Author Topic: Divine Deception -- S4E24: Series Finale  (Read 76859 times)

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eight: The Sunset Motel: part 1
« Reply #45 on: November 23, 2015, 11:34:13 AM »
Divine Deception
"The Sunset Motel: part 1"


For the few years I grew up with my parents, I can still remember their words of wisdom. Do to others as you would want done to you. Treat people with respect and you will undoubtedly get it back, and, of course, two wrongs don't make a right. It was foolishness. I was foolish for believing the world could be so simple. Where were these terms put into play when the man and woman my world revolved around were ripped from my grasp? Two wrongs don't make a right? I agree with them, but not for their beliefs. They thought hurting somebody back for them inflicting pain on you would not take away the pain. That's true to some degree, but what they forgot to mention was the simplest thing of all. Two wrongs can never make a right because two wrongs can never equal one another. 

Photographic memory is the ability to recall visual information in great detail after only brief exposure to it, an ability that I used to have. I could remember the smallest details of anything and everything. My mother told me it was because I had an extraordinary imagination, when in reality, her assumption was contradictory. It was because of my lack of imagination that gave me the ability to see things for what they really were. And right now, I can't say that I remember the Sunset Motel during my younger years. When this type of interference happens, I remind myself of what I know as fact. My name is Sadie Lawrence. I am a destroyer. I ruin those who have wronged others. I live in Sunset Valley. I am to kill Nick Alto and tear apart Vita Alto.

The Sunset Motel must have been built recently. It's a busy place, an expensive one to book. Only those who have a thick wallet seem to be able to get in. Or those who have connections to those types of people. I had been called here by one of them. A person I didn't realize was ready for me or I for him. I continue, as I have all morning and afternoon, to go over the events in my head. How everything took an unexpected turn ever since I was asked to live inside the Alto's mansion.

***

12 Hours Earlier

I stare at the ceiling above me, listening to the hum of the refrigerator in the kitchen and the slight snooze of the toddler in the crib a few feet from my bedside. Bedside. I repeat the word in my head a few times until I come to reality. For the first time in months, I sleep in an actual bed. My neck isn't kinked. My skull isn't bruised. Even if Alicia, Vita and Nick's daughter, woke up at two in the morning and started screaming, I actually feel like I have slept the whole night. It may not be the most perfect of places, but I can honestly say that this is a million times better than sleeping outside in my torn sleeping bag.

I get up, have a shower and grab some breakfast the manservant has made for us this morning.

Nick is out on the patio already. He's telling me a story about his success with his law firm. That's what he calls his work and I have to keep myself from rolling my eyes. I know he doesn't work at a law firm, but I also know he can't very well go gloating around about his criminal ways. So I just listen. I bat my eyes and lean into him whenever I get the chance. I've come to learn that he doesn't go to work until the night. I don't understand why it came as such a surprise to me when I first learned about it but it did. Vita works during the day, which leaves little time for either of them to see each other and leaves me with little time without either of them. I have gotten little planning done since I moved in and the things I have gotten organized have been while I was in the washroom on my smartphone. My locked smartphone to be precise. I thought once I moved into a place with so much space that I would be able to utilize it.

On the bright side, with Vita out of the house, I have gotten much closer to Nick during this last month. I talk to him every morning. I sit in this very spot, listening to his stories. Some are a bit extreme in the way that I know he is exaggerating, although there are times where I think he is telling me something of substance. Where he stops trying to sell me the story and actually lets me hear the emotion. Like when Holly moved out and how empty the house became. How he never had a great relationship with his daughter even though he truly wanted it. Once he told me how he saw a spark inside of Vita for a long time and for a year it has slowly been burning out. During those moments I can see somebody else behind Nick's dark eyes. Somebody under that thick skin of his. Just a week ago he told me that he had hoped Alicia would bring the family back together. From the tone in his voice that day, it hadn't been as much as he was hoping for. His story made me get up and leave that day. I hate this man. I want to hate this man and I know I have to hate this man to be able to execute my mission. I can't allow for him to pull me into his stories so easily, even if they are true.

