All This History We've Written

Valmont Family Tragedy

Sebastian had a much different family life than that of his best friend. In his family he was the center of no one's universe. He was the product of a lecherous alcoholic and somewhat troubled, desperate woman. His very creation had been a ploy on his mother's part to keep his wandering father at her side. She had mistakenly thought it would bring them closer but instead it only pushed them farther apart as Edward had little interest in his wife before she acquired a screaming infant and an additional twenty pounds. Their marriage was most definitely not a match made in heaven and it was the chief reason their son would later grow up to shun anything remotely connected to marriage and commitment.

To the outside world the Valmont's seemed the very picture of the perfect Upper East Side family. The Valmont's after all came from old money and when it came to finances Edward never had a bad year. The beautiful Annabelle was the envy of the society women, with her delicate features and golden hair and of course everyone hoped their children would be as handsome and well spoken as Sebastian. This is what was said in public when their name was brought up but behind closed doors it was another story all together as the Valmont's were easily the most gossiped family amongst the inner circle. Had it not been for Edwards sister Helen they would have been completely disgraced.

"Did you hear? She caught him again…guess how old this one was? 16!"

"My god, has that man no shame?! Poor Annabelle…"

"Yes the poor dear. I'm afraid there aren't enough Valium and Xanax in the Western hemisphere to make her forget this little indiscretion"

"Sophie!"

"Oh please, the way that woman pops pills it's amazing she's not comatose and did you see how much she drank at Daphne's party the other night?!"

"Can you blame her? With a husband like Edward and that terror of a son. Did you hear what that little monster did to Georgina 's prized roses? Poured bleach over the entire garden, killed everything. Evil little bastard, always running around doing whatever he pleases. Absolutely no discipline."

"And always with that lovely little Merteuil girl…"

"Odd"

"Very"

While Annabelle loved her son she was far too self involved and locked away in her own self-pity to pay much attention him. Outside from the occasional lecture or smack across the head, Sebastian's relationship with his father was non-existent. He was a mere afterthought to his parents so he spent a great deal of time acting out doing anything and everything to get a rise out of them.

All of this came to a head two days after Sebastian's ninth birthday when he came home from school to find his mother passed out on her bed, a small pharmacy of pills on the bedside table. This was hardly the first time he found her like this but it was the first time her skin was that odd shade of blue and it was the first time she didn't respond when he tried to wake her up.

Sebastian was a smart boy. He read Proust and Nietzsche, spoke several different languages, and could hold his own on any topic any adult cared to converse with him on but for some reason he wouldn't let himself comprehend this. He knew as he shook her and screamed at his mother to wake up that she was dead but that small part of his, that little boy side he tried so desperately hard to keep hidden, refused to believe it and clung on to the pathetic hope that she was only sleeping.

Eventually one of the maids arrived, letting out a shriek of horror upon witnessing his mother's body. She called for an ambulance then ushered the nanny in to pull Sebastian away. He wouldn't leave his mother and ignored them when they told him she was 'gone'. He bit at their hands that tried to pry him away and screamed at them how sorry they would be when his father got home and fired all of them for telling him his mother was dead. Even when the paramedics arrived and placed his delicate mother in that big, ominous black bag, he refused to let the reality of the situation sink in.

Suicide. That was the word that finally did it for him, that was the word that made him run. He heard the doctor whisper it to nanny Beatrice and in that instance he knew. Sebastian ran.

He went to the only place his could think of. The only place that ever felt remotely like home. He went to her.

Kathryn has been practicing a particularly difficult Chopin piece on the piano when she looked up to find Sebastian standing solemnly a few feet away. Looking back, she would always recall this moment when she was really angry with him or swore she would hate him forever for being such a heartless bastard. She would remember that day in the drawing room and recall the first time she saw Valmont's heart break.

"What's wrong?" Kathryn rose slowly from her seat.

Sebastian shook his head, visibly fighting tears. "She's gone"

"Who?"

"My mom"

Before she could question him further she heard the approach of the parental units, talking in hushed, angry whispers. Quickly she grabbed his hand and pulled him soundlessly back to her bedroom. As she closed the door as delicately as possible Sebastian crawled into her bed and burrowed himself in.

Standing against the door she bit at the side of her lip, not sure how to approach this situation. At eight she wasn't a girl who had any sort of experience comforting or even showing kindness towards people. She was the girl who flushed her goldfish down the garbage disposal, alive, because they became a nuisance. She pinched her sister because she liked he hear her scream. She was not a girl who offered comfort and condolences.

Watching her best friend looking as if the world had just caved in, she was at a loss. Still, she had to do something. Kathryn gently approached him. "Sebastian? What happened, were did she go?"

He didn't say anything for what felt like an eternity until finally it came. "She's dead. I found her. On the floor, with all her pills…" he choked on the last word as a sob threatened to escape. "She was blue."

Sebastian buried his face in her satin pillow and Kathryn kneeled down on the bed beside him. She reached out to touch him but quickly retracted her hand. It felt odd and unnatural. As her friend cried quietly she thought about the scene he just described. She couldn't imagine seeing a dead body, let alone her own mother. Kathryn disliked Tiffany immensely but the though of finding her like that made her ill.

The sudden loud knocking on her bedroom door woke them from their reprieve. "Kathryn? Kathryn are you in there? Is Sebastian with you?" Her mother's voice sounding oddly panicked floated into the room as she urgently tried to push open the locked door. "Kathryn, Mr. Valmont is here. He needs to take Sebastian home now."

