Post by Elena Fairchild on Dec 3, 2012 13:55:49 GMT -8
I'm just a girl, what's my destiny?
April 13, 2005
Elena woke up to sounds of movement. In pure lazy fashion, she snuggled deeper into the blanket, seeking out the body of her fiancé, Robert Salinger. Last night had been wonderful and she just wanted to spend as much time as possible being as lazy as possible before she was forced to attend to another client in the evening. Feeling a cold spot where a warm, naked body should be, Elena forced her eyes open and found at the vanity with his back to her.
"Bobby, what are you doing?"
Even through the fog of sleep, she noticed him jump at her voice. "Lennie, you're awake. I thought you were gonna sleep the day away." Robert half-turned towards her and ran a hand through his hair. Was that embarrassment? There was something different about his voice, something she just couldn't quite put her finger on.
"You woke me up." She frowned when she saw he was packing and sat up slightly. "Where are we going?" He hadn't mentioned anything about a vacation, though it would be nice. Italy was nice this time of year.
"You're not coming with me." He continued to stuff his things into a duffel bag, packing only what seemed to Elena as very basic necessities.
A slight spark of irritation gave her the energy to sit up fully. How dare he speak in that condescending tone to her. "Where are you going?" she asked, not hiding her annoyance.
"Away."
"Away?" She wasn't expecting that response; it was enough to momentarily dispell her irritation. "For how long?" Him leaving wasn't unusual.
"The game's over, Lennie. I've got what I came for."
"I don't. . . what are you saying?" Desperation? Shock and hurt. No anger; it hadn't returned yet. This was too much to be absorbing to soon after waking, her mind was having trouble connecting the dots.
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "I'm a con man, Lennie. I used you." His words were weary but so clear and so blunt.
"No, I would have seen. You would have slipped up somewhere. I would have noticed." Her words betrayed her stubbornness. A year she gave to this man. How could she not have seen? The long con was a difficult one in the beginning, having to keep straight all the lies. She hadn't seen him slip up once in the times they were together and she praised herself on reading body language.
"You can't con a con man, Lennie." Robert laughed and gestured wide with both hands. "C'mon. You say you're an escort, an actress, that you play a different girl every night, but you and I both know you're still spoiled little Elena when you go out with those Johns and Janes. If you were really a con man, really an actress, you would've seen through me ages ago."
"Don't call me Lennie!" she shouted. He had no right. Not anymore. "I'll. . . I'll track you down, tell the police about you." She was grasping at straws now. Maybe if she blackmailed him, he'd stay.
"No, you won't. You're in love with me. You won't turn me in. Besides, you have your pride. What would your family think if they found out you were conned? Now, I need you to forget everything, forget about me. Just another bad dream, hm?" Those words, that tone. How dare he put himself above her, her status. He was guilty of as many sins as she was.
Elena shook her head. No, this couldn't be happening. She forced herself to sit in silence a few moments, to settle her thoughts. The only way she could solve this mess was if she was being rational. She wasn't the mark, but she was a key piece. Robert got close to her for someone she knew and she fell in love with him. Elena remembered reading Muggle fiction where the con man sometimes fell in love with his cover. "Did you ever love me?" So much for rational.
"Maybe, once, but you were just an objective, a means to the end. Don't try to talk yourself into thinking you can change me, set me straight. You wouldn't be the first girl to try."
That stung her more than if he had punched her in the gut and the anger surged back. It was fake? He just played her like an instrument, made her feel safe, wanted, loved and just expected her to let him take it all away?
"Think of it as a lesson, dear. Or a wake up call. You can't play the spoiled vigilante forever. A failed vigilante, might I add." His careless words just added more fuel to the fire. Anger mixed with despair threatened to swallow her up, strangling her throat. All she could manage was a barely repressed snarl, hands balled in the sheets. She wanted no more than to lunge across the room and strangle him, maybe curse him, but that would be breeching the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy. The promise of Azkaban or even death was enough to keep her in her spot.
Robert took a quick glance around the room. "Sell the rest, hm? That's a girl." For a moment, Elena could swear he looked at her with an emotion that was so fragile and so true, but it was gone in the barest wisp. Duffel in one hand, he came back to the bed and pushed her back into the bed, before giving her a kiss on her forehead. "Go back to sleep, Lennie."
She felt a small prick in her neck. A moment before her mind started growing fuzzy. A sedative. No. She was going to fight it, her anger giving her some pull against the drug. "How dare you. . . " Her limbs felt sluggish, but she tried to shift closer to him, to punch him in the face.
He silenced her with another kiss. "Thanks for a good time, Elena Fairchild." He winked before strolling out, leaving Elena lying on the bed. Eventually, she stopped fighting the pull of darkness and cried as she watched the man she loved walk out the door, with her heart and her dignity. God help the next man who used her.
[Note: I picture Michael Trucco as playing Robert Salinger, muggle, but that's obviously not his real name.]