The manservant comes to the table side to collect his pay and as he leaves, Nick follows him with his eyes. He says to me, "I can't say I trust him."
"How come?" I ask.
"If I'm the only one home, he does his work and leaves..." The manservant is out of sight now and Nick turns his attention to me. "But if Vita's home, he'll stay all day."
"You think they're playing around?" I guess as I finish off my plate.
"You're a smart girl, Sadie, and I can't say that I disagree." He pauses to take a deep breath. "It's exactly what I said last week, and if she doesn't see a flame in me either then I can't say I blame her. She's going to find a new spark."
"I might be wrong, but I don't think Vita would--"
"Understand that we've been in this for a long time. It's just become convenient."

"Well, Mr. Alto," I exhale. "I am so sorry to hear that."
"Are you?"
There's an edge to his voice, one that catches me off guard. "I'm sorry?"
"I haven't forgotten what you did after the party, Sadie." His voice is confident and structured, though there is no indication of whether he is happy or angry.
"I was drunk," I admit even if it is a lie.
Nick shakes his head. "No you weren't. I watched you all night, knew what you were drinking and when you kissed me, I should have tasted something."
"I--"
"There was nothing on your breath. You tasted of nothing other than your strawberry lip gloss, so, please, spare me your lies."
I look away. I don't know where to look. I don't know what Nick's thinking. Heck, I don't even know what I should be thinking. My heart is pounding on the inside of my chest and after planning so much for so long, I have failed my mission and I can only imagine what the head of a criminal organization is going to do with a swindler like me. Before I can say anything to my defense, Nick is on his feet and tosses a card onto the tabletop.
"Meet me there tonight if you're interested," he says. "Maybe we can find some different flames."

And here I am, staring at the man I thought would kill me during those twelve hours that distanced us. Yet, there he is, waiting. He sits on the top of the bed with the blanket covering his body. It's not just his torso that's exposed. It's everything. His personality is in the open. He's not fighting to keep anything hidden both physically and metaphorically. His walls have been torn down. Everything that I thought I would need to break down has been lowered freely for me. I have everything I need to destroy the man that ruined my childhood and he is just sitting there waiting for it to happen.

I walk over to the bed and take a seat. He pulls me into his arms and kisses me and I am returned to the front door of Gobias's house many weeks ago. I can smell his woodsy cologne. I can taste the mint from his mouthwash. I can feel the few stray hairs his razor missed this morning as I run my fingers along his jawline. He holds me tight, pulling me closer and closer by the second. Before I can get caught up in it, I pull away.

"Nick, I can't do this," I tell him. "I can't and I refuse to be the other woman."
He smirks at me. "You're not going to be."
I look at him questionably.
"Tomorrow morning I am going to tell Vita that we're done."
I sigh and close my eyes. "This is my fault."
"No," he says, pulling me back into his arms. "You just allowed me to open my eyes."
I don't speak. I allow him to as I have done for the last month. He doesn't exaggerate his stories. He shows me that emotional side again like he has from time to time.
"I don't know what this will turn into, Sadie, but..."

I slip under the covers with him. It was never my intention to destroy Nick Alto. I am meant to kill him and rid the world of his appalling ways of life. My mission was to destroy Vita Alto and my first step is using my status as her best friend to hurt her... To tear her husband away from her and make her do everything she can to fill that hole inside of her that will never be able to be filled again.

Offline Magz from Oz

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eight: The Sunset Motel: Part 1
« Reply #46 on: November 24, 2015, 07:06:49 AM »
Oh dear me Sadie.  How low will you go?  :o  Who will you destroy, Vita or yourself?
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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Nine: The Sunset Motel: Part 2
« Reply #47 on: November 24, 2015, 02:21:35 PM »
Divine Deception
"The Sunset Motel: part 2"


I can hear her screaming at the top of her lungs. Her voice meeting levels I never knew were possible until this day. The day Nick told his wife that he was leaving her for another woman. That woman is me. I can't say I blame Vita. Losing her husband to the person who was supposed to be her best friend. The friend who, after being kicked out of her house, Vita welcomed her into her own home with open arms. Just thinking of what I've done disgusts me, but I have to keep my chin up. This was never going to be pretty and I have to remind myself of this. This was what I have been hired to do.
By the time I hear Nick hang up, he opens the door to the patio of the motel and motions to the hot tub. From the look on his face, we are going to be here for a few days. We might as well make the best of it.

