Circling Carousels

by North, Ashlee

  They were in the produce section now, and to keep up their charade, they grabbed a few of the ingredients for dessert as Elsie continued. Sienna was quiet. All of this was such a shock to her that she couldn’t have said anything had she tried.

  “Are you okay, Sienna? I need to tell you something really important.”

  The young girl nodded.

  “Marcus always planned to make you his. This was no falling madly in love. It was calculated and decided from the time you were about eleven. He wanted you in his bed, and nothing was going to stand in the way of having you, his new obsession. He doesn’t love you because if he did, he would never have taken your sister away and would never have allowed your mum to become so addicted to drugs. If he loved you, he would have gotten Candice some help. He never would have hurt your twin like that. He did it all so you would have no choice but to cling to him, to need him, and to feel what he wanted you to feel. He had it all worked out. Believe me, I’m disgusted in myself for letting him get away with it, but he threatened to have my children killed and I thought I had no choice. Now that you are older and you’ve started searching for truth all by yourself, I feel I can finally tell you everything I know. I’m sorry if this has been too much and too soon, but I couldn’t stand you being hurt like this anymore!”

  Marcus appeared in the aisle not far in front of them. They looked down at the list and put cocoa into their shopping basket as though they hadn’t seen him there. It all looked completely innocent. Still Marcus felt there was something going on. He couldn’t put his finger on why, he just felt like there was something weird happening. He walked up to Sienna and grabbed her, a bit rougher than he usually did, and he held her close and looked into her soft blue eyes, as if they would tell him the truth.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked.

  Sienna replied, “Yes, of course, silly. We’re just making you the most difficult dessert known to mankind and you’re going to love it!”

  He accepted her sweet-sounding reply and announced that he needed new razors and set off to the other side of the store.

  Elsie used these moments to speak swiftly again. “One more thing, the most imperative thing: darling girl, I’ve printed off the emails and given them to my nephew. He’s a policeman and they’re waiting for Marcus to do something that they can catch him for, and then they’re going to investigate everything. He works with a group of detectives in the downtown precinct. As soon as they can prove something, Marcus will be taken in and arrested.”

  “Oh!” was all Sienna could muster.

  Despite some concern that she might blurt out what she knew to Marcus, Elsie’s gut feeling was that Sienna was already burning with the desire for truth and that she would keep quiet and carefully watch and wait. This was exactly what Sienna was thinking. Armed with the reality of Marcus, she would now simply watch his every move and know whom she was really dealing with. She’d find her sister, no matter how hard it was.

  She would somehow get to the place where she’d heard the High Street girls spent their time. Thinking more and trying to look as normal as she could to Marcus, who had rejoined them, she worked out her best plan of attack. In a flash, she knew whom she could trust. The people of the big house weren’t quite so innocent as she once thought, but that was okay. She could well use their expertise and knowledge.

  It had saddened her to find out her mother was involved in such an industry, but now she understood why she always seemed so sad and why she’d experienced the angry, violent outbursts and the drinking. How she wished they had never been drawn into Marcus’s web of lies and how she couldn’t wait until he was punished. She realized, too, that one of the hardest things she would have to do is pretend to Marcus that all was well. She would have to be some actress to treat him the same and show him the same doe-eyed devotion and love. It would be hard, but it would be worth the trouble. She would maybe be able to right his wrongs, as much as she could, with the help of the aunties and the police . . . hopefully.

  This was a lot for one young lady to take in in the short space of a few hours, and as she and Elsie created the perfect chocolate soufflé at home, she found herself going over and over in her head the words she had been told and the emails she had seen. She knew it to be right. She had known in her heart of hearts that this man, whom she had foolishly felt love for, was not what he seemed. She had pushed the feeling down for far too long, blindly believing his lies and his carefully orchestrated dream world. She believed in him because she needed to. He was all she had. He had made her dependant on him, not allowing her to share with any other person and making her his emotional prisoner. She was done with that now, but she would need to keep up appearances for a while longer until he was arrested. Then she could escape him and be free.

  Dear Diary, what should I do? I have been so stupid, so blind! Marcus isn’t at all who I thought he was! I’ve messed this up so badly. I can’t trust him anymore.

  He has lied to me so much. He pretended to love me, and he took my sister away and sold her because he wanted me. He took my mother away from me, because he wanted to get rid of her too, and he wrapped my heart up in his lying, horrible arms and broke my whole world to pieces! I never should have believed him! My heart knew somehow there was something wrong, but I couldn’t see it clearly enough. I was so sure I loved him I ignored the truth. I want to get away from him now—run very far, very fast, and never see him again!

  But where would I go? I can’t talk to anyone. I couldn’t tell anyone how dumb I have been! I want to find Crystal. She would know what to do. What happens now, Diary? Will Elsie still care about me now that I have made such a mess of all this? Will I end up all alone? Tell me what I should do, someone, anyone!

