Authors Note:

Hello everyone,

Before we begin, I just wanted to say that a small portion of this chapter contains a flashback, meant to be imagined as such. Just as it was in one of the previous chapters, all things happening in the flashback are represented by italics.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you continue as this little conundrum continues to be untraveled.

Without further ado, here we go!

Chapter 77

Ten minutes had passed since Lee had taken her leave to retrieve her refreshments. She had returned bearing two cups of tea, as well as two of Tabby's vanilla cupcakes, one of each for her and her guest. As she re-entered the room, she opted to flick the wall mounted light switch, activating the two table-mounted lamps, bringing the room into a less somber state by illuminating the space in a dim orange glow.

Lindsay placed her tea down on Lee's vanity, and proceeded to unwrap her cupcake in a delicate, ladylike manner. She then held the treat up to her mouth, and attempted to take a small dainty bite; however, the large amount of cream placed on top unfortunately managed to smear near the borders of her lips.

As Lindsay began enjoying her treat, Lee sat down on the bed next to her and proceeded to unwrap her cupcake.

"So," said Lee, "How is it!"

Lindsay waited to reply until after she swallowed.

"Great," said Lindsay as she turned towards Lee, "These taste just like the ones we used to get back at the bakery on the corner in the city!"

"They do huh," said Lee, "I'm glad you like em', but the trick is to get more of the cupcake in your mouth than around your mouth."

Lee giggled slightly as Lindsay adopted an expression of distress. She quickly dashed over towards Lee's vanity and leaned into the mirror to check her face. Upon seeing the mess she had inadvertently made of herself, she promptly grabbed a few of the napkins Lee had brought with her and proceeded to clean her face as Lee giggled.

After a few seconds, Lindsay placed the napkins down and reexamined her face, moving her head around to obtain a view from multiple angles.

"Did I get it all?" asked Lindsay in a nervene manner.

Lee giggled slightly as she rolled her eyes and stood up off of the bed.

"Some things never change," said Lee, "Let me see Goofball."

Lee took hold of Lindsay large earrings as if they were the handlebars on a bicycle, and used them to turn Lindsay's face towards her. After a quick examination, Lee released Lindsay, nodded and sat back down on her mattress.

"You're good," said Lee, "God forbid you have one little smudge of icing on your lips, you're still too dainty to lick it off with your tongue, huh?"

"Hello," said Lindsay, as she turned towards Lee with a smile as she pointed towards her mouth, "It's called lip gloss, and it took forever to get it the way I wanted it."

"Whatever," said Lee, "At least I know those hula hoops you wear on your ears still serve their purpose. Remember when you spilled your ice cream we got from Tony's that one day? You went crazy and grabbing those things was the only way to hold you still and get ya to calm down!"

"Um, yeah how could I forget," said Lindsay, "It was five dollars and fifty cents! That's a lot of money for a kid back them. On top of that it was the vanilla chocolate combination with strawberry bits made by Tony himself. Any kid in the neighborhood would have went crazy if they lost out on that! But you were there like always to share yours."

"Hey, what was I supposed to do, leave ya hangin?" asked Lee, "Besides, I always liked those big hoops of yours. I tried to look for ones to match them, but I could never seem to find a pair we could afford."

"You should have just asked me!" said Lindsay as she sat back down next to Lee, "I would have given you a pair. I have about three more sets back in my room, I'll bring a pair the next time I come over and..."

At that point, Lindsay ceased mid sentence, realizing that she and Lee were speaking to each other as if their friendship had never ended. Both girls, while wanting nothing more than to be on amiable terms with each other again, were quite stubborn and continued to refuse to admit their feelings; accordingly both sat with solemn expressions, with their arms folded and legs crossed while staring in opposite directions as if they were a mirror image of one another.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Lee decided to interject.

"So," said Lee, "Are you ready to continue your story?"

Lindsay paused for a few moments, sighing as she placed her hands on her knees and adopted an expression of sadness.

"Sure," said Lindsay, "It's why I'm here, right?"

Lindsay adjusted her hair, after which she continued where she left off.

"My moms unexpected death hit our family pretty hard, especially my Dad," said Lindsay, "He went from being excited about raising a miracle baby with the love of his life to a widower with an infant daughter."

There was a pause as Lindsay collected her thoughts, after which she decided to continue.

