Daria, Chapter three: family collapsing/apocalypse "final chapter"

 

Artwork by: Elmaghreabi

Chapter three: family collapsing/apocalypse

 

As Mr. Ian invited Daria to volunteer again into house functions, Daria came according to his demand and after he spoke about his genuine intentions towards her and clarified this misunderstanding between them.

 

He was goggling at Daria meanwhile

she’s doing activities and he hadn’t taken his eyes off of her, she could sense his eye gazes at her but she didn’t comment though. After she finished her work she asked for his permission to go home, he asked her to join him into the pool, no one was already there, the maids left, the guards are out of the gate, they can’t access unless it’s emergency and his daughter is staying at her grandmother’s house in countryside, therefore she’s in a temporary vacation…

 

Ian exploited the moment and approached Daria into the pool, and kissed her, Daria couldn’t say no, she even liked it, hence he asked her to go upstairs with him but she rejected and then left feeling confused and embarrassed.

 

In a parallel time zone, Aria was walking through the crops in the fields and enjoying the sun, whereas a mad elder was chasing her confidentially, he is obsessed with young girls and she’s one of them, he was hiding behind the trees and the bushes apart from her, resulting in unnoticing.

 

By night, Aria and her cousin were walking nearby the canal, he was chitchatting with her and enjoying her rare company, she’s present there in the village only on vacations, and her cousin used to like her secretly, because she was always neglecting him and treating him almost like a stranger… now he took advantage and tried to kiss her, he thought it’s a good chance ever since they opened up to each other, it was approximately midnight

And she felt awkward and withdrew from his attempt,

“You still love that jerk, don’t you?” he asked angrily,

She responded to him saying “I already broke up on him, but I still didn’t move on yet, I think it would be unfair to just rush things we may not be committed to them appropriately afterwards”

 

He left her behind, and went back home feeling so upset for being rejected, as well as grudging her previous boyfriend for taking a position he could never have in her life, despite this, he acted selfishly and went back him dishonoring his nobility for breaking a familial relationship duty

He had passion but for its sake he acted childish and left his cousin trying her best to turn on her cellphone’s flashlight, but unfortunately her phone’s battery was low, and almost dying, she looked around, it was all dark, but she had no other choice otherwise walking and walking…

 

She heard footsteps following her in a pattern, she looked behind, but no one was there, despite this there was a shadow showed beneath her, it was so close to her shadow almost combined with it, at the beginning she thought it was an animal but after this shadow revealed, she noticed it’s a human being, a stalker…

She started running quickly until she fell down, she’s still chased by an elder, so being young could help her distancing apart from him.

 

She found herself in front of a pile of wheat packs by edge of the pathway she ran through, these packs are belonging to Mr. Jerald and his old wife, who inhabit the house nearby her, the ambient light emitting from the lantern was a dim orange light, enough to just lead anyone to the entrance but not enough to show places around, it’s like a life concept, life is surrounded with various dark sides that may dwell us, but some destinations somewhere often light up the way for you, not as a way of survival, neither as a moment of salvation, it’s just a cooldown, a short duration allowing the person to have a temporary nirvana, hence can continue his adventures through the dark… these lights, these dazzling stars are just there to keep your sanity valid.

She knocked the door frequently rushing the old couple to open for her, it was late, and she was looking behind to check it someone is still chasing her, but she found no one around, the man opened for her, she pushed him inside and locked his door, apologizing for shocking him and his wife and giving them a sudden discomfort, but she elaborated her furious behavior, they were understanding and Mr. Jerald promised her a lift in the morning, he will drive her back home, usually in villages it’s common that every family recognizes the other’s location and every warehouses around, they can memorize every place, so that may be one of the privileges the own.

 

The door knocked whereas Aria was standing in the lobby before the old couple, she ran to the bathroom, and she slammed the door behind, there was a squat toiled, a drain full of rust and tangled hair wisps, wet clothes hung in the middle of the restroom over a clothesline that’s connected from the shower valve to the window covered with dust and spider nets… there were detergents by the corner of the sink which faucet was dropping water and making a very unessential irritating sound… there were also a razor and a wooden stick that could be used as weapons, but Aria only took the blade and hided it in her back pocket.

