The Psychopath Maker

Chapter Thirty-Six

So fresh and so clean, Isabeth stepped out her bathroom cozy in her PJs. She thought she would be alone as she tried to wrap her tangled curls under the silk scarf but her still splinter hand was a complete hindrance. Isabeth draped the scarf on the bed's tailboard then glided to her dresser.

"I thought you were straightening your hair back out." Faith turned the laptop's volume. The music that once was the focal point of the blonde's attention was now background ambiance. "Letting Fiona keep her claim as curly hair queen."

"I was." Isabeth picked at her palm with a pair of tweezers. "But it's growing on me."

"You look like her." Faith's sapphire eyes examined the smooth curves of Isabeth's face. "Fiona. Plus, I thought you wanted straight hair like Aaliyah."

Isabeth stopped trying to dig out the piece of wood, "OMG! You remember that."

"Yeah!" Faith pushed herself up, sitting on her haunches. "I also remember your One in Million skit, too."

Isabeth dropped her head so her embarrassment couldn't be seen. "My parents showed me the video they made from the talent show." She shook her head at her elf. "I couldn't hold a tune."

"Still can't." Faith laughed out. "You should've been a part of our act."

"There are only three members of Destiny's Child."

Faith waved her comment off, "The original group had four members." Faith began typing on the laptop resting on the bed. "We could've made it work."

They listened in silence as one of Destiny's Child's songs pulled lowly on the laptop's speakers.

Well into the chorus Isabeth opened her mouth, "Things were so easy back then." She groaned as she snipped at a piece of her flesh. "Nothing fazed us. If we got in a fight... a couple of minutes later Harper would do something goofy and we'd all be laughing like nothing even happened." Isabeth pulled in a deep breath. "But then came boys and sex and...."

"I'm sorry." Faith spoke staring at the music video. "It's my fault and...I'm sorry."

"I'm not the one you should apologize too."

"He's your cousin."

"Bennett's a hoe." Isabeth stopped picking at the splinter. "Trust me. He's fine. He's probably up there at Princeton causing even more trouble than he did here." Isabeth looked over at Faith remember all the times they spent talking about the future in that very room. "Why did Fulton have the charm bracelet I gave you for your thirteenth birthday?"

Faith stared at the laptop screen like the video was still playing but the silence was all around them. She dropped her head in her hands taking deep long breathes. "It fell off." She spoke in her hands then moved to focus her attention back to the screen. "The clasp broke."

"How did the clasp break?" Isabeth asked pulled her legs onto the bed. She watched Faith glade her fingers over the trackpad moving the cursor. "How'd the clasp break, Faith?

Faith stopped moving her fingers and shut the laptop. "What do you want from me?" She shot Isabeth an angered glare. "I said I was sorry screwing Bennet and destroying our friendship. Just leave it at that."

"He raped me too."

"I didn't say—"

"Don't lie." Isabeth pointed her tweezer-wielding hand at Faith. "Don't you dare lie!"

Tears streamed down Faith's face. Her strength broke and she collapsed back onto Isabeth's perfectly stacked pillows. "I tried to tell..." She sobbed out. "But no one would believe me."

"No one believed you." Isabeth crawled to Faith's side. "Who did you tell? Who didn't believe you?"

"Giselle. I told Giselle." Faith sniffed trying to clear a clogging nose as the months of pain flooded her body. "She said...she said" Faith looked at Isabeth's caring continence. "She said I must've asked for it."

"Bitch," was the only response Isabeth could speak. Isabeth pushed back her anger. Faith's mother was never in the running for Best Parent of the Year...not even the month. "He's gone." She gently rubbed Faith's shaking arm. "You don't have to live in fear of him anymore. You don't even have to think about him."

Faith wiped the tears from her eyes, "You mean we. We don't have to think about him."

"No, I mean you." Isabeth rubbed her finger along her eyebrow then rest her hand under her chin. "I still have to think about him."

"Why?" Faith quietly asked.

"Because." Isabeth swallowed hard. "I'm pregnant."

What do you think Isabeth is going to do about this pregnancy?

Why do you think she revealed it to Faith?