Lara
Lara’s husband says “take that dress off immediately and change into those baggy black jeans and long sleeved turtleneck I bought you. Now.”
His name is Devin and he stands six foot five, a muscular silhouette of black in the corner of the murky, shadowed living room. His hair is dark and thick and his hands are big. He’s quiet but strong. And though she can’t see much in the dim light at this hour of just past eight on an overcast Saturday in late September, she has every single one of his skull and crossbones tattoos etched onto her brain forever.
She’s been afraid of those markings and what they represent for almost as long as she can remember.
“But I… I… bought this dress for a special occasion you know and… it’s Jodie’s birthday so all of us girls decided to dress kind of the same… like a party theme. And… I… well I… didn’t think you’d mind just this once”, she stammers in a voice like air swooshing out of her lungs in one rapid breath. Then she looks down at the pretty cherry red skirt of the most beautiful dress she’s ever owned and tears fill her eyes at the thought of having to take it off.
Still looking down, she murmurs quietly, pleadingly “I will be good tonight I promise. Cross my heart, I will be on my best behavior.”
She first feels rather than sees his sinister smile and when she lifts her head she knows she’s in trouble as she catches a glimpse of the flash of his teeth. Monster teeth she thinks, the fear of them slowly filling her veins like a toxic blood transfusion.
Her husband isn’t really smiling though. His top teeth are grabbing hold of his bottom lip in a sad kind of grimace. A tear slips from his left eye and slowly snakes down his face.
“No, you won’t Lara. We both know you won’t. That dress is so tight you can barely walk without the short skirt tearing in two. And those stilettos are shoes I’ve only seen on certain… how should I put it? … Girls of the night…”
His voice trails off and Lara’s hands automatically clench into fists. In that moment, she wants to lash out at him, she wants to be bigger and stronger than him. She wants to have superhero powers. She wants to get away from him for good.
But she doesn’t dare say any of that.
Devin’s tone goes quieter as he continues speaking in the wake of her silence.
“I don’t know how much more I can take of this Lara, you know that. We’ve been through it all so many times and it has to end. Do you have any idea how much blood poured from my shoulder last night? I’ve got a gouge as big as a bite out of an apple from that rake you attacked me with and it still throbs even after Mia numbed it and stitched it up.” He pauses momentarily just long enough to swallow the lump that’s formed in his throat before continuing.
“If you want to go out tonight and proceed like you always do, if you want to take part in those acts that hurt me, annihilate me, devastate me, I can’t stop you. And dressed like that you will, I know you will. But I’ve been doing this too long, so long in fact that it’s become a habit formed that I can’t quit. Begging you is what I do on autopilot. Begging, ordering, demanding, call it what you will. To no avail of course. But … still… one can always try to keep hoping. And no matter what, I’d feel better if you changed at least. Maybe then you can be who I want you to be.”
As his words evaporate like morning dew on a rose, Devin’s heart begins to beat faster in his chest, the drumming keeping pace now with the throbbing in his shoulder. His palms are sweaty, the anger and desperation thundering in his ears louder with each second, like a crescendo at a symphony. If he doesn’t cool it, if he doesn’t watch what he says, if he goes too far, she’ll have those mafia brothers of hers bashing their fists in his face faster than she can find herself a man tonight. They can do so much more damage than just hold him down for her to take a sharp garden tool to. He’s trapped in a way he never thought possible. He has no money, no belongings that aren’t partly Lara’s or owned by her mafia family, and nowhere to run or hide. He’s pretty sure there’s no way he could ever outrun her loaded omnipotent Italian mobster family and live to tell about it. The son of hardworking parents – school teachers in the Bronx – and a teacher himself – he’s been shown that you have to work to make an honest living but if you have good values and a hell of a lot of compassion, you can still be happy most of the time. So for fear of his life he doesn’t stand a chance of disappearing from this lonely toxic relationship. Still… if he were to be honest with himself… it’s the way he’s always felt about her that keeps him chained here.
Until now.
He remembers the night he fell in love with Lara, his heart plunging like a sack of bricks crashing to the ground, heavy with intensity and passion. They had been sailing on her brother’s boat The Caspian all day long, sipping champagne and playing Gin Rummy at the oak table in the cabin below. The weather started out beautiful, hot and sunny, a cloudless blue sky he could see reflected in Lara’s green eyes making them turn the most dazzling shade of teal he’d ever seen. Her hair was a golden tangle of curls cascading down her back and her skin was coconut brown. It smelled like coconuts too. That and some exotic lemon lime fragrance he wanted to drown in. Then a storm suddenly whipped across the ocean seemingly out of nowhere, and they took cover hoping it would pass. It did rather quickly, but the drizzling cool rain hung on floating softly in the air bringing the temperature way down along with it. It was the perfect cozy setting on a private boat with nothing but the lull of the gently lapping waves and the two of them doing romance just right. Better than right. He gave his heart and soul to her that night.”
That was so many years ago now but he’ll never forget how intensely he wanted her. How he thought… believed… they would happily grow old together. If only he’d known who she was then. If only he’d been more cautious instead of so bloody reckless.