"My dad started putting me in daycare when I was two so that he could continue to run his company, which by the way almost failed due to his bought of severe depression," said Lindsay, "Eventually, around the time I was three, I began to notice all of the other kids being picked up by their mom, and began to wonder why I didn't have a mom. I can remember the day I finally asked my dad the question, and how sad he seemed when he had to explain it. Of course he explained it in very simple terms when I was little, mostly in terms of our belief in God, but eventually told the entire story as I matured. He also gave me a bunch of pictures of my mom to keep next to my bed, and told me that she would always be with me and be my guardian angel."

Lindsay turned towards Lee.

"Getting to the point," said Lindsay, "As a toddler, me and my dad did a lot together. My dad loves working on cars, outdoor sports like fishing and hunting, and anything to do with science, basically a typical 'mans man'. Although I wasn't really good at it, or particularly interested, he would have me hand him tools while we fixed up his car and take me on fun fishing trips and walks through the woods. While my dad loved the science and engineering portion of his job, I could care less, cause as you know, I take after my mom when it comes to finance. I have always been fascinated with money, from playing cash register in my room, to using a calculator to count play money my dad used to give me when he occasionally took me to work with him. Despite being so different, we were really close, and I loved spending time with him whether it was out in the woods, in the garage, or in his office."

Lindsay cracked a slight smile.

"One year for my birthday, he bought me a miniature basketball hoop and a ball." said Lindsay, "The idea being that because my mom loved sports and was talented at basketball, I might be as well and could benefit from starting early."

Lindsay looked towards the wall as she continued speaking.

"He tried to get me into it, but it just wasn't for me. For whatever reason, I was different, a more typical girl so to speak." said Lindsay, "I could barely hold a basketball, but when it came to manicures, hair, and fashion, I was well beyond my years. He saw my God given love of cosmetology blossom, but felt powerless to relate to it...that's when he decided to try to help."

Lee giggled slightly.

"In hindsight it's kind of a good thing that you're one of those prissy girls," said Lee in a playful manner, "It don't sound like running or any kind of heavy cardiovascular exercise is good for your blood pressure, or your joint issues."

"Very true," said Lindsay, "Ever since my mom died, my Dad spent his free time researching medical texts and websites, trying to figure out what went wrong and why he suddenly lost my mom that day. Around the time of my basketball failure, he finally discovered Marfan Syndrome, and realized my mom had all the signs, including the Walker and Steinbergs sign I showed you earlier. They were unfortunately mistaken as just being part of my moms unusual double-jointedness. After reading that the disorder was genetic, and realizing I was growing like a weed, he put two and two together and realized I might have it as well."

Lindsay took a breath.

"I can remember him coming into my room one night," said Lindsay, "He asked me to curl my fingers over thumb, and place my fingers around my wrist, just like I showed you earlier and sure enough, the signs were positive. I didn't understand what was going on, but I can remember that feeling like I did something wrong, because my Dad suddenly burst out in tears. That was the first and only time I ever saw my dad cry, and I think it was because he finally realized that my moms accident could have been prevented if they only knew."

Lindsay placed her hands on her knees.

"I was at the doctors the next day," said Lindsay, "They did a genetic test on me, confirmed it, and prescribed me beta blockers to keep my blood pressure down. Thankfully, mine is not as severe as my moms, so I didn't need glasses or any kind of dental work. I did have to wear a back brace for a little while for my scoliosis, and still get routine eye exams and scans to check my aorta for any issues. I take my disdain of sports as a sign from God, protecting me from any possible accidents prior to my diagnosis. The doctors said that I am allowed to run, play non contact sports, and exercise if I wanted to, but my Dad gets really nervous when I do. He's very protective of me when it comes to my Marfan Syndrome, which is understandable considering that he doesn't want to risk losing me like he lost my mom."

There was a slight pause, after which Lindsay decided to continue her story where she let off.

"Anyway, from that point forward, all of my future Christmas and birthday kits were sets of nail polish, dolls and toy hair supplies, which I immediately loved," said Lindsay, "My Dad would do everything he could to encourage my hobbies, and let me be myself. While he had no idea about anything to do with cosmetology, he did occasionally allow me to style his hair."

Lindsay turned towards Lee with a grin.

"And I'm not ever supposed to admit this," said Lindsay, "But between you and me, he would let me use him as a test subject for makeup application every night."

The two girls shared a giggle, after which Lindsay continued.

"Even though he did his best, and I never doubted my dad loved me more than anything, I could still tell that he was depressed deep down inside," said Lindsay, "Depressed over losing my mom, and depressed over the fact that he felt as though he wasn't able to adequately serve as a father and mother figure simultaneously."

