Jake sat down and held his head in his hands. Why was life like this? His family was demented, his school sucked, and the girl that he thought was the love of his life now announced that she was pregnant and it wasn’t his baby. What the hell was he going to do? He looked down into the sink and he realized there was blood. Where was this blood coming from? In a split second he felt a slight queasy feeling and suddenly remembered. He had cut his wrists and he had taken the sleeping pills and he had made the suicide note. He now comprehended, that he was going to die and he would never have to deal with that bitch again. The bitch that had cheated on him and ripped out his heart. That bitch would see his face in the coffin and see what she had done to him. She would pay. He fell down and suddenly saw white light.

“How is he doing?”

“Well, he lost a lot of blood and he is going to be in a major amount of pain, but I expect him to make a full recovery.”

Mrs. Wilkinson slowly sunk into the plastic covered chair of the waiting room and wondered when her loving husband would be home from his sudden trip to Paris. Why would she doubt him? He said he would never cheat on her and she believed him because she loved him, but why did his excessive traveling make her rely on drinking? Why would she pretend to be happy when he was home but whenever he left she would spend all her time drinking and being hung-over. But he never saw her like this. She was in bed sleeping drunk when he got home and he was already gone in the morning when she woke up with a killer hang-over. But this was the price, the price of denial and self hurting. She called her husband and he had said he would be home as soon as possible but for some odd reason she didn’t believe him. She pulled herself up with a determined look.

“Doctor, I need to go home and freshen up. Please notify me if anything changes.” She quickly went out side and hopped into her Mercedes Benz. She would head home but not until she made a few stops first.

Every day was the same. The same people, the same looks, even the same damn ideas. Why the hell should Susanna care? She hated the world and the world hated her. What could she say? The world had almost taken the one person she cared about away from her and chances were that he would never be the same. Jake was her brother and one of the most caring people she knew. Why was God doing this? What had she done to him? Susie was the smartest person in her class and she knew she could get into any college in the world if she wanted. But the downside to the fairy tale was that Susie never tried. She skipped class and hung out with her friends. But her parents didn’t care, well they said they did but their true feelings were hidden behind their cold, loveless eyes. They didn’t give a shit about her and in two years she wouldn’t be their problem anymore and she would be rid of them. She looked up for a minute and looked in the mirror. Her pasty and translucent appearance seemed normal to her but to anyone that cared, she was sick. She smiled slightly and sucked in her waist merely seconds before she threw up into the toilet.

The lights, the city, the women, this was Paris and he was set on leaving in a couple of hours. Jake was probably just begging for attention again and Suz was probably being annoying to Jane. He didn’t care. He was in the most beautiful city in the world and he was right next to the most beautiful woman too. She was still asleep and he tried not to wake her as he got up and made his was across the hotel room to the mini bar. Even though the sex was good and it was fun being with all the women, he couldn’t help but feel that his whole life was becoming one big sex infested party. He went from woman to woman and his poor wife never suspected a thing. As long as he bought her little presents and different things she would never doubt him at all.

“Stuart, what are you doing?” came out of the dark, rolling in a thick French accent.

“You remember my name? You are just a prostitute,” he said with a grin.

“I always remember the ones that tip big.” With this he crawled back to the king sized bed and fell asleep again in a matter of seconds. He would wake up to his alarm in three hours, go to the airport, get on a plane, and join his family in the hell that was .

“I hate school! Why the hell do I have to go back today? Mom, didn’t the doctor say that I could stay home for another day?” Jake begged. He detested school on so many levels. Kids would want to know what prompted him to kill himself, teachers would be full of sympathetic smiles, and by the end of the day the gossip mill would have concocted an elaborate story. This story would be made up by those who would brush off the dusty corners of their mind and think of the unthinkable. Hell, someone might even suggest he was gay. But the heck if he cared, he would come home and brush off his own dustiness and say some kids were teasing him or some bullshit that might convince his mom to let him stay home, because after all who is going to deny the contentment of a kid who tried to kill himself.

