A Passion's Scourge

by Sarah S. Collins

  Soon afterwards Elena gave John a kiss on the cheek and told him to write sending news. John took Maggie on his arms and gave her a kiss and then put her down. Elena boarded the bus with her daughters. The family took their seats properly and waved at John who was near the window. Amanda was crying to the point of hiccups and Elena trying to calm her down.

  The driver boarded and introduced himself cordially, right away he made sure that all passengers were in. Moments later he proceeded to his seat. The bus doors closed and then it ignited.

  Maggie looked at her dad’s figure out the window growing more and more distant while waving with her hand. She didn’t know if she’d see him again, but she didn’t wanna think about it. Her frail mind couldn’t grasp everything that was happening and she kept watching John’s image backing away until it completely vanished in the horizon and she couldn’t see him anymore.

  8

  The trip to the state of Wisconsin was exhausting and took around a day and a half. It could extend to a few more days, if the bus happened to break down halfway due to the precarious conditions of the old roads that were harmed by environmental detritions.

  The bus made constant stops to fuel up and also so the passenger could come down and relax a little. Some people stayed the night in a motel nearby.

  Elena had kept a few savings, and was tired to be sitting on the bus’ chair for so long. Her daughters also needed to have a hot bath and relax. She decided to use that money to check in a motal in front of the gas station, where the bus was standing by. The bus would only leave on the next day, at 8:00 in the morning; with no delays.

  Elena climbed the motel’s steps with her daughters, opened the entrance door and proceeded until arriving on the reception desk. The motel wasn’t five stars, but on the reception everything looked neat and organized. The clerk, a young looking lady with dark curly hairs, was wearing a big bair of glasses and chewing a gum. She was watching a TV show. On the desk Elena asked the young receptionist for a room. The lady asked for her and the girls’ names, wrote it all down in a notebook with yellow sheets due to time. Soon after, Elena grabbed the key to the room and the lady, held Elena’s daughters’ hand and went up the stairs towards room 16; which was at the end of the hallway. The room was closed for a long time and the workers didn’t open the window to let some air in. On the moment that Elena stepped into the room she smelled an unpleasant scent of mold. The room had two single beds, an empty and inactive mini-fridge for it didn’t work anymore, a wooden wardrobe, a ceiling fan and a bathroom. Elena asked her daughters to take a bath so they could sleep. The sheets were clean and it was possible to sleep soundly for the night.

  Maggie woke up in the middle of the night with a strong urge to go to the bathroom and pee, however she tried to contain it. Without obtaining any success she had to get up, and went to the bathroom. When she was done, she flushed it and then washed her hands in the sink. Elena was so tired that she didn’t even noticed her daughter had woken up. When Maggie was returning to bed, she heard a noise as if glass had shattered. Maggie was curious to know what had happened. She took her ragdoll. She put on one of her mother’s wool coats that was hanging on a hook behind the room door, opened it slowly and left. She didn’t seem to be afraid of what she could find downstairs. Upon leaving the room the hallway lights were dim, and all the other hotel guests were sleeping. A turmoil of dark thoughts went through her mind about what she could find in the lower floor and on that moment she felt a little afraid. But her curiosity wouldn’t allow her to go back to the room, and she was indeed decided to find out what happened.

  Elena and Amanda slept soundly on their beds, the physical fatigue from the trip had left both of them completely exhausted. Amanda was dreaming that she had traveled on an airplane and it had crashlanded on a paradise island near the Bermuda Triangle, all the passengers had survived the crash having to learn how to survive on the island for months until being found by a cargo ship. Elena was also dreaming. A very confusing dream there were many people climbing over a footbridge in the shape of a caracole. A big crowd. Elena had shaved her head and was wearing white clothes identical to those of the other people. And she walked amongst them who apparently didn’t get anywhere.

