One Good Man

By Therone Shellman

Cierra and Horus, find themselves making the most important decision of their lives, up to this point. She’s pregnant, and wants nothing more than to have a child with Horus.  He’s not thrilled though.

An event takes place which, changes everything, and as a result, happiness, the norm, and a death takes place. The end r

• Language: English
• Publisher: Therone Shellman Media
• Release date: Sep 21, 2015
• ISBN: 9781495173707

Therone Shellman

Therone Shellman is an award winning author, CEO of Therone Shellman Media a tech-literary-audio-visual media company

Book preview

ONE GOOD MAN

A Novel

THERONE SHELLMAN

Therone Shellman Media

www.theronesmedia.com

Copyright © 2015 Therone Shellman. All rights reserved: No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the author.

Warning!

This is a work of fiction. All characters, incidents, and dialogues are the products of the Authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any references or similarities to actual events, entities, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, entities, places and incidents is purely coincidental.

Institutions, libraries and bookstores can purchase books at 50% off retail price. Please contact for further info. [e-mail]

ISBN 13: 9781495172014

ISBN 10: 1495172015

Published in the U.S.A.

Therone Shellman Media

Edits: Therone Shellman Media

Copy Editing: Ghostwriter Extraordinaire

Typesetting: Mychea

Proofreading: Therone Shellman Media

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Books By This Author

Love Don’t Live Here (revised edition)

Booking Matters Bestseller 2006

No Love Lost

2007 Indie Excellence Winner in African American fiction, 2007 Finalist in African American fiction, USABookNews.com

The Secrets of Self Publishing 2

All You Need to Know to Become An Entrepreneur

Survivor I Changed the Rules (Pt.1)

2010 Princeton Literary Review, Goldstar Literary Excellence Winner

Third Eye Awakening

One Good Man

Acknowledgments

To the many young men who are fathers and taking responsibility for their children I dedicate this work to you. May you continue to stay inspired in all you do.

To the many parents who are raising their sons to be responsible productive young men. May you continue to stay inspired in all you do.

To the young ladies, who desire the fairytale, dreamlike relationships, of the man they want, children and the great family. Keep the dream alive.

The best to you all.

Visit the company website, to be aware of all Therone Shellman Media projects. Music, Video and Film projects coming soon.

Table of Contents

One..……………………………Man Up

Two..…………………………...Choices

Three..………………………….Cats Out the Bag

Four..………………………..….The Show Down

Five.…………………………….Time to Face the Music

Six.……………………………...(8 Months Later)

Seven.…………………………..When Things Fall Apart

Eight.…………………………...The Morning After

Nine….…………………………Six Feet Under

Ten.……………………………..Dooms Day

Eleven.………………………….Appreciation

Twelve.…………………………Reality

Thirteen.………………………..No Sleep

Fourteen.……………………….Awareness

Fifteen.…………………………Newfound Love

Sixteen.…………………………(3 Months Later) Preparation         

Seventeen.……………………...Letter From Hell

Eighteen.……………………….Strategy

Nineteen.……………………….Moving On

Twenty.………………………...Plan Implementation   

Twenty One.…………………...Getting It In

Twenty Two…………………....Law Guardian

Twenty Three…………………..Four Weeks Later

Twenty Four…………………...Chasidy

Twenty Five……………………Lenora’s Awakening

Twenty Six…………………….Horus & Isis

Twenty Seven….........................Ready Or Not

Twenty Eight…………………..The Real Deal

Twenty Nine…………………Three Weeks Later

Thirty………………………...Making Amends

Thirty One…………………...2nd Court Appearance

Thirty Two…………………...208  Dooms Day

Thirty Three………………….213 One Month After 

ONE GOOD MAN

One - Man Up 

A slither of sun ray beams through the blinds into the otherwise dark room. Cierra stretches her limbs, flinging the covers off her. For a few seconds, she dwells upon the importance of what she’s about to do. A picture of her boyfriend, Horus, comes to mind. Then a moment of fear rushes her, causing shivers to run through her stomach.

Hmmm, she exhales, shaking it off. The vision of Horus disappears, and she calms down a little.

On the end of her bed, she now sits looking over her spotless room, thinking about how her life’s about to change. Cierra slips out of her pajama top and bottom, then wiggles out of the laced bra and panties. A giggle escapes her lips at the thought of the panties being Horus’ favorite out of the thirty or so she possesses.

Her father is at work, and her mother slept late on Saturdays, so no one is up besides her.

Naked, she wanders to the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind her. She needed to be out the door within a half hour, so she decides on a quick shower, figuring she will then have enough time to brush her teeth, give herself a quick facial scrub, lotion up, and dress.