“Now you listen here, you stupid dick! I am tired of you telling me what to do and when to do it, who I can see and who I can’t. You promised you’d take care of me for the rest of my life. And yours. And you have to keep that promise. You know I’m not well. And I need you Devin. Just like my mama always said: Lara, there’s something wrong with you darlin and one of these days you’re gonna have to be someone else’s problem”.
Devin flinches. The woman is Italian born and bred and sometimes, like right now, her completely fake and disturbingly strange southern accent scares the crap out of him.
Not to mention that it makes her voice sound louder, harder, and harsher, with all that twang rolling off her tongue.
“And mama was right, now I’m yours husband dear.”
He wants to remind her that she’s been his problem for what seems like eternity now. He can’t remember a time when he liked himself enough to be happy, a time when he wasn’t dealing with her outbursts, her violence, her mental illness that bordered on pure evil. But God did he love her. After everything she put him through, he couldn’t ever say no to her. In the end she always got what she wanted; he wasn’t just wrapped around her finger he was clutched between all of them, inside both her hands, squeezed, wrung dry. Grasped so tightly that he could barely breathe anymore.
She now takes one of those fingers, with the sharp pointy long nail painted bright red and wags it at him.
“Don’t you stand there gaping at me like some big oaf with no brains inside your stupid head. You know you have no choice but to do as I say even though you like to play the victim, the poor big man who suffers in silence. Dontcha? But there’s nowhere for you to run that my brothers won’t find you Devin. They will tear up the entire world looking for you should you decide to run and hide somewhere. Even if it’s on the other side of this earth, that don’t matter. They will hunt you down like a deer in the woods and shoot ya right here, between the eyes,” she points at her own forehead.
And this time Lara shows her teeth, a fake cold smile that does nothing but pierce his heart even deeper and for a second, a split second, his compassion, his loyalty, his love and commitment, all seem to dissipate like early morning fog after the sun breaks through the clouds. Instead of looking into her eyes as he usually finds himself doing, Devin averts his gaze from her altogether and an image of Mia, his young next-door neighbor flashes across his mind. Sweet Mia, with her long dark hair and perfect blunt fringe framing her delicate face and bringing out the dark indigo blue of her eyes. Gorgeous petite Mia with just the right amount of freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks and the delicate scent of baby powder and strawberries wafting off her skin.
The image gets kicked out of his mind like Lara jabbed at it with the spike of her heel.
“Don’t you forget that you will always belong to me honey bunch; you will never get rid of me. Even if I have to kill you in your sleep, you’ll still be mine to the very last second of your life. Now get out of my way, I have some partying to do.”
She’s out the door before he can utter a word. And additional fear creeps into his heart. He lets out a sigh and runs his fingers through his hair.
As more bad memories crawl back to him like cockroaches across the floor of a dingy seedy motel, he looks out the window to see her swaying her hips and fluttering her eyelashes at the taxi driver.
He’ll never forget the first time he caught her with another man.
It was the day he came home from his trip to Chicago early, thinking he’d surprise her. Just like every other fool whose wife is cheating on him when he’s away, he caught her right in the act.
They were in the shower, the bathroom a steam filled sauna making it that much more difficult to gasp for air when he realized what was going on. He thinks he may have let out a tortured howl like a dying lone wolf in the biting cold of a winter blizzard, separated from his pack and lost deep in the woods.
He wanted to punch the bastard in his face but his anger gave way very quickly to sheer devastation and sadness when he realized that Lara was the one all over the guy, doing all kinds of things with her lips and hands to his body. The short fat bald creep with rolls of flesh hanging from every inch of him it seemed, was barely even touching her.
But Devin had no time to react to that when suddenly she stopped and stared right at him, and another emotion broke through his soul like the blast of an explosive: absolute astonishment.
Devin was astounded because she was the one who was furious! With him!
She wasn’t the least bit embarrassed, mortified, remorseful! She had not one shred of self-loathing! She didn’t feel or act guilty at all. Lara exhibited no signs of those emotions someone might harbor after being caught doing something so vile, so ugly, so traitorous, to a good loving husband. A tall dark handsome, yes the epitome of the cliché, wonderful guy who would take a bullet for her and pretty much already had, and who loved her with all his heart. No, Lara was steaming mad at him for having the audacity to come home early and intrude on her hookup with another man.
She charged at him, ran naked across the marble bathroom floor screaming, nails ready to rake his face which she did, drawing blood. He caught her easily in both his arms, a bear hug to subdue her somewhat, and held her hands away from his face before she did more damage. She kicked him in the shins which didn’t hurt as she was barefoot but after that he just let go of her and got the hell out of there. He left shaking like a leaf, tears pouring down his face along with the rivulets of blood.