  With those thoughts, she began to worry. What would freedom mean to her? Could she stay in the house they shared if he was imprisoned? Would Elsie help her and stay on as her friend and confidante? She hated the thought of being alone. Then it dawned on her: Bonnie and the aunties would never let her be hurt again once they found out what had happened. They would help, and maybe she could stay in this beautiful house. She certainly deserved a part of what Marcus had after what he had done to her.

  She was living a grown-up life in an adult’s world, and she had done some more very serious growing up this evening. Gone was the little girl, the teenager with youthful desires; now she was a young woman with anger in her heart, hatred in her soul, and a huge job in front of her: to play act as she had never done before and to change her life and her sister’s future for the better.

  In a whisper only heard by the wonderful woman standing next to her, elbow deep in chocolate, she said, “Thank you, Elsie. I owe you everything!”

  Chapter 19

  Marcus had obviously thrown out the number she needed to contact Bonnie. The one thing she needed right now was missing, and Sienna was annoyed. As she more carefully looked, through her new eyes of understanding, she ascertained huge amounts of betrayal and coercion that previously she had thought was his adoration of her. She was for the most part a prisoner in his home, and she hadn’t seen it before. She was allowed to go to school, but that was about all except for the occasional trip to the shops with Elsie. Marcus believed he had Elsie so well paid and frightened of the promised consequences that she would never step over his carefully erected boundaries. He thought that Sienna was so enamoured with him that she would blindly obey as well, but things had dramatically changed. Without the telephone number, she was going to have to be even sneakier. It was a fair way to the big house from either her school or from home, and Sienna considered actually taking the school bus to that side of town and making her way there from wherever the bus stopped. She would then be faced with the problem of getting home and explaining her whereabouts.

  Elsie gave the answer to the problem without Sienna having to ask, because Sienna felt it was a huge imposition to ask any more of the housekeeper. She had already taken a massive risk. Elsie wanted to get some supplies from a shop
on that side of town anyway. If questioned where they were they were going, Sienna was to say shopping for some books and stationary for school. They had done this before, so there would be no reason for Marcus to be concerned, and Elsie was going to actually purchase some things while Sienna was at Bonnie’s.

  Elsie picked her up at school and they drove, both of them watching out the back window for fear Marcus may have them followed. It was a bit silly really, but their nerves were on edge. It took twenty-five minutes to get there, and Elsie and Sienna utilised the time to talk more about the real Marcus and other bits and pieces Elsie could add from her many years in his employ.

  No one answered the door straight away at the big house, and Sienna became worried that no one was there or that they were all upstairs and that their risky trip may have been in vain. She rang the bell again, and a small girl answered, looking frightened to be answering the door. This took Sienna right back to the days, now eight years ago, when she lived there with her sister and mother. For a few seconds, memories flipped through her head like a slideshow. She bent down a little and smiled at the girl. “Hi, my name’s Sienna, and I was hoping to talk to Bonnie if I could, please.” The small child skipped quickly away, without saying a word, and returned a minute later to take Sienna’s hand and lead her through the well-known halls to Bonnie’s office door. Bonnie was standing up ready for a visitor, but even though she had been told it was Sienna, she could hardly believe it and was unsure if it would be the Sienna she knew.

  Bonnie scanned her up and down, remembered her blonde hair, blue eyes, and sweet face and saw in this young woman the little girl she once knew. She crossed the room with speed and grace and held out her arms, both of them shedding a tear of joy, caught up in the emotion of nearly eight years without contact.

  They chatted; Bonnie said how beautiful she had grown to be. They talked about the nice things, and then Sienna grew solemn. Bonnie joined in her changed mood when she began to hear the story of the past number of years. She heard of the early days when things were quite all right, their mother Candice was happy, and Marcus was good to them; then there had been days of fear and worry when their mother already drinking heavily, as Bonnie knew so well, becoming irretrievably lost to drug addiction. Sienna told her of the bruises and the swollen eyes, of the doctor’s visit, and of Marcus’s silence, although he was consumed with anger at Crystal for making the call for help. She mentioned the gifts and spoiling of she alone and not her sister and the way he treated her completely differently. She told Bonnie of the night Crystal disappeared and how she had found out what Marcus truly was and what he had done with her twin. Bonnie said nothing and dared not interrupt, until this point, when she admitted having seen a girl on High Street, who, faced with her identical twin now, most certainly was Crystal.

  In itself all of this information was enough, but then Sienna told Bonnie of her mother’s death. Bonnie gasped when she realised the horror of the way Marcus disposed of Candice and her heart almost physically bled for the dear girl she once knew so well and for her children who had had such a terrible life since she had last seen them. Bonnie told Sienna that she had tried to contact them time and time again and Marcus would always intercept the calls. He promised to pass on the messages, but she suspected he might not have been doing that. Sienna confirmed she had never heard anything from her friends at the big house.

  Sienna confessed her now three-year relationship with Marcus and how he had fooled a gullible and vulnerable little girl into loving him and how he had taken her as his lover when she was too young to understand and too awestruck by his attentions to say no. He had, she said, treated her well, but she had grown tired of the secrets and lies and had begun to be suspicious of him. In other words, she had grown up, and the madam was proud of the young lady before her who was being so brave.

