S as Satanophany (2)

Chapter 1 - Part 2

Serena was showering and Derek was moping the kitchen floor, trying his best to shut away the images his vicious brain was constantly projecting. “Focus, he whispered to himself”. Of course it was easier said than done.
He hadn’t quite finished cleaning up when he heard the front door open. Sarah was back. S**t.
She joined him in the kitchen and coldly gazed around the room. Her eyes finally met Derek’s and she asked a little roughly:” Why is there tomato sauce smeared on the floor?”
He didn’t have time to answer as Serena joined them in the kitchen, only wearing a very short towel barely tucked under her arm.
“ I spilled my plate. Hi sis, long time no see.”

Derek had cold sweat running down his spine. He was standing in the middle of the two sisters. He was the mediator of these two opponents. Serena was smiling whereas Sarah was blankly staring at her, visibly despising every inch of her sister.
“You seem happy to see me!
- Don’t push Serena. We both know neither of us wants this. Let’s just get through these three months and get back to our lives.
- Boo hoo hoo, you surely aren’t becoming funnier with age. Come on sis, this could be fun if you at least tried.
- I’m tired, I’ve had a long day. I’m going to take a bath. Derek will show you the guest room.”

She walked out the kitchen without turning back. Soon they heard the noise of a slamming door. Serena shrugged as Derek was giving her a look full of compassion. She didn’t seem to care.
Was she faking it? Could she be more hurt by her sibling’s behaviour than what she showed?
Derek didn’t know. She was hard to read.

As they walked through the apartment towards the guest room, they heard Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake swirling through the shut bathroom’s door. Serena stopped a few seconds and closed her eyes as she listened to the melody.
“I remember this piece...
- It’s very famous, whispered Derek.
- No I mean I remember a day when my parents were listening to it and ...”
She stopped.
Derek could swear he saw tears in the corners of her eyes. He made a move towards her but she backed away and avoided eye contact. “I’m fine, she muttered.”
Was Serena really about to cry? Or was it a brilliant stunt to turn Derek against Sarah?
Sarah had told Derek that her sister was a very manipulative person. A player. The kind of girl who enjoyed pulling the strings and got to decide when it was time for the curtain to fall.
Derek didn’t want to believe she was this sort of girl yet he knew Sarah. His beloved Sarah was the kindest and fairest person he had ever met. She wouldn’t lie.
Would she?

The foam and bubbles glided down her legs as she balanced them on the tub’s sides. Her head was thumping and her eyes burned. Headache. She massaged her temples, trying to soothe away the pain but she couldn’t get her sister out of her mind.
Already she was starting to draw all the attention towards her, walking around her corrupted vulgar half naked body all over their home. She trusted Derek. Well... She also knew he was a man and most of all, she knew, that Serena always got who and what she wanted. Little brat.
Even Swan Lake couldn’t chase away the anger. It had been contained for too long. Now all it wanted was to erupt and consume all it found on it’s passage.
Someone knocked on the bathroom door.
“Who is it?
- It’s me babe.
- Oh. Come in.”
Derek entered and quickly closed the door behind him. He looked at her tenderly, lovingly yet a little worried. Sarah wasn’t the type to pull out such scenes.
He joined her and sat on the edge of the tub, facing her and smiling at her. He plunged his hand in the warm water and gently caressed her leg.
Sarah looked up at his green eyes and felt as if she was drowning in a mellow bed of fresh cut grass.
Falling into oblivion. Vanishing into the miracle of timeless dimensions. He was the only one whose eyes could take her to star full skies. When she looked into his eyes, all she knew was genuine happiness.
That’s why she loved him; only him could raise her to pure happiness. And his smile ...
“What would I do without you? she whispered.
- Babe...
- Really Derek, I need you.
- Well you have me, he smiled. You have me.”
They looked into each other eyes for a long while and Derek really wanted to get closer to her, to join her in that warm water. Yet he knew that Sarah needed her space.
So he continued to love her in silence.