Lindsay turned back towards the way, appearing to become quite distressed as she swallowed.

"My Dad is a very smart guy, but he is quite socially naive," said Lindsay, "That combined with the fact that he was clinically depressed made him quite easy to manipulate, and made him the perfect target for the queen of them all, Edyta Babik."

Lindsay paused.

"Even though she's been in my life for ten years, there's very little I know about Edyta's past," said Lindsay, "All's I know is that she apparently immigrated here from Poland when she was a pre-teen, and knew my mom and dad from high school where she was the leader of the stupid cheer squad. From what I know, she was a bully in high school, and while people seemed to like her, they more or less feared her."

Lindsay took a breath.

"I can remember the first day I met her," said Lindsay, "I was up in my room playing with my cash register when I heard an unfamiliar female voice from downstairs. As you know Edyta speaks with a pretty thick accent and broken english; it was pretty unusual to me to hear that kind of voice so I snuck downstairs and hid right outside the entrance to the living room to listen..."

A young Lindsay, clad in a pink pajama top with matching purple bottoms sat in a fetal position, hidden behind a wall next to the entryway into her homes living room. Inside her father Chuck sat in one of the arm chairs; a few feet away sitting in the second arm chair was the small frame of Edyta Babik, clad in an old grey coat that had appeared to have seen better days.

Lindsay listened as the two adults shared a conversation within.

"Listen, I have to be honest with you Edyta," said Chuck, "I feel really uncomfortable about this, I mean we never really knew each other and I really didn't like the way you treated my friends in high school."

"Chucky," said Edyta with a sincere expression, "Words in any language cannot describe the regrets I feel for being person I was in high school. I am no longer a bad person, not since I experienced what it feels like to be on other side. Please, I am homeless, I have nowhere to go, you are only one I can find that still remembers me from those days. I liked Tiffany very much, and I wish to help you to repay my debts to harm I caused her by hurting her friends."

Edyta placed her hand on Chuck's shoulder.

"Let's make deal," said Edyta, "I stay here for little while, I'm good with the children. Little Tiffany needs mother figure, no? I help Tiffany learn the ways of being a woman, including hair, makeup, fashion beauty, I am quite skilled at those things. For you, I clean house, and make food while you work."

At that point, tears began streaming down Edyta's face.

"Please," said Edyta, "I'll do anything, please give me chance to get back on feet and help atone for bad things I have done."

Chuck, being the kind-hearted individual he was thought long and hard about Edyta's proposition. He turned away from the woman, placing his hand over his mouth for a few seconds, after which he emitted a long drawn out sigh.

"Alright," said Chuck, "I'll let you stay and help out around the house and with Tiffany on three conditions."

Edyta ceased crying and nodded as if to oblige.

"First, we do not share a room, or have any form of relationship whatsoever," said Chuck, "My heart does and will always belong to Tiff."

"Hun, you definitely don't have to worry about that..." said Edyta.

"Two," said Chuck, "I was raised to believe that men and women should not be living together out of wedlock, and I wish to continue to instill our families conservative and religious values in Little Tiffany. As much as I hate to do this, we are going to need to pretend to be married, at least until Tiffany is old enough to understand."

"Agree," said Edyta.

"Three," said Chuck, "No matter what, Tiffany always comes first. I love that little girl more than anything else in the world, and I expect that you will help me to do everything to ensure she is raised right and feels loved."

"Absolutely," said Edyta, "That is something you will never have to worry about."

Chuck spent a few moments staring into Edyta's eyes with concern, seemingly pondering the major decision he was in the process of making. After a few moments, he nodded and proceeded to yell towards the entryway.

"Tiffany!" yelled Chuck, "Come down to the living room for a minute Scout!"

Lindsay paused for a few moments as if to pretend she was in the process of making her way to the living room. Eventually, she stood up and slowly walked into the room.

"Tiffany, this is my special friend Edyta," said Chuck as he turned towards Edyta, "Edyta this is Little Tiffany."

The little girl and petite woman remained silent staring at each other with neutral expressions for a few moments. Eventually, Edyta rose up off if the chair and approached Lindsay, kneeling down to her eye level.

"So this is Little Tiffany," said Edyta with a smile, " She's a pretty one, just like the mother."

"Say Hi Little T," said Chuck.

Lindsay paused for a moment.

"Hello," said Lindsay in a breathy, low volume voice.

