The conclusion to this two-parter. All characters are over eighteen years of age. Trigger warning for mention of suicide.
***
Still listening?
Good.
I know I've been rambling along for a while now but given the circumstances- well. I think you're owed an explanation. Let me know if this gets boring for you, will you?
No? Well then.
Well. I did the most obvious thing that I could. I got into my car and drove like straight to Aunt Sienna's. Kylie screamed when I stumbled into her arms.
Aunt Sienna told me later that she first thought that Mum and Denise were being murdered, not seduced, by the way I talked. It took a long time for them to calm me down, to get the story out of me. To tell them precisely what happened.
Kylie looked at me like I was mad. Aunt Sienna...she seemed to understand.
"The problem," she said, "is that he's not actually done anything illegal."
"Seriously?" I said.
"It's true. So far he's, what? Seduced Mia? Slept with Denise? Maybe had a threesome with them? Don't get me wrong," she continued, seeing my expression, "It's disturbing as fuck- this guy is clearly bad news- but there's nothing to actually
charge
him with."
I was appalled. "So we just let him continue to, to- hypnotise them, or whatever he was doing?"
She shook her head. "No. I already ran a background check on him. His records are a little too spotless, Jamie. A little too neat. It practically screams 'fake identity'. He's hiding from something- almost certainly a criminal record. Rape or abuse charges at the very least, if not some more sinister stuff." She shook her head. "If he's that manipulative towards women, that callous...he could be part of a prostitution ring. Or involved in human trafficking. Or God knows what else. That sort of power, in the hands of that sort of man..." She shuddered. "He needs to be stopped."
She rose and put a hand on my shoulder. "Listen. I'm going to chase this up- right now. You wait here. Kylie..."
My cousin- my sweet-faced cousin, all smiles and gentleness- cuddled up to me. "I promise I'll look after her."
"Alright then." My Aunt smiled at me and I could practically feel her strength, her resolve, behind that smile. A few minutes later Kylie walked out with her to her car and my Aunt drove away into the night.
***
Kylie made me hot chocolate.
It was something that she had done for me when I was just a kid- a sweet little ritual that the two of us used to share whenever we had sleepovers. If Aunt Sienna was who I wanted to be when I grew up, then I think my first hazy ideas of what sort of girl I wanted to spend my life with coalesced around cousin Kylie. She was funny and cute and had a talent for making me feel safe and warm merely be existing. I got over my crush in the end, but I never lost that warm feeling that came from being around her.
So Kylie distracted me with hot chocolate and Netflix and talk. She asked about you, and I wondered how much Aunt Sienna had told her. She talked about her recent breakup, her time at college. She suggested- for the dozenth time- that I could probably apply and get in next year. It all combined with that warm smile of hers to take the edge off my fear.
It was nice and it was calm but inevitably I'd remember what I saw; Mum's adoring stare, Denise's drooling face; the thing lurking inside his eyes, twisting and lashing, like a caged beast seeking release...
Eventually she gave up not talking about it. "Listen- Aunt Mia and Denise- they're going to be alright."
I shook my head, Sienna's talk of prostitution and trafficking rings still bouncing around in my head. "I'm just worried I'll never see them again. Or that I'll..."
I'll join them
, is what I didn't say. I felt my body flush, as the ache from when he looked at me on the upstairs railing that had eased but never truly faded returned, like some hideous internal invader. I drew out a long, shuddering breath. Kylie hugged me again, and the press of her full breasts against my arm only fed the fire.
"Listen," she said. "What's happening is awful. This man sounds awful."
"I can't believe something like this would happen to us. What kind of monster is he?"
To my shock she laughed. "Listen. I don't know about mind control stuff. But men like him...men like him have been around forever. A lot of women- not all, not even most but a lot...the idea of a strong man who comes in to claim them, to own them..." She took a long breath. "It's a...fantasy."
"A fantasy?"
Kylie caught my expression and blushed. "
Some
women. It's about the strength. The power. The confidence. Someone with that sort of power, who can just reach in and...take you. Claim you and make you
willingly
submit to him."
"Why?"
"Think about your life. Lots of stresses, aren't there? Not living up the promises of when you were a kid and thought you'd control the world? A lot of hard work and you get nothing much out of it?"
I thought about my shitty job, my friends all vanishing off to college; I thought about you, and the heartbreak you secretly brought about every day. I nodded.
"Imagine if someone just...comes along. Says, 'You belong to me now' and all of a sudden all that other stuff, it doesn't matter. Because the big, strong man owns you now and takes care of you and gives you the sex you've always wanted to have, the sort of sex you promised yourself you'd have the first time you decided you liked it." She looked away. "And you see, it's not your fault for giving up all of that stuff, because of course he
made
you want it. You couldn't resist his manliness, so of course it's all
his
responsibility
. His
fault. So you don't even have to feel guilty for letting go." Her hand tightened on mine.
I said, "But if you do that, you're putting yourself in the hands of someone where the only thing you know about them is that they don't care if you say yes or no."
She nodded. "That's why it's a best left as a
fantasy
. In the real life, men like that more likely than not end up
abusing
their power- cheating around, exploiting the women they claim, beating them or making them do things for them." She shrugged. "But the fantasy- here's a big strong man that will claim me and look after me forever- it's...seductive. You'd be surprised how many women end up falling for it in the real world."
I stayed silent for a long time. Then I said, "She should be back by now."
"It's okay," Kylie said. "Please, don't think about it too much. Try to relax"
I didn't relax. I got up and checked my phone. No messages. "Do she say anything else to you?"
"Just that she was going around there-"
"What?" I stood up, panic seizing me anew.
"She was going to check his place." Kylie watched as my eyes widened and my breath came out in desperate pants. "Look it's okay- she needed to find evidence of what he was up to, I know it's illegal but she's smart, she won't get caught- wait, where are you going?"
***
I drove like a madwoman. I'm amazed that I didn't crash along the way.
How could she have been so
stupid
? Didn't she understand what I was trying to tell her? Didn't she understand what would happen? You, Mum, Denise, now Aunt Sierra...no one listened. No one believed me.
That's why things happened the way they happened.
I texted while I drove- again, a miracle that I didn't crash- desperate messages about not going to his house, about not going near him. No answer.