The Garden of Eve 9

..chapter 9...

Sinners Never

            Damien was surprised when he got a call from his brother asking him to come down the police station. Ironically it was right after Neil had called to say that Eve was kidnapped by her birth mother. Today was supposed to be a calm relaxing day, but as usual his plan was ruined. Juliet had gone over to the Ferris house to be supportive of Eve’s parents, while he was on his way to retrieve Mario. He wasn’t exactly sure about why Mario had been arrested, but he knew it involved Morgana. On his way he called Morgana’s parents so that they could come pick her up. It was surprising that Mario of all people would be arrested for anything, especially since he promised to be on his best behavior after the car accident.

            Upon arriving at the police station Damien had to first wait while the incompetent person at the front desk tried to figure out who Mario was. Then he was told that he was being questioned, which of course he knew his brother wouldn’t say anything without him being there. It was pretty clear that they were stalling, under normal circumstances Damien was very patient. For a million reasons today he wasn’t as patient as he would normally be. When dealing with clients at work it was a lot different than dealing with his family. Usually his family stayed out of trouble, for the most part. But his father and mother had both attempted to hire him as their divorce lawyer. To both he declined, but that didn’t stop them both from trying to get him to reconsider. Even though he still wasn’t on good terms with Mimi, he wasn’t going to take sides.

            “Who are you?” One of the cops in the room with Mario asked, his nametag said his last name was Spatz.

            “I’m Mr. Jay’s attorney,” Damien answered. He did notice that Spatz and his partner gave each other a look like they didn’t believe him.

            “Are you really a lawyer?” Spatz asked him, and his partner sniggered.

            “Why is Mr. Jay being held here?”  Damien asked choosing to ignore the question because he was going to remain professional no matter what.

            “Rape and kidnapping,” the other one said.

            “Qu'avez-vous fait?” He asked Mario, who until now had been staring down at the table.

            “Nothing,” Mario replied looking up at him.

            “Who is it that he raped and kidnapped?” Damien asked, now he was really certain that this whole thing was a waste of his time.

            “Morgana Wrecker,” he replied.

            “That’s ridiculous,” Damien said trying hard not to laugh. “How is it that you came into the knowledge of this alleged crime?”

            “It was reported by the girl’s family that he kidnapped her or helped her to runaway and forced himself on her. We even caught him in the act of trying to have sex with the minor in question,” Spatz said. This time Damien actually did laugh and Mario looked up at him again.

            “So you saw Mr. Jay and Miss Wrecker engaging in sexual activity together?” He asked and Spatz nodded. “And she told you that her boyfriend was forcing her to do this?” This time they looked at each other, Damien knew the answer.

            “The girl’s family filed a report,” the other cop said.

            “She is only 16 years old so obviously he’s taking advantage of her,” Spatz said.

            “This is insane,” Mario said shaking his head. “Her parents knew exactly where she was and they know me.”

            “The pervert speaks,” Spatz said giving Mario a dirty look.

            “Ne rien dire d'autre,” Damien told Mario. It was best if his brother didn’t say another word. “I don’t know what you hope to accomplish with this charade but there has been no crime committed here,” he said to the cops.

They were staring at him like he was speaking in some alien language. He spoke to Mario in French because he was certain neither of these cops would understand. Mimi wanted all of her children fluent in her native language, so they all spent most of their lives with French tutors. She did get her wish because they would all speak it fluently; it made it easier to understand her ranting.

“Where the hell is my daughter?” Someone was yelling out in the hall, he leaned out to see Ana Wrecker standing coming towards him. She was being trailed by a cop that was telling her she couldn’t just wonder around.

“Mrs. Wrecker,” Damien called to her and she came over. “There has been some sort of misunderstanding and they are under the assumption that you have report Mario for raping your daughter.”

“What? Which of you idiots made that crap up? I’ve never even been down here,” Ana said. She was visibly annoyed, and she had every right to be.

“Ma’am,” Spatz said. “We picked her up as you requested.”

“Why would I accuse my daughter’s boyfriend of raping her? How the hell is he going to rape anybody with his arm all wrapped up?” She asked, clearly both cops were intimidated by an angry mother.

“Apparently she’s also been kidnapped too or ran away,” Damien told her.

“How could she be kidnapped if I just brought her clothes this morning? Who reported this nonsense? I never even came here,” Ana said.

“It was reported to us by your older daughter, she said you were too upset to report it yourself,” the other cop said.

“Ne rien dire d'autre,” Mario said. Damien gave him a look, even though he agreed that this was crazy, he’d told him not to speak.

“The woman that was with her spoke in that language,” the cop said.

“Mimi,” Damien said shaking his head.

“Well you know what? You should have checked your facts before you took the word of an unstable 19 year old and a French lunatic,” Ana said. “No offense boys, but your mother is crazy,” she said to Damien and Mario.

“I had no intentions of disagreeing,” Damien said. “The report was false, so if you don’t release my brother we will be forced to take legal action. There are clearly a lot of things going on here that shouldn’t be,” he said.

“Fine,” Spatz said sounding defeated. “But there are laws against filing a false report,” he went on.

“Take that up with Tessa Wrecker and Mimi Jay,” Damien replied. He gestured for Mario to get up and follow him out behind Ana.

“I am so sorry for this, I could kill that girl,” Ana said when they were walking back down the hall.

“She wasn’t in on it alone,” Damien said.

“Mom,” Morgana said appearing at the end of the hall and her mother went to her.

As Damien led his brother out he noticed that Mario and Morgana avoided looking at each other. He understood all too well what it was liked to feel so ashamed for something someone in his family did. Everyday he had to deal with Mimi constantly harassing Juliet and her family.  And everyday she sent him proof that Juliet was cheating or something ridiculous. At this point he could barely face Juliet’s family and he knew it was stressing her out. Now he had to help Mario deal what Mimi did to him. Maybe it would be a good decision to help his father get Mimi out of everybody’s life, permanently.

 

 

“Explain this Tessa Mary Lynn Wrecker,” Ana demanded. They were all sitting at the kitchen table and everybody was mad, especially Morgana. It took every bit of strength she had not to leap across the table and strangle her sister.

“I had to do something drastic, “Tessa said. “She’s pregnant!”

“What?” Morgana asked in shock, both her parents stared at her and Patrick dropped a glass.

