Chapter 6: The Betrayal

Cassie pulled onto her street and noticed the bedroom lights were on upstairs at their house. Even though it was late, she was wide awake, giddy with anticipation, and oh so happy that Greg wasn't asleep. As she approached their house, a familiar car parked in the driveway caught her eye. She slowed down to check it out.

The giddiness faded.

"What the hell? Why would she be here this late?" Cassie questioned aloud. A suspicious knot formed in her stomach, and her instincts shot to high alert.

She circled the block and then parked on the opposite side of the street, a couple of houses away. Staring at her home with sick apprehension, she tried to sort through the many questions swirling through her mind, but the questions pointed to one disgustingly obvious truth, a truth she couldn't and absolutely didn't want to comprehend.

It couldn't be, could it?

Reluctantly, she stepped out of the van, sped across the street, and crept along the side of the house to the back door off the deck. The knot in the pit of her stomach twisted painfully as she crept up the stairs.

An empty wine bottle, a half-full recently corked bottle of merlot, and two empty wine glasses sat abandoned on the patio table. The chills that travelled with sadistic speed up her spine to the base of her neck, became impossible to ignore as they morphed into a full-body, traitorous burn.

Cassie picked up the glasses, one at a time, to judiciously examine them. Pink lipstick stained the rim of one glass! She tilted her head to the side as a swarm of unsettling questions spun through her mind. Their potential answers enraged her, flushing her face with fury.

She snatched the bottle of merlot and flew into the house through the open patio door. The sick knotty feeling in her stomach grew, threatening her senses, slowing her down. Pausing to brace herself against the kitchen counter, she swallowed hard, desperate to retain her stomach contents.

Looking towards the stairs, she nodded her head, affirming what she needed to do. As if being pulled by an unseen force, her body drifted robotically upstairs towards their bedroom.

This can't be happening, she thought while ascending the stairs. This can't be happening. This. Can't. Be. Happening.

Cassie stopped at the top of the stairs and stared towards their partially closed bedroom door. She stepped forward, creeping along the hall with one hand clasping the bottle of wine close to her chest and the other sliding along the cool wall, guiding the way. Hesitating, she leaned into the wall for support while straining to reason with her suspicious mind as it rambled wildly out of control. Fighting for a clear thought, she briefly contemplated turning to flee but stopped herself.

She wanted to know.

She needed to know, but at the same time, fear of what she would discover held her back.

Somehow, her trembling body made it to the partially closed bedroom door. The sound of movement coming from inside the room startled her, and she turned, ready to run and hide, but then she heard a woman moan. Fury took over, panic held a shaky second. Dizzy and nauseous, she fought her senses to remain upright as the burning black between her eyes threatened her consciousness, but a familiar giggle steadied her.

If ever there was a moment of déjà vu, now was it, and just like that she flashed back to her dream from the night before; her hand trembled uncontrollably as it reached out but paused when it came to rest on the smooth, brushed brass handle. She eased the door open. The master bedroom that Cassie and her husband Greg shared wasn't empty.

Tears escaped Cassie's eyes as she gazed upon the lovers writhing around in her bed. She squinted, blinking away the tears that blurred her vision. The truth came back into focus and she stared, stunned, silent, as her husband pumped in and out of his lover while kissing her with nauseating passion.

Cassie's brain spun, trying to grasp the reality of what she was seeing. Was this another nightmare? Had she fallen asleep at the wheel and now she was in Hell?

This can't be real, she thought.

Challenging Cassie's denial, reality taunted her, clarifying the image of Greg straddling his lover. Oblivious to Cassie's presence and the fact that he had a wife, he continued to ravish his lover. Each kiss burned like a cold slap to Cassie's face. Wrath consumed her, and she hurled the wine bottle at the wall, barely missing Greg's head. He whipped around and gaped as Cassie's eyes met the horrified eyes of her sister, Sara.

The sickening silence in the room lingered while Cassie raised her eyes to observe the wall above the bed. Crimson liquid trickled down the wall just above Sara's head, soaking the pillow.

My dream, she thought. It's just like in my dream!

Wobbling on her feet, she struggled with the urge to faint as the truth behind the feeling of dread in her dream hit her full force. Greg wasn't hurt. He had betrayed her. She couldn't even fathom a worse fate.

