What Hides Within

Trust

Joe sipped his whiskey, his eyes glued to the rain pouring out of the window, blurring the crescent moon.

When he heard the pounding on his door, he wasn't really surprised.

"Come in." he told his son-in-law mildly.

Eric stepped in, drenched. He wasn't sure if the shivers that raked him were because of the cold or because of the rage that engulfed him.

Joe walked to his favourite arm chair and settled in, taking a long sip of his drink.

"I see you broke the code." He said, bitterly. "What did she write? Did she blame me for the disaster that was her life?"

"She was 10 years old. You told her she was possessed! Are you fucking insane!" Eric yelled.

"Wendy told her about Celine, not me. I just told her what I knew all along. I thought she had a right to know." Joe sneered and added venomously, "I wanted that bitch to know she couldn't fool me."

Eric stared at him incredulously. "Carrie is your daughter, Joe. She's not Celine or anyone else. You are her father. She trusted you, and you ruined the foundation of her whole life!  You made your daughter believe that she is possessed by an evil spirit. You made her believe she was cursed. That people around her would get hurt and she would be responsible for it."

"People did get hurt around her." Joe said, savagely.

"People get hurt. It's coincidence, karma, whatever. It's not Carrie."

Joe smirked and sipped his drink.

"Do you know how much guilt she carried with her all her life because she thought all bad things that happened to people she knew were because of her? Do you know the identity crisis she felt because she believed Celine's soul had possessed her? Do you know she wanted to die because she thought she would harm me?" Eric raged.

Joe leaned forward. "And why would she harm you?"

Eric tried to blink the sudden tears away. "Because I cheated on her. It was stupid. It was the biggest mistake of my life. It was a one time thing. But it happened. I promised her there would be no secrets between us and I told her about it myself. I didn't expect her to understand, but she was just so angry. She didn't speak to me for the rest of that night, or the next morning before leaving for work. And that evening..." he trailed away, a lump in his throat.

Joe laughed loudly.

Eric clenched his fists, willing himself not to strike the old man.

"So the dedicated Eric cheated on his wife. Don't you know she hated to share? More than anything in the world, she hated to share. She didn't want to share my wife's love with me. She tried to drive us apart."

"That was Celine, not Carrie!" Eric screamed, losing his cool.

Joe laughed harder.  "You've known 'Carrie' for years. Did she not have a jealous streak?"

The night of the New Year ball flashed in his mind. Kate flashed in his mind. And all the other times Carrie went through his phone messages and chats. Always making it seem like a joke, but she was checking, wasn't she?

Joe smirked at his silence. "You should be happy she tried to kill herself. If it was not her, it might have been you."

Eric clenched his fists harder. "Fuck you, Joe!" He hissed.

As he walked out of the door, he heard Joe howl with laughter.

A/N: Is Carrie really possessed?
Or is she just a misguided girl?
Are you disappointed that Eric isn't the dedicated husband after all?
Do you think Joe is really crazy?