"Don't worry," said Chuck as he giggled, "She's got the gift of gab, just like Tiff. Give her a couple of days, and you'll see it."

"No problem," said Edyta as she glanced towards Chuck with a grin, "As I've said, I enjoy working with the children, and I can already tell she's got a lot of the mother in her."

Edyta turned back towards Lindsay, adopting a sly smile as she spoke.

"I think we will get along just fine..." said Edyta as she stared into Lindsay's eyes.

"From that first day, I knew there was something that I couldn't trust about that woman," said Lindsay, "They say you can tell a lot about a person from their eyes, and she was no exception. Even though I was only four, I could sense something not quite right, an evil presence, as if she were the devil itself on earth."

"Just as good of a read on people as I remember," said Lee, "I've only seen the bitch a couple of times, but I got the same feeling from her the first day I saw her, the day she yanked you away from me. I didn't say a word about it to Marie and May, but I can remember thinking about you for the rest of the night. It was an eerie feeling, her eyes actually made me sick to the stomach, and she reeked the feeling of that kind of adult that you know not to trust."

"Precisely," said Lindsay as she stared towards Lee's bedroom wall, "I knew that awesome intellect of yours would allow you to pick up on her modus operandi from that short interaction."

Lindsay paused, after which she decided to continue with her story.

"It only took a week for her to begin showing signs of who she really was," said Lindsay, "My Dad and my Mom were huge video game nerds, and naturally so was I. One day, over the summer while my Dad was at work I decided to spend the afternoon playing games and drinking orange juice like I usually did. However, when Edyta found out I was playing video games, it was like she suddenly snapped. While I sat on the couch, she screamed at me for what seemed like an eternity. She told me I had to be a dignified lady, and that real women do not play video games and only care about being beautiful. She also went off about how women shouldn't ever play sports, even though I never even showed any interest in playing ball."

Lindsay paused, her hands shaking slightly as she spoke of her past.

"As quickly as it turned on," said Lindsay, "It suddenly turned off. She stopped yelling, and started apologizing in a gentle tone. She hugged me, told me she was sorry, and how we can keep this little mix up between 'us girls.' She left the room in smiles, leaving me alone on the couch; I can remember being confused, all the while shaking out of fear. I knew it was all a game, and I knew in the bottom of my heart that what I saw that day was just the beginning."

Lindsay continued trembling, the tremors seeming to increase exponentially as her breathing continued to quicken. Lee quickly took notice of Lindsay's condition and grabbed her hand.

"Liz," said Lee as she stared at Lindsay, "Come on calm down, I don't want your blood pressure up over this. You don't have to say any more if you don't want to."

"No," said Lindsay as she whipped towards Lee, pulling her hand away from hers. "I'm done lying, and I'm done hiding. You're gonna get the whole truth, just like I promised."

Lindsay sniffled slightly.

"Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened in my life," said Lindsay, "You were the only person outside of my family that ever 'got me', and that I knew I could trust. I went home the night we met so excited to tell my Dad that I finally made a friend when he got home."

Lindsay paused.

"Edyta picked me up from school that day," said Lindsay, "I can remember I told her that I made a friend, something that excited her quite a bit, I guess because that meant I was on my way to being 'popular' or something. Just like that first time though, for reasons I still don't understand, her mood took a nose dive as soon as I told her your name."

"My name?" asked Lee, "How the hell would she even know who I was?"

"I don't know," said Lindsay, "But I will tell you that at the mere mention of your name, she suddenly slammed on the brakes as she pulled the car towards the curb. I was in the back seat, and she whipped around to face me with those angry eyes once again. She told me that I was not to be seen with you ever again, and that you were nothing but no good trash, going on and on forever about how I was going to get head lice from you and how you bathed in water filled with cockroaches. It was horrible, I never heard anyone say anything so mean about someone they didn't even know. I knew it was wrong, so I kind of just ignored it, and just like last time, she suddenly stopped. She turned back around and continued driving, not saying another word for the rest of the day, and acting like nothing ever even happened."

Lindsay collected her thoughts all the while appearing increasingly more nervous.

"Playing with you just felt like the right thing to do," said Lindsay as she turned towards Lee with a smile, "We always had much fun together, figuring out how to turn our differences into strengths and always working as a team towards our common goal. Call me crazy, but I always had this weird feeling that we belonged together, like we were destined to be friends for some reason...it's a really funny feeling, it's like..."

"We were friends in a past life or something," said Lee, "Like we knew each other before, but just didn't remember it."