“I found the receipt from the test in her room and Mimi told me,” Tessa said.

“Morgana is this true?” David asked, all eyes were on her.

“I’m very not pregnant,” Morgana told them. “Mimi was being a b***h so I just said that to get her to leave Mario alone. Besides if Mario and I were going to have a baby don’t you think we’d say something? Mimi is a baby killing psycho,” she said. Her parents looked more relieved now, but the tension was still running high.

“You’re sick Tes, you would get Mario arrested because you’re jealous? That stuff could ruin his life and if she were pregnant you think that would help?” Patrick asked looking completely disgusted; he never usually took sides but clearly there want a choice here.

“I’m not the villain here! Don’t you see it’s him; he’s doing this to get back at me. I know the truth about everything and he’s turning everybody against me because of it,” Tessa yelled.

“You know they can put you in jail for filing a false report, right?” David asked and Tessa shook her head.

“Tessa, I told you that it was Mimi that got that girl to keep her mouth shut and Mario never knew. And if I was pregnant what do you think she’d do to me? She has you help her get her own son arrested because she doesn’t like me. That b***h got that girl to get rid of her baby; did it never occur to you that she would stop at nothing to get me out the picture? Why would you trust somebody that would have her son put in jail labeled as a rapist? It wouldn’t surprise me if next she tried to have me killed, but you don’t care about that right? If I’m out the way you can be with Mario, that’s what you want, right?” Morgana asked her sister who at this point she was never going to be able to forgive.

“He was lying; I would never let anything happen to you that’s why I had to do this. You were the one taking a test to see if you were pregnant,” Tessa said looking desperate.

“It wasn’t mine,” Morgana said staring down at the table.

“You’re lying,” Tessa said.

“Tessa,” Ana said finally speaking, she’d been quiet since they got home. “We had a talk and you’re behavior has gotten out of hand. No matter what anybody says to you, you won’t give up this insanity. You’ve really left us no choice because I really hoped you would stop and leave your sister alone,” she said looking away from Tessa.

“Tessa you can’t stay here anymore,” David said the thing his wife could not. “Pack your bags because tonight I’m taking you to Nana Karen’s house,” he told her.

“I’m being forced out of my house and family? He’s ruining everything and he turned you all against me,” Tessa protested looking around the table.

“Will you give it up?” Patrick asked he was visibly annoyed. “Take responsibility for your actions, you did this to yourself. You use to be close to Morgana and now you would do anything you can to ruin her life? What is wrong with you? All this because you’re jealous or you don’t like her boyfriend, it’s ridiculous. And so you all know that test wasn’t Morgana’s, she bought it for Molly,” he said.

“Patrick you didn’t have to say anything,” Morgana told him. That was supposed to be a secret, she hadn’t been planning on saying a word about it.

“Is Molly pregnant?” Ana asked her son who shook his head.

“This isn’t fair the way you’re all ganging up on me,” Tessa said with tears pouring from her eyes.

“The only unfair thing is how you’ve been acting towards your sister. I’m sick to death of the trouble you’re causing, I don’t know what happened to you but you are not the daughter I raised. Maybe if you can learn to respect others, especially Morgana, then you can come home. It is time you stop behaving like a child and act like an adult, there is no reason for any of this. We aren’t doing this because we don’t love you, but because honestly I don’t know what to do with you anymore. This is our alternative to having you taken to the hospital for a psychiatric evaluation,” Ana said.

Lately nobody was acting normal in their house, everything and everyone was so different. The free spirited and drama free parents could no longer try to stay uninvolved and the same went with Patrick. The sisters that were once best friends were now enemies. Morgana hated what happened to her family and it almost made her wish she hadn’t start going out with Mario. But the trouble with that was that she loved him and she didn’t think it was fair for her to give him up. Even though she had no idea what the future held for her relationship after this. Maybe Tessa had won, because the way Mario looked at her when they were released made her heart hurt. Why was it that when she fell in love that it had to tear her family apart? And they were actually on her side; they never took sides in a fight. Before, there were never any major fights to take sides on anyway. Getting arrested was a big deal, and she just had a feeling that Mario probably didn’t want anything to do with her now. Why should they have ton fight so hard to stay together anyway?

“Morgana, there’s something we have to tell you.” David said. Everybody was avoiding looking at her, like they knew something she didn’t.

“Eve is missing,” Patrick told her. It seemed that her parents were too emotionally spent to tell her. “They think that her birth mother may have kidnapped her.”

“Oh my God,” was all she could say. Officially this was the absolute worse day of her life and she’d never felt more helpless and alone.

 

 

Eve sat on the bed at the motel trying hard to think of a way out of this mess. Surprisingly Sanoe had left her alone, but last night she was watching her like a hawk. Now it was midday on Sunday and she had to find a way to escape. She couldn’t help thinking that this was one of the most genius plans Sanoe had ever come up with and she’d never seen it coming. But there had to be a flaw and a way out. It didn’t escape her notice that Claira wasn’t here. When they snatched Eve, they had been moving to a new motel and Claira wasn’t with them. So where was she? Wasn’t it Sanoe’s plan to get both daughters? The door opened and in came Sanoe with a smile on her wicked face.

“Sweetie, I need you to do something,” Sanoe said. “The guys have had to work hard because you really haven’t made this easy. So we discussed it and they will forgive you, if you give them what they want. I did talk them into coming in one at a time so you’re more comfortable,” she told her still smiling.

The way Sanoe spoke was as if it was completely normal to ask this of Eve. In her twisted world it probably was fine to tell her teenage daughter to have sex with two grown men. Before she never really asked them to do things like this, but Sanoe had changed. Eve wasn’t sure why her mother had gotten more unbalanced, but she didn’t care. There was no way she was doing this and she was going to find a way out so she could go home to her real family.

“Hell no, if they want sex then open your legs Sanoe, you’ve always been good at that,” Eve replied.

“Well princess you better open up willingly or they will have to force their way in,” she said. “Don’t act like you’re all high and mighty now because your little boyfriend bought you expensive jewelry. Those people aren’t your family and you’re never going to see them again so forget them. They turned you against us and you’ll just have to learn that you have to do whatever it takes to survive.”

“This isn’t surviving, this is being stupid, they will come for me,” Eve told her and Sanoe rolled her eyes.

