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With a small grunt she tosses the bedding to the floor. She wastes no time crossing her arms over her chest. She looks like a pouting child.
I can literally envision how she looked so many years ago. I know little of her childhood. Just what she’s told me and it isn’t good.
"It isn’t like I have sweet memories of her. It's always been like this.” Pain flashed in her stormy gaze. “When I was little, she used to play hide and seek with me just to get high for a few minutes in peace.”
She bowed her face down, watching her hands in her lap. I turned away. I didn’t like seeing her like that. Weak, she looked weak as if her mother had strangled every ounce of life from her. Though I knew she hadn’t.
Violet was strong because of what she suffered.
She continued while I stared straight ahead. “When we were at a little beach one day we started mom’s infamous hide and smoke it up game. Because she never actually sought me out, let's be honest. I hid in an old shower room. Closed the little door on myself, shut out every ounce of light.”
Her hands halted in her lap. I looked at her wondering how the story ended. Did she stay hidden until she realized just how big of a piece of trash her mother was?
“I didn’t realize a homeless man was already hiding there.” The quiver in her voice had me holding my breath.
“He grabbed me, pushed at my arms and my wet swimsuit, forced me down even as I screamed for my mom who was already passed out. It was a nightmare come to life. I still feel his hands on my body sometimes in the middle of the night.”
Disgusting. Vile. Terrible. That man deserved the slowest, crippling death. And someday, I hoped I’d bring that to him.
“I still remember the way the door flung open, slicing blinding light over me just as the man tore my suit. I thought it was my mother. I thought she'd come to save me.”
She smacked her lips together in sour humor. “It was a man I'd never met before, a total stranger saved my life, and I ran away without a second glance to him.”
I wonder if it’s all because of that day or that stupid game that always leaves her shaking in the dark. I act like I don’t notice how she trembles or gets skittish and fidgets every time the lights go out.
It was those first few sleepless nights she had that had me crawling back to my own bed as some twisted form of comfort. Maybe the alcohol helped with that too.
That uncontrollable fear she always got at night was the worst I ever saw her. Until right now.
I think Violet Demure is learning her lesson today. Or maybe Violet Demure already learned it long ago in a little dark shower during a game her mother never should have played.
Five
Dee
With each step I try not to limp. The boys, if they decide to talk to me today, will give me crap telling me that I’m being dramatic.
Me. That I’m the dramatic one. Little boys who live in fragile, blindingly dramatic mansions should not throw shade.
However, it’s these stupid shoes they bought for me to wear to school. Loafers, brand new. With all the walking I’ve been doing to and from school my poor ankles never stood a chance.
Rocks crunch noisily under my feet with each step. Knox and Reed already left for the day but Landon is just now pulling out of the five car garage.
He drives the most gorgeous piece of machinery to ever hit the road, I swear. It’s a black 1961 Ferrari Two Fifty GT California Spider. I only know the name so well because he’s so proud of it that he says it like Ferrari pays him a dollar every time he spews their name.
I don’t bother to make eye contact with him as he pulls out. The car rolls slowly through the driveway then stops when he reaches me.
“Hey, Dee,” he calls out, a lopsided smile lifting his cheeks, warm morning air ruffling his perfect dark hair.
Oh, he knows I exist today.
His car must be making him high for him to acknowledge my existence.
I don’t answer but I turn to face him and give him my attention. What? What could he possibly want now? I hope the look on my face says ‘eat shit.’
“I’ll give you a ride to school today if you don’t tell Knox and Reed.”
He offered the same thing three days ago and I quietly shrugged him off. This time, it just pisses me off. Is he really going to do this every few days? Does he really think he’s going to get on my good side acting sweet to me while we’re alone, but return to standard setting douchebag mode as soon as the others are around?
