The Lies We Believe

by Eden Rose

  “We are having a guest come over.”

  Audrey

  The drive to Liz’s house makes me nervous and anxious and angry all at the same time. The feelings of disgust and hate war in me to the point where it’s bubbling inside. I can feel the anger bubbles pop into rage inside of my body and there’s nothing I can do about it.

  I knew the minute that we pulled up to her house that we were there. Hell, I remember what the house looked like from the inside. What I didn’t realize was the fact that it was so close to my home with Damien.

  “It’s going to be okay, Audrey,” Jerry whispers from the front seat. I was stuffed into the back of her mini van but Liz is driving.

  Which is scary in itself.

  We pull into Liz’s driveway, the ex Liz, and the car gets parked next to a familiar car. I have to drag my whale-sized body out of the backseat and onto the pavement, but when I do, I feel better.

  “Are we ready?” I ask the girls.

  Each of them look beautiful. Their hair is gorgeous and they are wearing a pair of tight jeans. Then there’s me. I’m wearing leggings and a baggy tee shirt that is actually stretched past its point of no return around my stomach.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Before we even get to the front door, Liz opens it and steps outside to greet us. My friend, Liz, puffs out her chest and then looks past her into the living room. Her eyes go wide as she sees my brother standing in the middle of the room.

  “What are you doing here, baby?” He says as he walks over to her.

  “We came to get you. To make sure you were okay.”

  Damien looks over his shoulder from staring at the television screen and then shakes his head. “You don’t ever listen to me, do you?”

  “Nope. Not when it comes to being here for you.”

  The Evil Liz rolls her eyes and walks in front of me. I wince as she puts her hands on my stomach and squeezes me. It’s just sharp enough for me to cringe but I know she’s trying to get a rise out of me.

  I step back from her and my back hits the door with the doorknob stabbing me in the tailbone. I cry out in pain and then the tears start to roll down my face. I knew that I hurt myself as the pain radiated throughout my body.

  “Are you okay?” Damien asks me as he hurries over to me. He places his hands on my waist and gives a little tug so I’m away from the doorknob. “What are you doing here?”

  My head shakes back and forth as I see Evil Liz lift something in the air. The sound of steel hitting Damien’s scalp has me screaming out loud. “You hit him! Oh my god! You hit him!” I cry out.

  Jerry and Liz are standing by the door and I can tell that they don’t know what to do. Before I could direct them to take charge or anything, Evil Liz approaches me and smiles at me. “Young, stupid Audrey. Always in the wrong place.”

  I shake my head and then stare at her. “What do you want? For fuck’s sake. Tell me what you want. You want money? I will get you money.”

  “I don’t want fucking money. I want you to know what it feels like to have everything taken away from you because of some dumb bimbo. You think you could fuck up my life and get away with it?”

  “I don’t have any idea what you are talking about!” I screech and then place my hands protectively around my stomach.

  Liz, Jerry and Garrett are tending to Damien’s head wound and watching him bleed out of his head is making me feel worse. I can’t turn my back on Evil Liz. There’s no telling what she will do to me if I do.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” Garrett demands as he gets off the floor and stands in front of me. He’s protecting me from her and while I appreciate it, I need to have this out with Liz.

  I place my hand on his arm and shake my head. My brother ignores me and stays put.

  Evil Liz giggles and then gets serious. “Are you ever going to own up to the fact that you ruined my relationship with Martin Porter?”

  Hearing my rapist’s name spoken so casually has me reeling. “What… what’d you say?” I mumble out. I could feel the earth moving around my body and the spinning was enough to make me sick. I couldn’t help it, but I threw up all over the floor and the throw up splashed on my shirt.

  “Jesus!” Liz yells and rushes over to my side and rubs her hand up and down my back. “I told you you shouldn’t have come! This is why you were on bed rest. Fuck, Audrey!”

  I shake her off and then look at Evil Liz. “What are you talking about?”

  She chuckles and then facial expression clears up. “You act like you have no idea. You and your dumb pathetic ass. You had to pick Martin. You thought he was interested in you? Why would he want you? You are such a dumb cunt. He played you because I wanted revenge.”

  My brother, not one to miss out, punches her across the face and I hear the bone smash in her cheek. “Revenge from what? Because we used you and dumped your ass?”

  “No! Revenge for getting me hooked on you and then breaking up with me!” She challenges him. I watched as she stepped in his face and her cheek was puffy.

  “I need to sit down,” I whisper.

  Liz helps me sit down on the ground but away from the throw up. I needed to be away from it because if I smelled it, I would probably throw up all over again. “Shh, sweetie. Everything is going to be okay.”

  “That was until I went searching through your house and found the videos. I found every illegal video that you guys had because you got cocky. You had to keep them. Didn’t you? You cocky ass bastard.”

  “What did Martin have to do with you?” Damien asks as he comes to.