“Claira better get her butt back here, we’re leaving tonight and I promise they won’t find you where we’re going,” Sanoe said smiling as she left the room.

As soon as Eve was alone again she pulled out her cell phone that she’d been hiding inside her hoodie. This was it, her last chance to get help. It was too risky to call anyone so she texted the name of the motel to Joan, William, Neil and her friends, somebody would come. They had to know she was gone when Neil came to pick her up yesterday and she was already gone, right? Until a little bit ago she hadn’t been able to find anything with the name of the motel on it. Sanoe had set her key card down and hadn’t noticed Eve looking at it. She said a silent prayer that it wouldn’t be too late when somebody came. As a last resort she went through to activate the GPS thing that Neil had told her would show other people with the phone where she was.

Just as she shoved her phone back inside the pocket on the inside of her hoodie that actually belonged to Neil, the door opened. Time was running out because there stood Reese. He was the bigger of the two goons that were following Sanoe’s orders. Eve wondered who had lent Sanoe the guys, because there was no way they were listening to her because they wanted to. Reese had a smile on his face as he approached her; he even licked his lips never looking away from her. She pulled her knees up to her chest; there was no way she was going to let this happen again.

“So are you going to cooperate?” He asked as he slowly approached the bed.

“Go to hell, don’t touch me,” she replied and he looked amused.

“You don’t have to be like this, I could be persuaded to take care of you. I could give you nicer things than that little boy did,” he told her. Now he was standing at the foot of the bed.

“I don’t want anything from you pedophile,” she said and he laughed.

“Baby girl be happy I want you because if I don’t get you then you’re in a lot of trouble,” he said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She asked even though she knew he was a liar and criminal she felt like she had to listen.

“Your mother has gotten herself into a lot of trouble and she’s giving her girls as payment so she can keep her life. Mommy dearest has gotten in bed with the wrong people, very dangerous people. Princess you’re up for sale and I’m a pussycat compared to the guys who’ve already shown interest in you just from seeing your picture,” he said. The trouble was that she knew he was telling the truth, because he had no reason to lie.

“Please can’t you just let me go, I just want to go home,” she pleaded.

“Sorry, I can’t do that,” he said. Unless she was imagining it, he really almost had a sorry look in his eyes. “Now I’m really in need of a stress relief and maybe you’ll like it and I can arrange to keep you.” The way he made it sound was like he was doing her a favor.

“I’m not doing anything with you,” she told him.

“The hard way then,” he said before grabbing her leg and pulling her down to the edge of the bed.

“Please,” she whispered and he stared at her a moment.
            “Aww baby I love it when you beg,” he said smiling. “Soon you’ll have better than this junk,” he said inspecting her necklace.

At first she tried to fight him, but there was no point he was way bigger and stronger. There was no way to stop this guy; he pulled off her hoodie and start kissing her neck. The more she tried the fight the more he like it, she was stuck. His touch made her feel sick and tears began streaming from her eyes. Not again, this couldn’t be happening to her again. Why wasn’t anybody trying to save her? Maybe they just gave up and moved on with their lives and didn’t want to bother. She hated to think about it, but she just felt completely hopeless. Next her tank top was gone and he kept kissing her, why? Was it so that she would maybe like it and respond to him or was he fooling himself into trying to not think he was raping her? Reese started pulling down her jeans; she had no fight left in her. All she could do was remember that once she had been happy and there were people that loved her even if she never saw them again.

 

 

“Mother where the hell are you?” Claira asked into the phone.

“Finally,” Sanoe replied. “Hurry your a*s up, we’re leaving after the guys finish their business.”

“What business?” Claira asked but she had a feeling she knew and it wasn’t good.

“They wanted some alone time with your sister, who I finally caught yesterday no thanks to you. We’re at the Roadside Motel, either room 217 or 218, Eve’s busy in 218 though,” she said with a giggle then hung up.

“Did you get the room number? Eve sent me a text,” Neil said. She didn’t get how he was even reading text messages while driving. “We’re almost to the place.”

“Room 218 Roadside Motel, we have to hurry,” she told him and he looked at her.

“What’s going on?” He asked, his voice gave away how worried he was even if he was trying to stay strong.

This guy was so unreal; he stayed up all night at Eve’s house praying with his brother’s fiancé. He called her phone relentlessly, hoping that Eve would turn it on and tell him where she was. Pretty much all the people in Eve’s life were like this, her friend and her family came over and Joan and William’s families. That was when Claira realized just how wrong she was about these people who were Eve’s family now, they really loved her. Especially Joan, who clearly loved Eve way more than Sanoe ever had loved either of her daughters and because of that Claira wanted to bring Eve back. This was the life her sister deserved and these were the people, it was now clearer than it ever had been before. It was time to face the fact that she was never going to get to have the Eve she knew back, but that wasn’t exactly bad. While Eve would always be her sister and the only person in the world that she knew she could trust and would always love her, this wasn’t her Eve anymore. It was sad to think about but for once in her life she was going to be selfless instead of selfish.

“The guys want to have sex with Eve,” she told him. Even though she knew she shouldn’t because it would upset him, he sped up way over the speed limit. He needed to know how serious this mess was.

“Eve wouldn’t have sex with either of them,” he said sounding like a jealous boyfriend.

“I’m sure she wouldn’t but that doesn’t mean they won’t have sex with her. I don’t think they understand the word no,” she told him. That was when he really started to drive faster.

When they reached the hotel she had to force Neil to stay in the car and stay calm while she went to check out the situation. Claira told him to call Joan first before he followed her up to the room, so that maybe the police could help them. She was surprised that the door was unlocked when she went to go in to room 218. Slowly she pushed the door open to see Eve across the room on the bed half naked. Reese was standing over Eve who had tears streaming down her face, with his shirt off and just boxers on. He’d been in the middle of taking her panties off when he looked up at Claira.
            “A sister threesome, I like it,” he said gesturing for her to come in. Eve looking her straight in the eyes with this pleading look, but said nothing.

“Get off my sister,” Claira told him and he laughed.

Before she could stop him Neil burst into the room, he stood frozen a moment looking at Eve who turned away in shame. Then everything happened so fast Claira could barely keep up. Neil tackled Reese and they began to fight. While that was going on Claira went to help her sister dress, which was hard because Eve was shaking so badly. All the noise brought over Sanoe and Mike from the other room and he had a gun. But some how before anyone got shot, the police arrived. Joan had called them when she got Eve’s text message, so they made it just in time.

