Addicted To Greed (17 page)
Authors: Catherine Putsche
Something didn’t seem right as she approached the front door,
she could hear Charlie barking jumping up behind the front
door, she knocked again and began talking to Charlie to try and
calm him down, his barks becoming whimpers and cries. She
tried the door handle but it was locked, dialing his mobile again
praying he would pickup this time,
c´mon James please pick up!
But he didn’t. She began looking at the windows, hoping one of
them was left open but they were all closed. Checking the back
the back door, climbing over the locked gate in a panic she got
her trouser leg caught in the wood splinters and tore it away
leaving a large piece of black fabric behind her. Was
she over
reacting?
When she approached the back door it was in
complete darkness.
Charlie was clawing the back door barking again, she tried the
handle expecting it to be locked and to her surprise it wasn’t.
Charlie greeted her by nearly knocking her off her feet and then
ran through the kitchen quickly all the way up the stairs barking
and running all the way back down the stairs to the kitchen. She
found herself fumbling around for a light switch, as soon as she
found the switch and darkness became light she stood looking at
the kitchen it its complete disarray, another thing James had
neglected, it was a complete mess, a bottle of Jack Daniels lay
on its side, the whisky dripping from the counter onto the floor.
Charlie was insistent that she follow him, his barking and
running up and downstairs all the time to get her attention, she
followed turning the light switches on. When they both reached
James bedroom door it was closed and Charlie was jumping up
at it trying to claw his way in, she shuddered in anticipation, the
palm of her hands had become sweaty and her heart began to
race, Charlie looked up at her with those big sad brown eyes
waiting for her to open the door, she approached the door with
caution while gently turning the door handle and slowly pushing
the door open!
Great, another bloody room with no light.
S
troking the wall with her other hand she found the switch and
Charlie pushed through the small gap barking and yelping as she
turned the light switch on she gradually opened the door to
allow herself in and screamed in horror at James hanging from
the ceiling in mid air with a rope around his neck, his face and
body lifeless, she ran towards him shaking him for signs of life,
checking his wrist for a pulse, he was so cold, hoping there was
still life left in him, there was no response, she felt helpless and
it suddenly began to dawn on her she was too late, he was dead.
She sat staring at him for some time just sobbing inconsolably,
what had been so bad that he had to commit suicide, end his life
in this horrific way, then she noticed a needle on the floor, some
foil and a dirty tea spoon, what the hell was he doing with this,
had he been injecting heroin? She looked around his room for
other signs and there it was a letter from his ex wife, it was three
pages long, as she sat and read the letter she could hardly
believe she was threatening to take Dylan away from him
permanently, she had already applied for full custody of Dylan
on the grounds of James been a registered heroin addict who
couldn’t be trusted to look after their son and so on, the court
case was due to start early next week. She then noticed the
official court papers which confirmed what his ex wife was
threatening, it all started becoming clearer. Ella had to call for
an ambulance and wait for them to arrive, she could barely
watch them carry his body away it was heartbreaking knowing
she would never see her best friend alive again. She then placed
another call to James mum. Several days passed since James
killed himself, she broke the news to the boys; they were
devastated and asked if they would ever get to see Dylan again?
Ella didn’t have the answer to this question. The day of James
funeral was approaching and she was anxious about seeing his
ex wife and Dylan, she wasn’t sure how to approach them, she
loathed the woman for what she did to Dylan and more so to
James, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to contain her
hatred. She called Destiny and asked if she could attend the
funeral with her, confessing her and James night of passion, her
pregnancy in which was nicely hidden, the lead up to James’s
suicide and the moment in which she found him.
are you gonna be okay?”
“I don’t know I’m not doing so well so far, I can’t eat, sleep or
get James suicide out of my head, his sudden departure has left
me feeling empty and hollow!”
come over for a few weeks; help out a bit if you like?”
“If you wouldn’t mind sis, I am not even sure if I can carry on in
this world anymore, the only thing keeps me going is the boys, I
have never felt so low in all my life!”
“You’re a survivor sis and I know you’ll
get through this, you
just need a little help on the way. I’ll be over in the next hour,
can I get you anything?”
