whatever I want. But, ma, I don't want that. I have been thinking about some of the things that is happening in my life and I am finally realizing I need a change."
"What kind of change are you talking about?" Jennifer looked at her son awkwardly.
"I want a change in my life," Nicholas continued. "I want to be able to take on some responsibilities in my life. I don't want to be seen as the child who is constantly dependent on his father's wealth. I have my life to live, ma. Sooner or later, I will be a grown man and I would have to work for myself in order to survive. How will I be able to do all of that if I am still dependent on both of you for all my needs?"
"Nonsense!" Jennifer's lips moved randomly. "What you just said now is utter nonsense. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to. Your father and I are capable of providing for all your needs. I don't know who is feeding you will all this garbage inside your head. Listen, it is not a curse to be born with wealth. It is a blessing to be able to have what you want. If you don't see your father's amount of wealth as a blessing, I don't know what you want again in life."
Nicholas stood up from the rocking chair and grabbed his mother on his shoulders. "I want to be able to work for myself, ma. I know it is coming too late and in an awkward period of time when the city is going crazy with politics and all. But, I want to be able to start something new in my life. As you can see, my career in athletics is already fading away. I messed up pretty bad during the previous edition. And, I don't want to repeat that. I want to do something different now. I want to earn my place in the society just like my father did."
"Nonsense!" Jennifer raised her voice again. "What you just said to me is utter nonsense! I know you must have been talking to some people who have been jealous of our family's wealth for a long time. I smell it, son. I also know there are snitches in this city who don't like the idea of seeing my husband above them. I want you to know I am ready to deal with all of them if they come near you. All you have to do is to mention their names and I will fight for you, son."
"There is no need for that, ma," Nicholas said, bending his head and facing the floor. "There is absolutely no need for you to fight for me. I came here to tell you I can take care of myself and I want to become a man. I know it is going to take a while for you to accept that but my mind has already been made up. I want to build my life from the very scratch just like he did. I want to lay the brick and see my efforts become something worth smiling about."
"It is not possible, son," Jennifer placed her hands on her hips and stared at the innocent face of her only child. "Even if I was to give you complete freedom to live the kind of life you want to live, I am not sure your father is going to completely agree with you on what you just said to me. He strives to make sure your life is better than the way it already is. He works every day to make sure you don't go through what he went through when he was at your age."
Nicholas was silent.
"Son," Jennifer continued. "It would be hard to convince your father to let you be the man you want to be. You were born into wealth and you have to acknowledge it. Having money is not a curse, it is a blessing like I have informed you. Money is a blessing a lot of people who move around you would kill to have. Do you know how many people in this city would do anything to make sure they have the kind of wealth and power that your father has?"
"Many," Nicholas responded.
"More than many," Jennifer tried to correct him. "A lot of people would do anything to ensure they don't have to suffer again in their lives. You don't have to run away from your destiny, son. You just have to accept it."
Nicholas paused as he climbed two stairs leading to his room. "What if I don't want to accept it? What if I want a complete change in my life? Don't I have a say in what I want to do in my life? Look at me, ma! I am an adult and yet, I wake up every day in my father's house. I wake up every day seeing his own achievements. I want to sleep and wake up one day seeing my own achievements. Is that too much to ask, ma?"
"It isn't," Jennifer answered, rubbing her nose gently. "What you are asking isn't too much, son. The problem here is you not understanding that your father has already worked so you don't have to work again in your life. He has already done what a man of your age should be thinking of doing right now. All you have to do is to sit, relax and enjoy the fortune he has created."
"I can't," Nicholas rebelled for the first time in his life.
"You can't?" Jennifer felt as if she was deaf. She acted as if she hadn't heard what he had said correctly. "You can't do what exactly?"
"I can't live in my father's shadows till I die," Nicholas continued. "If I want a life for myself, I have to create my own. It is what I was hoping to make you understand. Pa has made everything available for me. He has helped me in several ways since I have been a child. He has used whatever technique to get me into places I don't deserve, ma."
"I don't agree with you," Jennifer yelled. "You have been good at everything you do. You are good at what you love, son. You are an athlete. You know how to win a race within a flash. You are a born sprinter."
"I am not," Nicholas' voice felt cold for the first time as he admitted the truth to both himself and his mother. "I am not a good runner, ma. I never was."
"Who told you that?" Jennifer tried to stay calm as she felt her heart beating really fast. "Who is feeding you with all these lies?"
"Nobody, ma," Nicholas paused. "I have just reached a stage where I have accepted I am not good enough."
*
In the night, Nicholas Wild stood outside the hospital where Christabel Bloom had been taking to. He could see a line of ambulances and some nurses dressed in purple attires coming out from the hospital's main door. There was an emergency and the nurses were in a rush to save three people who had been involved in a fire incident. He tucked his hands inside his tweed coat. A few minutes later, he was at the hospital's waiting room.