It's empty when we first get in. It's early afternoon, though, and people are either at work or will be checking in as the day passes by. I cuddle into Nick's arms. He still feels foreign to me and so he should. We've only been together for a day, but even so, he pulls me closer as if I am some long lost lover of his. I don't fight it. I melt into him, hoping the jets camouflage my beating heart. If there's one thing I don't want, it's for him to get the wrong idea and think I am not interested. I am, well, as into him as I can be for somebody looking to ruin everything of his and his wife's. But I can only go so far before my natural reactions start to set in. The funny thing is, nothing about this is natural. The mission. My relationship with the man holding me. But that's what I have been hired to do, I say to myself and the moment I hear it in my own head I know that I am right. I have been hired to make this act seem real. To Vita. To Nick. To me.

"Vita's upset," I assume as I watch the insides of the motel start to fill. I can't figure out if it is because it's the weekend and that's why it is busy. It's right on the beach, a great place for folks out of town to reside in and spend their few days of leisure. The more I see the visitors coming in, the more I start to wonder if Nick's relation with me is somewhat the norm. This could very well be a place to hook up.

"A bit of an understatement," Nick replies. He pulls his sunglasses down the bridge of his nose so I can look straight into his eyes. "Her final statement was that this better keep hush hush and not hinder her politically."

I narrow my eyes at him. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means that we try and be discreet."

"Discreet? Discreet?" I almost choke on my words. "Nick, look around us."

"That's why I have my sunglasses." He pushes them back up his nose. "She said that she's not leaving the house either."

"I knew this was a bad idea," I whisper. A few people have joined us in the hot tub as the sun starts to set. "You're actually going to try to hide behind a pair of glasses."

A man named Beau introduces himself to us. "Nice to meet you," Nick says back, shaking Beau's hand. "I'm Jonathan and this is my girlfriend, Sadie." He must have caught my confused look because he quickly mumbles in my ear, "I've never been in front of the camera's a day in my life. Nobody knows who I am."

I should have known. Being the captain of a criminal organization, Nick would never have stepped into the public's eye so carelessly. It could have, and most likely would have, hurt his career. I never thought of it that way.

We get out and grab something to eat. I would have expected Nick to be a bit more anxious of how we are supposed to be during our new rules. However, he seems as calm as anything. He takes small bites out of his dinner, chew casually and I watch the way his Adam's apple moves up and down as he swallows. It's strange to me. I'm supposed to be the relaxed one. The one who doesn't get up tight about anything. This is my play, however. Yet, here he is.

Nick sighs. "It's going to be very interesting to see how things play out when we go home."

"How so?"

He shakes his head. "Vita gets a large percentage of my business and you never know with her..."

"... She's always planning something."

Then I'll just have to plan something myself. I pat him on the hand. "We'll get through this."
We head upstairs to our room.

The next morning we wake up to a foot of snow. Children are playing outside, throwing snowballs, making snow angels and building snowmen. Nick offers to take me to the winter festival after breakfast. I've been to two now. The summer and the autumn festivals and quite enjoyed myself.

As we drive deeper into town, it looks as if the motel area got less than everywhere else. That's not to say the grounds are empty. They are as full as ever.

Nick wants to skate. I am much better at ice skating than I am at roller skating. I took figure skating when I was young and did quite well at it. My trainer once told me that it's like riding a bike. You never really forget. Getting my footing is the hardest part. Nick's there to hold me up and support me when I need it. When I fall the first time, he's there getting me back to my feet, asking if I'm all right. There's a time when I forget my mission and actually enjoy his company. He hurt my parents? He did them wrong? If he didn't work for the criminals, I wouldn't be able to see it. It's conflicting, I know, or maybe I just don't want to believe it.

About ten minutes later, I have my footing again and I am thrilled for it. I need some space from Nick. Just a bit of it to collect my bearings. He destroyed your childhood, Sadie, I tell myself, flustered that I know I am becoming emotionally attached. I can't. I can't. I can start to feel my wants and needs separating inside of me. I need to avenge my parents. I want to forget about it. I want to believe Nick isn't as bad as I know he is. I need to remember what I saw in the dumpster at his work. Everything is becoming too much. Before I can say anything. Scream at the top of my lungs like Vita yesterday. Anything. A girl with red hair trips and falls almost on top of me.