"Yeah," said Lindsay as she looked into Lee's eyes, her nervousness briefly disappearing, "I can't believe you felt it too."

The girls remained locked in gaze for a few seconds, both with smiles on their faces, after which they both shrugged off their feelings.

"So I decided to keep playing with you," said Lindsay, "As much as I wanted to tell my Dad I had a friend, and introduce you to him, I kept it all a secret so that Edyta wouldn't go off again. That's why I never invited you over my house, and we always went to yours to play."

Lindsay turned back towards the wall as she crossed her legs.

"My life changed completely that day," said Lindsay, "We were talking about a sleepover over your house when Edyta caught us. What you witnessed was the tip of the ice berg, one of her little 'blowups' I told you about earlier. However, when we got home, I finally realized what she is fully capable of, and ever since then she has had no qualms about exposing her true nature when we are alone."

At that point tears started streaming down Lindsay's face.

"She dragged me by my arm down the street," said Lindsay, "My joints are really sensitive, and I can remember feeling like my shoulder was going to dislocate with ever step. She threw me into the cars back seat, and drove us back to our house. My Dad didn't get home for about another hour and a half, so she had free reign to do whatever she wished, and it happened to be my first experience of 'The Training'."

Lindsay began shaking heavily, as she placed her hand over her mouth, tears flowing down her face at a rapid pace.

"Sat sat me in a wooden chair in our garage," said Lindsay, "She kept slapping me over and over again, saying to repeat after her, that I shouldn't play with you anymore. She was good at what she did, cause she knew how to do it to hurt me, but not to leave visible marks. After the slapping..."

Lindsay gulped.

"After the slapping...came the flames," said Lindsay, "The first time she...bu...burned me it was a few nicks with one of those torches my dad use to solder pipes. She only did it on my wrists, so that in the event that it was found or I told, it could be blamed on self harm."

Lee watched with an expression anger, shock, and surprise as Lindsay continued.

"Burning was the punishment for my right arm," said Lindsay, "In the future, she started to improvise more, using cigarette lighters, or the stove if it was available. As for my left arm...it was much simpler. Razor blades and broken glass were the weapon of choice."

At that point, Lindsay could no longer hold back the flood of tears that began streaming down her face, smearing her makeup in the process.

"It was sick," said Lindsay, "She got some kind of thrill out of hurting me, and coming up with methodical ways of doing it...she told me if I ever told anyone about it, she'd kill them. She tells me all the time that I killed my mom, and I needed to do everything she said or she'd kill my Dad, my Baba and my Granny and Grampy, and then I'd belong to her...I didn't know what to do, I had to protect my Dad, I had to do what she said, I had to keep taking it for them!"

At that point Lindsay suddenly rose up to her feet, tears streaming down her face as she began yelling in a distressed intonation.

"Torturing me to get me away from you was only the beginning!" yelled Lindsay, "You want to know what I've been through for the last ten years of my life? Well a pictures worth a thousand words!"

Lindsay took hold of the zipper securing her designer coat in the closed position, and proceeded to unzip it. Once fully open, she removed the garment and placed it on Lee's bed, leaving Lindsay in a short sleeved lavender shirt.

Lee's eyes widened as Lindsay's seldom exposed forearms came into full view, placing her hand over her mouth as her eyes became slightly glassy. Lindsay's right forearm seemed to be covered in a large amount of scar tissue, some of which appeared to have been medically restored to normal, a result of repeated glazing burns. On her left wrist were numerous scars, similar to those of individuals who commit wrist self harm with razor blades.

At that point, Lindsay began to go on a seemingly endless tirade, lifting her arms and pointing to a different part of her flesh as she spoke.

"These are only the recent ones that haven't healed yet!" yelled Lindsay in a hysteric manner, "But I can remember every last one of them. Three burns and two cuts for playing with you, a burn for not making junior cheer captain, two cuts for not walking properly down the aisle at Kindergarten graduation, three burns for losing to you in that crafting competition back in third grade, and way TOO MANY TO FUCKING COUNT JUST BECAUSE SHE FELT LIKE HURTING ME THAT DAY!"

At the completion of her statement, Lindsay collapsed back onto Lee's bed, taking a seated position as she buried her face into her hands and sobbed uncontrollably. Lee observed Lindsay's display for a few moments. As tears trickled down her face from underneath her glasses, she moved closer towards her sobbing former friend, and slowly placed her arms around her shoulders in a loving embrace.