 

The old lady informed her and whispered beyond the door that no one is out already she can leave now, Aria sighed heavily and thanked them for protecting her from an upcoming danger, there were only few rooms, small kitchen, the parent’s bedroom, the bathroom and the chicken barn nearby, the only place she could sleep over the hall mat, she used a couch pillow, it was stiff but serves the purpose, she also used a blanket that Jerald had given her, although this, she was feeling so cold, the windows were closed but there was a cold breeze coming from the doorstep, she woke up in the morning and the hens were making noises, they’re needing to be fed, Jerald went to feed them and Uma was preparing the breakfast, Aria helped her presenting the dishes on the table, then they had to wait Mr. Jerald to join them, until he came, they had breakfast but instead of taking the girl back home he apologized because he had an appointment with the other farmers due to reaching out a settlement over some lands divisions.

 

On another side, Daria went to a cheap local hotel with Craig in order to perform the rituals of their pathetic affair, and on a very good timing as Craig assumed, he told her that he found a job and a flat with an affordable rent price, so they can both run away and move together, maybe this will provide them even with more freedom and more intimacy regardless of this restrictions they have in between according to their bad circumstances.

 

Daria hesitated she was exaggeratedly confused to give out an answer but she faked a smile and Craig considered it a not enough response,

“I’ll give you time to think though”

He dressed up and left while she was still putting on her clothes, he waited her outside to give her a ride to home by his bike,

Ian was secretly spying them through his car that was parked in the nearest parking lot, preparing her to be scolded next day and blamed for her irrational attitude, he still feels enthusiastic about being into a comparison with a poor young guy, he feels so thrilled to see the results, to see Daria abandoning Craig for his conditions and move to him, he thought he couldn’t be ever rejected.

He thinks that superiors can’t ever submit to anyone, he even considers his wife’s splitting a sign of victory because she can’t manage how powerful he is.

 

Next day Judy was tracking Daria, she knew that Daria already works in Ian’s home, and she found it an opportunity to impose herself over this rich family

She notices that Ian’s behavior is suspicious with Daria, instead of ringing the doorbell or knocking, she decided to hide behind the bush next to the front window, then she witnessed a scene she never willed to have amongst her memories, Ian already gave a long kiss to Daria, Judy didn’t feel bad for sake of her son, she felt jealous and envious of how lucky this girl became compared to her, she inverted her point of view in front of her son…

“I told you not to be around whores! And you were following her everywhere”

He confused in a minute and asked his mother about the reason why she’s insinuating this about Daria,

She told him what happened, but he thought she’s just lying, he also knew that she never loved him or treated him with tenderness and tolerance, so he could capture why she’s acting like this, his impression about his mom’s words was that she’s acting like this because she wants to approach any rich family on the earth and take advantage of their wealth, she wanted a contract stating that she belongs to a prospered family and that she’s got the same rights they have.

 

He went to Ian’s house with his bike, and he was waiting Daria to come out, or behave weird to verify his mom’s bullshit, it was the end of her shift already she was leaving and Ian was giving her a kiss before she opens the door, Craig was hiding in the same bush his mom was hiding in, no one knows how disappointed he felt at that moment, he was assured that his mom’s sinister plan wasn’t pending so far, but she succeeded at telling him the truth for the first time,

Daria noticed his presence, he brought his bike and drove it back home, she kept chasing him until she arrived home, she opened his room’s door…

 

“I loved you, I wanted to be with you, and you were just hooking up with a man whose age is double of yours” Craig said meanwhile mourning on his bed,

Daria tried to justify but she had no single excuse to confront these genuine accusations he directed towards her…

“you are like mom, you are both the same, you worship money, I tried to give love but all I received was disappointment, there’s no alibi I’m waiting from you, just go away and leave me alone” he said secondly.

 

His mom overheard the conversation and opened the door initiating a fight with Daria, and pretending she’s broke for whatever harmless she caused her son

She hit her violently but Craig didn’t interfere this time, he preferred leaving the house and smoking weed outside…

It was night, and Aria was waiting Mr. Jerald to drive her back home, he eventually came and asked her to prepare herself for the ride, and in the middle of way Jerald decided to fuel the car at the gas station and he went to pee in the nearby public bathroom, meanwhile, the employees were sleeping deeply during their shifts, Aria was worried a lot, another car parked less further than Jerald’s footsteps, the mad elder, “Brandon” opened the car Aria was staying at, sprayed her and sedated her, he grabbed a black trash bag and put her inside, and he drove her to an isolated horse stable, he raped her and left her until the morning laying there on the floor.