After a bit, I've lost track of where Nick is. I've experienced my meltdown and I know what I need to do for the rest of the day. Every time something goes off the rails as a Destroyer, I need to take some time to go with the flow and clear my head or else I know how much it is going to consume me. I find him standing over a pile of snow. With a closer look, I realize it was Nick's attempt at a snowman.
I put a hand on his shoulder. "Build one with me."

I doesn't take long. I learn that Nick is great at decorating so I allow him to make the snowman look all pretty. When it's done, I can't help but laugh.
"What?" Nick asks so innocently.
"It looks like you."
We both laugh and make our way to the car.

On our drive home, I tell him how much of a great time I had. "That was probably my favourite outing to the festivals," and I am not lying. The first was with Gobias and the second was a few weeks ago after I had been kicked out of Gobias's house. I don't tell him that, though. "I was thinking..."

Nick glances over at me.

"I know this thing between us and Vita could get dirty and I know that she finances your company..." I take a deep breath. "What if I take on those costs and take her percentage?"

"That's a lot of money, Sadie--"

"And I have a lot of money. At least let me help you until things settle down." I pause. "I just don't want to be hiding and pretending more than I have to." I know that he thinks I am talking about staying out of the public's eyes, and while that's true, I am also thinking of how much more is going to be on my shoulders if I can't help Nick in the ways that I want to."

I can tell by how his lips are set that he doesn't agree completely. He nods anyway. "Okay, fine, I'll think about it."


Offline Katala

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Nine: The Sunset Motel: Part 2
« Reply #48 on: November 24, 2015, 11:16:17 PM »
If Sadie kills Nick, I don't think it'll affect Vita, she may just kill him herself.

Hmm...
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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Nine: The Sunset Motel: Part 2
« Reply #49 on: November 27, 2015, 11:08:09 PM »
She just might lol. On the other hand, she's spent so much of her life with him. It doesn't matter how much she hates him, she probably will love him no matter what... she just won't show it. :P

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Ten: Broken Home
« Reply #50 on: November 29, 2015, 06:37:26 PM »
Divine Deception
"Broken Home"


If looks could kill, I'm sure I would be dead ten times over. Vita's eyes continue to pierce my skin as if they have the ability to shoot lasers from them, scanning my body with every beating second, scrutinizing my exterior, counting every single flaw. I wish I could say it doesn't bother me. I wish I could say that she's my only enemy trying to hurt me. But I can't. I may hate the Altos for everything that they've done, but after what I have done, I can't say that I hate them anymore than I hate myself. So I stare back at the person I had befriended months ago and smile, a movement I know will twist every muscle inside Vita as if spun with a fork.

It's Snowflake Day. Vita decided to throw a small get together, invite only. The hired help are given the day off and friends gather to see what the rich family are up to. Men and women arrive in limousines, couples dressed in ugly hand knit sweaters parade inside like they've done so many times before. Tonight I am one of those people. I live in this family. I am this family. The manservant Nick told me about a few weeks ago stays for the day to take part in the festivities. Supposedly, he's turned into Vita's new boy toy. I can't figure out if it is because they have decided to try things out or because this is Vita's way at getting back at Nick and I. While I can't be sure, I am leaning more towards the latter. This predicament between Nick, Vita and myself, if we can call it that, can't be easy on her. Surely she'll go out of her way to try and hurt us back.

When Nick and I returned to the mansion after our stay at the Sunset Motel a few weeks ago, Vita lost it on me. I had been shaken about it. I expected for her to jump down Nick's throat, but I was as much her target as she was mine. She called me fowl names, tossed insults at me every sentence she spoke and there was a few moments where she just stared at me, probably waiting for me to burst into flames. I know she hates me, that feeling is mutual, but the look in her eyes is a promise that she will never forgive me. Surprisingly, she didn't offer up much of a fight when Nick demanded that she pack up her stuff and move out of the master bedroom. Now Vita sleeps in the same room as her daughter Alicia, who I know wakes up at two in the morning screaming her head off.

