Chapter 3 : Slapped

Dropping my mouth open in surprise, I tried to comprehend the scene before me. I kept telling myself that I was having some drunk nightmare, still at the bar, dead asleep, but I couldn’t fool myself. It was real.

"No," I mumbled, but not for lack of passion. I was too shocked to say anything else. I couldn't believe my stepsister and boyfriend could do this to me. I wanted to yell and maybe even attack them, but I suppressed my impulses. My only other option was to leave, but I was too stunned to move.

I was frozen with horror when I heard Carl's soft yawn as he slowly woke up. At first, he seemed relaxed and calm, but once he saw me, he widened his eyes in horror and hopped out of bed, frantically pulling his clothes on.

I gasped. Maybe I didn’t hear voices, after all. Perhaps it was just instinct. Although it hurt, I was glad I trusted myself to check. This was horrible!

"Wait, Juliana, it isn't what you think!" he exclaimed pleadingly, pulling his clothes on. He banged his knee off the side of the doorframe, and then, as he tried pulling on his boxers, he nearly fell over from getting caught in the legs.

"Not what I think? How can you and my stepsister naked in bed be anything else?"

"I promise, Juliana! It's a misunderstanding."

"You must really think I'm an idiot," I said to him as I double-timed it to the living room, hoping to escape from this debacle. Once he was fully dressed, he became more amble and was able to catch up to me.

"Please!" he implored, grabbing my shoulder. I turned to him with tears in my eyes. My heart felt like a knife was being shoved through it. I glowered at him as he stood in front of me, trying to talk. "Just listen. I can explain."

"I don't need words to paint a picture of what I just saw." I threw my finger out toward the bedroom, gritting my teeth, holding back a sob.

"No, really, it isn’t like that. I was out all night trying to find you, and I was so worried.”

I crossed my arms, penetrating him with my stare as I said, "I was upset about the Moonlight College situation. Dad and I got in a fight. I just wanted to get away. I thought you’d understand."

"I was right then,” Carl said, trying to smooth his hair. “I figured things didn’t go well with your dad when I didn't hear back from you like we agreed, so I called and texted you for hours, but you refused to answer your phone. I thought something happened to you."

"Yeah, well, I was really upset. Talking was the last thing I should have been doing,” I muttered. “But the bar was within walking distance. You didn’t try THAT hard.”

"I searched for hours, but I couldn't pick up on your scent since you don't have your wolf," he said in a gruff tone.

A pang of embarrassment hit my chest when he said that. Even though it wasn't my fault, I somehow still felt responsible for not coming of age, even though I didn’t have control over it. I glanced down shamefully.

"When I couldn't find you, I ended up at a bar and had a few drinks, but then I blacked out. I seriously have no memory of whatever happened after 11 PM last night. I can’t work out how I ended up in bed with Arlene."

I whipped my head up to meet his gaze.

"I don't care if you don't remember, Carl. Clearly, you slept with my stepsister. Being drunk is just a convenient excuse, but what's done is done. I can't unsee this, and you can’t talk your way out of it."

From Arlene's bedroom, I could hear some movement of the headboard against the wall. Our argument must have woken her because the next thing I knew, she was throwing on a robe and then hurriedly picking up her articles of clothing. I could see that her cheeks were flushed.

When our eyes met, I had a million thoughts about what she was going to say but I couldn't have predicted what finally came out.

"Please, Juliana, forgive Carl. We drank too much last night, and I was already in a frisky mood. Once my impulse control was gone, I couldn't take it anymore and gave in to my urges."

She was admitting it.

"So, you just had to pick MY boyfriend of all the guys out there?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"You make it sound like I was out to have sex with just anyone. I’m not that kind of girl. I wanted Carl only, and that’s because I love him," Arlene said.

I couldn't help but scoff and sneer at her. She was so full of it. I shook my head, feeling my throat tighten, I was so irate.

"You always do this," I hissed. "Whenever I'm about to have what I want or when things are going the way they should after all my hard work, you pull the rug out from under me, Arlene."

"I didn't mean to hurt you, Juliana. It just happened that we fell in love,” she said. I snorted, laughing at the absurdity. “Please forgive me," Arlene begged once more. "I'll do anything you ask."

Staring into Arlene's eyes, I could see a familiar glint of dishonesty. She'd done this on purpose. Of all the men around, she targeted Carl. She didn't love him at all. This was a ploy to mess with my mind, and I was ashamed to admit, it was working.

"You put on the victim act. Poor Arlene, who lost her father ten years ago. Nobody considers that I lost my mother on the same day. Why is everything always about you and how bad your life has been without a parent?" I demanded to know from her.

"Please, calm down. I know we can work this out just like we always do,” she urged me.

