The persistent knock on my door annoyed me all the more. I was in a bad mood; that happened most of the time. I got up from the couch and strode to the front door, swinging it open.
“Hi. So I’m new in town and I’m a little bit stranded and I need a place to stay but only for the night.”

“Sorry, who are you?” I asked, confused.

“My name’s Amora.”

“So? Listen I don’t know you and this place isn’t a motel. There are really cheap motels in this town. Go find one.” I said and banged the door.
                   _________________
“I’m breaking up with you.” Sally yelled and the entire bar froze up in painful silence.

“You are breaking up with me. Why?” I asked, almost desperately. This wasn’t happening, I thought and even if it was, it wasn’t happening in this bar with over twenty seven prying pair of eyes on me.

“You don’t get it. You don’t even see it. This relationship is killing me. It’s not fun for me anymore. I can’t do it anymore. I just can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Sally…” Maybe I could convince her to UN-humiliate me in front of all these people.

“Roman don’t. I’m serious. It’s over.” She stomped out of the bar.

For the next thirty seconds that seemed to last for eternity, I wished I had supernatural powers, powers that would make me disappear or powers that would make these eyes that gawked at me all go blind.

I go by the name Roman D’Alive. As a child, I always thought my last name to be funny. D’Alive –what sort of name was that? - As I grew older, it became ironic because I felt dead most of the time. Maybe not dead in the way you are thinking but I just didn’t feel alive. My life was plain, simple and organized. I had never committed a crime my whole life, -which is not exactly a bad thing- nor had I done anything dangerous or reckless except for the time I punched that kid at school, - he deserved it,- but does that even count?

I was born in 1959, April 1959. I was born here in White Oak. My dad was a doctor and my mom was a housewife. I had a picture perfect family, most people in White Oak did. I remember my parents always held hands while they walked, my dad always kissed my mom before leaving the house and kissed her again when he returned. I remember my parents always cuddled on the couch or in the bed. I remember my mom would always pull at my dad’s nose when he teased her and he would mess up her hair. I remember so much laughter especially at night when we played. I remember all the bed time stories they told me together, - my favorite being the story of the Odyssey-. I remember happiness and dancing and rainbows. I remember it all.

Everything changed the day I waited for hours for my dad to pick me up from school as he did every other day. I think I was almost twelve. I waited till I grew tired of waiting and so I decided to walk back home, -my house wasn’t that far from the school anyways-. So I walked and walked till I got home. The door was opened, meaning that someone was home. The first thing I saw as I walked into the house was my mom on the ground, clutching her stomach. I panicked. What went wrong? What happened? She was sobbing so hard. Her black hair looked like an angry cat pulled at it and her face was red. I didn’t know what to do. Should I join her and cry even if I didn’t know why she cried?

“Mom? Why are you crying? What happened?” I asked afraid of what the answer might be.
My mom furiously wiped the tears on her face with the back of her hands and pulled me into her body.

“Roman, it’s your dad. You might not see him that often anymore. He might not live here with us anymore.”

“Why? Did something happen to dad?” I asked, my eyes fixed on her as if to discern what the truth was.

“No. He just travelled to someplace far. He will be back but not now. Not soon.”

I never knew wives cried that hard when their husbands travelled, I remember thinking.

“Why didn’t he say goodbye?”

“He wanted to but it was urgent. He had to leave right away.”

I believed my mom. I believed my dad went away to someplace far and I began counting down to the day he would come home to us, -I was certain he would bring so many gifts with him.-

Now to the part where I punched that kid.
“Your dad left your mom for another woman.” He had said mockingly.

“That’s not true.” Of course it wasn’t true. My Mom would never lie to me.

“All the adults are talking about it. My mom said your parents are now divorced. They are not husband and wife any longer. You don’t have a daddy any longer.”
Anger swelled in me and my fist reacted. I hit the kid so hard in the face and he began bleeding from the nose, -adrenaline can get you killed.-
I got suspended for a week after I was forced to apologize to the kid I had punched.

The thing is I live in a very small town where everyone knows everyone that knows everyone. It’s that bad. If something happened and you were counting on privacy, you would be so disappointed. Why do you think I was so mad Sally broke up with me in the bar? It took only ten minutes for news to circulate the whole town.

Back to my parents, my mom finally told me the truth. She had no choice. The whole town was talking about it and I was going to find out from someone. She told me my dad left us for his mistress. She told me he wasn’t a bad person. She told me my dad loves her, loves us and he would definitely return to us. I was devastated. I hated my mom for lying to me and I hated my dad more for what he had done. Soon, years passed and I slowly began to forget that I had a father to begin with because he never showed his face again except for one time which you’ll find out as the story goes on.

As a boy, I was averagely attractive at the same time very smart. I did all I could to hide the fact that I was smart. I didn’t want to be nicknamed Roman the nerd or Roman the genius brains. Sure, I got A’s in almost all my classes but I tried hard not to be socially awkward or weird. I tried hard to make and maintain friends. That was how my clique was formed. Derek, Tim and I. We were always together and soon became the most popular clique in school. Girls were crazy about us and it was very convenient for Derek who seemed never to get enough of them. Tim had a girlfriend and I had none. I wasn’t really into the whole dating madness. I didn’t see the need for a girlfriend. I think the problem was I didn’t really like any girl. I just found them all the same.

So, we had a rival clique. They called themselves the hot crew. I always thought the name sounded too desperate. I mean the hot crew? Seriously?
The hot crew hated my clique and we always got into fights. Well, not me. I was always in the center, trying to calm everyone down. The hot crew pulled their greatest stunt on my clique, on me. They began circulating the rumor that I had never had a girlfriend, have never been seen in the company of a girl, hence I was gay. I was offended and terrified at the same time; because I knew just how fast rumors spread in my town and I didn’t want it to get to my mom. It was worse because Derek and Tim looked at me like they somehow believed the rumor.

I had to put on end to it. I had to get a girlfriend. But which girl? I asked myself. Louis? No. She looked too clingy. Fanny? God. She talked too much. Kathy? She was a drama queen. Sally? Sally. Yes Sally. I thought. She was gentle and sometimes funny. She was pretty too.

So I asked Sally out and after hanging out with her for a few times, this could work, I thought to myself. Maybe dating didn’t suck as much as I thought it did. So Sally and I became an item and just like that, the rumors died down.

I can’t say I was in love with Sally. I didn’t fall in love with Sally and I think she didn’t fall in love with me too. We just worked. We got along well. She was just so perfect and she became part of my life plan.
Finish high-school.
Finish college.
Start up a law firm.
Marry Sally.
Have adorable children.
Grow old.
Die.

There were other sub-plans in each plan but that was basically what I wanted or what I thought I wanted for my life.
I loved to plan. God, I loved to plan. I planned everything. From the outfits I wore each day to what I ate each day. I hated things happening to me out of the blues and so I made multiple plans for everything. Plan A failed, no biggie, plan B would definitely work. Thinking about it now, I see why Sally left me, -I mean, who wouldn’t?-

I left for North Carolina University soon after high school to study law and so did Sally and Derek. Tim left town and I haven’t seen him till today.
After college, I went ahead with my plan to set up a law firm and Derek became my partner. After a few years of struggling, I could finally say I was financially stable. Life was great, I remember thinking. Everything was going according to plan, until that moment, that moment when I stood in the bar, unable to move, dumped by Sally.