WestFiction- "How Come, How Long" by Lajla

stories

readers

authors zone

character call form

authors

www

home

HOW COME, HOW LONG

by Lajla

There was a girl I used to know

She was oh so beautiful

But she’s not here anymore

22^nd of September. The day Nicky hated most. That was the day his sister, Gillian was murdered. She was 2 years older than Nicky, and they were extremely close, they did everything together. They had the same group of friends, the same hobbies, they went everywhere together.

That was, until he came. A man Nicky hated more than anyone in this world. A man who killed his sister.

He still remembers the day Gillian came to Nicky’s house that day with a big smile on her face. Partly because it was her 24^th birthday that day, and partly because she met a ’wonderful guy’, as she put it. His name was Mike. Gillian told her brother how they met, what she thinks of him, and from the way she talked about him, he seemed alright to Nicky. He didn’t sensed anything suspicious.

She had a college degree

Smart as anyone could be

She had so much to live for

But she fell in love

With the wrong kinda man

After just 7 months of dating, they got married. Everything was going great first few months. They were so in love with each other, they were the perfect couple. A lot of people envied them because of all that love they were sharing.

But then the problems started appearing. They had difficulties with paying the bills, and Mike didn’t want Gillian to work, because, as he put it ‘his woman isn’t going to work’. His woman? He never treated her with much respect, but no-one could see that, because when they were in the public, with their friends, they acted like two love birds. But once behind the closed doors, he hit her. He hit her so hard, she needed to go to hospital because the wounds were too deep. He broke her arm couple of times, and he broke her ribs.

He abused her love and treated her so bad

There was not enough education in her world

That could save the life of this little girl

But she never said one word, because she loved him. Even though he was always beating her, most times without reason, he just needed to get his anger out on somebody, she never told anyone her secret.

And all the bruises and broken bones…… well, she said she fell down the stairs……typical things.

Nicky sensed something was wrong, but even though he practically pleaded her to tell him what was wrong, she didn’t want to. She even lied to her brother, a person she was the closest to. She loved Mike that much.

How come, how long

It’s not right, it’s so wrong

Do we let it just go on

Turn out backs and carry on

Gillian and Mike’s neighbours were hearing all the shouting, screaming, pleading, crying, gasping, things breaking……but they still didn’t do a single thing about it, even though they could sense something was going on. But then again, what could they do? If they told the police about it, Gillian would just denied it, partly because of the love she felt for Mike, and partly because she was frightened that he could do something horrible to her, or to people she loved.

Wake up, for it’s too late

She won’t have a second try

Open up your hearts

As well as your eyes

She tried to give a cry for help

She even blamed things on herself

But no-one came to her aid

There was one time she tried to help herself by telling the whole truth to a nurse in hospital. But Mike found out about it, and beat the hell out of the innocent nurse, so that it doesn’t even cross her mind telling police or someone else about it. And Gillian……well, Gillian got her punishment that night. He beat her so hard he broke her nose. And then told her that she doesn’t even think about going to hospital, or someone, and he meant Nicky, will get hurt. And Gillian loved her little brother more than anything, so she risked her getting killed, just to make sure Nicky would be OK.

And then she started thinking what made him beat her. Did he hate her that much? Or was it something she said or did? She thought it was all her fault, and that she had no-one but herself to blame for all the broken bones and ribs. She actually thought she deserved it, cos she thought she didn’t love him enough, she wasn’t a very good wife, she didn’t fulfil his every need, every wish……but everyone except her knew it was impossible to make his every wish true, cos he wanted too much. Gillian just wasn’t strong enough to give him everything he wanted. She was too tired……physically and emotionally.

Nothing was wrong as far as we could tell

That’s what we’d like to tell ourselves

But no, it wasn’t that way

So she fell in love

With the wrong kinda man

For loving that man

So we cannot ignore,

We must look for the signs

And maybe next time we could save somebody’s life

She was writing her diary every night, before he came home from work, cos she knew if he found that diary, he would burn it and Gillian would end up in hospital again.

In that diary, she wrote everything she felt each time he hit her, every detail about their life together.

Then, one night, he came home from work. He was fired, and he was so angry, the second he stepped into the house, he started throwing things around, and hitting Gillian everywhere. By the time he finished abusing her, she was lying in her own blood, she couldn’t move. This was the worst of it all. And Mike didn’t make any effort to help her get up, let alone get her to hospital.

She died that night.

When Nicky found out about it, he went mad. He beat the hell out of Mike, and he would’ve killed him, if the police hadn’t came. When Nicky went back to their flat to clean it up and get his sister’s stuff, he found the diary. That’s how he found out about every detail that was going on in their lives.

He blamed himself for not realizing it, for not making her tell him what was wrong. Deep down, he knew there was nothing he could do, but still. It helped blaming someone. Beside Mike, of course. He hated him from the bottom of his heart. But Mike got his punishment. He was beat up in jail. They beat him up, and left him lying there in his own blood. Just like he did to Gillian many times before. He died because no-one wanted to help him.

Some people say Nicky hired those people to beat the hell out of him, to kill him, since he didn’t have the chance to do it himself that day.

Nicky changed from that day. He didn’t go out anymore, he quit Westlife, nothing interested him anymore. He was always grieving for his sister and visiting her grave few times a day. No-one knew what was he really feeling…… Not even Georgina……

Lyrics: How Come, How Long by Babyface & Stevie Wonder

sign Lajla's Feedback Page find out more about Lajla email Lajla Nicky stories- main page