Love Vs Murder

Chapter five: Celia's Story

One Year Prior

Celia rubbed the soapy washcloth on her son's back in circular motions. He sat in the bathtub while his mother bathed him, humming his ABCs and playing with his "Hot Wheels" cars. Celia smiled sweetly at her son, admiring his cute baby face. She placed the towel down and grabbed the small pail, scooping water inside of it.

"Tilt your head back, Cam." She said to her son.

Cameron dropped his cars so that he could tilt his head back. He shut his eyes tightly and cautioned himself for the big waterfall that he despised so much to come flooding onto his shampooed hair and make its way down to his face.

Celia poured the water down his curly hair and he squirmed as the warm water slid down his back. He hated getting his hair washed and rinsed but his mother told him it was necessary. He brought his head back down and rubbed the water out of his eyes.

"Okay, I'm ready to get out now," Cameron said, looking up at Celia with one eye closed.

She let out a breathy giggle and pushed his wet hair back with the tips of her slender fingers.

"Okay, let me go get a dry towel."

Celia pushed herself up off of her knees to retrieve a towel for her son to dry off with. She stepped into her bedroom that she'd shared with her fiancé and opened the closet door. She didn't spot a clean towel hanging in its usual place. She moved her way over to the dresser, pulling out the first drawer full of socks. She pushed the drawer back in and opened the second one.

Instead of clothing, her eyes met papers neatly stacked on top of their folded clothes and a brochure that read:

"Sexually Transmitted Infections: The Facts." 

Unable to speak, Celia picked up the sheets of paper and started to read. The information, in black and white, incited that her current fiancé had been given medication to treat an infection.

Celia felt as if her heart had stopped. There was no way he'd gotten anything from her; she was faithful to him since they met. He was stepping out on her for the second time in their relationship. Her heart sank with regret and disappointment, feeling as if she'd only enabled him.

This time she had to leave. She placed the sheets back into the drawer and went into the closet again for one of her fiancé's white t-shirts. She scurried into the bathroom and pulled Cameron out of the bathtub to pull the big shirt over his head.

"You're gonna put your pajamas on and then we're gonna your Aunt's, okay?" Celia said gently to her son while picking him up and carrying him to the room.

"Yes," Cameron said. Celia sat him on the bed and he wiggled his toes. "Is daddy coming with us?" He asked, licking the water that ran down his face from his lips. He kept his eyes on his mother who was moving swiftly around the room.

"No, your daddy's staying here," Celia answered him.

She grabbed a suitcase out of the closet and began shoving some of their things into it. Cameron turned up his face in confusion. His tiny hands and arms were tucked inside the damp shirt.

"Are we living there?" He probed, now swinging his legs from the edge of the bed. Celia chuckled as she refrained from saying 'We won't be living here anymore.'

"Maybe." She looked up at Cameron. She continued packing their things.

"Are you bringing your guitar?" He asked another question.

The guitar wasn't important to Celia only; it was important to Cameron as well. He loved to hear his mother play and sing songs to him, especially on nights when he couldn't sleep. Music was the second most valuable thing in her life; the first being Cam, her sister, and her mother.