Ella put the receiver down and stared into space, searching for
some clarity and found none, she knew the signs of depression
as she had suffered with it before and she knew she was battling
with it now, she couldn’t see the light at the end of this tunnel,
and in fact she couldn’t even image the tunnel ever ending. She
had lost the one person in her life who she always thought would
be there into the realms of old age, sharing a good old laugh, a
joke with, watching their kids grow into adults and sharing fond
memories of their childhoods, adolescence and so on. What hurt
the most was that James wouldn’t be around to share and enjoy
all this, he was an exceptional dad to Dylan, no one could take
this away from him, not his bitch of an ex wife, he may have had
his problems with heroin in which he hid very well, but never
once did he put Dylan in jeopardy. It turned out that James only
dabbled occasionally, at weekends or when he knew Dylan was
in the care of his grandmother, as a teenager he became hooked
on it for a few years, sought help and went onto a methadone
program through the help of his doctor and family. Then he met
Debbie his ex wife and kicked the habit for good until recently,
little did he know the bitch would use this against him in years
to come and that is what drove him to the edge, his inability to
imagine a life without Dylan was unbearable and he knew
Debbie would fight this out until she got what she wanted, after
all she and Mr Gym had plenty of money to hire the best
solicitors, James had very little money and knew it was a fight
he could lose. She still couldn’t imagine what was going
through James mind, the pain, the anguish, the fear of losing his
little boy, she just wish he could of confided a little more in her,
she would of supported and fought all the way with him, if only
he could of shared all this with her, maybe she could of
prevented his death, his horrible suicide, such a final solution to
a temporary problem.
Ella remembered Destiny moving in with her and the boys, if
she hadn’t come to her aid she wasn’t sure what would have
happened to her and the boys, or how she would have got
through the pregnancy and birth of her beautiful daughter Anna.
Here she was presently sat with the very handsome Frank,
having all the money she ever dreamed of, contemplating on
whether or not she should ask him on a date, but with her past
history she decided better of it. Something was telling her to
throw caution to the wind. Maybe it was too soon after James
suicide, it was one year next week and it seemed like two weeks
ago. A sudden onset of guilt hit her, what if she had inherited all
this money back then? Would it of prevented James from taking
his life? She wondered why things happen in life that nobody
could prevent. And why was timing so lousy? Dylan may have
still had his father around. How she missed James, she must
contact his mum and ask how Dylan is; hopefully he would be
able to come over for a visit in the new house.
Destiny
Chapter 8
for a moment please?”
“What, oh yeah, sorry, pardon me Sir I couldn’t help but get
distracted for a few moments there.”
Spencer Pratt was all she saw, he was doing some warm up
exercises outside on the football field, his long lean but
muscular legs stretching and swatting, keeping his body in a
perfect line, in his sexy sky blue shorts.
Destiny was in her freshman year at St
John’s University,
Spencer was a senior and a very fit senior at that, not only that
he was also captain of the football team. Destiny found him a
welcoming distraction, as opposed to biological systems and
cognitive processes. Today’s class was a study of brain
functions in schizophrenics, the diagram of the brain on the
white board, split into sections. She refocused and pretended to
pay attention to what Professor Kline was demonstrating, hoping
he wouldn’t call her to explain her results, as he often did,
instead he called John Myers, the geek of the class to discuss his
findings with the rest of the class. She sat back in relief and
began to wonder if perhaps the Psychology side of her degree
was something she wanted to pursue any further, hopefully it
wasn’t too late to switch to another subject after all social
science was the majority of her degree in which she loved,
maybe she could do media studies or theology instead!
Thinking back now she was kind of talked into doing
Psychology by her father convincing her that a joint degree,
Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of the Arts would broaden her
horizons. Her father was proud of her grades four a levels at
grade a, he couldn’t have expressed any more delight, promising
he would be over in England in September. Destiny
remembered the day so well several weeks into her first
semester at St John’s University , he made a special effort to
pick her up from University and drive her to Fargo’s,
mentioning that he had booked a table for them at her favorite
restaurant, failing to inform her that his new wife would be there
awaiting them. Destiny remembered Felicity standing there
awaiting their arrival gracefully air kissing her and
congratulating her on her a level results. Destiny hated the fact
that Felicity was there sharing in her celebrations with her
father, she almost felt like making some excuse to leave. She
felt disappointed and annoyed as she believed that Felicity was
one of the most superficial people she had ever met in her
eighteen years.
