CARMEN
“Save me,” Jasper’s mother told me before sighing and sinking back into the bed as if nothing had happened. It suddenly felt as if the room had turned fifty times colder, making me completely uneasy.“Mariah?” I called, taking her hand and raising it to my cheeks. “Please just…tell me what exactly it is. I don’t know what exactly I’m supposed to be saving you from. Is it Jasper? Maybe Terri? Is it the drugs you’re taking that make you move once in a while?”There was no reply from her, save for her squeezing my hand to let me know that she was still there and listening to me. I knew it took almost all the energy she had to speak, but I really wished there was more I could work with.I tucked her in properly and walked out of the room, where I found Jasper standing with his back leaned against the wall and his hands folded.“Jasper!” I gasped when my eyes landed on himCARMENJasper collapsed on my body, rolling over until his back hit the bed and he was facing the ceiling as he took deep and satisfied breaths. I could almost hear the triumphant smile on his face with each breath that he took.“You said you would pull out,” I reminded him, even though I knew it was not going to lead to a place where I would be able to win the argument if it led to it. At the end of the day, he had done what he wanted, and I was the one left to bear it.My neck stung in the spot where he had bitten me on the neck, and it burned as if a fire had been lit on it and I was now living in the aftermath of everything that had happened.“I know, Carmen. I’m sorry,” he apologized, turning over to kiss me on the side of the head, but I was not having any of it, so I sto
CARMEN“I really think it would be much safer if I just drove you and dropped you off. You’re making this harder than it ought to be,” Jasper argued with me that morning after I had just lied to him about why I was leaving for the countryside.“You just said you had a lot of work to do. I don’t understand why you would want to drive all the way there,” I argued, placing my bag over my shoulder and walking out of the house as he trailed behind me to the garden, where Terri and Mariah sat.“Don’t make a scene in front of them, Carmen. I’m going to drive you out of the state, and that’s final,” he said into my ear. “Maybe this time, I’ll find out what this aviation company is that you have been telling me about and I’ll hold someone accountable if something happens to you all the way in India.”“You know what? Suit yourself.” I raised my hands in surrender. “If you want to drive me, no problem.”I figured that I would find a way to lose him when we reached the stop that Dave had told me
CARMENJasper walked towards Dave and I, causing me to instinctively shift away from where Dave stood. I could feel my heart try to get into my throat and rush out of my mouth to plop against the floor.“Did you know he was coming?” Dave asked me as Jasper got closer and closer.“Of course not,” I answered, clearing my throat and thinking of something to lie about that would be believable enough for him, especially since I had never mentioned Dave in any of this.“You forgot this in the car, so I turned around and followed the taxi you brought it over to you when you wouldn’t pick up any of my calls,” he said, handing me a small wallet that was supposed to be in my purse.“Thank you,” I said with a smile, foolishly expecting him to leave the building and not ask any questions. “I’m sure you have a lot of work to—”“Dave, what are you doing here?” Jasper went straight to the point, looking at Dave and ignoring me. “I thought it was a thing between Carmen and these people from an aviati
CARMEN“I love you, Carmen.”My eyes widened at that announcement, and I could feel my heart rip to shreds at his words. It felt too different hearing it from him than it did when Jasper told me that he loved me, and that was the one confirmation that I needed – I loved him just as much as he loved me, if not more.“This is not me pressuring you to say it back or feel the same way, by the way. I just wanted to get it off my chest,” he reminded, but it was too late for that since I already felt enough and more to match what he had for me.“Shut up,” I laughed, shaking my head as he stared at me in confusion. I could tell that he didn’t know whether to laugh or not, and it only made me laugh even more.“You’re such an idiot if you really think I don’t love you as much as you love me, Dave.” I walked over to him, and he stood up to meet my eyes with a look that took my breath away. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he pulled me closer to him. “I love you, Dave. I love you so much.”
