Two sides to Every Story

Chapter Eight: Vice

She looked amazing, no, more than amazing. On the elevator ride down I tried coming up with a word that’d describe how she looked. The bell rung for the lobby floor and I still hadn’t come up with the right word.

“After you.” I held my arm out motioning for her to go first. Manners, gotta remember the manners!

I took her hand again and walked confidently towards the parking garage. My buddy Randy had let me borrow his fully restored 1948 Cadillac convertible Coupe. I spun the keys in my hand and walked over to the passenger side of the car. Like the perfect gentleman I am, I pulled the door open for her and after she was seated I walked back over to the open driver’s door.

“Alright this is it! Let’s get those clothes off and hop in the back seat!!!!” she started for the door handle but I was faster. I grabbed her arm, “Woah don’t go! It was a joke, we’ve still got the whole rest of the date to get through before we do that.” I winked.

She stared at me for a while trying to figure out if I was joking, “Where are we going?” she said clearly not amused.

“Well I figured since you’re the most special person to me, I’d take you to the most special place.” A smile escaped my lips.

“Is it that club downtown?” she raised an eyebrow unsure of my sanity. 7 Deadly Sins was the neo gothic club she was talking about, I had taken a lot of girls there before so there was no way I would be taking Meme there.

“No, it’s a little more…personal than that.” I started up the engine and pulled out of the garage, heading towards the road that leads out of town. After a half an hour of silence she turned in her seat and looked at me.

“Really Vice, where are we going?” Her voice was unsure of what was going on, like I was some sort of kidnapper or something?

“I can’t tell you, it’s a surprise.” I realized I probably seemed really crazy, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I wanted her to see this place; it was driving me nuts.

After another hour of begging me where we were going, she finally fell asleep. I pulled into a driveway where grass broke it into chunks; weeds as high as my knees swayed in the nighttime breeze. The car’s headlights made the dark abandoned house look eerie, like at any moment a ghost would appear at one of the many broken windows. But I did have ghosts here, ones that haunted me every day of my life.

“Where are we?” Memiuex asked, still half asleep.

“This is the house I grew up in; I lived here before I met you.” My voice was shaking pretty bad but she didn’t seem to notice. I walked over to the other side of the car and opened the door for her. She stepped out and I grabbed her hand softly and led her towards the house.

The door was already rotting away and falling off its hinges, and as I pushed it open it fell to the floor with a gentle thud. The fireplace in the living room was home to scraggly weeds and weird purple flowers. Between the cracks of the floor boards weeds sprang forth and dominated the house. I didn’t dare go in the kitchen; the permanent blood stains sent shivers up my spine. As we climbed the staircase each step creaked and cracked as if they hadn’t been used in a century. At the top of the stairs was a short hallway with a door to the right and one at the end of the hall. I pulled the string dangling from the ceiling and the stairs for the attic dropped down. My old bedroom.

The roof had caved in a long time ago by the looks of it; a gigantic hole opened the attic up to the night sky. I spotted my old mattress shoved in the corner where it had always been; my drawings still clinging to the walls, slightly faded and worn.

“How come we’re here Vice?” Her wide grey eyes expressed how confused she was.

“I wanted to show you who I really am. I’m not the Vice you seem to think you know.” A deep sigh escaped my mouth.

Her eyebrows shot into the air, “You’re not going to tell me you’re some sort of sparkly mythical being that can read minds are you?”

“Definitely not.” I laid down on the middle of the floor with my hands behind my head and stared up at the stars. After a minute she laid down next to me.

“When I was little people used to ask me where my dad was, but I always just told them I didn’t know. Which was true, my mom never told me.” I focused harder on the stars, “Then one day I came home to find a stranger in the kitchen. He was huge, like a body builder or something, and his clothes were covered in black grease. Pieces of his oily black hair hung on his forehead and he had this gash on his cheek that looked like it had never fully healed; but the thing I remember most about him was his eyes. He had these bright blue eyes that looked just like mine. I could hear my mom’s voice in the kitchen, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. When I got to the kitchen all I could see was blood smeared in circles on the floor and streaks across the walls. My mom was huddled in the corner screaming for me to go away. I just stared at the guy and he just stared right back, then Beth came home from her shift. Mom started screaming for her to shoot and, well Beth being a cop and all, didn’t wait for him to grab his gun. That was the first time I met my dad, and the last.” I quickly shut my eyes, too afraid of what she might think. But there was more, so much.

“Vice-” she was all prepared to comfort me.

“Before you say anything, I have to finish.” I got up from the ground and clenched my fists. “My mom has been a lesbian her whole life, so how was I born? That’s the question I’d been asking myself since I was little. For a while I thought maybe I was adopted, or like one of those test tube kids you know? I could only wish! But no, I’m not a product of love, not even close! My existence is so sick it makes me want to throw up!” Hot tears spilled out of my eyes and down my cheeks, “My mom was raped when she was sixteen. There’s no cute story behind my birth; I’m the bastard child of a predator and a victim. I just know that every time my mom looks at me she sees the guy who ruined her life, every day she has to relive that moment because of me.”

 Tears stung my cheeks as they flowed out of my burning eyes. All the rage burst out of me at once and sent my fist flying into the decrepit wall; my hand now dark red and sticky with blood.

“I’m turning into him, I just know it!!!” I screamed and clenched my hair ready to rip it out.

“But what would I do without you?” Her arms found their way to me and she wrapped them around my waist and rested her head on my chest. “I don’t know what I’d do if I never got to hear this heart beat at all.”

My heartbeat quickened as the heat from her body transferred to mine. Didn’t she realize what a disgusting thing I am? I don’t even deserve to be considered human…

“I don’t think you realize it, but your mom loves you so much Vice. You may have your dad’s eyes but you also have your mom’s smile and when you do smile it lights up her whole world. If you hadn’t been born she wouldn’t have the most important person in the world at her side to make her smile.” Her hug tightened and I knew she meant what she was saying.

 “The doctors all say there is a 70% chance that I’d end up doing what he did….I just can’t be that person Memiuex!” I let go of my hair and held her close to me. It felt like at any moment she was going to up and leave me in this terrible place.

“I won’t let it happen to you, I promise.” She whispered in my ear just loud enough for me to hear.

“I’m sorry this date wasn’t romantic or anything.” I fumbled for words.

“It’s alright, I don’t mind.” She smiled and then I realized what she had meant when she said smiles could be infectious.

               For the rest of the night we laid on the floor looking at the stars; hands clasped tight. Memiuex helping me through all of this only confirmed how wonderful she really is, and I didn’t know how far I wanted to drag her down just to be with her.