USA: Atlanta.
James' POV
In a well-furnished and arranged apartment, a man, a woman, and a young boy could be seen sitting on sofas in the parlor. The young boy was sitting very close to the man on one of the long sofas in the parlor, that's his dad. The man's eyes were glued to the television, he was watching a very interesting movie. But the boy, James, wasn't really interested in what his dad was watching...it was evident in his facial expression.
The woman was just busy operating her phone, she wasn't interested in what her husband was watching also, her attention was solely fixed on her phone. At this moment, all James wanted to watch was music videos, but his dad hadn't noticed yet. James loved music to the very core, listening to music was his number one hubby. He loved music and his dream was to become an artiste in the future.
But he wasn't that good at singing, he wasn't talented as an artiste. But he was willing to learn, he was willing to practice music, he was willing to perfect his vocals. So his plan after secondary school was to dive into music school immediately. His parents knew what he wanted to become in the future, and they were supporting him, at least, to a certain level.
James wanted to watch music videos badly, he was getting really tired of what his dad was watching. So he tapped his dad a little and inquired,
"Dad, I know you are enjoying the movie you are watching, but please, can you put it to a music channel? I wanna watch music videos".
"Would you at least let me finish the movie?". His dad inquired of him with a calm tone of voice and facial expression, he wasn't angry.
"But dad, surely, this movie is gonna be a long one, you've been watching it for over an hour now, and it doesn't seem like it's about to finish. At least, let me watch some music videos before going to bed so I can wake up early tomorrow to prepare for school". James stated.
James' mum took her gaze away from her phone, focused them on her husband, and said,
"Let him watch some music videos before going to bed, you know he loves music so much. And you've been watching that movie for over an hour now".
The man had no choice but to consent to change the channel to a music channel, ignoring his wife's words was really hard for him.
"OK, am gonna change the channel to a music channel, I'll have to stop watching my interesting movie for the sake of the upcoming artiste we have in this house".
After making that statement, he took the remote from the glass table in front of him and changed it to a music channel, thanks to the decoder. James' face lightened up in excitement the moment his dad altered the channel to a music channel. And best of all, it was the music video of one of his favorite artistes that was being displayed on the screen of the television.
He watched it with so much excitement on his face. His mum and dad noticed the excitement on his face and couldn't help but smile, whatever made their son happy also made them happy. After the climax of the music video, another one came up, it was a music channel...continuous display of every stuff related to music.
James watched up to three music videos before his father inquired of him,
"You sure you wanna become an artiste in the future?".
"Yes dad, wholly sure". James responded.
"Sing for me". His dad uttered.
James scratched his head a little and said, "You guys know that am ain't good at singing, but I have an immense passion for music. So after am done with secondary education, as you guys know, I'll go to a music school to study music. Then I'll become perfect at singing".
His dad knew all of these, he knew that his son wasn't good at singing, but he still wanted him to sing anyway, he wanted to laugh a little. So he asserted, "Still sing for us anyway, I wanna hear you sing".
At this moment, James had no choice, he'll have to sing since that's what his dad wanted. He cleared his throat and began singing one of his favorite songs. Now, his singing wasn't good, it was close to being awful. At that moment, James' mum wanted to laugh, but she was trying her best not to. James' dad was also trying his best not to laugh, but he couldn't hold it in anymore, he burst out in laughter.
James stopped singing the moment his dad started laughing, and there was a type of gloomy expression on his face. With that gloomy expression on his face, he said,
"This is why I said I didn't want to sing, now, dad is laughing at me. And mum, I can see that you're trying your best not to laugh".
His dad patted him on the shoulder and tried to uplift his spirit saying, "Am so sorry for laughing, don't be discouraged by it. Your singing isn't that great now, but am sure once you go to a music school, you'll become perfect in it. You have the immense passion for music".
Now, that was enough to lift James' spirit. Then suddenly, there was a knock on the door. James' dad kept silent the moment he heard the knock on the door, then he questioned,
"Who is knocking?".
But there was no reply, so he uttered, "Come in, the door isn't locked".
There was still no response, so he said to himself, "Who the hell is that? Maybe the person isn't even hearing what I'm saying. Let me go open the door".
With that, he stood up from the couch and began sauntering towards the door to open it. James focused his gaze back on the TV and his mum focused her attention back on her phone.
*BANG!! *BANG!!
Loud sounds of gunshots echoed through James' ears and his mum's ears the moment his dad opened the door. James' mum quickly stood up from the couch she was sitting on and glanced at the door. What she saw made her gasp in shock, her husband was lying flat on the ground with blood oozing out of his forehead and his chest soaked in blood.
A man was standing in front of the door dressed in all black and a pistol in his hand. He wore a black jacket, black trousers, a black face cap, black shoes, and a black mask to cover his identity. James' mum needed no one to tell her that he was the one that shot her husband to death. At that point, James was also staring at his father's lifeless body on the ground with terror on his face.
Immediately, his mum held him by the hands and was about to run into one of the rooms in their apartment. But before she could do so, the masked man shot her twice in the back causing her to fall on the ground and James to fall along with her. The masked man sauntered over to the spot where James was lying and pointed the gun directly at him.
"Please, don't shoot me". James pleaded with immense fright on his facial expression.
"Surely, am gonna shoot you, you have to join your mum and dad in the spirit world. But before I do that". The man took off the mask he used in covering his face.
James couldn't believe who he was seeing, with a trembling lip, he said, "Uncle Fred".
With an evil smirk on his face, he voiced out, "Yeah, that's me".
With that, he shot James twice in the chest causing him to die there that instant.
*********
Simon's POV.
The next day.
The ongoing football match was so engrossing that the audience couldn't take their eyes off it. The audience consists of both parents and students, it was a school football match being held at the school's stadium. Simon's parents were present there also as they watched their son play with so much focus. Simon loved sports, and his parents knew that, but his number one sport was football.
He loved football, and his dream was to become a footballer in the future, and his parents were in support of it. His parents had created time to come watch him play, and that made Simon very happy. Within five minutes of the second half, Simon was with the ball already, dribbling his opponents and heading towards their goalkeeper's net.
And the next sound that resounded across the school's stadium was,
'GOAL!!'
Simon had scored a goal as players in his team started running towards him to hug him...such a gifted football player.
********
Simon's dad was in full control of the steering wheel as he drove the black Honda smoothly on the road. Simon was sitting at the front seat of the car with his dad while his mum sat in the backseat.
"Your team won the football match because of you, you know that right?". Simon's dad inquired of him taking a little peek at him, he was still in full control of the car.
Simon smiled a little before retorting, "Yeah, I know that dad. I love football, and am gonna make sure to achieve my dream of becoming a big footballer in the future, am gonna make you guys proud. That's a promise".
Simon's mum smiled and uttered, "That's my boy".
His dad focused his gaze on him and placed his palms on his hair and caressed it, with a smile on his face, he said,
"That's my boy, make sure to keep to your promise".
"I will dad".
His dad was busy staring at him that he didn't notice the oncoming truck. Simon noticed the oncoming truck after taking his gaze away from his dad, with fright in his facial expression and tone of voice, he screamed,
"DAD, WATCH OUT".
At the scream of his son, he turned his gaze at the large truck coming in front of them. But unfortunately, the large truck was already very close to them, before he could take action, the truck crashed into their car causing their car to somersault twice before landing on the ground. Both Simon, his dad, and his mum died that instant...so unfortunate.