Hello, Mom. I Need Help
He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster, when you gaze long into the abyss the abyss also gazes into you.
-Nietzsche
"Hello, Mom. I'm calling because I need some help getting home."
Roseline had known that her son needed help since the sharp knife of untimely death severed the life of his older brother and deprived them both of their source of pride and happiness. She had stretched out her hand to help her only surviving son, but he would not take it. Instead, he withdrew himself from everything he loved: soccer, video games, friends and food.
He scarcely touched his food in the weeks leading to that day. So in spite of the fear that she felt in her stomach, she was happy that her son had finally extended his hand for her to help him and she was willing to do whatever it took to get him back to his happy, jovial self. The edge in his voice told her she had reasons to worry.
"Mikky, where are you?" Roseline asked.
"Mom, I am... wait, I am.. sorry I do not know where I am. I think I am.." the phone suddenly went dead.
Photo Credits: Pixabay
Roseline was in full panic mode now. She frantically re-dialled the number.
"You've reached the voicemail of Mikky, at the tone you know what to do."
Repeated calls returned the same response.
Did his battery die? What did he mean that he needed help?
Where could he be that he wouldn't know where he was? The questions rapidly came. It scattered through her mind and made it impossible for her to concentrate on a single idea for very long. The recurring thought was that she could not lose her second child that way. She must find him.
Michael and Ralph were two brothers that were best friends. Wherever you saw Michael, you could bet your money that Ralph was around the corner and you would win that bet every time. Michael was a bit socially awkward even though he was brilliant. So he relied on his older brother to navigate the social circles, and Ralph just happened to fit the bill perfectly because he was street smart and a hopeless extrovert.
The police investigated the events that led to Ralph's death, which was ruled as a suicide, and the case was closed. But Michael knew his brother better than anyone, and there was no way his brother would take his own life. But the world did not care.
They were over him and had moved on to other things.
But Michael did not move on; he couldn't. Not until he found out what had happened to his brother. But he was only twelve years old. When he heard that his brother had overdosed on some illegal drugs, he knew that Sammy and his gang of corner boys must be involved somehow even though he could just not put his finger on it.
Roseline waited, hoping that Michael would walk through the door. Six hours later it was 7 PM and still no sign of Michael. She dialled his number over and over against while she silently uttered a prayer that he would pick up but each time got transferred to his voicemail. Then she remembered Maggie, her only sister, that lived three hours away. She hoped against reason that Michael had run away from home and gone to her sister's.
"Hello Maggie, how are the kids? Have you seen Mikky today?"
"No, did he say he was coming over?"
"You know Mike; he hasn't been saying much after Ralph's.." Her voice trailed off as she couldn't bring herself to admit that her son was dead. It was like a bad nightmare that had refused to stop long after she woke.
"Rosy, I know. Maybe he is at his friend's house. You know teenagers, they always have a mind of their own."
"I hope so; it could be nothing. You know I'm not usually worried about these things. But Mikky called and said he needed help to come home. It's now seven hours, and he's not yet home. I just can't reach him on the phone. Maybe I'm making too much of a big deal over nothing."
Then there was a loud knock on her door.
"Gotta go, someone's at the door. It could be him."
"Bye Rosy." She ended the call and hurried downstairs.
The knock sounded again.
"Who is it?"
A masculine voice replied, "Hello Mrs Price, it's your neighbour, Joseph."
She immediately recognised the voice and opened the door.
He held Tag on a short leash.
"I saw your dog some four blocks away and decided it must have strayed on its own, so I thought I'd return her."
"Thank you, Joe; you're too kind. She went out with Michael this morning. You haven't seen him by any chance?"
"No, Mrs Price. Sorry," he replied as he searched her face to figure out what was the matter. Then, as soon as Joseph let go of the dog, it ran straight into the house.
The return of the dog made her premonition stronger. She notified the police. They assured her that it was too early to be worried, and she expected they would tell her to wait 24 hours or 48 hours before they filed a missing person's report but they filed it immediately. Michael's pictures were sent to all stations and police patrol units. She kept hoping to run into him on the road.
Four days passed and there was no word from Michael.
Michael left home early on the day his mother declared him missing. He remembered what his brother had told him about delivering a package to Sammy's boss at the Upper East Side. He went over to the street corner where he and Ralph usually saw Sammy, but he was not there. In his place was another boy who was only slightly older than Michael.
Photo Credits: Pixabay
"Please, I am looking for Sammy. Do you know where I can find him?
The boy looked Michael over, and disgust was written all over his face. "Get out of here before you get hurt," the boy said and lost all interest in Michael. But Michael was not discouraged. He walked a couple of blocks and stopped at another street corner where he made similar enquiries. It did not take long for news to get out that someone was looking for Sammy.
Michael stood at the street corner when someone put a bag over his head and hustled him into an alley.
"What do you want with Sammy? Who sent you?" one of the voices asked.