“Jake, you’re going to school whether you like it or not so for Christ’s sake get out of bed and get ready. I’m leaving in twenty minutes and you better be down here, ready, and have eaten something.” Why was he doing this to her? She wasn’t the enemy so why was he treating her like one. Damn, she’d like a day off too but the chances of that happening where slim to none, wait make that less than slim to one. But even though she would get ready, drive the kids to school, and drive like she was heading to work, she would get a block away from work and end up right back at home with a bottle of vodka, whiskey, or some kind of alcohol. Then after a few drinks and freshening up, she would call her office and make up some little white lie about why she wasn’t at work yet and then she would rush into work and do as much as she could in a couple hours. Then with a heavy head she would head home and drink some more. This was her heaven, but to anyone else it was hell.

“I hate school. Mom, why are you making me tryout for the play? You know I can’t sing and you know I hate acting.” Her mother was extremely fond of pissing her off and Suz would say she signed up and that because she couldn’t sing or act they had to cut her from the performance. Her mother would say ok as long as she had put effort into it. She loved how predictable her parents were. It was so easy to provoke them or make them feel guilty. She stepped out of the van, waved good bye to her mom, and walked into her own personal hell hole.

“Hey Mark, you wouldn’t believe how bitchy my mom was this morning. It was utter hell in the house except that Jake came home. Got my stuff?”

“Yep, everything you asked for, ten milligrams of the powder and five grams of the pills. Just make sure you don’t mix them because the next place you would be would be six feet under.”

“You are a life saver, I owe you big time. Here’s the money for the pills and maybe I could give you a special favor for the powder. If you catch my drift?” She smiled slyly and smirked as he nodded at her.

“You know what I like. Catch you tonight at Ripper’s?”

“Yeah, we can get a place after we party.”

“Oh yeah, you do know what I like. See you then.”

He looked out the window and saw the blue ocean glimmering like a sapphire. He loved the ocean, but the kids would never agree to moving. He couldn’t believe that in the belly of the plane was a container holding all his hard work. Not that it was completely difficult or anything. A couple rent-a-cop type guards, who were only there for the sheer exhilaration of holding a gun that they probably didn’t even know how to use, and a couple cameras that could be knocked out easily. He wasn’t red tagged or known at all. In fact nobody probably realized the precious artifact was missing. That’s too bad. Not that anyone other than him would find out. His family hadn’t cared about him traveling so much except his wife, who showered him with kisses and hugs when he got home simply because she didn’t like being alone with the kids.

“Sir, would you care for something to drink?”

“Thanks, I will have a glass of champagne for me and another for the beautiful lady next to me.”

“Coming right up sir.” The steward left and he turned to his right to admire his lovely mistress. Or at least one of them. Sometimes the poor bastard couldn’t remember all their names. Oh well, he didn’t care, all he cared about was sex and money. Which was odd, he didn’t believe in divorce. He didn’t want to be married to his wife, but he wouldn’t divorce her. How odd he thought, a criminal with some morals.

Jake walked out of school and looked back and laughed. Soccer practice was going to suck today because everybody would be asking questions. Laura would come out and pretend like nothing had happened and Jake just couldn’t wait to tell her to go to hell.

“Why does life suck so much Preston?”

“Well Jake, I have a theory. You girlfriend cheated on you and she is now pregnant,” Preston declared sorrowfully. If he told Jake what he really knew about the situation, Jake would be pissed. Not only pissed, probably even more suicidal. Preston’s face turned a pale, translucent white.

“Preston is something wrong? You look like crap man. You look worse than me.”

“Jake there is something I have to tell you and you aren’t going to like it.” Preston turned to Jake and took a deep breath as readied himself to practically jump off the edge.

Jane sat at her desk and looked around. People were working and eating lunch. She quickly slid her hand into her desk and grabbed out a water bottle. However if anybody smelled the bottle, it didn’t quite smell like Aquafina or Evian. She took a swig and put it back into the drawer. She saw her boss walk into his office and decided she would have a quick chat with him. She crossed the building as quickly as possible and as she surveyed the floor, there was nobody around anywhere. I guess everyone is out to lunch, she thought. She smoothed her skirt just before she knocked on the cool wooden door.

“Jane, I was wondering when you would stop by.”

“Doing anything right now Richard? Because I would love to get a room for the rest of the afternoon and night, if you don’t mind,” Jane slid her hand up his chest to his shoulders and he slowly made his way across the room to close the blinds.

“I’ll make sure that my secretary doesn’t bother me for the whole afternoon.”

“Fine by me!”