I spent plenty of time trying to
anticipate Carmina’s
next move, but after years passed and I didn’t hear from her again…I thought
maybe her phone call was just a part of her game.
It had been over six years; with no word
from her or Nick. After all of that
time, the memory of the call began to fade like a distant nightmare. Eventually, I could barely remember that it
actually happened.
I was finally happy…truly happy. I had even accepted not having Nick in my
life. I wasn’t even wearing my wedding
band anymore.
One morning I felt so lively dressed in a
brightly colored shirt and pants…my hair up in another one of Linda’s braided
styles, I walked in and gave everyone a heartfelt, "Good morning!"
“Good morning,” they all said.
The
morning paper was sitting at the table.
I picked it up, “Anything good in the paper today Greg?” I asked; knowing that he always liked to be
the first one to read the morning news.
“Yeah…read about how this one man in
Midnight Hollow died,” he said.
“Midnight
Hollow?” I asked, thinking about
Nick.
I looked at the article and read the
title, Man Dies in Bizarre Rescue Attempt at His
Daughter’s Request. It
sounded so much like Nick and Carmina that I read on…
Forty-one year old Nick
Thompson...
“Oh my God!” I gasped out loud.
Eva,
who was leaving the table, stopped in her tracks. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
I continued reading, this time out loud,
“Forty-one year old Nick Thompson died yesterday while attempting to recover
his 15 year-old daughter’s purse after it fell into the bay during a trip on a
ferry. At the insistence of his
daughter, Nick jumped…” I couldn’t read on.
I dropped the paper and began to
cry. “Oh my God! Nick!”
I grabbed my chest right where I could feel the pain caused by the news
of Nick’s death.
Linda walked over and grabbed the
paper. I sat there, not knowing what to
do, I felt so helpless.
I finally managed to stand up as Linda
read on, “Nick jumped off the ferry and tried to grab the purse, but was pulled
down up under the water. Witnesses say
that he came up a few times, but after a while he could no longer be seen.”
I walked over to Eva as Linda continued
to read the rest of the article silently to herself; sensing that I didn’t
really want to hear anymore. “He
couldn’t swim,” I said to Eva after a while.
“Eva, Nick couldn’t swim. It was
suicide for him to do something like that... and she knew it…she knew he would
drown!”
“Oh Diane…I’m so sorry!” Eva said as she
hugged me tight.
Linda put the paper down after reading
the entire article… “There’s something else, Diane,” she said.
“Something else?” I asked, not sure I was
prepared to hear anything else about Nick’s gruesome incident.
“It
says that they’re sending Carmina here Diane…to live with you,” Linda said.
“No!”
I screamed. “They can’t send her
here!”
“Eva…they can’t send her here…don’t let
them.”
“She’s
a minor and they believe that you’re her mother…I’m not sure there’s anything I
can do,” Eva said.
There wasn’t anything any of us could do,
but wait. At about 2:15 that afternoon,
while I was in my room…I heard a knock at the front door.
I immediately felt a strange tingling on
my face.
I got up and looked in the mirror…
My face was wrinkled up.
I heard someone open the front door…
The pearly white caps on my teeth began
to fall out one by one; leaving behind my own stained dingy teeth.
“Oh my God! Look how gorgeous she is!” I heard Eva call out.
My scalp began to itch. I took my braided ponytail down and
some
of
the
braids began
to fall out, as if my hair was no longer thick enough to hold them in.
“Wow!
Diane never mentioned how pretty you are,” Greg said…as dark discolored
age spots began to appear on my face.
“Pretty? That’s an understatement…she’s an absolute
angel,” Linda added as my face hollowed out.
“Where’s my mom?” Carmina
asked, and as I listened to her begin to ascend the stairs…the mere sound of
her footfalls continued to suck the rest of the beauty out of me…adding 15
years to my appearance.
Finally the door to my room opened and
she was standing there, “Hi mother,” she said.
I turned and before me stood the most
beautiful 15 year-old that I had ever seen.
Seeing her again reminded me of when I
first saw her in the hospital…I could almost feel the obsession that I felt
then… the strong pull at my heart, the strong need to have her, for her to be
mine.
Then I remembered Nick being dead and how
she was responsible and the old feelings were replaced by fear.
“So, you’re still ugly,” she said with
all of the cruelty that could possibly be put into so few words.
I stared at her and she stared at
me. I felt terrified and angry…while she
appeared smug, cold and hard.
“Why
Carmina?” I started…
“Why did it take you so long to show up
here? You could have killed him years
ago.”
“There’s no beauty in rushing
things…after a bit of time, people relax…get complacent…,” she paused.
“That’s the best time to strike…don’t you
think? For you…being the overly nervous
type, it took a little longer than the others.”
“Others?”
I asked. “What others?”
Carmina’s
response was a smirk.
“Carmina! What others?”
I asked louder.
Carmina flashed an evil grimace…
But just as quickly as it had appeared,
it was gone; replaced by a slight smile.
I was afraid, but it didn’t stop me from
questioning her. “What others?!”
She
turned and left my room; refusing to answer.
What others? I asked myself one last time. If Carmina was a baby when I first discovered
her…what could she possibly mean by others?
Labels: I Stole Evil