Turning on the shower, she patiently waits for the water to warm up. When it’s a good temperature, she tests it with her hand before going over to the bathroom sink cabinet, grabbing a shower cap, and placing it on before stepping in the shower. Caught up in the moment, she almost slips, but miraculously winds up saving herself by grabbing a hold of the shower nozzle.

Wo! she lets out a scream, straightening herself up. Grateful she didn’t hurt herself, she smiles, then fully submerges herself under the water. The warmth envelopes her. Ahhh, this feels so good.

Two - Choices

Horus happens to look out his room window and sees Cierra strolling up his driveway. He wonders what she desires, knowing she rarely comes this early on a Saturday morning. Backing away from the window, he gazes at his watch while walking to the front door. His mother is in the kitchen fixing something, probably breakfast for them both. The last thing he wanted was for Cierra to knock at the door, for he knew she and his mother would be talking for at least two hours if this happened. To make matters worse, he’d be closed out of the conversation.

He grunts, shakes his head at the thought. Not this morning, he vows silently.

Worried he opens the front door with a quick, but quiet fling of the lock, leaving it cracked. She opens the screen door and smiles, yet Horus notices a worried look upon her face. His stomach all at once becomes queasy. What is it? he wonders, but says nothing. She steps inside, kisses him upon the lips, and goes to say something, but Horus places his right hand to her lips.

Shhh, Mom is in the kitchen. You know how you two are. If she knows you’re here, it will be over, he whispers.

She begins to chuckle. He then motions for her to be quiet before grabbing her hand and dragging her to his room. Her smile is as bright as the sun on the way there. She found the way he was acting to be a bit cute and different than his usual self. Horus is usually laid back and nonassertive, but now he’s being aggressive, which kind of turned her on.

Once inside his bedroom, he shuts the door behind them. Standing with his back to the door and her in front of him, he stares down into her eyes. He doesn’t say a word, but he does wonder what it was she wanted.

Cierra looks deeply up into Horus’ eyes, wondering what he’s thinking. She needed him now more than ever to provide her with a shoulder to lean on. Grabbing his shoulders, and then rubbing on his chest, she hugs him tightly. He’s confused, startled to say the least, and has a bit of the jitters. It makes him nervous to ask, yet he does anyway.

Cierra, what’s the matter? Why are you here at nine in the morning? You never come this early.  Are your mom and dad okay?

She doesn’t say anything; she just buries her head into his chest. Sniffles start, and slowly she backs away to rub her eyes. Tears begin streaming down her face. Holding her hands up to her forehead, she blurts out quietly, I’m pregnant.

What? he asks, with eyeballs bulging out of their sockets.

I’m pregnant, she says. As if pleading, both her hands drop to her sides.

Horus eyes her over, his hands now placed across his neatly cropped haircut. Inhaling and exhaling slowly, he sucks his teeth, while he hears the faint sound of his stomach rumbling.

Man, you know we cannot do this. We cannot become parents. We both go to college and work. I don’t have a real job. How are we going to get by? I just started saving up a little here and there. Both of our jobs are nothing serious to support a family on, you know this.

Immediately, her face turns from pleading and sorrow into a bewitched scowl.

So what? What are you telling me? Are you telling me to get an abortion? I know you’re not telling me this.

Horus huffs. Yeah, I’m telling you we’re not ready for a baby. I know I’m not. Plus, how do I know it’s mine? We’ve only been dating for three months. You…

Before he can say another word, Cierra smacks him, backing away before he can react and hit her back, or grab a hold of her.    A surge of anger rushes through him. The thought of smacking her comes to him, but he quickly thinks against it, not wanting to cause a scuffle that would alert his mother.

We can’t have this baby, he states quietly, but forcefully, as a statement of surety.

Cierra’s eyes become a pool of water.  Why? Why? I thought you would be happy? She eyes him down, expecting a response, but he says nothing.

Rushing toward him, she lunges her palms into his chest, then pushes him away from the door. Flinging the door open, she runs out the room down the hallway and out the front door, slamming it shut. Ms. Clinton, Horus’ mother, sees her run out the door from where she’s standing in the kitchen, but she couldn’t muster up a single word quick enough before she was out the front door.

What the hell did this boy do now? she asks herself, shaking her head and pouring herself a glass of orange juice.

A few moments later, Ms. Clinton stops what she’s doing and strolls down to Horus’ room. Horus is standing behind the door and tries to back away as he hears footsteps approaching, but the doorknob turns and she storms in. The door smacks him in the face.