  I could see the war going on him as he tries to figure out whether or not to come to me. I shake my head to tell him not to. I didn’t want to set Evil Liz off even more than she is. There are too many people here and too many people that are important to me.

  “Let my wife and her family go. This is between you and I,” Damien declares.

  Evil Liz wasn’t agreeing to those terms and she smiled a devious smile. “No. They need to watch the videos.”

  She spins on her heels and walks over to the television. After a few clicks, the t.v. blares to life and the video begins to play. If I thought I was sick before, I’m definitely sick now.

  Each scene of the video got worse and worse as I watched Damien, Barron and Garrett extract information from their prisoner. The force that was used was horrid and appalling. I couldn’t believe what I was watching.

  All three of us girls were sitting there and were trying to get her to turn it off. However, at the scene where they began to pour water over the man’s mouth, I felt something happen to me.

  Damien woke up from his splendor and immediately ran over to the television. “Where do you have all of these?” He demands and yanks the USB thingy out of the DVD player. “Come on, you stupid bitch. I know you have more than this.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” Evil Liz says lazily. I could tell that she had more than one due to her blase tone of voice. “What makes you think I would do that?”

  “Because you kidnapped my sister and before that, you tried to blackmail my sister. I want to know why,” Garrett says.

  Evil Liz smirks and then drops her hands. I’m still leaning against the wall while the blood pounds in my ears. I feel as if I’m under water and what is happening right now, isn’t really happening. It’s a surreal feeling and it’s got me all mixed up.

  Jerry stands up and walks over to Damien and places her hand on his shoulder. “You shouldn’t be standing up right now. You have a gash on the side of your head.”

  My husband glares and bares his teeth at our sister-in-law. “No, I’m not going to stop until she gives me everything that I need. I want to make sure that she can’t pull this shit again.”

  “What I would like to know is how you got revenge on hurting my sister,” Garrett states to her. They are definitely challenging each other by being this close but there’s a little gap between them. “For fuck’s sake. Why set Audre
y up to get raped?”

  “Actually, all I wanted was for her to sleep with Martin and then have her and your family’s reputation be ruined. You fucking ruined my reputation by telling everyone that I cheated on you. I wouldn’t have had to cheat if you would have put out like you were supposed to.”

  Damien steps between them and puffs out his chest to take up more room in the circle. “Why me, then? Why would you try to hurt me?”

  Damien

  My ex-girlfriend is struggling to come up with a reasoning behind her crazy ass ideas. She has nothing on me and it sucks that she’s taking this out on Audrey’s family.

  That smile on her face is what sets me off and I yell. I don’t mean to yell at her, but I couldn’t fucking stop myself from letting her know that I was done. I was done fucking with her and I was done having her fuck with us.

  “Fuck you, Liz. Fuck you and your crazy ass! How did you even find me? How did you know where to look for me?” Suddenly, everything became clear. She purposefully sought me out for her revenge and Audrey was just a bonus. Everything has been meticulously prepared and planned.

  The circle that she has created has begun to close and I’m understanding everything. Liz found out that I was on the same team as Garrett and Baron and it made it easy for her to seduce me. When we hooked up, I just wanted some quick pussy. Nothing more.

  And the kicker of all of this? Audrey got caught in the middle of it and she had no idea what she stepped in. All of this had to do with Liz. She’s the reason why Audrey got raped. She’s the reason why all of this fucked up shit has happened to us.

  We all fell into her trap.

  She smirks a little and then looks off to the side. I can hear Liz and Jerry trying to talk to Audrey but I don’t allow it to distract me. Of course, I want to be with my wife but I can’t turn my back on Liz. There’s no way to know she wouldn’t stab me in the back or something.

  “It was all very easy. You worked with Simon and you also were apart of the same unit as Garrett. It all worked out for me. But, you,” she points a finger out at me and rubs it against my chest, “but you made it easy. You kept those tapes like they were a trophy. It was easy for me to find them.”

  “How did you know about Barron’s stash?” Jerry asks. Audrey’s head is leaning against her shoulder and she’s got her eyes closed. I’m beginning to freak out about her health.

  It’s time to end this. Once and for all. To kill the army, you must kill the leader.

  I pull out my gun that I kept in the waistband of my pants and then I cocked it. “Anything more you would like to say?” I ask her and aim it at her chest.

  “Yes, this won’t ever be over. Even if you kill me. People still have those videos and you won’t know who.”

  I didn’t listen to anything more that she said and I fired the gun. It went off with a big bang and then the screaming happened.

  “Oh god!” Liz yells out and kneels in front of Audrey.

  Audrey’s skin is beginning to yellow and I can tell that something’s wrong with her. “What’s going on?” I demand and push Liz to the side so I can get a good look at her.

  Jerry shakes her head and then places her head on Audrey’s. “She’s in labor. And she’s early. We need to get her to the hospital!”

