The neighbors called the school again, Egan's mom was in the hospital, and his stepfather had hit her with a stick till she collapsed. He had come back from one of his drinking escapades and when Clara, Egan's mom had inquired about his whereabouts he hit her in the face, he made for the stick he always kept inside the kitchen closet and used it to hit her till she collapsed.
Clara had raised an alarm before she collapsed from the beating, neighbors had come over to see what the problem was and discovered that Greg had hit Clara with a stick till she passed out. Of the five neighbors that rushed to the scene three were male, they had Greg down before the police came to the scene. An ambulance had been called earlier to convey Clara to the hospital while Mr. Townsend and his wife had called Egan's school to relay the sad news to the principal so she could in turn tell Egan.
"Hello! Am I the principal of Asgard high school?" He inquired.
"Yes, and who might you be?" the voice at the other receiving end asked, "My name is Mr. Townsend, and I'm a friend of Egan's mom, there's been an accident and his mom is in the hospital," Mr Townsend said painfully, "bless my soul, what happened?" The principal asked, feeling concerned but Mr. Townsend didn't say what happened, he only said to tell Egan that there was an accident involving his mom, with which he hung up.
Egan was a special kid, he was good at many things, but the one thing no one could compete with him was running. Egan was so fast that he was given several nicknames in school like "The Flash, Quicksilver" amongst others. He had won so many awards for the school in numerous racing competitions both within the region and outside the region, he was so fast to the extent that if he gave someone twenty legs head start, he would still win the race with a huge gap.
There was one problem with Egan, his family life was quite nothing to write home about, he didn't have the kind of childhood most kids dream of having or the father most kids have.
His father and mother had divorced when he was 7 years old, the mother had won the custody battle and so she had custody of him. According to the judgment the father was to pay child support to his mother for his upkeep while he would be allowed to visit and spend time with his father on weekends. Clara was seeing Greg during the whole divorce process because Greg had more money than her former husband Tony who was also Egan's father.
There was a difference between Greg and Tony, while Greg was an irresponsible and good-for-nothing goof who was lucky to be self-made, Tony was a hardworking man with morals who believed in hard work and perseverance to get what he wants but his ex-wife Clara was more of a materialistic woman that was one of the reasons for their Divorce.
Tony loved his son so much, he was sad when he lost custody of his son Egan. Egan loved his dad so much because it was his dad who believed in him, right from when he was young Tony saw the boy to be an athlete because he was very fast and nobody could keep up with him or match his speed.
Whenever Egan was with his father on weekends his father would make him loved, something his mother and Greg didn't show him all the time, Greg was only pretending to love the boy because he feared Tony, Egan's dad who would do anything to protect his son despite being a calm and gentlemanly man.
One day tragedy struck and that was the beginning of a hard life for Egan. Tony committed suicide when Egan was 14 years old, he had left a letter behind explaining his decision, Tony was overwhelmed by depression and anxiety which prompted him to take the drastic step he took to commit suicide, he didn't want to bother anybody with his problems so he took his own life by hanging himself.
When the news got to Clara that her ex-husband had committed suicide, she only laughed because she didn't care about the guy anymore. Finally, the nuisance was gone. She told Egan his father had committed suicide when he got back from school that afternoon, she feigned sadness as if she cared but deep down she didn't give a damn if he was alive or not. Egan was down for days after hearing that his father had died, nobody care for him anymore.
Greg came into his room and told him not to feel sad and that he was going to act like the dad he always wanted. Egan knew better than to trust Greg because he already knew the kind of person Greg was.
After the burial of Tony, Greg tried acting nice to Egan but he couldn't fool the boy. Three months after the death of Tony the real character of Greg began to show, it all started one day when Greg came home drunk, it was raining that night when he came in looking like a mess and causing a racket.
"Greg, where have you been?" She asked as he made his way inside the house,
"I was working late," he said. "By the way, where is my food?" he asked her, throwing his blazers on the floor and his suitcase on the couch.
"Oh!" Clara said holding her nose with her hand.
"What's that awful smell?" Clara asked, "Have you been drinking Greg?"
Greg ignored her and continued his way upstairs. Clara made to go after him,
"Greg I just asked you a question," Clara said holding him back, Greg who was already halfway through the staircase pushed Clara down the stairs and she fell with a loud thud.