He holds his hands up to his face, striving to numb the pain. Ms. Clinton doesn’t care about how he’s feeling right now; she’s just concerned about Cierra and finding out why she’s upset.

So what did you do now? she asks, eyeing him up and down angrily.

Horus is staring toward the floor, with his hands still held up to his face. He inhales deeply, and slowly exhales between clinched teeth.  Out of nowhere tears begin to form in his eyes as he looks up at her.

Cierra is pregnant. I told her that we can’t have a baby right now because we’re both going to school and working. I don’t want to.

Ms. Clinton abruptly cuts him off before he can say another word. She places her index finger up to her mouth, gesturing for him to be quiet. Her eyes stare into him, never leaving her reflection within his pupils.

Horus, I’ma tell you right now, abortion is out of the question. Don’t you think it would have been easy for me to have had an abortion and forget about you? Your father was in the military, and it was hard to maintain a relationship, let alone think about becoming a mother.

She crosses her hands together in front of her chest, miraculously fighting back tears.

You’re going to be the man I raised you to be. All the reasons you feel you’re not ready to be a parent, you should have thought about before you travelled down this road. Now it’s too late.

Tears drip down Horus’ cheek. He sucks in his lips, biting them, thinking deeply. Ms. Clinton closes the door behind her. Her footsteps echo in Horus’ mind like thunder on a quiet night as she walks down the hallway back to the kitchen.

Horus’ stomach all of a sudden begins to ache and bubble. His first thought is to run, and he goes with it, rushing to the bathroom and slamming the door behind him. His whole body heats up from head to toe. The moment of relieving himself felt horrible, just moments after it felt so great. After cleaning himself up, he wipes down his sweaty face with tissue, undresses, and hops in the shower. As the water runs down over his head, along his body, all he can think about is how it feels so good. Somewhere, though, in the back of his mind burned the vision of Cierra and his conversation.

He whispers, A baby...man, what the hell have I got myself into?

Anger runs through his veins like a river. He balls up his fists, pounding both forearms against the wall. Boom! The loud noise could be heard all the way in the kitchen.

The loud bang startles Ms. Clinton, and she becomes scared, thinking maybe Horus did something to himself. She lets out a scream, Horus? Horus, what happened?!

Mom I’m fine!

Ms. Clinton is standing in front of the kitchen sink, with both hands held firmly to the counter, feeling nothing less than relieved.

She yells, Babe, when you get out, come and get breakfast.

Horus doesn’t respond back; he’s too emotional to.  Standing under the flowing water, tears and water are now pouring down his body.

He whispers under his breath, "Man, how am I going to do this?

Three - Cats Out The Bag

Cierra is upstairs in her room crying. Her mother, Mrs. Lenora Brown, is lying in bed with her husband in the next room. She tosses and turns a few times, a bit disturbed by the sobbing she hears. Mr. Brown rolls over, mumbling something in his sleep. His right arm grabs her tightly while his belly rolls upon her side. She squirms out of his grasp, sliding out of bed. He mumbles again. Mrs. Brown smirks, shaking her head as she covers her petite frame with her bathrobe. She almost laughs out loud, but quickly places a hand to her mouth while tiptoeing out of the room, closing the door behind her. The hinges squeak, and the oak door closes, meeting the door jamb with a hollow thud.  Carefully, on her toes she walks over to Cierra’s door, placing her ear next to the wood. Her heart aches for her daughter, and she seriously contemplates whether to just turn back around and go back to bed.

Why?! Why?! Cierra moans in between sobs.

Mrs. Brown decides she’s heard enough. She forces herself to turn the knob, and pushes the door open. Her eyes set upon her daughter, who’s lying upon her stomach, face buried in her pillow. Crossing her arms before her, she places her right hand to her chin and wonders what the hell happened to her daughter.

She calls out, Cierra, why are you crying?

Cierra immediately stops crying, startled that her mother came in the room without knocking.

Wiping the wetness from around her eyes, she turns over on her back.

Baby, why are you crying? she asks Cierra.

Cierra begins to shake her head from side to side, and once again tears start forming in her eyes.

This worries the mother, who now sits down upon her knees and leans over the bed, touching Cierra’s stomach.

Now tell me what’s wrong with my baby girl?

Cierra takes her stare away from the ceiling, placing her eyes upon her mother.

Ma, I’m pregnant!

Cierra immediately starts sobbing again, then turns back over on her stomach and buries her face in the pillow.

What?! What?! What do you mean? Mrs. Brown’s voice starts off loud, then becomes real quiet. She gets up off the floor, climbing onto