On the ride back to Eve’s house nobody said a word and Claira sat with her arms around Eve. There wasn’t much anyone could say right now and Eve hadn’t said anything at all. This was finally over, Sanoe had finally been caught and she couldn’t get out of this. Now they were free from their crazy mother, but Claira knew the future was still uncertain for her especially. Her life was never going to be the same and she had to leave Eve alone. Eve was better off with her family and Claira had to leave because she didn’t want to interfere. But she still had to decide if she was going to just disappear or actually take responsibility for everything she’d done. The trouble was that she hated feeling caged, but maybe this would help her to get her life on the right track and stay out of trouble. The only thing Claira knew for sure was that she could never see Eve again.

 

 

Mario sat on the couch in his eerily quiet house; he hadn’t been home alone since he moved in. But this was what he needed and he knew his little brother needed to be elsewhere. He knew he should have gone over Eve’s house, but he wasn’t ready to face Morgana yet. It was pretty obvious that she didn’t want to talk to him either. There was a knock on the door, followed by repeated door bell ringing, he didn’t want to answer. When he did he was surprised to see Christianna.

“I didn’t think you would want to be alone,” she said walking pass him.

“I don’t really wanna talk either,” he replied going back to the couch. This was the last place he was with Morgana.

“You know dad put Mimi out because of what she did?” She asked, he shrugged because he didn’t care and didn’t want to hear her name.

“Why are you here? Go talk to Neil, his girlfriend was kidnapped and almost raped,” he said. The last thing he wanted was to talk about himself and what happened.

“Mario you were arrested,” she said. As if he needed reminding. “Our mother had you arrested because she thought Morgana was pregnant. I feel bad for what happened to Eve, but she has enough people in her face concerned. Even if you don’t wanna talk about it, I know you’re pissed. Don’t forget that our w***e mother tried to have sex with Aiden,” she said bitterly. “After this Mimi is finished, dad wants her out of our lives.”

“Chris, why did I have to fall for her out of all the girls in the world? Why the high school girl? She’s young and maybe it’s a sign cause everything keeps going wrong. I need to get out of this town, maybe transfer to another school, far away,” he said. Before the latest disaster he would never have thought about it, but now it was all he could think of. Maybe that would be the best thing for everybody; he needed a fresh start desperately.

“Mario Jay, you’re an idiot,” Chris said to his surprise. That wasn’t what he expected at all.

“I’m trying to make things easier for both of us,” he said. But he knew it sounded lame even before he said it.

“That girl loves you, I don’t know why, but she does and you’d let Mimi win? Love is always worth fighting for,” she said. It was very un-Chris-like to be emotional and she’d always been the least emotional sibling. But Chris in love was a whole different person and Mario was learning that people could change a lot.

“She hasn’t called me and she couldn’t even look at me,” he said.

The way Morgana had looked at him the last time he saw her was still haunting him. That was why he didn’t go comfort her when her best friend was missing. It was selfish, but he felt like she probably didn’t want to see him. This was the problem with being so involved and actually caring, it hurt to think she didn’t want to be with him. Maybe it was time to get out and cut his loses before he got in any deeper where he couldn’t get out.

“Her sister teamed up with our psychotic mother to ruin you’re relationship and got you arrested. I would think that she’s just embarrassed and I’m sure you didn’t bother to call her either,” she said shaking her head at him.

Before he could reply, he could hear the front door open and close. Morgana appeared in the hallway, looking nervous. She was standing there staring at him like they were strangers. It was weird to just see her in sweat pants and a sweatshirt instead of her creative uniquely Morgana clothes.  

“Um I didn’t know if I should come by, but I still have my key,” Morgana said refusing to look him in the eyes.

“I think I’m going to go check on how Juliet is doing with my wedding plans,” Chris said getting up. “Ciao,” she called disappearing down the hall.

“Should I have called first?” Morgana asked when they were alone. “I was going to but I really didn’t know what to say, I still don’t.” Instead of saying anything, he got up and pulled her into his arms.

“I love you,” he told her. “Let’s just hope that was the worst of it,” he said. She just nodded and tried to smile but tears came from her eyes.

“I almost lost you and Eve in the same day,” she said as he pulled her to the couch.

“Everything will be ok now,” he told her hoping it was true. He held her in silence while she calmed down and that was when he realized that he was in to deep to get out.

 

 

She could hear him calling her name, but she said nothing. The door opened and he pulled back the curtains to find her curled up in a ball in the tub with the shower on. The water was hot, but she couldn’t feel anything right now, her insides were so numb. When he turned off the water she realized that it had been very hot because her skin was all red. He picked her up and wrapped at towel around her, then carrier her back into her room. Before she knew it he dried her off and dressed her and she was lying in her bed. Her Prince Charming, he was the definition of the perfect guy.

“Eve,” he whispered after changing his wet shirt and came to sit next to her. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you,” he said. It was pretty clear that he blamed himself.

“You came for me,” she whispered. Since she’d come home she hadn’t spoken much and when the police wanted to question her Claira did most of the talking.

“But that guy did things to you,” he said looking away. “ I should have killed him,” he said more to himself than to her.

“Worse things have happened to me,” she told him and he shook his head.

“It’s not ok, if I could track down every guy that’s ever hurt you, and kill them I would.” There was such a serious look on his face, but she smiled even though it felt weird to do so.

“Then you would be doing a lot of killing,” she told him trying to laugh even though she knew he was un-amused.

“I shouldn’t have been sitting around talking to Claira, then I would have been here when I was supposed to,” he said.

“Then they would have thought of something else, of you hadn’t been with Claira I might not be here not,” she paused. “I just don’t know how you can still want me after this,” she whispered.

Every time she closed her eyes she could see Reese and feel him touching and kissing her. And there was the look on Neil’s face when he saw her; it made her want to cry. He looked so disgusted and she couldn’t blame him for that. Why did he stay over here? Why would he still want a girl like her? Maybe he was just being nice; she was the girl that you use and throw away and nothing more. If Sanoe had succeeded in taking her away she would have only had to go through it over and over again. What kind of mother would sell her daughters? Even though she knew Sanoe wasn’t a good mother and she had issues, she’d never known that she was just that evil. All Eve wanted to do was get back in the shower until the water could wash everything away.

