Divorce Ever After

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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“Well, Adrian... It’s your turn, truth or dare?”

Spinning a wine bottle, it stopped facing someone who was sitting on the sofa like a king. Beside him was a hostess who was trying to seduce him but that didn’t affect him. He was like a stone who didn’t even melt to that hostess touch but he didn’t push her away either.

“Truth!” he answered.

His voice was cold, but there was a hint of playfulness in it. placing the flicker of his cigarette between his lips, he raised his eyebrows and looked at the hostess beside him.

“I’ll ask the question!”

A friend of his said as he got up from the sofa, with a whisky bottle in his hands. He was already drunk.

“Do you have something which you did in the past but regret now? If you have, what is it?” the guy asked.

A smile appeared on his face, he looked at his drunk friend and chuckled. For the first time in his life, someone aimed a hard question at him. He lowered his eyes and looked at the silver lighter in his hands and played with it for a while.

“I have!” he replied.

“What? You have? Adrian Harisson has something he regrets?”

Everyone looked at him with surprised faces, Adrian did nothing but stare at his lighter as he played with it. He clenched his sharp jaws and looked at his friends with a small nod.

“What the fuck? What the hell is that? Tell us” one of his friends looked into his eyes and asked him.

“A girl, whom I played for three months knowing that she was innocent”

His answer was dangerously honest, he did it. He did it when he was twenty years old and she was just eighteen at that time. He never had regrets about anything he did but that thing, eating him alive.

His face was serious, the little smile on his lips faded as the darkness suppressed his face. His eyes fell on the back of his right hand. On his hand, there was a unique tattoo that was designed with two orcas.

The tattoo was somewhat small, but it held so many undying memories. Looking at the tattoo, he was pulled into the past five years ago. His mind started to show the pictures of her, she was smiling all the time.

She was beautiful, her beauty was the first thing he got addicted to. Innocent and pure, she had everything a perfect woman would have but she trusted too much and she loved too much, that was her only weakness.

He liked her smile, so he wanted to possess it. He successfully possessed it but when time passed he got bored of it. Even though she loved deeply, he was just playing with her all the time.

“Adrian, is it okay if I designed the tattoo for you?” she asked with a pretty smile on her face.

“Yes, do it!” he whispered against her ear playfully as he kissed her earlobe.

“Move away, I can’t concentrate when you’re here and touching me”

Pushing him away, she looked at him and smiled. That smile was filled with love and affection she held for him. He was her everything and she gave him everything she had without even thinking about her own future. Then she came to him after some time.

“Orcas? Why them?” he asked.

He was curious seeing the tattoo she had designed for him. He knew she likes spending time in the aquariums and watching it but never expected this kind of design for his tattoo.

“Well, there are so many reasons. Just like you, they are smart, strong, elegant, and deadly at the same time. But most importantly it’s devotion and faithfulness.”

“Aren’t they similar to my boyfriend?”

She was smiling at him with the answer, he looked at the paper in his hands, she had perfectly designed it. He can be sure that he will be the only one who wears that tattoo.

Even though she was correct about Orcas, she was just wrong about him. He had no devotion and faithfulness in him.

“Where is she now?”

Adrian was pulled back from his memories hearing one of his friends' voices. Letting out a deep sigh, he got up from the sofa and looked at his friend.

“I don’t know..” he replied.

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