2013: Carmen meets Pete Wentz on a rainy evening. His kindness and mystery draw her in, and she begins to fall for him. He comes with a dark past and secrets but she's willing to stay by his side and fight them. Even if it could cost her life.
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"But you will remember me Remember me for centuries And just one mistake Is all it will take,"
AND so that became their motto, 'Folie à deux'. Madness shared by two.
No one knew, they felt like it was something to be kept between themselves. They kept trying to piece things together to understand this drug a bit better, but no amount of research could lead them anywhere. They agreed that Pete's coma was down to this mystery drug but if they tried to tell anyone, everyone would think they were mad. A glimmer of hope for Carmen lay in the fact that Pete had recovered, and no symptoms appeared, and Pete kept promising her that she was okay, but every day she got worse.
It started with the vomiting, and then it was the migraines, it wasn't until she became too weak to walk far that she lost hope. She would never tell Pete that she had given up though, she knew enough to know that whatever the drug was, she had been given a far bigger dosage than he had and that her body cried out because it was too close to the end.
She woke up that day deciding that she had to tell him that she had decided to stop fighting, she was going to end this pain. That day, however, Pete had different plans and she couldn't find the time to tell him. Instead, she went along with his plans, it wasn't until they ended up sat in their back garden as the dark began to creep in that she built up the courage to say something.
"Pete," she spoke quietly, he had made sure she was wrapped up in multiple blankets.
He looked over at her and Carmen faltered, "I've been thinking," she started, and Pete spoke up.
"Me too," Pete suddenly slid off the chair onto the floor in front of her, he was on one knee.
Carmen couldn't say anything, Pete had pulled out a small black velvet box slowly. He opened it and a small diamond ring sat nestled inside. It was perfect.
"Carmen Evelyn Bailey, my beautiful most perfect girl," Carmen giggled, and a tear trickled down her cheek, she hadn't laughed or smiled in weeks.
"Would you do me the honour of being my wife," he spoke and found himself tearing up too.
Carmen nodded very quickly, and Pete laughed. He gently placed the ring on her finger and kissed her. All of Carmen's thoughts of giving up disappeared from her mind at that point, she focused on how his lips felt against hers, how his warm body fit perfectly against hers. If they really were going mad together, then better to be his wife during it.
It was the first time in weeks that they both forgot about the present and focused on the future. Carmen lay in bed, smiling at her ring, she had pushed all pain to the back of her head. Pete entered the bedroom wearing nothing but a towel and Carmen's heart fluttered, they hadn't been intimate in a while because Pete was scared of hurting her. With all strength that Carmen could muster, she crawled to the end of the bed and pulled the towel away from his body.
"Hey," Pete whispered sadly, but on the glance of his naked fiancé, he let himself go.
"Please," she begged, and Pete groaned as she pulled him down on top of her.
She littered kisses down his collarbone, sucking lightly on his neck.
"Carmen," he moaned.
"It's Mrs Wentz," she murmured against his skin and he shivered.
***
Sarah had insisted on taking her wedding dress shopping despite Carmen's hatred of being out in public during this time. To shut her up, she agreed, and so an hour later she was being wheeled into a fancy shopping centre by Sarah, who was followed by Elisa. Carmen pulled her hoodie up and Sarah tutted, pushing it back down.
"Honey, you look fine, please try and enjoy yourself. You're getting married to Pete Wentz, some girls would die for this chance," and she suddenly stopped herself and began to apologise profusely.
They knew it was going to be impossible to keep her illness a secret any longer and so told them as little as possible. Carmen shook her head, "Hey, you didn't mean it," and Sarah remained quiet.
Elisa started to talk again, and they continued to chat between themselves on the way to the dress shop, which seemed to be at the back of the store. Carmen's eyes darted around the place they were in and lingered on a shadow that was slightly out of sight. She tried to pull herself around to look but it was gone, and her hands had become clammy. Sarah hadn't noticed and continued to wheel her away. Carmen didn't feel safe anymore, she hated to be away from Pete.
When they finally reached the dress shop, Carmen excused herself and sat and watched them both look through the bridesmaid dresses. Carmen felt on edge, the whole place was too quiet. Carmen had already told them both to look for red dresses and so watched them excitedly skim through all of the collection. They both decided on a long floaty dark red dress and as they changed back into their original clothes, Carmen peaked outside the shop to notice the shadow of a man edging closer to them. Carmen couldn't tear her eyes away from him, and she certainly couldn't run. He waved at her and smiled, before running a single finger across his throat.
Carmen's breath hitched and noticed he was leaving, but she wanted to know who he was. She unsteadily stood up from the wheelchair and a shop assistant came running over in her heels to help, Carmen waved her away and stumbled off in the direction he had walked.
"Wait!" she called out, and a few of the other people in the shopping centre looked over at her.
The man turned around and shook his head in disgust at her, before hurrying away from her. She had stumbled and tripped onto her knees, clutching at her chest trying to catch her breath. She had begun to cry angry tears, she didn't understand what she had done to deserve this. She noticed that the man had dropped a card from his back pocket, and she scrambled towards it, using her shaking hands to pick it up. Completely ignoring the blood that had begun to trickle from her nose, she turned it over but before she could read it Sarah and Elisa had rushed over.
"Carmen, you're bleeding," and she helped Carmen back into the wheelchair.
Carmen touched the blood with a single finger and pulled back to look at it, this was a common occurrence now, and she wiped it away with a tissue that Sarah had handed her, "I just need a bit of freedom sometimes," Carmen muttered, and Sarah huffed.
"You're ill, what was you even doing?" she asked and started to wheel her away from the crowd of onlookers.
Carmen shook her head and glanced down at the business card in her hands, "Doesn't matter, thought I saw someone."
