Enemy Ch. 05

In the mansion on the tip top of the hill, the Stone family dwelled in chaotic turmoil, every member in their own personal hell, overwhelmed with worry for Diago.

Dorian was over come with guilt, he knew all about loss, his very own brother had committed suicide after killing his wife and trying to kill his son. He had been consumed with guilt over his suicide; he regretted not doing something when he had finally realized just how depraved his brother had become. He was filled with 3 million "what ifs" and he had never forgiven himself. That's why he had devoted himself to his nephew; it was the only way he could think of to attempt to rectify the problem. Unfortunately it hadn't worked very well; Jake was a bit of a monster no matter how bad Dorian chose to deny it. Jake was balancing on a very thin line between brutal madman and a "FUCK THE WORLD!" mentality.

Now Dorian had made another crucial mistake, one that he would NEVER be able to forgive himself for, he had let this disastrous war and his family name come between him and his son. He was riddled with regret, wishing he had of done things differently. No matter how much he hated the Rose family, Diago was still his child and his wife and sons were his immediate concern and only priority.

Darleen was over whelmed with grief, as if it hadn't been bad enough that her youngest son had run away and they had no idea where he was, her best friend in her entire life had been in a major car accident, killing her and her husband.

Darleen now had custody of the other love of her life, her god daughter, Tempest, who was in a deep coma from the accident. It was painful to watch her lying there so lifeless; she was so full of raw energy and such a ray of sunshine, it weighed heavy on Darleen's heart. While her family spent their days with the police and private investigators, she refused to leave her side, she wanted her face to be the first thing tempest saw when she woke up, and she prayed to have the strength to tell her that her parents had not survived.

How could she do it? She couldn't even think about her best friend dead, let alone explain it to her only child. Darleen's heart was heavy and for the 1st time in her life, she had no idea what to do. So she just stayed by Tempest's side, praying for her to wake up and praying that her son would just call and let them know he was alright.

***

In the trailer on the other side of town, right before the garbage dump, the Rose family was calm and peaceful; things seemed to be going a little better for them. Since Bianca had been sent away, there was extra food, extra soap, extra toilet paper, extra everything. There was even a little extra for a broke down car that they had to continually fix up.

Blake was in hog heaven and thrilled to death that he had finally won against his sister. He had his father all to himself, his own room and 2nd helpings at dinner. He was tickled pink, trading Bianca in for that car was the best thing he ever did.

Braxton wasn't sure how he felt, half of him never wanted to see the girl again, the other half wanted her home. He had come to resent his daughter, it was her eyes, they were identical to her mothers, and everytime he looked into them his grief was rekindled. He had prayed it would eventually fade, and he would be able to look his daughter and see her, not the woman he loved. He had not handled his grief well at all, he wanted absolutely no reminders of her, he didn't want to face the reality his loss. He had thrown away everything she had every touched or loved, especially her perfect baby daughter Bianca, the very reason they had grown apart before her death, the very reason for their serious argument before she left home on that fatal day.

*** He had spent 3 months in a sexual, drug induced funk. He found himself in Amsterdam's red light district, on a personal mission to take sex to the lowest level of depravity he could accomplish. He hated sex now, but he needed it.

He had originally set out on this mission to completely abandon all thoughts of sex, women and love. He was determined to force his body to live with out sex, but by the fifth day he had lost his mind and his will. He had been like an addict, feigning for his drug of choice. His natural high sex drive was his downfall, so if he cold not cure himself with no sex, then he would cure himself by an over indulgence of sex. Diago would make those precious, beautiful moments that he had been inside Bianca disappear, it was fucking him up, he couldn't even have sex with out thinking of her and bringing back all those vicious memories and that paralyzing feeling of loss.

So he would make sex so nasty, rotten and dirty for himself that he would eventually stop seeing her. He gave it his best shot, doing unholy things that he could never have imagined with beautiful women who would do anything for the right price, and he was spending money like it was water.

When he woke up in a bed with 4 different women, and remembered the horrible things he had done to them the night before, he knew it was too much, he had gone too far and it was still not working. He got up and got dressed, disgusted that the women had awoken, still eager for more of the money he was throwing around despite the hideous things he had done.

He had to get the hell out of here, if he had learned anything, he learned that he could not escape Bianca; he was cursed with her very spirit trapped inside his mind. Realistically he had have sex, and he found that he could not taint the image or the act, so he would just do it as one would perform the duties of their job, it was no more than filling up his gas tank when his car was empty. He would do it quick and get it the hell over with. Hopefully one day he would be able to feel normal about sex. He couldn't escape it any more than he could escape his life, his family, his love, his hate or Bianca. He had never in his life felt like he did right now and refused to ever feel that way again.

Love was a big risk, something so powerful and destructive that it could blow ones heart up and leave them pathetically weak and vulnerable. He hated feeling vulnerable, he had never felt that before and he would NEVER feel that way again!