"No!" Sebastian whispered to her harshly as he bolted up. "No, I'm not going anywhere…with him."

He grasped her arm as his face pleaded with her. Kathryn nodded in understanding. "Don't worry I'll take care of it."

She might not be able to hug him, or offer the perfect sentiment but this she could do. Kathryn could always be counted on to get what she wanted. Striding purposely forward, shoulders arched she threw open the door and stepped into the hallway. Closing the door behind her she stood in front of it and regarded the adults in front of her with a haughty, "what?"

"Kathryn," she mother approached her tentatively, "I'm not sure you know what happened to-"

"I know what happened," she snapped as she leveled an icy glare at Edward Valmont. "Sebastian is staying here."

"Sweetheart, now is not the time to-"

She cut off her father's even reply. "He doesn't want to go with you. He's staying with me"

Edward let out an exhausted sigh. She remembered how tired he looked to her. He always looked so calm and collected. The man before her appeared ragged, worn down, and older somehow. Yet, even her eight year old self couldn't muster any sympathy for him. Edward Valmont was a bastard through and through. She had been regaled with horror stories from Sebastian and witnessed enough of him in action to know the events of that day, inadvertently or not, were all his fault.

Kathryn locked eyes with the broken man and stared him down, daring him to argue with her. She was still be a child but she wasn't to be trifled with. Sebastian might be his son but he had always belonged to her. She had more claim on him than anyone.

Her parents tried to make her listen but she paid them no mind, as per usual. Finally Edward let out a weary sigh, "perhaps it's best he stay here for a little while. Going back home…it might be too upsetting right now."

"Edward, are you sure?"

"Yes, yes, it's fine. Let the boy be."

As the eldest Valmont retreated, her father following behind with a comforting pat on the shoulder her mother stayed put. "Now Kathryn, you know Sebastian can't stay here forever. Eventually he has to go home…with his real family."

Kathryn was tempted to tell her she was his real family but she simply replied, "Goodbye mother". She shut the door in her face before she could say any thing more.

Retreating into the dark, quiet room she climbed back into bed to find Sebastian staring up at the ceiling. "They're gone. I told them you're not going anywhere." Smiling softly she added lightly, "I think your father's a little afraid of me."

He didn't reply. He still didn't look at her.

Sighing she tried again. "Maybe, if you feel like it, we can go to the museum tomorrow." Kathryn hated the museum. Sebastian loved it.

Once again he didn't reply. That nervous twitter in her stomach happened again. She didn't know how to do this. She didn't know how to talk to him like this.

For a brief moment she cursed Annabelle Valmont. She had never thought much of Sebastian's mother. She always seemed so sad and pathetic, laying around in bed all day, barely acknowledging her son's presence. Sebastian would never be the same again and it was all that self involved bitch's fault.

She tried again. "Sebastian…"

Her bedroom door suddenly opened and her sister poked her head in. "Kathryn, what's going on? Why is Mr. Valmont here?"

Kathryn glared icily at the benign of her existence. With her stupid, wild, red hair and annoying tendency to suddenly appear when she least wanted to see her, Bianca could on any given day be the person Kathryn despised most in the world. "Get lost freak!"

As was so often the case she ignored her twin sister and stepped into the room, examining the near comatose boy in her bed. "What's wrong with Sebastian?"

"Nothing, go away"

"He looks sick. Are you sick Sebastian?"

"No, he's just playing," she hissed irritably as she tried to shoo her out the door. "Now get out of here or else I'm going to tell mother that you still wet the bed and she'll make you go back to Dr. McNamara."

Her pale skin blushed in shame as she stuttered, "y-you wouldn't"

"Oh yeah? Wanna bet?"

Knowing full well that her sister didn't bluff Bianca backed out of the room. When the door clicked shut, Sebastian burst out laughing. "She does not still wet the bed!"

Thrilled for this moment of normalcy, she joined in his laughter. "Sure she does…when I place her hand in warm water when she's sleeping."

"You're a bad sister"

"I can't help it. I was meant to be an only child." Kathryn finally let out that breath she had been holding in ever since he appeared before her and laid down beside him.

Sebastian's laughter subsided and he once again became subdued. They fell into a long, comfortable silence. "My father's leaving," she blurted out unexpectedly.

He looked over at her curiously. "So? It's not the first time. He always comes back."

"Not this time." She stared into space recalling the phone call she listened in on last week. "I heard them talking. He bought a house on the coast. He's leaving her at the end of summer. He's leaving us."

Sebastian's index finger gently traced the inside of her palm as he watched her solemnly. "Fuck'em. You don't need him. You never have."

Kathryn could feel the hot sting of tears prick at the corner of her eye but she refused to let them fall. "You don't need her and you don't need him. You have me."

"Always"

Sebastian locked his finger around hers. Soon after they fell into a deep peaceful sleep.

Of course her mother was right. She couldn't keep him locked in there with her forever. Eventually Sebastian had to go home. After that night however, the pair rarely spent a night of their childhood alone. Against her mother's fervent wishes, Sebastian always found his way back to Kathryn's bed and she rarely fell asleep without him beside her.

Even at eight Kathryn knew that was transpired that night would change things, would change him forever and she was right. In some ways Sebastian's mother's suicide would come to define who he would become. The precocious and innocent boy who had been her childhood playmate was gone but she loved him none the less.

It would be four years before another traumatic event occurred that would rock the sheltered world they created.

- to be continued (Please Review)