“Eve I love you,” Neil said pulled her into his arms. “What happened wasn’t your fault; I don’t think less of you because of it. I just can’t believe your mother would do that to you.”

The tears were hot as they poured from her eyes, she hated crying but it was all she could do because right now she just felt helpless and weak. In the past she’d never felt like this, back then she was just numb and hollow and eventually she just stopped feeling. Coming here where she was loved and happy and emotions force themselves upon her, she felt normal. It was all fine until now because she couldn’t stop feeling and she hated it. When Jay had done what he did to her she’d thought that was the worse thing that could happen. This was only worse because here she had felt safe, like that type of thing would never happen again. Since it had, she wasn’t sure if she was ever going to feel safe again.

“Are you staying tonight?” Eve asked Neil, even though she knew he had to go to school tomorrow since he didn’t today.

“You’re never going to be able to get rid of me now, I’ll move in if I have to,” he told her. With him she always felt safe, like nothing in the world could hurt her. Maybe Neil was the key to getting back to the sense of normalcy she’d found living here.

 

 

It was Tuesday afternoon and Claira stood in the hallway outside her sister’s room. This was it, today she was leaving. Even after all the things she’d done these people were still willing to help her, it was weird. When Eve was gone she saw just how much these people loved her, especially Joan. And she came to realize that even though Eve was all the family she ever really had, that Joan loved her more. That was what mothers were supposed to do right? Love their children more than anyone else in the world could. Sanoe had loved them once, but never like this. Because Claira loved her sister she knew she really had to move on. For once in her life she was going to do the responsible thing that would benefit everybody, it was something her mother could never do. No more running away, she was going back to her own personal prison. But she would be 18 in a few months anyway, so maybe she could learn how to live and think like a normal person. What she knew for sure about her future was that it didn’t include her sister.

“Eve,” she called when she stepped inside the room. Eve was sitting on the floor next to her bed with her knees pulled up resting her head on them. This was part of the reason Claira had to go, she’d done this to her sister. Even if it was Sanoe’s stupid plan, she’d done it before and never realized how Eve felt.

“Hmm,” Eve replied looking up at her. The eyes that were so full of light just a few weeks ago, were now gone. Just like they had gradually dimmed when they were once together, as a child Eve was always so happy. Claira realized just how horrible she’d been to her sister; she dimmed her sister’s light.

“Cathy is on her way over,” she told her as she sat down on the floor.

“What are you talking about?” Eve asked in a dazed sort of way, like she wasn’t exactly all there at the moment.

“Evey, I’m going to do the right thing and stay away from you. That judge was right, we really needed to be apart,” she said.

“What made you change your mind?” Eve asked, she seemed to be turning back into the Eve that would understand her.

“When I was in the hospital and I saw things clearly without Sanoe and all that crap she filled my head with. And I really saw how much your friends and family love you. Neil especially, I lost all faith in love and I thought you had too, but I’m glad found him. You deserve this Evey; I’ve been holding you back and keeping you down. So I decided to take myself out of the equation, for good. If I stay here you can never be happy, I need help first. My brain just doesn’t work right and I need to work on my life,” Claira explained.

“Where are you going?” Eve asked, maybe she was realizing that they needed to do this.

“I won’t know until I get there, but I don’t want you to know. We’ll always be sisters Eve, but I don’t want to see you. No more worry about me or taking care of me, I’ll clean up my own messes from now on. Please don’t argue or try to find me, we’ve both gotta go in different directions,” Claira said and Eve nodded.

“A lot has happened since we were a family,” Eve said thoughtfully. “I stopped regretting everything because without all that stuff I could never have been happy. It’s just that this time it hurt more than anything else. I hated to see Joan cry and Neil will never get over this.” It was the most Eve had said since coming home.

“We never regret Evey, we sinned and you learned and I’m still working on it. One day we will see each other again and maybe we can be a family. Just put this behind you and forget the past. I doubt your mommy is going to let you out of her sight now,” Claira said.

“Fate will bring us back together,” Eve said and they hugged.

“I’m just happy to know that you’re going to be taken care of,” Claira told her. This was it for them. “I love you little sister.”

Claira stared out the window of the bus that was talking her away to the place for bad girls. Only then did she realize that being locked away for six months was way too long. What had she been thinking? Those people with their love stuff and normal behavior had made her think crazy things. While she knew she had to stay away from her sister, she wasn’t sure this was the best thing for herself. Taking responsibility for her actions was a good thing, but this was a death sentence. Why did she agree to this? She knew that it was wrong, but she wasn’t exactly sure that she was going to go through with this. Escaping was too easy, she wasn’t sure yet, if it would be worth it in the end.

 

 

 

Morgana was sitting on her bed next to Mario, he had his arm around them but nothing was between them but eerie silence. It was Friday and a week ago she’d been laughing and making dinner with Juliet and Eve. Now it felt like that was a lifetime ago, especially when she returned to school Tuesday without Eve. Who wasn’t herself and nobody knew when she would be returning to school. Over the last week it seemed like everything and everyone changed and the worse part was everybody seemed to be depressed. The weather was even depressing, gloom and rain everyday that week.

Today for some odd reason her parents had requested that Mario come over for dinner. When she got home nobody was there yet, so she didn’t even know why she’d brought him to her room. Awkward would be an understatement for what she was feeling between them at that moment. And it didn’t help that the last time he entered this room was during the incident with Tessa before Christmas. The silence stretched on and she just laid against him trying to figure out life in general. Why did her parents even want him here anyway? She desperately hoped that it wasn’t because of what Nana Karen was saying. All she wanted was to get rid of some of the stress in her life and because of her sister telling Nana lies, there was bound to be more drama.

“Someone just came in,” Morgana said when she heard the door downstairs open.

 “I shouldn’t be here,” Mario said.

“Neither should I,” she paused a second. “I want to come live with you,” she said and his expression made her regret it.           

“Are you staying over tonight?” He asked, obviously he thought what she said was too emotional and stupid to comment on.

“If you want I could,” she replied. Their relationship wasn’t what it had been just a week ago all because of what happened over the weekend.

“You’ve barely been by this week,” he said. “If you want we can take a break from, then I understand,” he told her. She turned to stare at him, she never expected that.

