hayloft, daniel le domas

three

The Le Domases scowled at the girl they hated with every fiber of their beings as she stood next to their son. The photographer was taking an awful lot of pictures.

     "Charity's gone." He spoke quietly.

     "Who the fuck is that?"

     "My wife. Well, soon to be ex wife. I told her about us."

     "Why would you do that?" she looked at him. All he did was smile down at her and grab her by the waist. The two smiled at the camera, they looked so visibly happy, but Josephine was not even close. That was their last photo, she pushed his arm away from her and walked away from the rest of them.

     "Josephine!" She heard. She turned around to see Tony, the father, walking up to her. "Josephine, it's good to see you again."

     "Mhm." She chewed on her bottom lip.

     "Since Daniel's wife has left us for the rest of the day, we are in need of one more person for tonight's game," he smiled. Her heart started to beat out of her chest. "Don't worry, I will explain all the rules when the time comes. So, what do you say?"

     She looked at Daniel, who looked worried. It was the first time she'd really looked at him that day. She hated the fact that her heart fluttered when they locked eyes. She looked back up at Tony. "I appreciate the offer, but I can't stay here. And you acting like nothing ever happened back then is really pissing me off."

     He laughed. "Oh, Josephine, if you don't participate in the game, you'll be dead by morning... See you tonight."

     After the ceremony, Grace and Josephine stayed in the room, waiting for the time to come. Alex walked in and whispered something to Grace, she nodded.

     "I'll be back, okay?" She said. Josephine nodded. Suddenly, Daniel was pushed into the room and the door was locked.

     "Fuck." Josephine sighed, wiping a hand down her face.

     "Hey," he spoke. "I think they want us to talk."

     "Yeah."

     "Do you want to talk first?" He asked. She shook her head. He sat down on the bed beside her. "Okay, well... How have you been?"

      "This is not the kind of talk we should be having," she looked at him. "You never came to the hospital when I was healing from what your father did to me. You never even called. And I know you want us to be mature about this but, Daniel, I gave you everything I had. I loved you and your family treated me like shit. I was seventeen, do you understand how hurt I was?"

     "I loved you too. I'm sorry, Josephine. I'm sorry."

     "You don't even have an explanation? You clearly still care about me or you wouldn't have told your wife about us. So please, explain yourself." She crossed her arms, finally looking in his eyes.

     "My dad told me to 'never do something that stupid ever again.' I didn't know what he meant—I thought he was calling you stupid. But he told me your family was going to take all our money. I was a kid, I didn't know what to believe. So I blindly followed my piece of shit father. I never called you because he told me not to. I never visited you because he took my car. I'm sorry. I thought he was right."

     She started to cry, it hurt her so badly. She felt like she was going to cry for the rest of her life.

     "Josephine..."

     "When I saw you—god, Daniel..." She sobbed. He put his arm around her and pulled her close to him. He held her in his arms, trying to stop himself from crying aswell. A few minutes of them laying there, her crying got quieter, she pushed him away gently. "Your dad threatened me today."

     "What?"

     "He told me that if I didn't participate in tonight's game, I'd be dead by morning." She smiled at him sadly. "I didn't want to do this, Daniel..."

     "I know."

     "Grace is going to die because of me." She whispered to him.

     He shook his head. "You're going to help her."

     "I don't want to die. I don't want you to die."

     "You don't want me to die?" He asked, a small smile on his lips. She shook her head.  "You still love me."

     "It was high school, I—Daniel, I'm not going to fucking talk about this with you right now." She got up and walked to the mirror, fixing her makeup. He walked over to her, his hand snaking around her waist, only she didn't push him away this time. She continued to focus on her makeup as he kissed her bare shoulder, sending chills down her spine. It felt right, like the puzzle pieces had finally fit. He kissed her neck, then her jaw. She turned to him and he kissed her lips gently. The door opened, causing them to break the kiss and step away from each other.

     "Uh, it's almost time, we gotta go." Alex told. Daniel grabbed Josephine's hand and pulled her away from the mirror as they followed Alex down the hall to the room that only the family was allowed in.

     Josephine drowned everything out, remembering the last time she was in that room. She wasn't allowed in, but Daniel snuck her in once to show her all the weapons hanging on the walls. That could've had something to do with the reason why they hate her so much. She looked down at the box placed in front of her for a second, then quickly passing it next to her. Under the table, she grabbed Daniel's hand. He looked at her and smiled, she blushed, looking down.

     Grace pulled a card, everyone completely silent. She giggled at the card, everyone else still quiet.

     "What does it say, girl?" Helene asked, oh, Aunt Helene, the woman that hated absolutely everyone. Josephine always thought she was an ugly, bitter old lady. But she remembered the story Daniel told her.

     "It says 'hide and seek' are we really gonna play that?"

     She grabbed his hand with both of hers, practically holding his arm like a stuffed animal. He kissed her forehead softly. She felt her heart begin to race as everyone stood up.

     "It's okay," he whispered to her. "Remember what I told you."