It didn’t take long for Devin to discover that he had no choice but to calm down and realize this was his life. He knew she wasn’t right in the head, he’d known that for some time but swept it under the rug and didn’t want to face it. Things got worse when that night, Lara, still so furious, had her brothers dole out their punishment. They beat him, fists flying, knuckles connecting with the tissue on his cheeks, around his eyes, his chest, his stomach. And, when he could no longer hang on and slumped to the floor, a few kicks landed across his back for good measure. After that, it was explained to him by Lara and her mob siblings how things were going to roll from that point forward. Lara could do what she wanted and he was to turn a blind eye and continue worshipping her no matter what. At that point they had seized his finances, even though he made his own money teaching mechanics and Phys Ed at the local high school, his bank account was no longer his own.
Neither was his life.
His relationship with Mia began when she started asking questions about the constant bruises, black eyes, limping, and swollen cut lips. After a while he confessed to her; told her what was going on and she, having a bit of a checkered past herself, kept his secret. And told him one of her own. She had been the victim of an abusive spouse as well and was constantly living in fear. They were two peas in a pod so to speak and Devin thought it was uncanny how fate seemed to have brought them together. Still… they were trapped each in their own way and it seemed nothing would change for either of them anytime soon.
“I think it’s time we did it Mia. I think we should get the hell away from here come hell or high water. The plan isn’t great, but what if we followed it anyway? Tonight.”
Devin whispers these words in her pretty little ear, holding her soft pretty little hand and almost, almost forgetting about the pain in his shoulder.
She smiles and gently puts her other hand on his cheek, caressing it, running her fingers over the scars there and looks into his hazel eyes fringed by the longest lashes she’s ever seen on any man.
Before she gets a chance to say anything, however, a knock at her kitchen window makes her jump. A second later, the shattering of glass elicits a yelp from her lips as it’s smashed in by Devin’s brother-in-law’s nine iron golf club.
“You ain’t plannin’ on runnin’ away tonight folks, are ya? Cause that wouldn’t be a smart move now, would it?”
Devin tries to gently maneuver Mia behind him in order to shield her somewhat as he faces his familial tormentor.
“Why don’t you just let us go Tony? Lara doesn’t even want me around anymore, you know she’ll be better off without me anyway. Happier, freer, more uninhibited to do what she pleases. I don’t want to stand in her way and I know she’ll be so much better off if I’m not here to bother her anymore. Come on, Tony, think reasonably. There’s no reason for her to have me bring her down, to tame her when she doesn’t want to be tamed in the least.”
But Tony isn’t falling for any of that. With an evil smile on his face he lunges at Devin with such speed and force that when Devin steps out of the way, Tony smacks face first into Mia’s solid wood china hutch.
“Run! Mia run with me, this way!” Devin shouts and grabs her hand as they dash through the front door and barrel down the rain slicked road. It’s one o’clock in the morning and the street is dark, the air misty with precipitation and a clean fresh scent is wafting off the trees and brush in the evergreen forest behind the houses on each side of the concrete.
They keep running as shots ring out behind them; in no time, Tony is sprinting to catch up; a gun in his hand and a look of rage on his face.
Devin pulls Mia along behind him willing her to keep up with his fast pace and long legs but she’s so tiny and slight that it’s hard for her and, at that moment, he doesn’t know what else to do but pray.
Lights are coming on in houses now, bedroom window lights and then porch lights as residents awake to the noise and commotion and sleepily rubbing their eyes, peer out to see the source of it all. All the while Tony is yelling at the top of his lungs that he’s going to kill them both, put them in the ground so deep they’ll never crawl out and then Devin hears the sound of sirens off in the distance.
He prays harder and keeps running with Mia in tow although at a much slower pace now to match one she can handle. At the very moment when Tony catches up to them, no longer shooting but concentrating more on seizing them with his bare hands so he can do all kinds of painful damage before executing the final bullet, something happens to Devin’s body. It starts to tingle in a way he’s never felt before. The pain in his shoulder miraculously and abruptly disappears and suddenly his leather boots are no longer pounding the pavement, splashing in puddles and kicking up loose gravel here and there. Because his feet, when he looks down at them, are not touching the ground at all! They are hovering in mid air and his body, and Mia’s are both rising higher and higher aimed straight at the dark leaden clouds above their heads. Devin can’t believe what is happening! Mia can’t either but the two of them propel themselves forward somehow with such force that when Tony’s bullet fires straight at them as he stands dumbfounded on the road below, they dodge it by speeding faster and higher, further and further away from him. In no time at all, they are across town flying through the atmosphere like birds, like planes, like true super heroes. Of course, it’s really only Devin who’s flying, Mia is just hanging on for dear life.
After what seems like a mere few minutes, they find themselves on the other side of the earth swooping above a tropical island which looks to be so remote, there isn’t even a boat or ship or rubber dingy in sight. When Devin aims his arms downward towards the little piece of palm tree paradise bordered by pure white sand and clear blue water on all sides, they can’t believe what they find there. Fresh water flowing in a waterfall, mangos, bananas, coconuts, and all kinds of delicious healthy edible fish everywhere. And best of all, they are the only ones who inhabit it.
Meanwhile, back in New York, try as they might to this day, neither Tony, his brothers, or Lara… have ever been able to find them.