Fuck love and all that came with it!!! He didn't need it, after 3 months of hell he realized his father had been right; success was all that truly mattered.

So after his short absence from reality, he was going home to restart his life.

***

Her father had sent her to live with her very old, very fugal aunt. The woman was a tyrant who lived by the bible, held a penny in the same light as a 100 dollar bill and barked out orders like a drill instructor. She also had a mini puff ball, pit bull disguised as a Pomeranian named Noah, who was a barking extension of her aunt's hatred for her.

This woman held a deep contempt for her own brother, for reasons Bianca still did not understand. She treated Bianca like a slave, she noticed the same trait in her father, and she had spent her life in servitude to that man, trying to please him, now he had banished her to his sister who was a feminine version of him. Bianca spent her days cleaning, cooking, and taking care of yard work in-between waiting on her aunt hand and foot.

Her aunt believed having a phone was unnecessary spending when she had no one she wanted to talk to, so Bianca couldn't even call her friends, the only 2 people in the world that she knew cared. She needed to here their familiar voices. She needed something; she had never felt so alone in her entire life.

It was becoming too much for Bianca to bear, her spirit had evaporated and her heart was dead, she wanted to give up. She spent her days slaving away and her nights crying herself to sleep, when she was fortunate enough to get her mind to slow down enough to sleep.

She had actually been at a point where she didn't think she could survive, she hated herself for letting Diago go and turning her back on him and she hated her family for forcing this war in her life. She was deeply in love still, regardless of it all, and she just came to the point where she didn't want to live with out him; than it grew to her just not wanting to live.

She had gone into a deep depression, her mind was not hers and her thoughts had turned sour. She didn't want death, but there really seemed no alternative, life was unbearable and over rated. The thought of death was becoming dreamy and she had delusional fantasies of dying. She knew in her heart that it was the only way they would be able to be together forever. She would embrace him in the afterlife since she was no longer allowed to embrace him in this life. Maybe with her death, he would be able to forgive her.

Yes, death WAS the only light in the thick black hole that had swallowed her whole and she was ready to welcome it with open arms...

***

Just when his family had reached their wit ends, searching for him, offering rewards for information, staying in daily contact with the police Diago just strolled through the front the door.

He came home a different man and his family noticed it immediately. He was cold, distant and silent. He refused to discuss or talk about anything. They were just so happy, it didn't matter, Diago was finally home, and that was ALL that mattered.

His father was no dummy, he was angry about what his son had done, but he was truly, deeply scared when Diago had disappeared, it had been 3 months with no contact from him, his wife was frantic and ready to divorce him. He would take it at Diago's pace and not push it.

He was however elated when Diago came and asked for a job. His joy soon turned to adoration and pride as he watched his son triple the company's profit with in just another 3 months.

He had always been an aggressive over achiever, but now he was ruthless, uncaring and throwing every bit of himself into his work. It was all he had. Diago secretly despised his father, but understood where he came from. Dorian had been right after all; you can never put your trust, faith or blind love in your sworn enemy.

Darleen was getting more and more worried about him by the day. He was like an empty shell and it broke her heart. She wanted to hold him and force him to talk to her about what was going on inside that brain of his, but she managed to keep her mouth shut. Now was not the time to push him, when he was ready he would come and talk to her. So she tried to give him his space, it was actually easy since she spent most of her time at the hospital still, waiting for her god daughter to finally wake up. Her prayer for Diago had been answered and she had full faith and hope that it would be answered for Tempest. She WOULD wake up and Darleen would be there when she did!

***

Bianca looked at the glass vial of poison. It was some special concoction her aunt made to kill the rats and other animals on her property. Her aunt had an irrational paranoia that the rodents would come into the house and kill her precious little Pomeranian.

It was a lethal brew; just a drop on a piece of cheese was enough to kill any small animal that ate it. Bianca had a special place in her heart for all animals except for the crotchety little long haired, over stuffed rat her aunt called 'Noah'. So she stopped laying the poison out for the rodents and started saving it for herself. She laughed like a mad woman thinking of her aunt's house being over run by rats and bunnies.

Bianca kept a large vial under her pillow, filling it more each day. It seemed to bring her a morbidly perverse sense of hope when things got real bad. All she had to do was think about the vial and how quickly she could end her torment.

She held the vial in her hands, she was sure she was ready now. as if it wasn't bad enough for her, now she was getting sick; she was constantly tired, she felt like she was starving, the scraps her aunt gave her wasn't enough for her precious pooch to survive on. She was getting weaker by the day, her belly constantly aching and than the vomiting started.

It was real bad this morning, she could barley get up to make it to the toilet in time for another nasty session. She just couldn't take anymore, she tried, she had used all of her inner strength and than some. She had reached her limit.