"My name is Michael, Ralph's brother and I am looking for a job," he answered evenly. He surprised himself when he realized that he was not scared. The bag was removed from over his head, and he could see his assailants. One of them was Sammy, "The hell do you know 'bout working, little man?"
"I want to take my brother's place," Michael said.
This reply seemed to amuse Sammy because he laughed heartily. "We'll see," he said and walked away. Michael followed him. Later that morning Sammy gave him a couple of tests which he passed and got a job of delivering packages for a start.
"Just one problem. I ran away from home, so I do not have a place to sleep," Michael said.
"I got you."
Throughout that day Michael looked for clues and asked questions about his brother, but he got nowhere close to the truth than he was in the beginning.
That night, Sammy took him to a party to celebrate his promotion as the head of the local gang, and that was when he had his big break. But this break came at a cost. He felt compelled to join the other members of the gang in snorting some unknown drug.
Before the end of the night, Sammy's girlfriend let it slip that Ralph was at the wrong place, at the wrong time and the boss had to get rid of him. Michael was disoriented and his resolve shaken. Suddenly he did not think he could go through with his plans, so he called his mother but did not know what to say. Luckily, his battery went dead, and he did not have to figure out lies to tell his mother.
Michael would often see his pictures posted on trees and poles along the road. He would feel sad for the mom and other times he felt nothing. After eight days of being reported missing, Michael showed up on the front porch of their house as if he never left. All attempts by the mother to pry out the details of what had happened to him during the time he was away proved abortive. He continued keeping to himself, but there was a new light in his eyes: he seemed to have found another reason to live.
In the weeks that followed, the news on every channel was all about how the cartel drug lords of Upper East Side were at war with each other. When the spokesman for the precinct was asked, he responded, "These killings are sad, but they are all drug-related. The justice system could not have cleaned up the street better than these killings."
Photo Credits: Pixabay
Michael shook his head and flipped the channel. Then he brought out his old school notebook and started drawing a map of the distribution network of the Kantos brothers. He would add the delivery timelines to the diagram and post it anonymously to a rival gang and wait for the results in the news. Each death announced made him feel less regret for the things he had to do to gain the information he needed to bring down the whole drug cartel in the city from the comfort of his home. He wished he could tell his mother what he was doing, but he knew she would never understand.
Authored by @greenrun
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Very interesting story! At first I felt for Michael’s mom to worry so much about him. Afterall, he lost his brother, his best friend. When he actually ran away from home and then came back after eight days like nothing happened, his mom must had been happy to see him alive, but at the same time she was worried, because Mike was still closed to himself and unhappy person who lost his best friend. Now that he knows what his intuition told him about his brother not committing suicide, but being killed by drug gang, he feels anger for revenge. That’s why he is doing the favor to the other gang with all these maps and timelines. Every person of this other gang getting killed gives him satisfaction, especially when they get killed or punished because of his information he provided.
Very nicely written story!
But sad and this is unfortunately happening all over the world every single day.
My mother was a really strong influence in my life. Much of who I am, I owe to her.
I Really Interest...I Love mom....So Thanks Bro
That was an apt summary. Thank you for taking out time to read it.
Nietzsche's original quotation is: "Wer mit Ungeheuern kämpft, mag zusehn, dass er nicht dabei zum Ungeheuer wird. Und wenn du lange in einen Abgrund blickst, blickt der Abgrund auch in dich hinein » ... This is a strong phrase that fits perfectly into the beginning of this story ...
I finished reading this story and remained under a pleasant impression. No, this is not a joyful feeling, it is a mixed feeling. A sad story that happens every day in our world. The whole story keeps you in suspense from the beginning to the end. In my opinion, this could be a good film with a criminal bias. And you know what? It would be a strong drama. Michael had to survive the loss of loved ones. Losing a brother is grief. Michael's mother is very worried about him. This plays a big role in this story. But Michael is angry with the drug mafia and decides to take revenge. He had no particular choice, so he had to cooperate with another gang.
The end of the story is impressive. I liked it, it worked well!
I wish I know the English translation of that German you wrote up there. Do you speak German by any chance?
I speak Russian. I used the original (German) phrase Nietzsche which was at the beginning of your message.
Ok, I get it now. Thanks.
I liked it .. a good story
Great post from you
Thanks for sharing
Adsactly the story teller 👍😄
Thank you.
The post is nice @adsactly.
Wow without words, I need more, I have been fascinated with this story, you caught me enormously, it was like reading a great book, what an excellent gift you have. Please a second part
What an exciting story about a woman who is so belligered about her child. I love the suspense you maintained till the end of the story. Good job and hope you will keep it up!
Thank you.
Thanks for the kind compliments. I'd consider writing a sequel.
Interesting story where I love to read, and note the beautiful lyric when writing this story between mother and son where it is lost, it is like this everywhere, and have to wait a long time to start that search, although this character at the end of history gets away with its own, it is a good and bad example of what should be done, since good for the overthrow of all these people and bad as they are not the appropriate skills to make a decision of this magnitude, greetings What a beautiful thing I really love, I hope to see more stories like that.
