Stains

Family Dinner Part Two

As Mare got home, she realized how quiet it was in the usually crowded apartment. She walked through the first room, to the kitchen. She noticed a savory smelling dinner heating on the stove and the assortment of bowls. For just a moment, she was afraid. As she walked further to the dining table, she had every right to be scared. Sitting across the table from one another, like something from a horror movie, was Julien sipping on a glass of wine, and Daisy tied to her seat. Julien motioned at a single empty seat with a light smile. Mare looked across from them both and sat at the chair between them.

"Thank you for joining us." Julien said. Mare looked at Daisy who was crying. Her mascara was dripping down her perfect skin.

"What's this?" Mare asked looking at each of the individual bowls. All looked like excellent tasting dishes. She wondered who took the time to make them.

"We have quite a few things to say, so we are all here to say them." Julien said looking at Daisy who was so afraid. Mare looked at her too and the stains of tears rolling down her cheeks. Daisy's eyes looked down and were too petrified and paralyzed to look up.

"I've said my peace. Why is she tied up?"

"No, you talked and didn't listen, it's my turn. And do you want to tell her why?" He asked looking at Daisy.

She gulped down her fear and looked up at Mare. "When he came in, I-I pulled a knife on-on him." She said sniffling.

"Tell her why." Julien demanded.

"I tried to run bu-but I shouldn't have. And he pulled me back." Daisy said. It was that moment, Mare wished they would've still been in the motel room. As messy as everything was, and despite the fact that Mare could never love Daisy, she wasn't here. She wasn't Julien's. She was safer in the motel room. 

"Julien, this isn't right." She said quickly and shooting her glare at him.

"Keep talking to her Daisy. Tell her more." Julien said sadistically. He stood up from his seat and began to pace the floor behind Daisy as she spoke.

Her voice was a series of mumbles. "He is in control. We listen to him." She said, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Julien, let her go."

"Keep talking." He said louder than before.

"I apologized for my actions." Daisy said and her eyes completely locked in on the ring of water around her glass cup. Mare tried to think of her smiling, but she couldn't bring anything up. Mare looked her up and down and finally noticed how dirty the rope was, how stains of red still glistened. It was as if she could feel them on her own skin. She wanted to reach out and pull them off, but her hands sat idly in her crossed arms. "You should...too. I was a horrible girlfriend. And I'll b-be better." She said hopelessly looking at Julien. Mare turned his way to catch his cruel expression. The hurt in her eyes drawing him in like a magnet. He lived for the taste of her blood.

Mare stood up from her seat and walked behind Daisy, pulling a steak knife off the table. "Stop!" Julien said pulling out a gun from the back of his pants. Mare stood up and put the knife to Daisy's throat.

"You're done." She said, not wanting to kill Daisy, but wanting to tempt Julien. "I'm done with this. A woman will not suffer in front of me and I will not willingly watch." Mare said with a strength that mocked Julien.

"You won't kill her, you wouldn't hurt a fly." He laughed. He had a glowing sweat over his brow and a chaotic smile dashing to and from his lips.

"And you won't kill me." She said proudly. She leaned back down and began to cut the ropes. Julien watched in horror as each rope loosened and fell at Daisy's side. When Daisy could move her arms, she ran her fingers delicately over where the red marks were. As soon as she could move, she jumped out of her seat and ran. Mare tossed the knife onto the table and plopped herself back in the seat Daisy had just gotten out of. As she sat, she settled in and rolled her head on her neck with pride. She sat with no expression, but she intimidated Julien. "Sit." She demanded.

"No." He said.

"What the fuck else are you going to do while I dethrone you? Sit the hell down and shut the hell up." She said and motioned her eyes down at his chair as he slowly crept down to his seat. He kept the gun on her. She leaned back in the chair and looked at each corner of the room. "Lots of things have happened in this apartment. Shootouts and parties. Suicide and fucking. These walls have seen a lot of things. 'Hell and back' is an understatement here. You know, it was here where the love of my life lived. Might have been a week and a half, but she was here. In that room, over there." Mare said pointing down the hall to her room. She smiled. "And I lived here, Johnny lives here, Greg and Max. Red died here. Kelly had his first drink here. So many things have happened. We've seen so many people here, we've done so many things. And now, it's all over."

"It doesn't have to be." Julien said swallowing an ounce of pride still sitting in his throat.

"No, Julien, it does. You're obsessive. And Daisy, she's toxic with you. And the thing is, she's the only thing you could ever control so you kept her around. You apparently love me, but you love owning her more. And it's driven you mad. And it destroyed the business and it ruined everything. So, this has to be over. Johnny needs to come home, Max needs to go back to his family."

"Max loves it here." Julien argued, leaning over the table.

"No, he's a kid. He doesn't know what it's like here. Yeah, you get a steady income, but he doesn't understand that the rest of us are suffocating. He sees the high life and the parties, but it's all a joke. We're all in this masquerade party, wearing our smiling masks, but we're all waiting for that moment we can take off the mask and show what's underneath. Daisy gets all the pretty dresses, we live in a lavish penthouse, you bathe in money, but it's not enough. Nothing can compensate for the fact that we sold our souls to be here. Morals out the window, life a glimpse away, happiness out of arms reach. I'm 27 years old, I don't have anybody to love, I don't go see my kids, I don't have a family. The love of my life is dead, my family doesn't call, nobody knows who I am. In the grand scheme of things, I haven't made a difference, and I used to be so smart, but I haven't done anything. I'm tired of it." She said. Smiling at the memories of the beach. She stood up and began walking away, feeling a wave of peace following her, but Julien stood up too.

"The last thing she said," Julien began. Mare stopped where she stood, "I know what her last words were." He said in a gross taunt. Mare turned back around. "I'll walk you through every last second of her life. Sit back down." He said. He sat down in his seat, expecting her to do the same. Reluctantly, she turned back around and walked slowly to her awaiting chair. The unhinged ropes seemed to wait for her so they could wrap around like a snake. 

"Don't do this." Lyndsey said in Mare's mind. She was pulling Mare away, trying to get her out. Mare shook her off and kept going. "Mare! Stop! Turn back around." She begged, but Mare was still going. "Why are you doing this? Stop!" Lyndsey cried. Mare was standing in front of the chair, her stomach flipped around in her chest.

In her mind, she responded, "I love you." And sat back down at the table, scooting her seat up.