"It's time for gifts," Nick says to his friends and family. His voice snaps me out of my trance with Vita and we both get up and make it to the living room. We did a Secret Santa for this year's special day. Everybody was given two names to gift for. I was given the manservant, Grady Elfman and Nick and Vita's daughter Holly. I bought Holly a gift, although I still haven't seen her arrive yet. There have been problems between she and her parents, but that was way long before I showed up on the scene, though I have to say that my presence hasn't made anything better, either.

When it's my turn, I walk up to the pile and grab my gift. It's a small box, wrapped in blue and yellow paper. It is really light and literally pops open when I undo the ribbon. I peek inside and smirk. There's a reason why it's so light. The inside is completely empty except for a little note with red ink. It says, "I think you've been given enough." I close the box and walk back to my seat. It's obvious who my Secret Santa was. I glance at Vita as I sit back down. She's beaming brighter than any of the lights on the house.

Her gift is as cold as the ice queen herself is. It probably took her countless days to figure out what she was going to gift me, how she was going to pay me back for the pain I've inflicted on her. If this is the worst she has, not giving me a present on Snowflake Day, I should be thrilled to have such an easy target. Maybe those nights outside building her igloos have been bring down her stress levels.

The next girl who goes up I have just met. Her name is Candi Wanabango. She came with her sister Donna. I've seen her before. Candi was at the Halloween Party, dressed up as a mermaid. I thought it was because of the costume party that she had been dressed so... rash, if that's the right word. It seems I was wrong. I nudge Nick and ask him if this is normal and he nods his head. He explains to me that Candi and her sister are dancers in Bridgeport. It takes me a moment before it clicks in. They're dancers. Special dancers and performers.
"Oh," is all I say.
"Nothing trashy, Sadie," Nick clarifies. "They're like Marilyn Monroe, very classy."
"I see." Sure, it would be hypocritical of me to say that I don't approve. I know how it looks, I just sabotaged a man's marriage by having an affair with my best friend's husband, but I can't help myself from feeling superior to the two dancers. High class? Was Marilyn Monroe such a thing? She may have been a pop icon, and many people will disagree with me, but I've never seen much class in a girl who parades herself, flaunting her sexuality to gather attention.

As Candi waits for Donna, she wants to open their presents together, I rethink what I've just said to myself. I don't care for Marilyn Monroe because I don't agree with what she did in the past? A sickening urge comes over me to throttle myself in the head a few times. What am I turning into? My scrutiny... If there's one person in this room that is closest to Marilyn Monroe, it's me.

Donna hasn't been seen since dinner, although I have an idea where she is. I can hear the computer prank I set months ago trigger in the office. People get bored of waiting and tell Candi to open the present without Donna.

She doesn't look happy with whatever she got.

Grady doesn't either. I guess the feather duster I bought him was a little too close to home.

The night wears on and the pile of gifts shrink until there is only one small box left at the bottom. Nick picks it up and kneels down on one knee.
"What are you doing?" I ask him and everything after that passes me like a blur. I can't hear what Nick is saying. It's mumbles. It's all mumbles as blood pumps through my ears.

"Sadie Lawrence..." Nick opens the box and reveals the engagement ring inside. "Will you marry me?"

I glance up and see Vita's staring at us from the side door. She's almost in tears. They aren't happy tears, though. She's fuming mad and betrayed. Her nails dig into the trim around the door to the point where I hear the wood scratching beneath her fingers. Hatred is drowning her and I know she's waiting for my answer. I look back at Nick.
"Yes," I say with happiness. Tears are in my eyes too. I toss my arms around him and kiss him, sobbing, "Yes, Nick Alto, I will marry you!"

And Vita makes her way outside, the sound of her teeth grinding against one another left in her wake. I watch her through the windows and she crawls into an igloo where she stays for the rest of the night. Nobody sees her at dessert. No one asks about her while they drink her coffee and I continue to watch her igloo as I take a bath, just to see her retreat to the house where it's warm. She never does.

Offline Ferretmania

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Ten: Broken Home
« Reply #51 on: November 30, 2015, 10:40:59 AM »
And the plot thickens....