“Hello,” Nana Karen greeted when she came in through the open door.

“Hi Nana,” Morgana replied knowing that Nana of course didn’t approve of boys in the bedroom.

“Hi,” Mario said looking uncomfortable.

“May I borrow you for a minute Morgana?” Nana asked pleasantly, she just nodded because she didn’t have a choice.

“I’ll be back,” she told Mario as she followed Nana into the hall.

“Morgana, why are you letting a boy come between you and your sister? Family is way more important,” Nana said predictably.

“Please Nana don’t start this, Tessa is the one at fault here. I’m not giving up my relationship because Tessa is jealous and selfish. Right now I don’t have a sister,” she told her.

“Oh you are just like your mother,” Nana replied shaking her head. “I know what Tessa did was wrong and he does seem like a nice boy, but you’re so young. You don’t know what love is, maybe you should focus on something else. I don’t want you to end up how your mother did at this age,” she went on.

“Nana, I’m not stupid ok? I don’t want a baby, but Mom didn’t do too bad. Yeah she had a baby, but she’s still with dad. I know you mean well but not listening to you was the best thing that ever happened to her. No offense,” Morgana said.

“Always the defiant one, just like Ana,” Nana said shaking her head and smiling. “I seemed to have passed my stubbornness on to your mother and both you girls. Because of that I almost lost your wild child mother. That look you get in your eyes when you look at that boy is the same one Ana had at your age,” she told her.

“Nana, you know Tessa is unbalanced and needs help, letting her run around free isn’t helping anybody. She’s not going to get better, she really has lost her mind,” Morgana told her and Nana just nodded.

“I don’t have any problems except your boyfriend,” Tessa said suddenly appearing at the top of the stairs.

“Tessa, we talked about this, they need time before you come home,” Nana said calmly.

“He’s allowed here but I’m not?” Tessa asked, now Mario was standing in the doorway of Morgana’s room.

“No, I’m going home,” Mario said. Everything was going so wrong and it was all Tessa’s fault.

“No, you were invited, she should go,” Morgana said. Even though things were weird between them, she didn’t want Mario to leave. Especially not when it seemed like their relationship was coming to an end. This was exactly what everybody wanted, wasn’t it?

“This is my home! I get thrown out because of him and he can come up here like he lives here? How is that fair?” Tessa asked glaring at Mario, Morgana wanted to hit her. She in fact wanted to hit and or choke her sister all week.

“Tessa, let’s go,” Nana said clearly trying to avoid another fight.

“I’m going to make you regret what you’ve done,” Tessa said before Nana pulled her back downstairs.

“Sorry, but I can’t stay here,” Mario said when they were alone. “Maybe it’s better if we spend sometime apart,” he said avoiding her eyes.

“No, I’m coming with you,” she said. If she had a say in it this definitely wasn’t going to be the end of her relationship.

 

 

When she came down the stairs she could hear them in the kitchen. Since coming here she’d never heard Joan and William fight, but they were arguing in the kitchen. They were the perfect couple in her eyes, so what would make them fight? The only thing she could think of was herself. Until she came here their lives were simple and easy, it wasn’t fair what they were going through because of her. Maybe it was time to take herself out of the equation, it would be better for everybody she loved. They became silent when she walked in the kitchen and neither would look at her, so she knew.

“Eve, did you need something?” Joan asked a little too happily. William kept his back to her, pretending to be searching in the fridge.

“You’re fighting because of me, aren’t you? Whether or not you should send me back, right?” She asked, both of them stared at her then at each other.

“No, why would you think that? Eve you’re our daughter, we love you,” Joan told her taking her hands.

“Eve, it has nothing to do with you personally, it’s more about all of us as a family,” William told her. The three of them sat down at the table.

“I knew we should have just talked to her, William, it affects her too,” Joan said.

“What’s going on?” Eve asked, they were acting so weird.

“”You’re going through a rough time right now, so we weren’t sure if making changes would help or hurt you,” William explained. “We have an opportunity to extend our family.”

“There are these two young girls that are in need of a home and we’ve been asked if we can take them,” Joan said.

“So what’s the problem?” Eve asked, she was confused, she knew both of them wanted more children.

“Well right now you need us,” Joan told her.

“And you’re needs are our top priority,” William said.

“Don’t worry about me, you both deserve this, I couldn’t think of two better parents,” she said and they both smiled.

“It’s ok if you need more time,” Joan told her.

“I’m fine,” she lied. In reality she was anything but fine, they didn’t need to know that. They had enough worries and deserved to have the children that biologically they couldn’t.

“You’re sure?” Joan asked and she nodded.

“I’ll make the call then,” William said. He patted her shoulder as he left the room, it was pretty clear that he was happy.

“Ok I guess we’ll have to do a lot of shopping,” Joan said to her. There was a twinkle in her eyes and she looked like she might cry. Eve could actual picture Joan doing the same thing when they got a call about a troubled 15 year old in need of a home.

“How old are these girls?” Eve asked in an attempt to seem more interested than she actually was. It wasn’t that she was jealous and wanted her parents to herself; it was just that she couldn’t feel excited about anything right now.

“Um 7 and 4, they’re sisters,” Joan replied. Tomorrow you and I can go shopping, oh and Morgana can come too if you want,” she said.

“Yeah,” Eve said forcing a smile. Since she’d come home she hadn’t left the house, her therapist even had to make a house call.

Eve excused herself saying she was tired and wanted to lay down, rally she wanted to be alone. It was hard to get alone time when everybody was so worried about her. She’d stayed home from school all week and both Joan and William didn’t go to work.  Eventually she had to go back to her life, but she didn’t know when. As she laid in bed and closed her eyes, there it was again. Reese, she could see him and feel, smells him and taste him and it made her sick. For some reason he was big on kissing, she figured maybe it was to delude himself into thinking she wanted him. Why wouldn’t he go away? She could accurately recount every time some guy had done something to her, but she never felt like this. Maybe it was because she was a different person and can alive here. Mostly she figured it was because Neil had been there and he saw way too much. That look on his face haunted her every time she closed her eyes. Sleeping was almost impossible, the nightmares were horrible.

