Dark Paradise

Chapter 17: The Madness in Her Head~

Chapter 17: The Madness in Her Head~

It'd been five weeks since Chasity had fallen into her coma, and Selene was beginning to fear the worst. She sat by her bedside every night and sung to her. One night, Selene stayed at her bedside past midnight, reading Chasity their favorite book, The Fault in Our Stars for the millionth time. Selene read aloud the metaphor line, "'You put the killing thing in between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do it's killing.'"

Selene looked at the book, stared at Chasity, and then back at the book before closing the book gently, then throwing it across the hospital room. "Why won't you wake up?" Selene asked, breaking down. "It's been over a month. Your eyes have been closed for too long. Please, Chasity, please..."

A knock on the door caused Selene to jerk out of her moment and wipe away tears. "Come in." she called. Her composure maintained, she turned to face Chasity's father. Selene frowned and stood up. "What the hell do you want?" she asked him. The greying man stepped further into the hospital room. "Not a step closer." she warned, balling her hands into fists. Mr. Clay stopped nad held his hands up in surrender.

Mr. Harold Clay was a vile man. He was married to Sierra for twenty years, and raped Chasity in a drunken stupor when she was fourteen, in the twentieth year of their marriage. Sierra instantly got full custody of Chasity, and they got a restraining order on the house. When this happened, late in their ninth grade year, Chasity and Selene were in a rough spot in their "just friendship", but when Selene was informed, Selene instantly hugged her and told her everything was going to be okay. They were done being separate from each-other.

Selene saw the man that violated her significant other and immediately went into overdrive. "I don't want any trouble." the man said warily. "I just want to visit my daughter." This man got a stare that pierced every part of his body. Harold Clay pulled out a pack of cigarettes and walked uneasily over to the window to open it up for a smoke.

"Could I have one?" Selene asked. HArold looked up, a confused look thrown on. He slowly handed Selene one, and she placed it in between her lips. It sat there, unlit. "Aren't 'ya gonna light it?" Harold Clay asked. Selene rolled her eyes. The Fault in Our Stars sat there next to her, and she was being asked that. "No, sir," Selene shook nher head. "I'm simply sustaining a metaphor, Mr. Clay."

"I wasted a perfectly good cigarette on a metaphor?" Mr. Clay asked, sounding annoyed. Selene shook her head. "No, sir, it is not a waste. It is a rather good use for a cigarette. See, you put the killing thing between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do it's killing. It stays unlit to fuel a metaphor."

"A metaphor." Harold Clay commented.

"Yessir, Mr. Clay." Selene nodded. "A bittersweet little metaphor."

HArold Clay sat there for a minute before asking, "Who are you anyways?"

"My name is Selene."

"To my daughter, girl."

"Her girlfriend."

"Is that slang for a good friend nowadays?"

"No, sir. I am her significant other." Selene restated. Five seconds later, Selene was rushing to hit the panic button on the top of Chasity's hospital bed. As the doctors and security gaurds dragged him out, he yelled, "Stay the hell away from my daughter!"

"What are you talking about, Mr. Clay?" Selene asked innocently. "You don't have a daughter. You have a teenage girl traumatized 'cuz her father did something a father should never do." The door slammed, and Selene was once again left alone with Chasity.

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The next few days were uneventful. School let out early for winter break and disregarded the entire exam week. There was supposed to be a large snowstorm blowing in from the northwest, and the school didn't want to trap students in the classrooms. So far, though, there was no sign of this storm; just cold, blue skies and birds chirping. It was as if it was early spring instead of winter.