  Maggie had finished climbing down the stairs and ended up stepping on a shard of glass. She ducked to remove the piece of glass that had clinged to her sandal. When she got up, she saw that there was a girl standing by the window looking outside the motel. Maggie couldn’t see her face, only a few light beams passed through the gap of the door and the window, but not enough to identify the girl’s face. Approaching Maggie tried to talk to her.

  _ Who are you?

  _ What are you doing here all alone?

  _ It’s very cold, why don’t you come upstairs with me and show me the room where you’re staying.

  _ Come with me, if my mother wakes up and doesn’t see me in the room she’ll scold me.

  The girl didn’t emit any response before Maggie. Maggie took her by the hand to help her up, however she quickly let her go upon feeling that she was completely cold; as a rock of ice. At first Maggie got spooked, then she thought it might’d been because of the cold.

  Winter season had come, the cold was intense and the night before a thin layer of snow had even fallen over the city. The light rifts that jumped from the motel window and door gaps allowed Maggie to see that the little girl was only dressing a bright dress. She was wearing a boot and her hairs were all messy over her face. Maggie decided to return to her room to ask her mother for help, but when she told the girl what she intended to do she left the door’s side and walked towards the kitchen. Maggie whispered for her not to go there, however she didn’t listen and suddenly vanished from her eyes. Maggie was afraid to go to the kitchen looking for her and decided to go back to her room and try to sleep.

  Depois having been through an unreal experience Maggie wanted to stay quiet near her mother in the room.

  When the day shone Maggie woke up and all that had happened over the night seemed to have been a dream.

  Elena packed the bags and left the room with her daughters. She went down the stairs, proceeded to the reception and checked out of the motel. Then she took the time to buy a few phone books with the recepcionist. Elena grabbed the baggage and went to a public telephone. She called Arthur to let him know that she was arriving. And she needed him to pick her up at the station.

  There still around thirty minutes left before the bus’ departure, so Elena took her daughters to eat breakfast in the diner.

  As soon as she returned to the bus and was already set next to the window, Maggie looked over the motel and saw on the window of what looked to be the attic, the reflection of a little girl; very identical to the one she had seen during the night. When turning to call her mother and show her what she saw the image of the little girl had already disappeared. Maggie was puzzled and leaned her head on the glass expecting to see the girl again.

  The bus driver entered the vehicle and greeted all the passengers. Then he took his seat. He started the engines and ignited rapidly hitting the road taking off smoothly with the bus. Meanwhile, Maggie kept looking fixatedly to the motel and after a few seconds she saw it disappear in the horizon.

  Elena didn’t have any interest in going back to that city that had only brought her bad memories anymore. Even if John had been left behind, all that she wanted was to forget all the bad she went through and start over by her family’s side. Throughout those long years that she lived with John, Elena felt that she had lost part of her personality and that she seemed to have become someone else, a woman who happened to lose the real plain satisfaction of living.

  9

  After traveling dozens of miles through the roads, the bus finally arrived on the Janesville bus station. All the passengers were exhausted. When the driver parked the vehicle many passengers were already waiting by the door to get off, it was complete despair to leave the bus.

  Elena thought best to wait for
everyone to get off so she could leave with her daughters.

  In the bus station’s lobby, Arthur was waiting for them sitting oon a bench reading the newspaper; tired of waiting already. Through the phone Elena couldn’t be conclusive about the time of her arrival.

  Through the long hallways of the station Elena carries the large wheel bag looking restlessly for the exact meeting point previously said by Arthur on the phone. When Amanda and Maggie complained of tiredom and sore legs Elena finally catches sight of him up ahead leaning on a pillar.

  _ I thought you weren’t coming anymore. Ranted Arthur upon meeting his daughter. Before even answering Elena dropped the bag and jumped on his neck to hug him. She missed him so much that time had stopped for a few instants.

  Elena introduced her daughters to him.

  _ Come here and give grandpa a tight hug.