"We don't though. We never work through anything because our family just sweeps things under the rug, or they truly do believe your act, but I'm onto you. You're a liar and a master manipulator. I see through you, Arlene. Everything I have, you want for yourself. Don't you have a mind of your own?"

My hands were shaking as I threw them out in question at her.

"Please, don't think such horrible things about me, Juliana. I understand how bad this must feel, but I don't want to mess with you."

I clenched my jaw.

"Lies!" I shouted. "You don’t understand the first thing about how I feel. You don’t want to! I've seen you systematically cut me down at every chance you can get. And why? Jealousy? Pain?”

"It isn't what you think, Juliana!" Arlene exclaimed. Even though she appeared surprised with her eyes widened and furrowed brow of concern, it was a ruse. I'd fine-tuned my skill to cut through her bull because I was always her target. In the past, I tried to ignore it. I had to do what I could to maintain family appearances.

But after this, I was done feeling sorry for her. I was finished with falling for the false narrative she had everyone believing. This fake world was about to be revealed for what it was.

"We both lost a parent, on the same day for the same reason, Arlene. You've done nothing but make trouble for me ever since," I declared.

"That's true, we did each lose a parent, and I've tried to be there for you," Arlene said. "But you always push me away. All of my attempts to get close to you have never worked. What am I doing so wrong, Juliana?"

Her act was making my heart race. My anger was so strong that I could feel my lips trembling. This conversation wasn't going to end with her not being accountable. We were going to talk about something real for once.

"The right thing would have been to go through it together as a family, but you didn't want to do that. Lives were already taken from us. We lost people we treasured. We could have been close and supported one another, but that wasn't good enough for you," I paused, then said, "It won't fill the hole of your pain to cause sorrow for me, Arlene."

"I'm not the one who is accusing my stepsister of being a mastermind of evil, though, am I? It seems like you are the one who is suffering, not me, Juliana." Alrene jerked her head to the left as she spoke.

She was making all the right gestures with her face, wincing in pain, pointing at me, but there were no tears. She didn't feel anything about what she was saying.

It was at that moment that I realized I'd pent up a decade full of memories, stored tidbits of her sneaky behaviors, categorized false dramas, and it came crashing down at once. There was only one conclusion to make. She was a parasite and without a soul.

For some reason, that made me feel panicked. I knew I couldn't trust her, and maybe I never should have. Just as I was about to say another word to Arlene, Carl stepped in.

"Look, none of this is Arlene's fault!" he interjected. I watched as he stood closer to her. This was getting worse by the minute. I widened my eyes in surprise.

"So, what, you're on her side now, Carl?" I asked, pointing at Arlene.

"She wasn’t the reason you went out and left me alone last night.”

I felt insolence rise like bile in my throat from his words.

"How dare you blame your own choices on me? Is that what it would be like if we were married? Would any night I wasn't there to have sex with you or be at your beck and call, you'd go find someone who would?" I shouted in question.

Arlene held onto Carl's arm.

"She's just bullying you, Carl. It's what she does," Arlene said. There were no words to describe how livid I was at that comment. This was so typical that she made me out to be a monster while she was an innocent bystander.

"Is that what she's been feeding you, Carl?" I asked him, jutting my jaw, placing my hands akimbo. "That I'm a bully? Do you really think she loves you?”

"Don't listen to her," Arlene said. "She's always been this way, trying to be just like me. I think she's obsessed with me!"

"That doesn't seem too far off the mark," Carl said, scowling at me.

"What?!" I exclaimed, widening my eyes in shock. "Now she has you believing. You don't see it, do you? None of you do," I said, waving my hands around the room. "This is who she is."

"Maybe it’s you who is the problem, after all," Carl said as he pointed at me.

"Oh, my Moon Goddess,” I said, holding my forehead in upset. “You said you loved me. We were supposed to be mates!" I shouted.

"If we're mates, then why did you leave last night and not answer me? It's your fault we got drunk and hooked up!"

My chest filled with fury that I had never experienced before when he tried once more to blame his actions on me. That was the absolute final straw for me.

Carl was either truly buying Arlene's act or was just as sick in the head as she was and enjoyed playing games with me. Either way, I'd lost all reasoning. Suddenly, while full of rage, I rushed toward him with my palm open, ready to strike his face.

Instead of hitting him, however, Arlene quickly stepped in, and when I threw my open hand back and then connected, it was across her cheek instead of his. I gasped as I saw the handprint on her face.

As if things couldn't get any worse, it was at that very second that I heard my father walk into the living room. When I turned to face him, I couldn't brace myself fast enough for what he did next. Me, his biological daughter, was standing before him, and without hesitation, he slapped me.