Destiny sat back and watched Felicity create an exaggerated
display of enthusiasm whenever they meet up. Destiny’s father
embraced her whispering something in her ear, in which Destiny
couldn’t make out, but her expression changed into one of utter
excitement, they both winked at each other while seating
themselves directly opposite Destiny.
Destiny began to feel a little uneasy, she hated been the centre of
attention in any situation however it was only over several years
that her father began to pay any interest in her, since Ella had
sadly disappointed him with her decision not to go to university
and go into retail instead. Destiny recalled that her father,
Wilhelm was shocked beyond belief his eldest daughter was
turning her back on higher education as he would quote on many
occasions that, “
Education was the key to ones success!”
Wilhelm had also offered to pay all Ella’s fees and
accommodation and set her up with a generous monthly
allowance so she didn’t have to wait tables or do anything
menial such as cleaning. Wilhelm had never accepted his eldest
daughter’s choice regarding her future or her career progression
and couldn’t understand that Ella was ready to go into the real
world and earn her own money.
Here Destiny was sat having all Ella rejected, her university
education paid for, modest accommodation and a very generous
monthly allowance and yet she was slightly envious of Ella’s
independence and freedom as Ella had actually for the first time
in her life stood up their daddy.
Destiny could still hear Ella’s stern words, “No thanks dad I’ve
made my mind up to work in retail. I’ve already accepted a job
offer in a wedding boutique as a sales assistant, and I start next
week!”
Destiny recalled at that very moment in time she thought her
heart was going to stop as she witnessed her daddy’s reaction,
all the blood seem to rush into his face, sending his pale
complexion crimson red, she thought his head might actually
explode, however he then took a deep breath to calm himself.
“Ella I have never heard anything so absurd, a university
education is far more important than working in the retail sector,
there isn’t much scope for you to work yourself up in that
profession and I beg you to reconsider my offer?”
“I can’t dad
dy, this is my chosen career, the one I have dreamed
of since the age of 5, but what would you know about that, you
were hardly ever around to know what I liked and disliked were
you?”
“That’s not fair Ella, my work took me all over the world, I may
not have been there as much as I should have, but if it wasn’t for
my work, I wouldn’t have been able to keep you all in the
lifestyle you all became accustomed to!”
“You were never there at
all, we all suffered as a result of this,
especially my poor mother and Chase, he hardly knew you at all,
he grew up fatherless thanks to your job and your new wife who
is only a little older than myself!”
Destiny remembered sitting back wanting the earth to open up
between her feet and swallow her up, it was the first time she
had heard Ella’s speak to their father in such a manner, she
could see this was escalating into a huge row. She wondered
where Ella had found all her courage to actually stand up to their
father. She secretly admired her sister’s strength, as she
wouldn’t have dared to confront their father about his past even
though she hated it, although she had eventually come to accept
it in time. Destiny recalled trying to focus on something else in
their father’s dining room, his drinks cabinet, it was stocked up
with different kinds of color liquids, she suddenly found herself
fighting the urge to help herself to a neat double vodka,
wondering if her father would even notice if she poured herself
one, just to take the edge off her nerves. Now all that she
needed to do was wait and remain as inconspicuous as she
possibly could and wait for the perfect moment! Finally it came
when Ella started shouting the odds at their father enraging him
into a massive ding dong about their mother, Chase, and herself.
Destiny tiptoed to the drinks cabinet, spotting the pineapple
schnapps first, it was the closest bottle to hand, without further
ado she poured herself half a glass, pretending to admire the
great map ball of the world that held all the spirits within, whilst
hiding her glass behind it at the same time. She remembered her
father’s scowl wondering what she was doing so close to the
drinks cabinet. The only time Destiny was permitted to drink
was at the occasional meals they shared each quarter of the
month, she would be allowed one glass of white or red wine
with their evening meal, as she was still only still fifteen years
old at the time. She remembered on many occasions that she
would point out to her father that in France children were
allowed to drink from the age of five with their parents, with
their consent only. Her father would then go onto lecture her on
the dangers of alcohol, she would sit and listen intently and
obediently letting him enjoy the sound of his own voice, deep
down she wasn’t listening to him she was waiting for the
opportunity to grab another glass without his consent, in which
she did on a number of occasions when he would often retire
into the study with his cognac and cigars, a few of his fellow
men following suit. The women would retire into the living
room, discussing their next big charity event; it reminded her of
the Victorian era as she longed to live in those times.