  A pick-up truck waited for Arthur in the bus station’s parking lot. A young boy with brown hairs and a goatee was by the wheel. Arthur introduced Bob to Elena, as an employee of his farm. Elena gave him her hand and completely embarrassed shook Bob’s.

  Since Elena had married many things had changed in her father’s life.

  He wasn’t the same man that Elena knew when she left him to marry John, however he kept his notorious mustache; a striking image of men from that time. Arthur now was an important farmer that raised cattle, and a large corn and vegetable plantation. Business was very good for him. With the money he earned, Arthur bought the farm where he lived and the truck; which was used for the transportation of goods bought in town and also order deliveries in grocery shops and supermarkets.

  Elena’s brothers and sisters were able to finish the studies as opposed to her. The boys when arriving from school helped Arthur on the tillage and also with the cattle. Elisabeth continued to take care of the house.

  Everyone had a role in the farm. Elisabeth also helped to take care of the chickens and the pigs by the morning and later prepped everybody’s lunch.

  With the time living in Janesville, Arthur became man known and honored by everyone who lived on the farm’s surroundings, but ended up also provoking envy on other farmers. Arthur needed to buy a gun to protect himself from his enemies, in a way Bob did the dirty work when Arthur was threatened by someone.

  The truck was a little small, but it managed to carry everyone.

  Maggie rushed to sit by the window, but Amanda also wanted to sit by the window and the two initiated a debate that ended up in slaps and scratches between the two. Elena pulled them apart, scolded them and said there was no reason to fight, for there were two windows.

  _ Do they fight like that all the time? Asked Arthur upon seeing his granddaughters fighting.

  _ Yeah father, when one doesn’t agree with the other they start a fight.

  _ But you two are sisters and you can’t fight, you have to be friends.

  After the fight Maggie got in the car and took the backseat, Elena in the middle and Amanda sat next to her. Arthur took the passenger seat with Bob on the wheel.

  Bob became Arthur’s right arm, his handyman as he usually said.

  He met Arthur in the funeral of an old friend.

  Bob needed a job and Arthur was looking for someone of his complete trust, both became beyond working partners; great friends.

  Being apparently twenty five and with an sculptural physique, he wasn’t married and had no children; lived in a cabin near the lake, alone. A lonely man who didn’t like to plant roots where he stood. The only child of Sofia, a battling woman who fought to raise Bob alone. She passed away on a cardiac arrest on her fourties and, Bob at the age of six was raised by his grandmother. He acquired from a young age the wisdom he needed to build his own life.

  When Bob took days off from work he liked to spent the day fishing by the lake.

  It was a small town and didn’t offer many options to whoever sought to have fun. During the afternoons Bob took his car, a pick-up truck with four doors and drove downtown, stopped by a bar to have a few beers and play pool with the boys. Giving that he didn’t have a girlfriend, he spent many nights in a nightclub, where he met a hooker named Caroline. A lady that drew a lot of men’s attention in town, with her sculptural figure. She paraded through the neighborhood’s streets with a black dress so tight that it made it slightly see-through, it was almost possible to see the color of the panties she wore. Most of the time she put on quite provoking red panties. The prude ladies of the region looked at her in repulsion and feared that their husbands would seek her in the brothel she worked for the night.

  After spending a long, hot, very pleasant night with Caroline, Bob was slowly getting up from bed, putting on his clothes and leaving the money for the hook-up on the table. He always left more money than what was charged, for he knew that a good portion of the amount she received was going to the club’s pimp. Momentaneously before leaving, Bob stopped for a few seconds in front of the bed, admiring the sculptural beauty of that stunning hooker’s body. Caroline was naked on the bed and the sheet covered only her bums, leaving out her back and her beautiful curvy legs. She had fallen asleep and didn’t see him leave, Bob didn’t like goodbyes and for many times Caroline asked that he stayed until daylight so they could wake up together, but he always came up with an excuse. Out of all the clients Caroline saw every night, Bob was the only man capable of making her legs tremble. She charged by the hour, but with Bob it was different; she wanted to spent the whole night with him without charging more for it. Bob knew that he couldn’t get emotionally involved with her. Even though she was a very attractive, sexy and affectionate woman, she’d never quit the life she had to be with him. And, however, Bob had to be careful not to fall in love, or else that would turn his life upside down.