  I don’t pay attention to the blood that is leaking out of my ex-girlfriend’s head and neither does Garrett. It was as if we had an unspoken agreement and that was to protect and make sure that Audrey was going to be okay.

  Blood is caking the inside of Audrey’s pants and it’s scaring me more than anything. I can’t believe that this happened to her. All I wanted was to rid our lives of Liz. Get her out of our way so she can’t bother us or fuck with us in anyway.

  Now look at her. She’s bleeding and going to early labor.

  The need to comfort her is more than I can stand and I lightly push everyone out of the way so I could get to her. I lean over and pick her up to get her out of here. She needs to be away from this scene. Fuck, she shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

  I don’t say a word as everyone rushes to get the ambulance on the phone. I don’t say a word as they answer questions that I don’t have the answers to. Like when her water broke. I feel like the worst father that I don’t have these answers.

  Carefully, I take her out of the house and walk to the end of the driveway to wait for the ambulance. I can hear the sirens in the distance and it gives me hope.

  “Damien, I’m so sorry,” Audrey cries out as she burrows into my tee.

  I do my best to soothe her to make sure that she knows that I don’t blame her. “Baby, it’s okay. Everything is going to be okay. I love you.”

  She whispers out: “I love you.”

  The ambulance screeches to a halt in front of us and a team of people come rushing out. “Sir, I need you to place the woman on the gurney.”

  I look to my left and see a man standing next to a gurney. He seems to be calm and I appreciate him being that way but I’m not letting go of Audrey. “I’m not letting go of my wife. I will carry her into the ambulance.”

  Audrey begins to shake a little and it scares the fuck out of me. “I’m so cold,” she murmurs. Her teeth clatter together and her lips are turning blue.

  “Shit! She’s going into shock!” Liz screams out and rushes out of the house with Garrett and Jerry trailing behind her.

  “Miss, I need you to step away from the patient. She needs to be placed on the gurney.” The EMT looks at me expectantly but I don’t want to follow the directions.

  Garrett places his hand on my shoulder and says: “Dame, just do it. We need to make sure that she’s going to be okay and deliver my niece healthy. We can be with her.”

  Reluctantly, I lower her onto the gurney and then I’m pushed aside by another EMT. For the first time in my life, I cry. The tears pool down my face and I do nothing to check them.

  “She’s lost a lot of blood! We need to hurry!”

  “Get her hooked up to oxygen!”

  “We need a bay available!”

  “Get the lead doctor!”

  Every single one of these words do nothing to help me calm down. As they begin to close the ambulance’s doors, I spring to action and run to the doors. I try to open them but one of EMTs stops me and places his hand on my shoulder. “Sir, we can’t have you ride with her. I understand that you want to, but we have to do what’s best for mom and baby.”

  “What’s best is that I go too.”

  Garrett, Liz and Jerry stand next to me and we all watch in fear and horror as they pull away from the curb and I’m completely ignored.

  *

  The ride to the hospital took forever. I sat in the passenger seat as Garrett drove. The girls sat in the back and none of us said anything as we drove. I used the silence to do something that I haven’t done in years. I pray.

  My whole life, I have been a bastard and I finally found a piece of heaven. I finally have my slice of real and it’s all going up in flames because I fucked with the wrong woman. Why did I have to be such a horrible person and do shit that I shouldn’t have done?

  When we get there, we are all silent as we climb out of the car and then we all run to reception desk to get clearance into the emergency room.

  “My wife, Audrey Alexander, was just brought in. She’s in labor. I need to be with her!” I tell her. My heart is hammering out of my chest and I can’t help it. I’m freaking the fuck out.

  The receptionist types and then nods her head. “Yes, we just got her into a room. If you would like to sit in the waiting room, the doctors should be out to talk to you.”

  The first hour that we waited was longer than shit. I could feel the seconds tick by like hours and we still haven’t heard anything.

  “I know, Cayla. Grammie is going to read you a bedtime story and then I will see you in the morning. Is Cammie there?” Jerry says into her phone quietly.

  I wonder if she’s being so quiet to not upset me for talking to her
kids. I’m not upset that she’s talking to her kids, I’m jealous that she is.

  “Family of Audrey Alexander?” A voice calls out through the fog of my brain.

  All four of us stand up and the doctor steps in the middle of our circle to talk to us. He’s a shorter man. I’m pretty positive that he’s Asian, but he seems like he’s optimistic which puts my stress level down a little. “I’m her husband.”

  “Brother,” Garrett chimes in. “Sister-in-laws,” he points back towards Liz and Jerry.

  “Well, Audrey has lost a lot of blood. We’re worried that due to her poor prenatal care that there could be some emotional, mental and/or physical defects to your baby. We are trying to get Audrey’s body to accept blood transfusions. Right now, if we try to deliver the baby, there could be more complications and we could lose Audrey.”