SCORNED EX WIFE : Queen Of Ashes
pte
POINT
I'd imagined all these years. The living room of my penthouse apartment overlooked the city where I'd s
a j
indow. The woman staring back at me smiled, perfect
nce Camille walked out, probably worried I'd change my mind now that everything was i
into the leather couch, letting me
-
saw Camille Lew
w parents. They'd brought me to this massive house with its manicur
messy hair came bouncing down the sta
e. I've always
thes were secondhand or that I smelled like the group home's i
ed to
I'd spent thirteen years dreaming about. Parents who actually wanted
even apprecia
her chair and talked with her mouth full. How she didn't know which fork
. Mom ..... had said, smiling at me. "Perhaps
e's perfect world. The slight dimming of her sm
s bea
-
present. Stefan's face lit up my screen, his f
you're bei
drinking? "She's gone. Really gone. Blo
The same tone I'd used all those times I'd counseled Camille th
e way she loo
o my sweetness. "Are you having second tho
not. I love you. I'
me about your ex-wi
weak. Even Stefan, who I'd spent four years grooming before
Just like everyone else in
d in the center, of course. Always the center. Camille pushed to the
een easy. Alm
ith Mom about how worried I was about my dear sister's emotional state. Casual mentio
responsible daughter, the achievable dream, while slowly crush
tion with Mom about finding Camille's "secret" diary, filled with dark thoughts and destructive plans. Plans
ady for college. Needed time to "find herself." Nee
could wa
this was what I'd really wanted all along. Not Stefan, he was just a
nally break. To see her realize that everything she thought
se, darling, please come over. Your fathe
confusion, the reluctant confession about Stefan's pu
nking me for protecting them from the
rfect outfit for my next scene. Something subtle but
g gift to me. "So you'll always have space for your
ry spotlight, every opportunity, every scrap of pare
io
clothes in high school. How I'd wait until she had something important, a date,
without argument. Always apol
hard to be the
w something ugly there. Something that looked like the scared, ang
perfect Rose again. Flawless R
prepared for my next performance. The concerned family meeting woul
flection, practicing my worried fro
Camille's eyes before she'd walked out, I'd never seen it before
almost like...
en through my mask to
, just like I'd made her. She'd run away, lick h
ee of me. I'd made su