  When Bob was leaving, Caroline moved on the bed and turned to the other side pulling the blanket and covering herself. Bob stood admiring her beauty, upon leaving he knew where he’d find her again.

  Bob went towards the garage and hopped in his car to head back to his house on the lake, for he needed to take a shower urgently to wash away the scent of Caroline’s perfume that had clinged to his skin and his clothes. After that he’d lie in bed to take a snap before it was time to go back to the farm.

  Bob worked hard and he never missed work, and he always fulfilled all the demands that Arthur gave him.

  In the farm lived only Elisabeth, Arthur and four teenage kids.

  Evelyn, Elena’s younger sister, had just married a firefighter, and had gone to live in another town. Bryan had left home to serve in the military.

  When the truck arrived on the farm, Arthur got off and opened the gate to let the truck through. The farm was very extense with a large variety of trees, a lot of green. A long dirt road took them to the farm’s house. The truck went around the house and pulled over in front of the front balcony. Elisabeth was standing in the house’s balcony when she saw the truck coming in and she knew that it brought her daughter inside. After so much time without seeing her she didn’t know whether she would recognize her. Bob turned off the car engines.

  _ Elena my daughter your mother is looking forward to seeing you. Arthur opened the vehicle’s door and got off, then helped Elena and her daughters out. Elena left with her eyes full of tears and ran to hug her mother, both of them cried non-stop. Maggie and Amanda were shyly observing everything holding hands. Elena called them so they would come greet their grandmother. And then they entered to get to know the house and the room where they’d stay. It was already night and Elena’s parents had the habit of going to bed early, for they woke up still in the middle of the night with the cockcrow. After having dinner Maggie and Amanda went to the bedroom to sleep and Elena stayed a little in the kitchen talking to her mom and dad. Elena gazed at her mother and thought that time had been very generous to her. Her face’s skin was so soft that it looked like it was porcelain. There were few signs of aging, her deep eyes framed by small wrinkles on the corners.

  Meanwhile her daughter exhibit
ed a very skinny appearance and her semblance beaten due to the suffering she went through during the years living with John. Elena was young, but now her look was that of an older lady.

  Elena told her parents why she had to leave the house where she lived in a hurry. She revealed everything that happened during the robbery and told her mother how was the married life with John; the murder attempts and physical aggression she suffered, nearly everything. The story was long, there was a lot to tell and a lot to know, also, about her mom and dad. But that was the moment for Elena to spill out everything she felt to dig everything she had tried to bury in the past, but was hard to forget. _ The scars got deep with time. Arthur gave his daughter a kiss and went to bed. Elisabeth stayed with her a little longer. It was already morning when the two of them realized it was past bedtime. Elisabeth needed to wake up very early to prepare Arthur’s breakfast before he could leave to work on the farm. And then she had to feed the animals, water the orchard, before the sunrise.

  Seven months later, a letter arrives in Arthur’s farm. Elena feels the tension when her father gives her the mail telling her it’s from her husband. Upon reading the letter, Elena gets chills all over her body.

  Dear Elena how are you? What about the girls, are they okay? I hope everyone’s good, around here I’m getting by as always. I’m at work writing this letter, sitting on the chair and lonesome in my cabin. Forgive me for the time it took for me to write a letter, but everything’s very limited here and, also I didn’t really know what to write. I want to tell you that I miss you all very much when I get home. I’m still living in the same place and everything’s calm around here, those men never showed up again. I’ll get some vacation time next month and I’m looking forward to reuniting with you all.

  I have a surprise for you that you’ll enjoy.