Neil was so sweet and protective; he came over everyday after school and stayed most of the nights that week. This whole mess seemed to upset him more than anybody else, but he kept trying to cheer her up. Even so most of that week she wished she had died, though nobody tried to kill her. It would have just been so much easier than to come back here and try to live again and feel like this. She felt guilty for what this was doing to everybody she loved, they were all so concerned. Reese hadn’t even gotten to have sex with her, but she still felt dirty for what he had accomplished. So she pretended that she was starting to feel better, when she just felt worse everyday. Everybody had other things in their lives’ they needed to focus on, and she didn’t want to bother them with her drama.

Danny was bouncing around from house to house between his parents increasingly messy divorce that they still couldn’t settle. But he still made time for her, which didn’t surprise her because he was her first real friend. Morgana was over as much as possible considering her relationship with Mario was going through a hard time and her family was a mess. Then they was Neil, who even came to see her twice that week on his lunch break at school. It was pretty clear though that between his own family issues and witnessing his girlfriend’s attempted rape, he was falling apart. She kept finding herself thinking that maybe her friends would be better off if they never met her and brought this type of stuff into their lives. But even in her current deeply depressed state she knew that she’d actually done good in their lives. Especially when it came to Joan and William who had given up on every having children.

So why couldn’t she get over this? Sanoe was gone now, forever, so it wasn’t going to happen again. Then again she’d thought that before when she came here, anything could happen. All she wanted was to get back to the semi normal life she’d found where she was happy. It seemed like it was never going to happen and she just kept feeling worse. There just had to be something about her that screamed ‘Please Abuse Me’, because it happened way too many time. She really just had to face the fact that there were no happy endings for her; she’d thought that maybe that had changed, but it hadn’t. Every time she thought she could be happy and things were different, something bad happened. But she owed it to herself and her friends and family to try to get over this. She felt like she especially owed Neil, because she knew just how much he loved her.

 

 

“I’m not a responsible mother-type am I?” Juliet asked and he stared at hr a moment.

“Why because you don’t force me to be in the house at a certain time and I don’t come home sometimes?” Neil asked and she nodded, he laughed. “You aren’t even old enough to be my mother and since you know where I am, it’s not that big of a deal. At least you aren’t Mimi; you’ve always paid me more attention than her.”

“You said her name,” Juliet said making a face. “I don’t know your grandmother seems to think I’m not a responsible person at all. But I think you’re old enough to make your own decisions and you’re always in one of two places. How much trouble can you get in with Eve’s parents in the house? Besides that you didn’t have any parental supervision before, I check on you.”

“Juliet, you’re marrying into one of the most dysfunctional families in the world, stop letting them get to you. Face it they’re never going to change and it’s funny to me because until recently I wanted everybody’s approval. You’re going to be a great mother,” he said. For what had to be the millionth time since he came home, he looked at his phone. There were no messages from Eve and she hadn’t called at all, he was trying not to worry.

“Cornelius you are driving me crazy,” Juliet said shaking her head. “Why don’t you just bring her over here?” She asked, he was surprised she said anything. Damien had asked him to help her with some of her wedding stuff today since he wouldn’t be home.

“She hasn’t left the house at all this week,” he told her. “So I doubt she would want to come make wedding favors.”

“Go coax her out, tell her I’m desperate for help,” she suggested. “If you want she can stay the night, but if you look at that cell phone one more time I might hurt you.”

“Fine, I’ll go get her so you don’t have to kill me,” he said. It didn’t take much persuading; this was the excuse he needed. “I’ll be right back, I promise.”

“Hurry up or we’ll be up all night,” she said but winked at him.

As Neil drove to Eve’s house he tried not to go over the speed limit too much, he was desperate to see her. Of course if he still saw Dr. Cyrus he would label this as an unhealthy obsession, but he didn’t care. Right now Eve was so depressed, he wanted to do any and everything he could to make her feel better. He did know that she needed alone time, that was why he hadn’t bothered her most of the day. Earlier he’d brought her lunch during his lunch break at school and that was it. It killed him not to call or text or see her, but he had to. Now he was going to get her out, because she needed to leave the house and he knew she would refuse. That was the reason he didn’t call before going over, he knew she was going to say no. Because her sick demented mother had chosen to abduct her in an SUV that matched his, he’d had to switch cars with Chris.

“Hello Cornelius, I didn’t know you were coming over,” Joan said when she let him in.

“I’m trying to surprise her; I thought she might like to get out of the house. Juliet needs some more help with her wedding stuff so she said Eve could spend the night. Of course that’s if you give your permission,” he explained. As expected Joan had an uneasy look on her face, but she smiled anyway.

“It’s fine with me, if she wants to. Go on up and ask her,” she said smiling a little too hard. She was worried about letting Eve out of her sight.

“Ok,” he said then went up the stair to Eve’s room. It wasn’t a surprise that he found her laying in bed staring at the ceiling in the dark.

“Neil,” Eve said staring at him like he was crazy for turning on the light.

“Come on Gorgeous, we’re going out,” he told her trying to sound as upbeat as possible.

“I don’t want to, thanks anyway,” she replied covering her face with a pillow.

“You’re confused, I didn’t ask, we are going,” he told her and she peeked out at him.

“Neil, I’m tired,” she said hiding her face again.

“Come on,’ he said pulling the pillow away. “Don’t worry it’s nothing big, we’re just helping Juliet with her wedding favors.”

“Another time,” she told him giving him a look. He hadn’t expected this to be easy; he knew he would have to push her.

“Eve De Marco, get up,” he order and she stared at him.

“Cornelius, I am tired and I do not want to go,” she said annoyed.

“I’ll carry you out if I have to,” he told her and she actually laughed.

“Why are you doing this?” She asked and he shrugged.

“Probably because I love you and you need to get out of the house,” he told her. “Do I have to pick you out clothes too? You can just wear what you have on and wear my clothes back. Did I mention you’re spending the night? Well you are, so no more arguing,” he said.

“Neil,” she started but he shook his head. He pulled her blankets away and took her hands so she could get up.

“Trust me, ok? I swear I won’t let anything happen to you and you won’t regret doing this,” he said. It was a surprise when she hugged him, he held her tight.

“I do trust you,” she whispered.

“Don’t worry Eve, you’re stuck with me,” he told her. Maybe after this she could get her life back on track, he wasn’t going to let her do it alone. But he wasn’t sure he could ever get pass what happened, he wanted revenge for her. Somehow he was going to get it; people with money could do anything.