CARMENDave and I glanced at each other in immediate panic before scrambling out of the bed and trying hard to put on our clothes in record time.“Do you think Jasper followed us all the way here?” I asked as the heavy knocks came against the door once again, and Dave gave me a look that said he was just thinking the same thing.If it turned out to be Jasper, there was no lying our way out of it. We would be caught out, and everyone would know at a time that we didn’t even want them knowing, especially now that we had gone all the way to the countryside to have an affair with each other.Dave was the first to put his clothes on completely, helping me zip my dress up before we rushed out to the living room.“I’ll open the door. You can stay behind,” he told me, letting me stand a few feet behind him as he opened the door.The first thing that greeted us was the heavy wind that came from outside that we had been too engrossed in each other and our panic to notice. The couple that had ha
CARMEN“Mom, is Jasper there with you?” I asked, glancing at Dave to let him know that something had gone wrong. He stood upright, setting his plate of pie aside and staring at me as I waited for my mother’s reply.“He’s not, but he did call earlier. He asked me about this aviation company that you said you were working with, and how come you never told me you were going to India?” I placed my hand on my face and rubbed hard with a tired sigh.“What did you tell him?” I inquired, knowing what the truth was without even having her answer.“I told him the truth, of course,” she answered, and I groaned and walked out of the kitchen as Dave followed me with his hand over his waist.“Come on, Carmen. You know better than lying with my name without telling me about it first. If you wanted to hide something from him, you should have told me about it. I would have helped you, but I was just as confused as you were,” she defended herself.I stayed silent for a moment, not sure what to tell her
CARMEN“Jasper, please back away a bit, you’re scaring me,” I said as he started to head for me. I was actively thinking of how to get away from him if need be, but he placed the key to the door in his pocket.“You should be scared, Carmen. Do you have any idea how hurt and angry I am now that I know that everything you have ever told me has been a lie?” He narrowed his eyes, staggering until I got to the glass door separating me from the balcony. I didn’t want an altercation that would lead to someone’s life being in danger, so I did not open the door.“Why did you lie to me, and why did Dave help you with it? Imagine my surprise when I called your mother and she said she had no idea about it,” he slurred, given me a drunken laughter as he trapped me between his arms and the door. The bottle of alcohol was still in his hand, and I could smell every bit of it on his breath.“I did not lie to you, Jasper. Not in the way that you think,” I defended, but he was not buying any of it.“You
CARMENWhen we finally got to Terri’s apartment, I collapsed on her couch as she pushed Mariah in. All my tears had dried out of my eyes, and I didn’t have any to shed anymore.“You can go take a shower in one of the bathrooms,” she said, pointing towards a door of one of the bedrooms, which I didn’t hesitate to stand up and head to.“That used to be Emily’s room before she moved out. She has some clothes in the closet that I’m sure she’s not going to pick up, so you can help yourself,” Terri announced before I could close the door.“Thank you,” I mumbled, abashed.I pulled my phone out of my purse as soon as I was in the privacy of the room, dialing Dave’s number and waiting impatiently for him to pick up the phone.“Carmen, are you alright?” he asked immediately after picking up the phone, and I had to take a deep breath to prevent my voice from getting shaky as I explained everything that had just happened.“I’m at Terri’s apartment; she’s the woman who takes care of Jasper’s mothe
CARMEN“Are you sure about this? Maybe you heard him wrong the first time. Besides, I just got out of prison. I highly doubt that he’ll want to get to see me just yet,” I said to Dave as we slowly walked towards the front door of his father’s house.“You just have to relax for me, Carmen,” Dave said, placing a hand on my lower back. “I didn’t hear him wrong. He clearly said it after his divorce with your mom that he would feel better about giving us his blessing now that he’s not married to her.”We got into the living room, where Steve sat with his legs crossed as he took note of something from a piece of paper.“Dad, look who’s here,” Dave called for his attention, making him look up at us and stand up to give me a good look. I almost laughed at his reaction, but I was too consumed by nervousness to make a sound.“Carmen, what… Come here, my sweet child,” he said, walking towards me and meeting me halfway with a hug.“What happened to you?!” he asked as he pulled away from the hug a
CARMEN“How may I help you?” the woman who stood at the doorway asked me, and I had half a mind to apologize and tell her I had the wrong house before walking away, but I decided to stay instead.“Is Dave home?” I asked.“Mr. Wilmer is home, but he didn’t tell me he was expecting anyone,” she answered, looking down at my hands which held the small box where the wristwatch was. “You can tell me your name, so I can go tell him—”“You really don’t have to,” I said, stopping her from walking back in. “Just let me in, please. I have something important to talk to him about.”“I understand that you probably know him, but I don’t want to get into any trouble. It’s my first day at work, and I don’t want to mess this up.”“You won’t,” I assured her. “You just have to trust me.”It took a moment of hesitation before she finally sighed and stepped aside for me to walk in.I glanced at the little girl she had in her hand with a smile on my face as I got to see just how much she looked like Kate.
