-Alex-
Sunlight streamed through pale pink curtains and filled the big, luxurious suite my father kept me and my mother in while I was a child. I was laying in Mum’s bed, watching her brush her long, sandy blonde hair, with a lollipop in my mouth. Her voice rang into the room as a timid smile danced permanently on her lips, she was singing to me. I fussed when my lollipop dropped onto the floor, tired tears filling my eyes. Mum scooped me up to her chest and stroked my hair, rocking side to side as she began to hum against my ear. Sleepy, I burrowed into her arms. Mum sang softer as she laid me down and kissed me on the nose. The door burst open and Dad stormed in, he started screaming. I screamed and hid under the blanket, sobbing over the sounds of her shouting.

I jerked up out of bed hyperventilating, the room completely spinning. Beside me, much to my surprise was the sleeping, pale body of none other than Jace. She was lying on her side with one arm underneath her head and the other draped around her small waist, right where my arm had just been. I rubbed my face as she rolled over, her sleepy voice stalling me. “You were making noises,” she mumbled and rolled onto her stomach, her arm falling over my waist line.

“Noises?” I laid back and folded my arms behind my head, letting the back of my skull rest on my laced fingers.

“Shouting,” her voice was already dropping off the sleep. I knew I had to get up, there was no way I could let her fall back asleep on top of me.

I stood up and grabbed my boxers off the floor, looking away from her as I pulled them on. We’d both had had more to drink than I thought it seemed. “Ignore it and try to go back to sleep Jaselynn, Estelle will bring you down to breakfast in the morning.”

“I get to be out of the room tomorrow?” The perky sleepiness in her voice made bile rise in the bottom of my stomach.

“Yeah,” I said briskly and walked out.

The moon sent an eerie glow throughout the half window hall as I strode to my suite, setting the mood as I plunged on deeper into the silent household. God only knew what time it was, God only knew what was running through my mind. I had fucked up; there was no way I could keep her here any longer. It had been nearly three months since Estelle had first cleaned Jaselynn up for me. Nearly three months since I brought her into the ever open doors of Venusian, I doubt she even knew that much time had passed. She probasbly didn’t know what other things I’d been keeping from her, like the periodic morning after pills that Estelle had been slipping her occasionally. She didn’t seem to notice the amazing drop in her weight she’d been suffering from, or the bags that lingered under her eyes. Her complexion was now chalky and her eyes were neither bright nor feisty. We were killing her.

“Jesus Christ.” I swore and sank down against my suite door, putting my head in my hands. “We’re fucking killing her.” I choked into my wrists. Guilt was consuming what little sanity I had left, making my chest contract in the sickest way.

I sat there until sunlight started to crest the estate, my heart in the bottom of my stomach for the few moments I could allow it to be, furious at myself and the rest of the world. Injustice dripped from every venomous thought I let spill from their certain cracks and crevices in the plane of my brain. As I watched the sunrise from the horizon and fill the room with tawny light I felt myself growing restless. The wind rustled the curtains at the patio door and thrust against my face, waking me from my thoughts. I stood up, feeling grand like Gatsby, and strode out onto the patio, overlooking the ocean just out of my reach. This whole world, the entire hundred acres of Venusian, was my kingdom. I lived for the rush of the green grass, the chirp of the birds that woke me in the morning, the salty smell of the ocean, the crisp feel of the air on my skin. I’d built the palace around my home of gardens and mazes in the hopes that someday I’d have someone to share it with. And now I was wasting that tireless opportunity.

“You slept in her bedroom last night.”

I turned to look at Estelle, the sleeplessness starting to catch up with me. “That I did.” I returned my glance to the window quietly.

“She’s awake. I told the cook to start breakfast. Anything in particular you’d like for her to wear?”

Pause. “The yellow sundress you picked out.”

“All right sir,”

I waited until she got to the door and then turned from the window. “And Estelle?”

“Yes sir?” She turned to look at me again.

“Leave her hair down, she looks better like that.”
My best friend smiled at me, a quick grin on the canvas I’d watched light up so many times since I was young. “Yes sir.”

---

I fidgeted with the sleeves of my button down and paced the length of the patio again, picking up my already refilled twice glass of scotch in the process. Estelle was supposed to be bringing Jaselynn down by now, in fact she should have been at the table already. The longer I was kept waiting the more aggravated I was getting. Collin had already brought out the fruit plates, and was looking at me apprehensively. It had been a long, long time since someone had kept me waiting. The last person to do so? Ended up in the ground. I took a long drink and stared at the patio doors, angry.

“I’ll call you when we’re ready for the rest of our meal.” I said crisply while slamming my empty glass on the table.

“Stop throwing a tantrum Alexander,” Estelle chided as she strode out. “Presenting Ms. Jaselynn,” her voice was crisp, clean, as she motioned towards my guest.

I looked up and froze. Her long hair had been styled in thin, flowing waves that fell past her shoulders and showed just how entirely pale she was getting. But her figure, oh god her figure. The prim yellow dress with its tight bodice and halter top straps and its umbrella skirt bottom, she looked amazing in it. The girls had done her make up nicely enough, light eyeliner and a little lip gloss. Much to my surprise though, she smiled when our eyes met. Surging past Estelle to throw her arms around my neck. I stood there with wide eyes, looking down at her, rigid. “Uh..?”

“I told you he’d freak out,” Jace sang to Estelle. Something was off about her; she was a bit too happy for the current condition of her life.

Estelle was laughing and shaking her head at my face. “I’m sorry sir, I gave her a mimosa before coming down this morning. Best to handle a hang over by getting retoxicated.”

I’d never wanted to hit Estelle as much as I did in that moment in time. I stood there shaking my head, feeling a bit too angry. I backhanded Jace, watched her fall to the floor, and then smacked Estelle as hard as I could also. In a fit of rage I over turned the table, knocking glass and food alike on the patio. And then I stormed inside. Not only did she get her drunk she told her it was okay to touch me. Killing her or not I was NOT going to sit there and be so blatantly disrespected. It’d later occur to me that I had no right to be so angry but at that time I didn’t care. I locked myself in my office, opened a new bottle of whiskey, and brooded.

Notes

I flinched when he hit them. Lol. And i'm writng it!
-xoxoDR