 

 

Morgana sat in class trying not to fall asleep; she’d been up late with Mario. It had been weeks since the incident at her house and the arrest and everything was finally getting back to normal. But she was starting to realize that even if Mario could stay up because he had a late class, didn’t mean she should. When she thought about how much he loved her new lingerie, she smiled. After school he was picking her up since he could pretty much use his other arm now, they were back into their sex addiction.

“Are you fantasizing again,” Eve asked and she nodded.

“I almost forgot how kinky he can be,” she replied.

“Don’t think I wanna know,” Eve said.

“I promise you don’t,” she said still smiling. It was great to almost have the old Eve back, though she knew Eve was still having issues but at least she’d come to school all this week.

“I’m jealous,” Eve said. “I know Neil wants to do it, but I’m all screwed up again. It’s like the story of my life,” she sighed.

“Evey, it’s going to be ok, give it time, Neil isn’t going anywhere,” Morgana told her. She knew they should probably be pay attention, but health class was so boring. Didn’t she already know enough about sex and STDs? Though she did make a mental note to remind Mario about buying condoms. At this point it seemed pretty pointless since they hadn’t used any in a long time. Just as she was thinking of Mario, a text popped up from him on her phone.

“Lover boy trying to get you to skip school so he can get him some booty?” Eve asked and Morgana just rolled her eyes, but she kind of hoped so.

“No, I wish, he says I should check my email,” she replied. What she wanted to do was crawl into Mario’s comfy bed and sleep.

Since his message seemed urgent she scrolled through her phone so she could check her email. There was a message from some email address she didn’t know; usually she won’t open random junk mail. But since Mario wanted her to look at it, she figured maybe it was from him or something. All there was in the email was a link, so she clicked on it. When she saw exactly what it linked to, she almost dropped the phone on the floor.

“What’s wrong?” Eve asked, all she could do was hand her the phone. “You made a website?”

“No,” she said trying to calm herself down. “There was a link to this in my email.” She shook her head, was this a dream?

Had she maybe fallen asleep in class and was now in the middle of a very lifelike nightmare? In a daze she asked to go to the bathroom and tried hard not to run down the hall. Once inside the bathroom she tried to calm herself a minute before she really took a minute to examine the site. Then she pressed Mario’s speed dial number, this wasn’t a dream it was a living nightmare.

“Mario Jay what the hell did you do?” She asked furiously before he could say a word.

“Mo, I didn’t do anything, I got an email,” he told her.

“How could somebody else make a website with pictures of me naked? You took those pictures and you said you would never show anybody,” she said pacing.

“Why would I ever show anybody? I never even printed them, they’re just on my computer,” he said. “Mo, it’s actually worse than you think.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, but was very certain that she didn’t want to know.

“That email went out to everybody at my school and Juliet said she thinks my family all got it too,” he said.

“Tell me you’re joking,” Morgana wished he would but knew it was true. She felt like someone was playing a bad joke on her, how could this happen?

“Wish I was, after Juliet checked her email and called me she told me to call Damien. So I’ll call him and I’ll call you back,” he said.

“Ok,” she replied feeling like the world was spinning.

“I’m gonna fix this,” he told her.

“Yeah,” she said then hung up the phone.

“I knew you were a s**t, but I didn’t know how much of an attention w***e you’ve become,” Libby said when she came in. “You paraded Mario around at formal with your s****y dress and now you email everybody naked pictures of yourself? Wow Morgy, guess it was a good thing we dumped you,” she said with a smug and superior look on her face.

“Lib, when you gonna get over the whole jealousy thing? Always mad that I was Corrina’s best friend and guess it must suck that my new BFF has the guy of your dreams. Poor baby, your life sucks doesn’t it? Oh and let’s not forget you’re jealous that my man is sexy and I’ve always looked way better than you. Have fun with those lonely night with Neil’s picture and your vibrator, while he’s in bed with Eve,” Morgana said smiling as she left the bathroom. Libby just stood there staring open mouthed, looking like she might cry.

Though it was usually more amusing to make Libby feel bad about herself, Morgana had bigger things on her mind. Libby had said that everybody in school got an email, so she knew everybody had seen her naked. That was just great, but as she was walking down the hall her phone rang, it was her mother. Her parents never called her at school unless it was an emergency, so she knew it was nothing good. What she hoped was that her parents hadn’t seen this website, that already had well over a thousand views from what the hit counter said when she last looked at it. Quickly she went into the nearest stairwell to answer the call.

“Morgana Ana Lynn Wrecker, can you explain to me why everybody at my job got an email linking them to pictures of my naked 16 year old daughter?” Ana asked angrily, before she could say a word.

“Not you too,” she said sinking down onto the steps. “Mom I didn’t do this, I swear, Mario did take the pictures but we never made a website,” she told her.

“Why would you allow him to take pornographic pictures of you anyway?” Ana asked clearly she was frustrated and upset.

“Cause we were bored this one day and I don’t know it was stupid. But nobody was ever supposed to see them; we never put them online they were just on both our laptops. All I know is I got an email and apparently so did my whole school and Mario’s and Juliet thinks their family all might have them too,” she said.

“Oh Morgana,” Ana sighed. “Dad and Nana called, let’s just say I think it’s gone out to the whole family ad beyond,” she said.

“Mario said that he was calling Damien to try to get rid of it, but it’s too late,” Morgana wanted to scream and cry. What had she done to deserve this?

“I’m on my way to pick you up from school,” Ana said.

“Ok, I’ll see you soon, I have to get back to class,” Morgana said. She hung up and somehow managed to make it back to health class.

“You’re all over the internet,” Eve informed her when she sat down.

“I was afraid of that,” Morgana replied. “How could this happen? As far as I know you were the only one to ever see any of those pictures,” she sighed. Of course she knew Eve didn’t do it, she’d seen one of the tamer pictures by accident over a month ago.

“There’s a video on there now too,” Eve told her.

“Tell me you’re joking,” she said but knew it was true.

“It came up when you were in the bathroom, Neil texted me cause he’s in the computer lab and people were looking at it. But now I think I’ve solved the mystery of who did this,” Eve said. Before Morgana could ask her who, the bell rang and at the same time she got a text from Mario. All it said was: Tessa.

Author's Note

..i just typed it so chances are there are a few mistakes here or there..