CARMEN“Did you tell anyone? I told you not to tell anyone. Did you tell anyone?” I blurted to Evan as I found him standing and waiting for me on the day of my release.“Relax, Carmen,” he laughed. “I only told them that I was coming to check up on you. Why don’t you want them to know that you’re being released, anyway? Are you planning to live as far away as possible without them knowing?”“No,” I answered. “I just… I didn’t want them standing out here and waiting for me to come out. I still need to prepare myself for everything. It’s been a long three years, and I don’t know how they’re going to react.”“I’m sure all this is not what they’re thinking about right now. Trust me when I say that those people will wait for ten years if they have to,” he informed me.As much as it was assurance enough to hear those words from Evan, it didn’t make my heart beat any slower than the speed at which it was going.“Thank you for going through the stress of picking me up, by the way,” I told him
CARMEN“Cartier!”I flinched when I heard my last name being called by the prison guard as she stopped in front of the cell I shared with two other women – Reese and Naomi.She chewed her gum aggressively, using her baton to hit the cell bars, as she watched me so intently that I almost started to dig a hole to hide myself in.“You have been here for a while now, Carmen. It’s time you took the bull by the horns. Don’t let people like her intimidate you,” Naomi said, giving me an encouraging pat on the back to approach the prison guard and ask her what her deal was and why she was calling me.“What…what’s the matter?” I questioned, looking down at my feet to avoid making eye contact with the woman.“Are you ready for your board hearing today?” she asked me, leaning against the bars with folded arms.“I think so,” I said with a nod.“Well, then.” She sighed and took out the key to the bars, opening it for me to step out.“Good luck, Carmen! I’ve had two board hearings so far that have n
CARMENEvan was now standing in front of me with a silent reminder for me to keep my chin up and that I would be fine after the trial, but it was getting harder to do so.After the prosecutor finished asking me questions, I started to feel as if every answer that I had given had dug me into a hole that I would not be able to come out of.“When the victim was making those moves towards you, you called out for your mother, didn’t you?” he asked.“I did.”“Well, to demonstrate just how far her voice must have reached when she called out to her mother, we tested it. I called out to different sound experts to the house, and I was asked to stay in the farthest room from the kitchen. At 70 decibels, I could hear someone calling out to me from that room.”“From the footages gotten from the security cameras around the house, Mrs. Wilmer was not even in the farthest room to the kitchen. In fact, at the same time that Ms. Cartier is seen shouting for her mother’s help in the kitchen, we can see
CARMENMy mother stared at Evan with a shocked expression on her face as he submitted a flash drive to the judge as evidence.“The house where you left after you got married to Mr. Wilmer had a lot of security cameras, which Mrs. Wilmer here may have forgotten about when she slipped into the kitchen and put about ten pills of aphrodisiac into the victim’s drink,” Evan explained as the video on the drive was played for the whole courtroom to see.I had not thought that Evan would work that hard and go that far to get evidence, but he did. Was that why he had been working with my father the whole time? Even I didn’t know about that.“If we watch further, we can see that there was no complete and direct contact between my client and the victim that they were involved in any sexual discussions with each other. To further prove that an aphrodisiac was used in this footage, we have receipts from the pharmacy that she bought them from that week.”“Do the prosecutors have anything to add to t
CARMENDave and I shared a look of disappointment, and I could see that he had made up his mind to be with me no matter what his father said, but that didn’t stop me from feeling bad.“This whole thing between Bianca and I is not close to being over, and I believe she’s going to raise hell before everything is finalized. I have all of that in mind, and I don’t want anything to distract me just yet. Perhaps, after the divorce, we can revisit this talk,” Steve explained.I completely understood why he didn’t agree to the whole thing, but that didn’t mean I was not hurt by it.“You can take all the time you need to think about it,” I encouraged. “We wouldn’t want to put you under any kind of pressure.”“Carmen and I have something important to discuss. Thank you for giving us your honesty, father,” Dave told him as he took my hand and led me out of the room as he asked me, “Which of the bedrooms is yours?”“Here.” I took the lead from him and opened the door to my room, slamming it shut
CARMENBefore Dave could take me into the room where his father was staying, I pulled him back. I tried my hardest to hide my annoyance from him, but I could feel it coming off in waves, and I was certain that he could tell as well.“Is something wrong?” he questioned, and I raised my brow at that.“I should be asking you that question, Dave. I know you’re mad at me, and you should be mad at me for what I hid from you, but you haven’t spoken to me in a week. We can’t just leave things hanging and go in there to tell your father about us.”“I know, Carmen. We have a lot of talking to do, and I do have a lot of apologies as well, but I don’t want to prolong this. The more we keep him the dark, the less likely he is to be happy about the news. We can talk about everything else that we haven’t talked about during the week after.”“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked. “With everything that my mother must have planted in your mind against me—”“She planted nothing in my mind against
CÀRMEN“What…what are you doing here?” I asked, looking around to see if I could find out if someone else came with him – perhaps Kate or his father.“I wanted to talk to you about everything,” he said.“There’s nothing to talk about. We’re divorced,” I replied, wanting to turn around when he grabbed me by the wrist.“What are you doing?” Dad asked, finally bringing Jasper’s attention towards himself.“Who are…” Jasper trailed off as recognition grew in his eyes, and he took steps back as be looked between me and my father.“You’re… You’re her father,” he noted. “They said you were dead.”“If she doesn’t want to talk to you, don’t you think you should take a hint and leave her alone?” Dad asked him, ignoring his shock and refusing to give him any explanation.“I just wanted to have a short and important talk with her about something, that’s all,” Jasper defended.“Excuse us,” I told Dad, a little curious to know what Jasper wanted to say even after we had legally gone our separate way