Fairy Tales and Poison

PREVIEW: Excerpts: CHAPTER ONE A sticky, wet sweat poured over Hope Morrison when she woke from a half-dazed slumber, only to realise her life wasn’t just a bad dream. She felt cold, like when you first open the door in the winter; that bitter, bone-chilling, down-to-the-spine type of cold. Her whole body shivered. As she attempted to quietly sneak over to the furnace panel in the hall near her bedroom, where she could turn the heat up a few notches, she stubbed her toe on a high-heeled shoe that brought back a replay of last night’s vicious turmoil. The shoe had been the object of choice for Hope’s boyfriend, Victor, when he searched for something to throw at her in the heat of an argument. Argument might be too light of a word to describe the nightmare that had unleashed itself just hours ago in the couple’s bedroom. When Victor had come home drunk in the wee hours of the night, Hope flew off the handle at him in a frustrated rage of worry and anger, which was unfortunately, a typical occurrence of their lives recently. The rest of the night, however, took a turn for the worse, and not so of-the-ordinary. All hell broke loose. Victor had never physically hurt Hope, but on this particular night, his anger, which was escalated by his intoxication, took control, and Hope saw the ugliest side of a man she had once loved so deeply. It wasn’t that she didn’t love him anymore, but more-so just the fact that she felt as if she didn’t know him anymore. She didn’t know where the Victor she had fallen in love with had gone, and she certainly was not fond of his replacement clone. She actually felt a slight hatred towards this beast that had taken over the body of her beloved Victor, whom she missed so desperately. Victor was wearing a mask. His mask concealed the true Victor, and his authentically generous heart. The real Victor could never, not in a million years, treat anyone as bad as this masked mutant treated Hope these days. Not even a dog deserved to be treated so terribly, and left to feel completely exploited, degraded, and humiliated, not to mention broken. Hope just wished she could force Victor back into love with her, as stupid as she knew that sounded. Communication no longer existed. Arguments, fights, and blame were everyday events instead. When they weren’t fighting, there was silence. You could almost taste the tension. Hope envisioned herself standing in a crowded room, and unlike the olden days, Victor didn’t even see her. He looked right at her, made direct eye contact, but she didn’t stand out to him anymore; it was as if he didn’t recognize her. He just gave her a blank expressionless glance. She was just another person in the room; another needle in the haystack of their lives.” ********** ...“Hope certainly didn’t feel attractive to Victor anymore, but the issues were so much more profound than just mere attraction. Truth be told, however, she did not find Victor very attractive anymore either. Physicality is only one piece of the puzzle in the true attractions in a real relationship. The connection they shared was deteriorating steadily, slipping right between their fingers. It was physical, it was emotional; it was the whole shebang falling to pieces. Hope was baffled by how little Victor cared about her, a complete turn-around from the love they once shared, and she could not understand how easily he seemed to walk away last night, and just disregard her pain, especially after they attacked each other like a couple of savage animals. She was so desperately trying to get his attention, and nothing worked anymore…nothing. She felt very un-loved by the stranger who lived with her, and fathered her child. Hope felt her own personality was tainted too. She missed her own old happy, vibrant, free-spirited self. She was so full of anger and bitterness. She definitely was not innocent in the violence that had festered, like an open wound, oozing with infection, just waiting to burst in exasperation. The fight that broke out was definitely a two-way street of verbal bashing that somehow evolved into a huge mess that could have landed them both in jail if someone had walked in, or much worse.” “Hope could only imagine worse outcomes though, which nauseated her, sending her stomach into mayhem. She literally had to run to the bathroom to throw up, and as she was vomiting, so was her head, regurgitating the events of the past evening. Objects had been flying through the air, a curtain rod had been bashed into Victor’s arm, which was both a stress-relief and then a shocker of guilt and remorse for Hope. This was a side of herself she hated, and was disgraced by. The following minutes were a little blurred to Hope, but she knew they were ugly and dark. The end result was Victor throwing Hope into a wall, like a big heap of garbage, and smashing some holes in the bedroom door using that same curtain rod that had injured him. He then took off in a fury, leaving Hope curled up on the floor in a ball of tears and agony, feeling totally defeated.” ********** CHAPTER TWO Once upon a time, which felt like forever ago, there was a happy, fun-filled, loving relationship that existed between Hope and Victor. Victor really had been the sweetest, most endearing young man she had met, especially considering what most sixteen year old guys have on their hormone-driven brains. The guys that Hope went to high school with certainly were not concerned with love or affection, not without a price. Victor was different. He was interested in Hope for more than just her body, in fact it was obvious that he was scared of hurting her, and that he truly did not want to jeopardize her innocence or the real connection they had created.”