I don't think Vita is going to give up that easy, she's probably plotting against Sadie and Nick. Unless she's fallen asleep and never wakes up again.

Sadie and Nick engaged. Interesting turn of events.

Careful not to get in to deep yourself in that hole you're digging for Vita and Nick,  Sadie. You might not be able to dig yourself out at the end.
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Offline Katala

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Ten: Broken Home
« Reply #52 on: November 30, 2015, 02:08:10 PM »
Sadie might just give up on her mission and fall in love with Nick, but then her parents will never get justice, although , is murder justice?
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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Ten: Broken Home
« Reply #53 on: December 01, 2015, 09:12:47 PM »
Well you guys know what they say about revenge... Dig two Graves.  One for your enemy and one for yourself.

Now, murder being justice... I guess it depends on who you are and what happened to you. This is the part that her client doesn't understand and what I slipped in during the motel episodes. Two wrongs don't make a right because two wrongs can never equal each other. Nick never killed Sadie's parents. Instead he blamed them for something they never did, yet Mr. Peters wants Sadie to kill him for it. Whether it's right or wrong, both instances have no balance.

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eleven: One and Only
« Reply #54 on: December 06, 2015, 09:20:30 PM »
Divine Deception
"One and Only"


The line between good and evil continues to blur beneath my feet like a treadmill. It might be at full speed, an illusion that I am moving at a great pace, but unfortunately I am going nowhere. Instead the line starts to disappear and its delimitation is no longer as clear as night and day. This is what my life has turned into: a hole, something I had hoped I would leave inside Vita. One I hoped that she would never be able to fill once my assignment was complete, yet here I am, digging deeper and deeper into the cold ground with little to do other than dig some more.

As I look at myself in the mirror, I try to justify the terrible things that I have done. I have broken a family apart, ripped a man from his wife and now I am engaged to him while Vita mourns the life of which she used to have. I no longer dip my toe into the darkness of evil. I've dived straight into it. I've dug myself into this hole so deep that I don't believe I will ever see light again. It leaves me with two and only two choices. I can either keep digging until I find light, the reason why I decided to participate in the mission to begin with. Or I keep digging until the place caves in. Whether it is made of lightness or darkness, good or evil, I must reap what I have sewn.

I head out to meet with the wedding planner. Nick can't make it. He's been busy at work the last few weeks since Snowflake Day, although he did say that he was never that good with decisions regarding decorations and whatnot. He said that it would be better without him anyway. While I disagreed, I didn't make a big deal about it. I am meeting with the wedding planner at The Wedding Place, but not for another few hours. I head over early so I can clear my head.

Clouds have rolled in and I know there is a storm on its way. To me, it seems fitting. It's been a little too quiet at the Alto residence and since Snowflake Day, I've been waiting for Vita's attack. Hurting her emotionally hasn't been exactly easy. Sure, she gets damaged, tears up a bit, but almost instantly she's over it. I know that all too well. That's what I do too. That means there is something bigger on its way if I can't crush her before she has the ability to strike. But I don't know what to do next. To be completely honest, everything that I have done I can't say has hurt her tremendously. Vita and Nick's marriage was on the rocks long before I arrived. Heck, I might even be able to say that me taking Nick away from her might have been a blessing in disguise. I need something that was never cracked to begin with. I need something Vita could only see as perfect from the very beginning...

The wedding planner never arrives even two hours after the time we scheduled so I leave. The clouds break apart and the sun starts to shine. I stop by Candi and Donna's house. Nick asked me to drop off the gift Candi "forgot" at the party. I don't think she forgot it by any means. She hated it, whatever she got, and she didn't want to take it with her. I didn't say such a thing, though. I press the doorbell instead. Nobody answers. Part of me is surprised, yet part of me is not. I would have expected them to be dancing tonight, not during the day. However, they probably go in whenever the cash is good. I still peek through the nearest window just to make sure.

Right then, the front door opens. I expect to see one of the girls, if not both, but when I look down, there a toddler crawls out and starts crawling away.

"Hey," I say to him as I pick him up. "Where are your parents?" He speaks in baby gibberish. I walk with him in my arms back to the door and knock a little harder this time. Still nobody answers, so I open the door and walk inside.

