AussieOchoa
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Chapter 1 - Arrested Again
The headlines in the news said it all. Former football star and ‘bad-boy’ James Rafetalli had been arrested for his third time... this year... and it was only in early March. The millionaire had easily payed his fines for his previous arrests but this one might not be so easy. This time he had assaulted his ex-wife, Liza. They had divorced in early January and ever since then they had been sledging each other in the tabloids. Back and forth, back and forth, day after day, week after week. Pure hatred between the two previous lovers.
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It had all started last May when James had announced his retirement from his football. His career had spanned fifteen years starting in 1994, from his start at Swansea at the age of seventeen, playing as a striker, where he impressed the likes of Arsene Wenger, impressing him enough to warrant a £4,750,000 transfer fee at the age of nineteen. He was highly praised in his spell at Arsenal, scoring 67 goals in 140 appearances, while being deployed, quite unusually, as an attacking midfielder. He also earned seven youth caps and onecap for the English U21 and Senior teams. At the age of twenty-four, James showed his first signs of his ‘bad-boy’ attitude when he initiated a fight at the Arsenal training ground with fellow ‘Gooner’, Martin Keown. Arsene Wenger then placed him on the transfer list and it was not long, (the next transfer window, January 2002) before he was purchased. It was Real Madrid, who paid the massive fee of £32,000,000 for the ‘English Rebel’ as he was known. He was made out to be the signing of the decade, but he flopped in Spain. Not used to the high speed and flair that the La Liga is famous for, he found himself tired and fatigued a lot, leading to many injuries before he was placed on the transfer list again. While in Madrid he met his future (ex-)wife, Liza. This time he left for West Ham, after only two seasons at Real Madrid, for a fee of £8,575,000. Now at the age of twent-seven, James was not considered to be the great star many believed he had the potential to be. At West Ham he was pushed onto the wings and he largely disappointed. His career was almost at an end and he was contemplating retiring in his third season at West Ham. His contract ran out and many believed they would never see the 30 year old play again. It was August the 28th, 2007 when some of the most shocking news in English Football hit the Swansea Football Club’s Official Website. They had signed James on a free transfer, giving him a contract of £7,000 a week, very expensive for a flopped 30 year old. He spent the next two years there, appearing in every game and scoring over 50 times, back in his natural striker position. Once again he showed signs of his talent, and he single handedly won Swansea most of their matches, only to see them miss out on the playoffs both years by a few points. Then came May 1st, the day that James and Liza’s relationship hit the rocks. James called a press-conference, and in that press-conference he announced that his last game would be on May 2nd, against Welsh rivals Cardiff, a game that James would score the winning goal before being substituted in the 78th minute. This was the end of James’ career, one of the most well known flops in football history, but also one of the most pure talents to grace the game, he would never play again.
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6 months and 3 arrests on and James was truly in deep trouble. He had just paid his third fine, now leaving him almost penniless. He was drinking heavily each night, getting into fights and becoming a regular visitor to the hospital. One night, about a week after the assault on Liza, he was getting released from the police station. His cheque for £250,000 had not bounced and he had been granted bail. James walked out into the pouring rain in his jacket and jeans. He was freezing to death, but he had to get home, just a half an hour walk, not bad he thought. He wandered the streets, meandering past several of Swansea’s nightclubs and disco’s. Beats thumped from inside, hurting his head as he walked by, drunk people staggered out screaming and yelling. James decided to take a shortcut, he passed through dark and gloomy back alleys, filled with rubbish and leftover food, witnessing many muggings, but doing little about it. He eventually came to his house, a little apartment, all he had left, apart from the beer he found. On his way up he ran into a young girl. She stopped him, ‘Mister, can you help me find my mum, she’s gone missing and I can’t find here, please help me’ she pleaded. ‘**** off kid’ he wined, before realizing how little she was, ‘Oh alright, let’s go look.’
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Three hours later and they decided to stop looking. The mother was nowhere to be seen. James pondered over what to do, and after a few minutes he let the little girl come home with him. She fell asleep on his couch, also covered in beer and left over pizza slices. This was his whole apartment really, women’s underwear, Xbox controller, but no Xbox, stolen while he was arrested. Empty beer bottles lay everywhere, and every now and then you could spot the timber floor underneath the pile of junk. James didn’t want to leave the girl by herself, so he pulled his mattress of his bed and slid in next to the couch. He lay the girl on the mattress before he took up his position on the couch. James really wasn’t a bad person, he just had a bad temper. He missed Liza a lot, and he needed a job, but for now he was content to lay his head on the sticky couch and go to sleep. Tomorrow was a new day…
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Authors Notes
- This is a fictional character, I've have made up everything about him
- I'm not the greatest writer in the world, this is simply about improving my writing, please critique me
- This will not have the most frequent of updates, so please bare with
- I have put a lot of effort in so please, just consider this when reading
- Other than that, enjoy the story :wub:
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