 

She was wandering the fields until she fainted in the middle of nowhere, he family already pinned some posts in the neighborhoods reporting a missing case for three days straight, when a farmer found out Aria he took her back to her grandmother’s home, she saw her so deteriorated so she brought a private doctor and after the checkup, he gave her antibiotics and painkillers, no more no less, she went back home, silent, her father noticed that she came at night, but she didn’t greet him, or narrate the recent sentiments afterwards this vacation’s events, he knocked her door but she didn’t move a step forward, the father went out to work and Daria acted so officially since his daughter came back, and by night when Ian already came, he was exhausted so he fell asleep, Aria wanted to tell him about what happened but she hesitated, all of sudden she noticed the bed drawer unlocked for the first time, she looked beneath and tried to look through but her father moaned… she left the room intending to take a look on this drawer the next day.

 

She texted Daria urgently asking her if she can open any keyhole with a hairpin, Daria’s response was positive, she came the next day after her father left, they secretly went to his room where all the maids are only curious about his case and considered areas otherwise irrelevant such as the drawers and wardrobe, for the first time someone considers these drawers beneficial and necessary.

 

 

Daria managed to open the drawer, but here comes the surprise!!!

 

Daria and Aria found a lot of women’s belongings hidden in the drawer, Daria pretended she deficiently could see her cheap bracelet among these jewels, clothes, and other items… Aria took out Daria’s bracelet

“I would say this belongs to other maids, if I didn’t know that your parents gifted you with this bracelet, I wouldn’t recognize unless you were constantly wearing it” Aria spoke to Daria saying this while crying

She followed her sentence saying “I know that my dad is an obsessed pervert, he had a lot of affairs before and after my mom separated from us, but today I recognized that I lost three persons, my mom, my dad, and my only true friend”

She left home without even talking about her rape incident, Daria called Ian and told him about what happened…

 

The father came in hurry and knocked his daughter’s door, but she was already out with her friends partying and celebrating her new disappointment, celebrating being backstabbed by her closest people, celebrating having three straightforward betrayals accomplished once by her mom, second by her dad and last by her best friend.

While she was attending a random schoolmate party, someone offered her a drug piece in the bathroom, she tried it and took a pill, all that she felt is getting lost into a loop of unconscious happiness and confusion, she went back home dizzy and hysterical, her father tried to talk to her but she was already in another dimension of the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Next day, Ian went to work, and Daria was clueless about apologizing for either Aria or Craig,

She knocked Aria’s room to talk to her but she wasn’t already there,

She visited the same person who privately gave her an addictive kind of drugs,

She purchased more to distract herself as much as she can, Daria went home before Ian or his daughter come home and meet together, she tried to apologize to Craig again, he pushed her away, she went to her room and cried, she couldn’t distinguish a right perspective from the opposite, she was just lost, she didn’t mean to hurt anyone and she’s ignorant about the way she will express this.

 

Next day Aria spent more money over drugs and her dad was notified meanwhile he’s working that his bank account was decreasing in an accelerative way all of sudden, when his daughter came back home he asked her about this matter and she told him she bought clothes, but the bags she was holding into her grips were all including drugs, she succeeded to manipulate her father’s brain knowing he’s into a weak situation, he didn’t will to question her anymore he just wanted to talk about everything, she neglected him and locked herself into her room.

 

He went to work the following day, Daria didn’t come, and the maids tried to knock Aria’s door for cleaning but they thought her silence refers that she’s not in the mood, by night, Ian came and couldn’t find Daria around, he knocked his daughter’s door but she didn’t respond, he angrily asked her to open the door

“Open the fucking door, hon, I need to talk with you”

He tried to push the door until he broke it, he found his daughter laying on the floor and liquids were discharging from her mouth, her eyes were wide open, her skin was faded, likewise, her lips were pale too

 

The father lost his tempers and took her immediately to the hospital but they informed him that she was already dead five hours ago, he carried her dead body over his shoulders all the way home to shroud her, to put his young and only girl into a coffin.

 

Craig has already gained money from his new job and decided to pay the collected share into the rental advance, he packed his stuff, and asked Darwin to carry some boxes with him, Daria overheard them by the dawn and followed them to Craig’s new location.