Serena was lying on the bed staring blankly at the roof. It was a few hours only that she was back in Chelsea and already she felt like the ugly little duckling. Her family had been living for generations here, her parent’s home was on Mallord Street postcode SW3 and now her sister had even got herself a flat a few minutes away from the snob hangout “The Bluebird”. No way to escape the bloody fate.
She hated everything about Chelsea; it’s snobbish over Dior dressed b*****s, it’s Armani players, it’s white stainless streets and houses, all of it was... too much for her to take.
The only thing that had kept her going all those years was a crazy lesbo from Camden; Ozzy. Ozzy was actually named Elizabeth Dean but the wild arty freak in her couldn’t stand the name. So from the age of six she went by Ozzy and even her parents adopted the name.
Ozzy was by far Serena’s only real friend. They had met in school when they were ten and had never parted since then. Ozzy’s parents were fantastic artists whose reputation needn’t to be made as they exposed their work in galleries all over the world. Their fame didn’t stop them from being open-minded and extremely generous people.
Serena has always envied Ozzy for that. But Diane and Bastian, Ozzy’s parents, always did their best to make Ina (as Ozzy nicknamed her) feel at home in their little over decorated apartment on Greenland Road.
Ozzy and Ina. Ina and Ozzy. Inseparable as if they were twins.
Serena looked at her phone and dialled, out of memory, Ozzy’s number. As usual it’s just before the voicemail was played, that Ozzy’s stolid voice muttered a lazy “Yeah?”.
“Guess who just came back in town?
- Bloody hell Ina! It was about time girl!
- Missed me?
- Hell yeah I did! Are you back at your parent’s?
- I was supposed to but they finally went for their world tour. I’m staying at Sarah’s instead.”
Ozzy remained silent. Serena laughed and told her amused: “It’s ok, don’t worry. I haven’t tried to murder her yet.
- How bloody long are you going to stay with her?
- Three very long months.
- Babe, come and live with me! We could have so much fun!
- Impossible. The main reason why they sent me to France was to separate us both. They blamed on you all my stupid behaviours.
- Oh, yes... How could I have forgotten that. I’m such a bad influence! joked Ozzy. Seriously you think they aren’t over it yet?
- I’m like an ex addict released from detox; on probation period. So moving in with you would be the best way to show them I haven’t learnt anything.
- Can I at least meet you for a drink?
- Where and when?
- Shoreditch, the Owl and Pussycat?

- See you in an hour!”
Serena sprang to her feet and rushed to her suitcase. She was far from being ready for a girl’s night out. She dag out her favourite black velvet dress �" she loved it as it was simple yet very sophisticated -, a little cropped vest and her old pair of scarlet red high heels. She always dressed like this when she wanted to make a good impression. Of course she didn’t need to impress Ozzy; they were far past that. Nevertheless Ozzy had a great sense of fashion and her friend’s standards in the matter were quite high.
She quickly applied some foundation, mascara and her ultimate favourite lipstick, Chanel Monte Carlo.
Her reflection in the mirror smiled at her. She looked good.
She was about to change handbag as she heard someone knocking at her door. “Come on in”.
It was her sister.
Sarah entered the room in silence and closed the door. They eyed each other for a little while before Sarah finally broke the silence.
“I couldn’t refuse having you here. But believe me, it’s the last thing in the world I wanted. I expect you to behave and stay away from Derek. He is mine. If you ever lay eyes on him, I’ll rip you apart with my bare hands. Is it clear?
- Cristal clear.”
Sarah grinned and stepped out of the door as quietly as she had entered.
It was going to be three very long months, thought Serena to herself. And her sister hadn’t changed a bit. Worse she had become even meaner.
Serena felt tears coming up in corner of her eyes. She struggled holding them back. Crying over her sister’s unexplained cruelty... No more. She decided it was time to stop trying.

Derek was leaning on the kitchen counter watching the eggs cook when he caught a glimpse of Serena from the corner of his eye. He rushed out and gasped as he saw how beautiful she looked. She was wearing a mid long black velvet dress and very sexy red heels. He couldn’t help but notice how charming she looked.
“You are stunning”.
Serena turned around and smiled warmly at him. She would have wanted to reply something but she was too scared that Sarah would over hear them. So instead she simply replied: ”Have a good evening Derek”.
He stood in the corridor a little longer, daydreaming about Serena’s discreet yet luscious cleavage. He instantly realised what he was doing and shook his head. What in the world was wrong with him?

