An Angel's Vice

Chapter 28 - Unusual Hurricane pt. 2

A/N: So I just remembered Lauren has a tramp stamp tattoo in this story that says "In Cauda Venenum". Now I only gave her that because I liked the song, in she likes Latin, but I didn't fucking know it means the poison is in the tail and depicts a fucking Scorpion?? That was before I decided she'd be known as the Scorpion too! But this is so cool, and Venenum is also Veneno in different languages, so she was destined for Candy. Fun fact!

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Usually, when someone is afraid of the dark, someone else will say to them, "whatever you are scared of only exists in your mind; you are overthinking" and to relax because nothing bad will happen. And usually, they're right. It's a different case when the person scared has just finished viewing a horror movie, and has to answer to the dark straight after. Maybe there are ghosts or spirits that are around but they cannot see. Maybe something frightening is lurking, but maybe it's all in their head too. Yet their fear is slightly more justified than the first person. But then you have the third person who's afraid of the dark for reasons more psychological and personal—traumatic, if you will. It's not so easily accomplished telling them to calm down and that they listen.

In the dark, Candy is vulnerable. Someone can attack her, she can be caught off guard, she can feel anything she doesn't want to feel. And when she cannot see, she isn't in control. Candy needs to be in control. Let's take it further than control and dive into deeper waters. When Candy's mind wanders like it always does to her greatest pains and hauntings, the physical darkness is associated with it. All of those nights waking up to get out of bed and witnessing sick, violently gruesome things her brother and his soldiers did inside the Estrabao Cartel mansion—typically in the dark, where the nauseating details of crime wouldn't be highlighted to the naked eye; the pitch black bag thrown over her head when she was kidnapped, not a clue to where she was going or who had taken her, just to be violated, beaten, and mutilated on a table by men; the tragic loss of ALL her innocence and love in her heart for her family and for herself that New Year's Eve in the dark basement; imagining Luca buried alive underground, forced to see nothing but total darkness until days later when he finally expired.

To anyone else, the lights going out is a normal thing. To Candy, it is like the world is ending, but first is an uninvited viewing of those traumas she is forced to watch with every head turn.

Sasha notices Candy in the corner of the couch by the television set in the great room, away from the others who don't mind the dark and are still in lighter spirits as they converse and smile at one another. Sasha silently excuses herself and joins Candy at the couch. She feels her way around before taking a seat next to her. Candy seems thrilled to have someone there to keep her company. She also tries to mask her vulnerability.

"Estás bien?" asks Sasha, gently caressing Candy's forearm. (Are you okay?)

"Mhm," Candy stiffly nods, rubbing her lips together.

"Segura?" (You sure?)

"I hate hurricanes. And the dark," Candy says quietly, her composure thinning at the flash of lightning. She covers her ears to prepare for what always follows.

Sasha sweeps Candy's hair behind her shoulder and then moves in to bring an arm around her. Candy's taken aback by the gesture, but doesn't reject it. Sasha faintly smiles at Candy. "It's okay to be afraid of the dark. I was."

"You were?"

"For a long time."

"What put an end to it?"

"I tell myself it was time to stop being afraid, and time to conquer it. I grew in the dark. I trained my eyes to see clearly in the dark. And I used the dark to weaken others so they can no longer do it to me. If you make your fears and your problems work for you, it doesn't hold you hostage anymore."