Life most times is not fair. Some stories in the movies always end up with the bad guys getting caught, but in real life some bad guys never gets caught. Let's just say the main character of the story represents the real life imperfect happenings.
Simply great, there are times when we do things for people who do not even know where it is or profit, a very common example is when parents work for the welfare of their children in their first years of life but at the end of this career only waits for the most abandonment or loneliness, when they do not deserve this for their work, in fi very good story and sad for his brother disappeared but he went avenging one by one until getting what I want, very good message with good thought, greetings .
I really love these stories I hope and continue like this.
@calitoo
The things we do for our siblings can be pretty intense.
@adsactly the great story teller.
@greenrun, the great author
You are right bro
Thank you
A little scared at the beginning but he was just so lucky so be allowed to know so much in just eight days.
He's a lucky guy.
Before that I read such a mother and son's post But this post was not too bad for me to read this story.This is a very interesting post.Actually we have a lot to learn from the post.
Thank you very much for sharing this post.
Thank you.....
Thank you for your kind compliments.
welcome #Greenrun
Great post.
you opened the story with anxiety of a mother who gets a call from his son for ask for help and then the dial stopped. the plot flows very naturally but can hook my mind. an you success to sucked reader feeling as we include in the story.
warm regard from Central java -Indonesia
Hello @rokhani from Central Java, I'm happy you find the story interesting.
you develope the story well and it's interesting to read your short story.
if we fight against the moster we must lose, if there is a way out we just out.posting a good friend, I upvote and resteem yes.
Very nice post..
I saw your nice posting well.
I am not good at English very well and I did not fully understand your writing.
However, I know what you mean.Thank you for your posting and I hope to see your posting often.
I am introducing Korean food.
It is my goal to introduce Korean food to the world.
I would appreciate it if you come to my blog.
Have a good day...best of luck
@upvote and resteemit
Give him all your best Upvote and best comment and the sky will be how limit, always celebrate with the best, tomorrow is my birthday everyone, it @emmanueltare please show me love..
nice post bro
Great post.
you opened the story with anxiety of a mother who gets a call from his son for ask for help and then the dial stopped. the plot flows very naturally but can hook my mind. an you success to sucked reader feeling as we include in the story.
warm regard from Central java -Indonesia
Man how you have done it.its quite length story .how you manage to write this much .
really nice story man...For many days such stories have not been heard.
thanks for it. i love mom..
Very interesting story! At first I felt for Michael’s mom to worry so much about him. Afterall, he lost his brother, his best friend. When he actually ran away from home and then came back after eight days like nothing happened, his mom must had been happy to see him alive, but at the same time she was worried, because Mike was still closed to himself and unhappy person who lost his best friend. Now that he knows what his intuition told him about his brother not committing suicide, but being killed by drug gang, he feels anger for revenge. That’s why he is doing the favor to the other gang with all these maps and timelines. Every person of this other gang getting killed gives him satisfaction, especially when they get killed or punished because of his information he provided.
Very nicely written story!
But sad and this is unfortunately happening all over the world every single day. Thank you.
Stop copying people's comment. Be original.
Before that I read such a mother and son's post But this post was not too bad for me to read this story.This is a very interesting post.Actually we have a lot to learn from the post.
Thank you very much for sharing this post.
Thank you very much.......
Very nice story. I enjoyed it and the reveal in towards the end gives it a nice twist.
What a nice story.
i really appreciate you work the story you written above is touch my heart i like it ...............................................jpg)
Congratulation, your post has been chosen by @sevenfingers because your content is great and very interesting. your content will be displayed on sevenfingers.io
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I saw your nice posting well.
I am not good at English very well and I did not fully understand your writing.
However, I know what you mean.
Thank you for your posting and I hope to see your posting often.
I am introducing Korean food.
It is my goal to introduce Korean food to the world.
I would appreciate it if you come to my blog.
Have a good day ~ !!!
Congratulation, your post has been chosen by because your content is great and very interesting. your content will be displayed on
But Michael did not go; He could not even find out what had happened to his brother. But he was only twelve years old. When he heard that his brother was insisting on some illegal drugs, he knew that Sammy and his men had to be involved together, even though they could not keep their finger.
Amazing story, I really enjoyed the read.
I like him for being strong. Great story
I like him for being strong. Great story Thahks for sharing
Great photo, we lovers photography !!
I like your photo :)
Love the sentence " Hello, Mom. I Need Help" , every Mom will help her son till her death . Those who does not have Mom they knows the pain...
let us love our mother, we must never ignore her, because she is the most precious pearl in life.
interesting stories and very easy to understand. as if we are in the story, the selection of a good word makes the reader easy to understand this story. great authors are created because of the vast insight.
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It is very interested...
I loved my mom
What a great story. Michael is doing a good thing!
@adsactly the great story teller.
@adsactly el gran contador de historias.
Wow. 👏
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