  At this point, Bonnie, who had missed this little family terribly, promised to do whatever she could to help Sienna find her sister. There would need to be a trip to High Street so that Sienna could see her sister, and then they would need to find a way to get her free from her pimp. Bonnie warned her that this was never easy and sometimes cost a great deal of money if it were possible at all, which she doubted. She would find out whom she belonged to and try to figure out a deal. None of this could be done under Sienna’s name and would simply look like a business deal made between madam and pimp, a straightforward purchase with no emotional attachment.

  Bonnie went to her office drawer, produced a mobile phone, and handed it to Sienna. “My numbers are in here. I will phone you when I have news, but I will only phone you at precisely one o’clock during your school lunchtime so that Marcus will never hear you get a call and our mission will never be compromised.” She continued with her most serious face on. “I promise you that as long as your sister is still alive, I will find her and retrieve her. I will get her help and medical attention and return her to you a whole and free young lady! I promise I won’t give up!”

  With those words and a whole hour before Elsie would pick her up again, Bonnie and Sienna got in her black town car, equipped with driver, and they were chauffeured to High Street. What they would find there they had no idea. Crystal may not be working at this early hour, but they considered it well worth the chance, as Sienna may not be able to escape Marcus’s watchful eyes for long should he become suspicious of her movements.

  On the trip over, the privacy screen up in the car, Bonnie told Sienna what she knew of Marcus and his dealings. She confirmed with no doubt that Marcus was indeed a high-end drug lord and that he was also the principal owner of a number of girls who worked the streets on the east side of the city. Bonnie was surprised he didn’t just put Crystal to work in his own business, but then she realized this might be too close to his own nest, so he chose to make her payment to another pimp way on the other side of town.

  As they drew closer, Bonnie warned her that she may be upset by Crystal’s condition should they spot her. She mentioned again the state in which she saw the girl she thought she recognized and that this lovely, willowy creature was too thin, ill looking, sad, and black around the eyes. The temptation to try to make contact with her right there and then would have to be resisted, as in Bonnie’s wise planning, this would alert her employer to something being afoot. It was best if for today Sienna just looked at her sister and believed that soon she would be able to be with her and hold her, as Bonnie was sure she wanted to. Sienna would have liked simply to pull her into the town car, drive away, and rescue her from this horrible existence, but it wouldn’t work like that and Bonnie knew it. Pimps were extraordinarily cruel and without going through the proper channels and paying the appropriate fees, Crystal would never be free of that part of her life. Sienna steeled herself, and they turned the corner onto High Street.

  Despite their desire to spot her, she did not appear to be there. She may not have been working until later or maybe she was already with a man, even this early in the pre-evening part of the day. At Bonnie’s insistence, the driver parked the car, and they watched for ten minutes or so. The girls who were there were scruffy looking, unkempt, and looked malnourished. Sienna could only assume Crystal would be the same. This was not the same sort of business Bonnie ran, and although Sienna was slightly upset by her mother’s employment choice—or maybe it was a lack of choice—she was pleased that Bonnie, and not some other piece of scum, had taken Candice under her wing. Bonnie was the best employer in an industry full of very bad people, and for this and many other things, Sienna was grateful.

  Now as they sat looking a little conspicuous on the other side of the road, Bonnie agreed Sienna should return another time and they would try again. They drove the streets around High Street to see if Crystal was close by, but then they headed back to the big house and Sienna hopped straight into Elsie’s car and headed home. On the way, she told Elsie all she had learned and what she had seen and in her desire to help Sienna and Crystal. Elsie agreed to drive past the girls working the corner
every evening on her way home to see if she could see Crystal and report back. She gave her word that the very next time they had the opportunity, preferably during the night, she would take Sienna there herself. Between them, they would find her sister and in time, she would be with them again. This was the hope in all their hearts.

  Dear Diary, I don’t have much to say. I just want to find Crystal. Please let me find her! She’s my sister and must be so lonely and so sad. She is being hurt over and over again by men even worse than Marcus, and I need somehow to save her and bring her home.

  Chapter 20

  On a street corner, stood a girl of only sixteen years of age.

  She wore a skirt so short, there was nothing one couldn’t see. She wore a top so low nothing was left to the imagination, and she had stiletto heels on that must have been blistering her aching feet. Her hair, although long and honey blonde, looked as though it needed a good cut and a brush run through it. Her face showed a reddish-purple mark where a hand had obviously connected recently. She was far too thin, and although Sienna, who was watching from a car a distance away, was slim herself, her twin was a good twenty pounds smaller and looking ill. As she looked, a man in a battered green sedan pulled up just near her. She sauntered over, a cheeky swing in her walk and a wild look in her eyes.

  Sienna was somewhat camouflaged, her hair up and under a baseball cap, her clothes baggy. She was quite unrecognizable as a beautiful girl, the twin of the teenager now getting in a car with yet another man who had stopped. This one was obviously prepared to pay the required amount, and they drove off together. Sienna shed a thousand tears.