Shock and all-consuming disgust pushed the blood through her veins at a maddening rate. The tips of her fingers burned, and a nasty cramp forced the knot in her stomach to the back of her throat, causing her to involuntarily gag. She cradled her stomach and leaned forward as heaving took possession of her body, triggering the release of her stomach contents onto the floor and Sara's clothes.

Muffled swearing and bustling buzzed in Cassie's ears as Greg and Sara scrambled for clothes, but it all seemed like a slow-motion scene in a movie. Probably only ten seconds passed, but it felt like an hour.

Deaf to their words and too dumfounded to speak, Cassie struggled to calm her spinning mind as they desperately tried to explain themselves. She couldn't even hear their words. They couldn't possibly say anything that she wanted to hear, anyway, so she turned and raced from the bedroom, down the stairs, and out the open patio door that she previously entered. She paused in the driveway to catch her breath and plan her next move, but she didn't know what to do.

Every move, every breath, seemed as though it were happening to someone else. This was all too surreal to comprehend.

Too shaken to think, she stumbled like a drunk to the van and practically fell into the driver's seat. Stunned, she sat motionless, staring blankly at her house for what seemed like eternity. Time stood still, but her thoughts kept spinning while reality cruelly mocked her.

Greg flew down the driveway, waving his hands wildly to get Cassie's attention. The world around her violently returned to focus, and raw overpowering fury took over, painting her features with hatred. She started the van, wrenched it into reverse, and backed up several feet. Glaring at Greg with disgust in her eyes, she revved the engine, for a couple of seconds, and turned the wheel just enough to pick her target. Stomping on the accelerator, she flipped Greg the bird as she launched the minivan forward, turning at just the right angle to collide straight into the bumper of Sara's shitty little car, which created a domino effect, as it launched forward and crushed the rear of Greg's car, causing it to blow through the garage door.

The airbags in the minivan deployed and momentarily stunned Cassie, but adrenaline prevented her from passing out, and she came around fast. She cringed at the sight of the mashed-up vehicles. Both cars and the minivan were probably write-offs, not to mention the damage to the garage.

"Shit," she whispered, staring at the mashup in disbelief.

Greg and Sara screamed at her as if they had every right to be angry with her. Ignoring their ranting, she fumbled for her purse and got out of the van in a rage. They ran towards her, but she spun, seething with anger, and they froze, unsure of her next move.

"Stay the hell away from me, both of you, or I swear to God, I'll kill you both!" Drawn to the commotion, nosy neighbors started to gather in the front yard. "Sorry to wake you. I had to swerve to avoid hitting a dog," Cassie called out with a genuine smile that strained her face to produce. She turned, shooting invisible daggers at Greg and Sara. "Filthy dog is more like it."

Unable to stand one more moment in their presence, she spun and walked away, as calmly as possible, until she turned off her street, out of sight. Then, she ran faster than she ever had in her life. The need to get away was paramount. There had to be some escape from the insanity she just witnessed.

Her calves burned from the strain of the pace, but she kept trying to outrun the images of the lovers that muddled her mind. The world started to spin, dizziness took over, and she was forced to stop to regain her senses. It couldn't be done. Giving up, her legs buckled, and she collapsed onto the cold grass. Cassie's face broke her fall as it smacked into something hard. She knew there was a gash, maybe there was blood, but it didn't matter. She didn't even try to care.

Nothing mattered.

Her life, as she knew it, was over.

Rolling onto her back, she numbly regarded the dark surroundings in a daze while trying to pull her thoughts together. It all seemed so surreal, so completely insane and impossible, but as the cool dampness of the grass seeped through her clothes, chilling her to the bone, she knew it was real.

Now would be the ideal time for lightning to strike her dead. Oh, how she wished for it.

At some point, she called Eryn but couldn't recall the conversation. She managed to mumble her whereabouts, and she knew Eryn would come for her.

Eryn.

The only person she could trust.

Where else could she go? She couldn't go home, and she most certainly did not want to go to her mother's house.

"Oh, God!" she moaned in agony. The devastation that consumed her soul couldn't be avoided, so she succumbed to it, curling up into a ball and sobbing until reality blurred.