 

After a week, Judy was already careless about her son’s absence, she was still controlling and commanding everyone, Ian called Daria and told her about his daughter, she came in a hurry and hugged him,

He offered her to stay with him permanently to cover his daughter’s vacant place, she couldn’t give an answer, she just went directly to Craig, who was shocked seeing her outside his door,

“Ian wants me to stay with him forever, are you cool with this?” she asked

He told her “I don’t give a single fuck do whatever you want”

Then he slammed the door.

 

She packed her clothes and went to Ian, in mean time he was buying clothes for her, as well as jewels and taking her out on dates in expensive restaurants

But she was still missing Craig’s vibes, she lost her parents and her love, but the second loss, was the karma’s power, for collapsing a family as well as being collapsed.

 

Ian told Daria that he booked two flight tickets to Ireland and he already applied her in a school, Daria wasn’t shocked, he never asks anyone he owns for any decision he may take even if it was associated to their lives.

 

Daria went back to Craig telling him “this may be the last time we meet, I’m travelling tomorrow with Ian to Ireland, will you still give up on me?”

She received a negative response as previously, he followed her and stayed out until the morning, when Ian was already carrying bags down, Craig showed himself up to Daria through the window, she opened the door, and he ran towards her…

“Don’t leave me like others did” he said, she took one bag and left others behind, and ran away with Craig, Ian traveled to Ireland at the same day and Daria didn’t hear about him in a while.

 

Months later and Daria figured out that she’s pregnant but she didn’t know whose kid is this, she also didn’t have money to make a DNA analysis, she went to a cheap doctor and he told her which trimester she reached to, she concluded that it’s Ian’s child, when she confronted Craig about it, he wasn’t angry as much as he was so welcoming, he promised Daria that he will raise this child along with her and he will not stop loving her under any kind of condition, that’s part of his pact.

 

She tried to text Ian but his number has changed due to changing the region,

She got the baby in few months later she named her “Aria”

But instead of raising her with Craig she left, she couldn’t handle this guilt, she couldn’t look at his face every time and feel bad afterwards, she left him a message telling him through it “it was always you, I will never forget you, don’t forget me too, and don’t hate me either”.

 

She took the train away to a city that includes a center for female citizens and support them through poverty, domestic abuse and other reasons, she wanted to be alone where no one can find her ever again.

 

 

Craig was holding her message breaking down on the floor, he wrote another and committed suicide, he took a sharpened knife and cut his veins vertically,

His neighbors complained about the smell after five days of decomposing, the owner broke through his flat using carpenters means, he vomited by the chair Craig’s corpse was rotting beside, it was covered with worms and releasing fluids out of it… they called the emergency, and after they read his tragic farewell letter he was buried without an autopsy examination, it was apparently a suicidal purpose.

 

The farewell message: “if you read this note, I’ll be already dead, please, publish this message everywhere, I’ve always been seeking love everywhere I go, I even begged for it, the world was cruel enough to keep me alone with my fears until they devoured me and turned me into another person, I thought she would change me, I was already willing to change and start a new life with her, but she abandoned me, I know she had troubles staying, I know about her fears, all I wanted is compensating both of us for our previous losses, all I wanted is her staying with me no matter what, even though she has a kid that isn’t mine, but I end up alone again, after I was filled with hope and love, I’m empty again, tell her I killed myself because every day passing will be a torture for me, I know deeply that she will not ever be erased from my brain, I wanted to end this endless suffer, and to finally get rid of loneliness and despair eternally.”

 

This message was published on newspaper, social media, and was even broadcasted on TV shows, the audiences were attacking the anonymous lady mentioned in Craig’s letter, replying with hate speeches and hatred,

The subject went viral, he was a nobody until he died, how painful may this be, the people advocated for memorial campaigns that will be done regularly to recollect the details of a poor loving man.  

 

Daria heard through the TV news about Craig, her situation became worse, and she cried and isolated herself for days while others couldn’t detect why she’s acting so sensitively to this.

 

She deteriorated in mean time until Ian activated his local number again and texted her “is this mine?”

She responded “I wish it wasn’t”

 

He sent her an invitation to reach for him in Ireland and insisted on her, she travelled then abroad, she could finish her graduation, Ian got more attached to his girl “Aria” and after graduation Daria became a business lady like following the same path as Ian, she became more stiff and empty than before, she couldn’t love her daughter appropriately, and Ian was the last person she would think about when it comes to love.

 

One day after work she just goes to a bridge and recollect her memories with Craig, and then she cried, knowing that this story ends up in misery.