The place is deserted. From the faint scent of lavender perfume, I guess that Donna and/or Candi left just a little while ago. I pull out my cell phone and call them. Neither of them answers the numbers Nick gave me. I walk back outside and check the backyard to find it empty.

The young one starts to cry and a quiet him and pull him close. "It's okay," I whisper. I can't help but think of my own childhood and how abandoned I felt when my parents left me. I can still remember my mother crying the night she tucked me into bed. I didn't understand why that night. She said she was crying because she had been cutting onions. Being young, I believed her. I didn't think adults cried. I thought they were strong and crying was something a child grew out of. How wrong I was, and now I know why she was crying that night. That was the last time my family could be classified as whole. I would never see either of my parents again. That was the night my mother said goodbye forever.

A truck door snaps me out of my daze. I shake my head and notice a man with dark skin and black hair step out. "Hey, what are you doin' with my kid?"

My eyebrows raise. "He's yours?" I don't wait for him to answer. "I wouldn't have thought his father would leave him here alone." Before I can say anything else, the man yanks the child from my arms and stomps inside, slamming the door behind him. I stand there, baffled. I don't even know what I should do. Do I ignore it and go home? Do I call child services? Then a thought hits me and I know that it can solve both of my problems.

***


I hear Vita walk into the dining room around dinnertime. Grady's in the kitchen making our meal and Nick called earlier this evening to let everyone know that he would be working late. I listen to Vita's footsteps. They're quick but consistent, like she's determined to get somewhere. Until they come to an abrupt halt. I know exactly what it's about too. Surely she must have seen the photograph I had put up when I got home. My photo of Nick and I at the winter festival finally arrived. I had framed it the instant I could and put it in the sitting area outside Vita's room.

"What is this?" I hear Vita growl, her teeth chomping onto every word as if they are so bitter that they stick to her tongue.

I walk into the dining room. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

"It seems these days when we see trash we call it art," Vita spews. She doesn't look at me. She stares at the photo as if ready to toss it at the wall. When she does glance over her shoulder to take a peek at me, she says, "You're all prettied up. Got somewhere to be? Moving out, possibly?"

"Actually, I have some news I wanted to share with you. I thought I would dress for the occasion."

Vita spins around to face me. "Well, the wedding isn't for a few weeks. Don't tell me I've missed the rehearsal dinner," she scoffs, walking over to the wet bar and pouring herself a drink. "Or did you finally come to your senses and realize that this arrangement between you and my husband is nothing more than a two dollar fling?"

Listening to Vita's arrogance expel from her lips takes me back. I hadn't realized that I've been able to get under her skin so well.

"No, Nick and I are doing very well, thank you."

Vita rolls her eyes and takes a swig from her drink.

"Well, it has to do with a few things. My bachelorette party is tomorrow night and I still haven't received your RSVP. Don't tell me it got lost in the mail," I joke.

"Nothing would please me more than to be there, Sadie, but I have more important things to do than drinking away my sorrows with a bunch of hussies."

"I won't be drinking anything," I say, letting her insult roll off my back. "Other than water, that is."

Vita looks at me questionably.

"I'm pregnant." I don't have enough time to relish the colour draining from Vita's face before the door to her bedroom opens.

"Mrs. Alto?" A pudgy woman with dark hair tied up at the back of her head comes into view. She has a baby bag slung over her shoulder and a few toys in her hands.

Vita turns to face her, finishing off her drink. "Yes?"

"My name is Linda Duran and I'm here on the behalf of Social Services. I'm sorry to report that your child is being taken away."

"What?"

"We were contacted by an anonymous caller reporting that you are unstable and unable to care for your child."

"This is ridiculous!" Vita argues. "I'm stable. Look around yourself!"

"I am." Linda glares at the empty glass in Vita's hand. "You have treated your child poorly and, unfortunately, we are going to take her away," Linda continues.

"You can't... You won't!" Vita's dropped her glass now and is following Linda as she makes her way to the front door.

I stand in the back watching. It's like a soap opera. A sad soap opera where I actually feel something other than hatred. I feel and that's a problem. It can and will be used as a weakness if handed to the wrong person. Tears sting the back of my eyes to the point where I have to turn away and wipe them.

