CHAPTER 4:

CARMEN

                        3 MONTHS LATER

“It was my fault, you know,” I laughed mirthlessly, lying on the grass in front of my father’s headstone. 

“If I had been there, maybe you would still be with us now.”

“Mom has gotten worse. She barely sleeps at home now. Whenever she returns, she just spends most of her time on her phone. 

I think she just refuses to face reality. I mean, it’s your three-month death anniversary and she’s not here. Maybe she doesn’t want to come to terms with the fact that you’re dead.”

It had been three months since I raced out of Wilmer Hotels like a madwoman after the dreadful text from my mother.

On the way home, I had hoped that the text was a sick way of her trying to get me to return home as soon as possible. 

When I got home, though, I felt it. As soon as I stepped through the door of my house, my heart dropped to the ground at the drastic change in the air, and I knew that my father was dead.

Mom wasted no time in getting him buried. Only a select few people were in attendance, Dr. Adrian included. I lost count of how many times he apologized for not being able to help as much as he wanted.

I didn’t attend my graduation ceremony. Some of the people in my class had come home to find out if I was doing well. I obviously wasn’t, but I had to pretend like I was.

Dave had sent me texts every day since I left him in the hotel room. Sometimes he would call, and other times he would appear at the front door of the house, requesting for my mom to let him see me.

I never let him.

I was afraid that the moment I looked at him, I would be forced to let the guilt eat away at me. I would recall just how carefree and foolish I was while my father was fighting for his life.

Did he try to reach out to me? Did he try to reach for his phone and call me before he died? Was it quick and painless, or slow and painful?

Why wasn’t I there for him?

I started to sob, mouthing “I’m sorry” repeatedly, hoping that he was hearing me from wherever he was.

“I didn’t mean to leave you all alone. I’m really sorry,” I cried.

My phone started to vibrate, and I saw my mother’s ID pop up on the screen.

Shocked at the fact that she was calling my phone for the first time in months, I picked it up.

“Carmen, I want you to come home immediately.”

Without waiting for me to respond, she hung up the phone.

“I’ll see you later, Dad,” I stroked the headstone as I packed up and headed for the house.

As I got closer to the house, I frowned as I caught sight of a moving truck in front of our house. Mom stood in front of the house, directing the men to lift our properties into the back of the truck.

“What’s going on?” I inquired as I got closer to the house.

“We’re moving,” Mom simply said in response, barely sparing me a glance.

“You didn’t tell me anything about it until now,” I pointed out.

“There was no time”, she snapped.

“Where are we moving to? We don’t even have enough money for this. What’s going on, Mom? 

What about all of Dad’s things?” Her head snapped in my direction, her annoyance clear on her face.

“Your father would have wanted this,” she snapped. With that, she said nothing more to me right until the moment the movers got everything into their truck. 

They didn’t even take our furniture. We got into Mom’s car, following behind the truck.

After about an hour….

“Is this the right address?” I questioned as we reached the house.

The mansion stood at the end of the path we were taking as we got through the gates. There was a large water fountain in the middle of the path that we had to go around to reach the mansion.

“Mom, you need to talk to me.” I turned to my mom, who only looked annoyed at my curiosity. “This can’t be the right address.”

“Oh, God! Carmen, please!” Mom screamed, causing me to go quiet until we parked in front of the house.

The movers started to take our things through the front doors of the house.

“There’s no way we can afford this,” I said, more to myself than to my mother as we walked into the living room of the house.

“You’re finally here,” a man who looked oddly familiar said as he entered the living room, a smile on his face.

“Carmen,” Mom finally said, standing up from her seat as she walked over to the man. My jaw dropped as she pressed her lips against the man’s in a kiss. “Meet Steve, your stepdad.”

“Stepdad,” I echoed the word sounding sour on my tongue. Impossible.

“I know, I know. I didn’t tell you anything about it, but we wanted to keep it quiet,” she said with a smile.

“You can help yourself, Carmen. This is your home as much as it’s mine. I’ll go make sure everything is set for you.” Steve kissed Mom on the cheek and walked away.

“Stepdad?” I frowned at my mom. “It has to be a joke, a really expensive one. Literally. I can’t believe—”

“Carmen—”

“No! Do not try to patronize me, Mom. This is ridiculous! Are you kidding me? It’s been three months since Dad died and you…God, this is terrible. You’re disgusting. I can’t stay here.” I shook my head.

“Where are you going to live?” she asked, coldly, not one bit of remorse in her tone.

“Anywhere but not here. I’ll go get my bags. I can’t do this right now.” I started to make my way out of the living room when she called out to me.

“I need to show you something,” she said, holding up her phone and gesturing for me to go to her.

I took impatient steps towards her as she held her phone up to my eye level and played a video which felt like a punch in my gut.

My mother had taken a video of me in the kitchen of our house, taking a knife and plunging it into Max’s neck, and she was now playing it for me to watch.

“From this angle, it doesn’t look like self-defence. It looks like murder. What do you think the LAPD will do with this information?” she said in a mock ignorant tone.

I always knew my mother didn’t care as much for me, but it suddenly felt like a new spotlight shone on her and I was now seeing her for what she truly was; an absolute demon.

“Please understand that I’m doing all this for you.” She stroked my hair. “You’ll stay here, won’t you?”

I didn’t respond. I could only look at her, a chill enveloping my body.

Steve returned to the living room. This time, he wasn’t alone. Right behind him was the person who had rescued me from being assaulted and had taken my virginity in his father’s hotel.

As our eyes found each other, we both frowned in confusion.

“This is my son, David Wilmer,” Steve introduced. 

“Dave, meet Bianca and Carmen; your stepmother and your stepsister.”

Dave and I stared at each other, shock obviously rocking us both to our core at the announcement.