“Oh my baby you are dashing!”
Ozzy grabbed Serena by the waist and hugged her with whole her might. Then she kissed her friend’s forehead and gently caressed her shoulders.
“Ina I missed you. So, so much.
- I feel alive again, beamed Serena.
- And wait until we get shitfaced, joked Ozzy”.
After having had a few drinks and catching up on their lives these last three years, they got to the point where they had to talk about what hurts.
“Sarah? Asked Ozzy as she studied Serena’s poker face.
- She hates me, confessed Serena. She still does. It’s been three years since our parents send me to study in Paris and in all this time she hasn’t managed to...”
Serena felt the tears coming up again yet this time she couldn’t hold them back. As she cried in Ozzy’s arms, she realized how much this situation had damaged her.
Since she remembered she felt only hate coming from her sibling. There had never been anything else. No tenderness, no complicity, no gentleness, no love. Nothing but hate.

The worse part was that she still didn’t know why. Why? Why did her one flesh and blood hate her guts so much?
Serena started to believe she would never know why and actually accepted this idea. It was how things were. Fate maybe?
“Your sister has serious mental problems babe. I know it’s hard but please try to erase her from your life.
- If only it was that simple... I tried, I really did. But I can’t help it! Each time I see the hate in her eyes... It destroys me, eats me from inside. I keep asking myself why, what could I possibly have done?
- What do your parents say about this?
- They... Nothing. They used to say I was imagining things and when it became really to unbearable they got Sarah a flat and made her move out. They try to deal with the problem without actually facing it. Now I’m living in her home, barging into her life, and I know it’s going to make her hate me even more.
- And that Derek guy? Is he nice?”
Serena smiled when Ozzy pronounced his name.
“Oh, well, well, well. Seems that you like the chap.
- He really is a nice person. I mean he seems really simple and kind.
- Ina do you fancy him?
- No, no, of course not!
- You are blushing.
- Hey, this is my fourth pint. Give me a break.
- Bullshit babe. I know you. You like the guy.
- Maybe. Maybe I do. In any case he belongs to her. End of story.
- Does he like you?”
Serena looked down into her beer and Ozzy chuckled: ”I knew it. Just make sure Sarah doesn’t discover it.
- I don’t know what Derek feels for me. It’s too soon.
- But you already know how you feel about him, concluded Ozzy.
- I’m not going to fight my sister. Too dangerous, believe me.
- So no man in your life? Really?
- There is...Frédéric. But he is a friend.
- A friend, yeah, I’m believing that!”
The two girls laughed and ordered new drinks.
Serena really wanted to forget about all this for at least a night.


Derek had fallen asleep and Sarah carefully slipped out of their bed. She silently walked out of the room and headed for the guest room; room where her sister was staying.
Serena hadn’t locked it. Perfect.
She hadn’t unpacked yet and had left her suitcases lying in the very middle of the room. Visibly the brat hadn’t changed a bit. She till was a messy skunk.
Sarah bent over the suitcase and started going through it’s content. Clothes, underwear, shoes, a journal... A journal?
Now that was interesting... Sarah opened the journal and flicked the pages up to the last entry.
She had written it two days ago, apparently at five in the afternoon.

“I’m going to miss him. Miss him a lot.
He has been there every single day for me since I moved in to Paris three years ago. Freddie... I actually think I could fall in love with him. And that’s the big problem. I don’t want us to become lovers. Freddie and I are much too special and getting involved in a relationship would definitely damage our friendship. It’s a risk I’m absolutely not going to take.”
The rest was about how poor little brat was afraid to see mean big sister again. Sarah didn’t care about this part.
What was interesting on the other hand was this Freddie guy... He was Sarah’s golden ticket! If he was around, Serena wouldn’t be interested in Derek and mostly wouldn’t jeopardize all Sarah had built. That Freddie guy was the perfect solution.
Sarah browsed through the journal and found Serena’s numbers and e-mail addresses. Frédéric Lescault. She copied the address on her phone and opened her e-mail app.
It was time for her to take control over the situation before it was too late. Closing her eyes and focusing on her pretty good knowledge of French, Sarah started typing her message.
Once she had read it over and checked the spelling, she grinned of satisfaction and pressed on “Send”.
There we go. Now all she needed was to wait.