I am the person who did this. I called them, had them brought here after telling them a long story about how Vita was mistreating her child. How Nick hasn't been around much because of work and how the child has been suffering.

Vita runs by me and straight into her room. She's not going to hide. She's there to see if Alicia actually has been taken away. Her crib is empty just like my parents' bedroom was when I went to wake them that morning many years ago. I am young again and I feel everything. The echoing of my blood running through my ears. The tension at the back of my throat with the urge to cry. 

When I see Linda start her car up and drive off, I clear my throat, compose myself and return to the woman in front of me.

"You did this!" Vita screams at me. She's shaking and for the first time since I've known her, there is real devastation in her eyes. I've made a dent. Vita won't be able to crawl into her igloo and forget this all happened like she's done time and time again. No, this time, I have her in the palm of my hand, closing in on her.

"I'm sorry, Vita... truly."

"Why would you do such a horrible thing?"

I smirk inwardly at her. "I know you don't understand this, but there is room for one child in this house and one child only. Seeing as you can barely keep up on your own I thought it would be best to have her moved into a family with love bursting at its seams. I'm sure you can understand that."

"You're a monster!"

Her words slap me hard across the face. "No, I'm your best friend, who has been there and will always be there for you when you need me most." I turn around and head back to the office as Vita bursts into tears. I don't look back. I can't bare to see her face or for her to see mine. I know I can't hide behind this mask of apathy any longer. I close the door and sit down.

My guilt grows as I listen to the wails coming from Vita in the other room. Her thrashing and glasses shattering once they come in contact with the ceramic floor. My guilty heart is a silent one and I can barely hear or feel its pulse. Tears stream down my face for I know how hard it is to be torn from a family member. Whether or not she was good at it, Vita was Alicia's mother and there is nothing that can change that. A mother's love is stronger than any other out there and no matter how hard she tries, Vita will never be able to forget this. The unfortunate part for me is that neither will I. I have dug myself too deep in the hole that I know for a fact there is no way out. I have gone the distance of pulling a child from her mother just like she had me and I will continue on with tomorrow as if nothing ever happened. While I haven't married into the family completely yet, I have transformed into an Alto, through and through.

Offline Katala

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eleven: One and Only
« Reply #55 on: December 06, 2015, 11:34:36 PM »
Poor Vita, Sadie has broken herself, and broken things can never truly be repaired
"Two paths diverged in the woods, and I took the one less traveled...And it hurt man! Rocks! Thorns! Glass! Not cool Robert Frost, not cool."
- Kid President

Offline Magpie2012

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eleven: One and Only
« Reply #56 on: December 07, 2015, 11:13:16 AM »
And as Sadie says she has "transformed into an Alto, through and through"... I hope she can find her way back to herself once all this is over! I still don't trust the guy that hired her... It all just seems a little too pat for me... I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who got rid of Sadie's parents and now is trying to do the Alto's in because they were friends with them... Not that I think Nick and Vita are innocent, they could never be that. But something just doesn't feel right about this whole thing.
because... Math *Pippin The Most Tenacious Simmer*

Only 2 things are infinite... The universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe. *Albert Einstein*

Don't believe all the quotes that have been attributed to me. *Albert Einstein*

I can't ignore ALL of the voices in my head - Some of them actually make sense! *Blayzen*

Offline experience

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eleven: One and Only
« Reply #57 on: December 08, 2015, 09:44:30 AM »
You might be onto something there, Magz. I can confirm that Mr. Peters makes a reappearance next season.  :o

Offline Katala

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eleven: One and Only
« Reply #58 on: December 08, 2015, 02:16:44 PM »
I agree, I never quite liked the idea of "Mr Peters", and her finding all those files (including her parents') just seemed too easy
"Two paths diverged in the woods, and I took the one less traveled...And it hurt man! Rocks! Thorns! Glass! Not cool Robert Frost, not cool."
- Kid President

Offline experience

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Re: Divine Deception -- Episode Eleven: One and Only
« Reply #59 on: December 10, 2015, 06:18:20 PM »
Poor Mr. Peters. He was only trying to help.  ::) yeah... right.

 

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