***

Brittany Tinsel was in heaven, things could not be better; she had managed to weasel her way back into Diago's life. He obviously had no idea she was the one that had ratted him out, so she took full advantage of the situation. He was different now, but that also seemed to work to her advantage. He never spoke, he never called her, picked her up, she knew if she wanted to be with him, she had to make herself available, so she did just that and he didn't even tell her to get lost.

***

There was just so much going on in her life, she had not been paying attention to her own body or the tell tale signs of what was really wrong with her. If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed that her breasts had increased a full cup size, or that she was getting a belly even though she was almost starving. She knew exactly what was wrong with now.

This changed everything, and even though she had no idea what she was going to do, she knew death was definitely NOT an option.

***

Diago was fucking any girl who made herself available to him, he didn't care who it was. He had no love in his heart, no respect, nothing left to give to anyone. As much as he despised sex right now, he could not control his sex drive. He had to have it, so he took what ever was offered. Brittany had re-surfaced and was at his disposal, always there, always smiling and always had her legs spread, but she was just another faceless girl to him. He couldn't tell any of them apart and it didn't matter, he never saw their faces while he fucked them as hard as he could, he saw Bianca's.

***

Bianca had tried to hide her condition from her domineering aunt, but by the 6th month, it was impossible. To be honest, at this point in her life she was sick of hiding, sick of lying and sick of denying herself.

FUCK THIS!!!

She had more to think about than just herself, things were different now She could not stay here and continue the back breaking work her aunt had her doing all over the house.

She had trained herself over the years to be docile and just do the things her father had asked whether she wanted to or not and she found herself in the same exact situation with her aunt. Well no more, she had enough; she refused to be the family's door mat any longer! She refused to continue to deny herself the pleasure of true love for a family that honestly did NOT give a fuck about her.

She wore her tank top, the only one of her shirts stretchy enough to fit and a baggy pair of low waisted black sweat pants. She threw on her large, thick black winter jacket than her aunt's long heavy white cloak over top of it, completely hiding her condition. She put her other 2 pairs of baggy sweat pants into her pillow case with her tooth brush and a small pocket knife for protection and she headed for the front door.

"Where are you going? You haven't finished cleaning the debris off the roof." her aunt said standing up from her chair and walking towards Bianca. Bianca stopped than turned to her aunt.

"I'm leaving."

"You can't leave here!"

"I can and I am." she said seriously.

"You have work to do!"

"No, I'm done being your little house slave." she frowned, feeling her pride and anger rising.

"Slave? You little ingrate!" she grabbed her arm, "I fed you, clothed you sheltered you and this is how you repay me?"

"Fed me?" she snatched her arm back, "You gave me the scraps from your plate, and only what your vicious little lap dog didn't eat." As if on cue, the rickety old Pomeranian came into the room, his long nails clinging with each step. Bianca looked down at him as he started his usual growl at her and she bent down and barked hard at him, smiling as the pocket sized bully of a dog ran crying in fear.

"You little-" she raised her hand to smack Bianca but Bianca grabbed her hand.

"I wouldn't if I were you," she leaned into her, "I'm liable to smack you back." Her aunt gasped and Bianca let go of her hand, "I'm leaving, don't get in my way and don't try to stop me." she said with a look in her eye that made her aunt momentarily step back.

"I am calling your father!" she yelled as Bianca went through the door.

"Call him, who cares." she shook her head than slammed the door on her way out. She was shaking, full of adrenalin and pride, she was free, she was finally free! She didn't care anymore, from now on, she was thinking for herself, and she was going to do whatever the fuck she wanted to do. Her life as the Rose family kicking bag was over; as far as she was concerned she was nameless.

She knew hitch hiking was risky, and she was thankful she brought her pocket knife with her. She was truly a bit nervous, but felt as if she had no other alternative, she had to get home and home was far, far, far away from where she was.

The little old silver haired lady pulled over, her silver colored car shining like a big iron star in the pale moon light.

"You need a ride sweetie?" she asked with a sincere smile, Bianca looked at the chubby faced toddler in the back seat than smiled.

"Yes." she answered getting in the car.

***

Diago woke up out of a deep dream, looking around his room. He had this strange feeling like Bianca was close, but he knew it was absurd, it was just those all too familiar dreams coming back.

He got up, went to work and did his every day routine, but no mater what; he could just not shake the thought of her.

***

She thanked Dolores, the wonderful woman who had given her the ride; it was just her luck that Delores only lived in the town next to her hometown.

Bianca stood on the side walk looking at the little town she had not seen in 6 months. Why did it seem so different? It didn't seem as stifling and overwhelming as it had before, she didn't fell trapped like she had the last time she had been here. In fact, it seemed almost magical, like the perfect puzzle box with the ultimate prize waiting for her at the end if she finished and played the game the way it was supposed to be played.

She took a deep breath, than took a step toward the direction that held her destination.