A/n: Hope you darlings are still enjoying the holidays. New Years is on its way. The following chapter came to me when reading TeamChaotix's review, while listening to Beyoncé's "Haunted". Its a perfect combination I think. I hope you think so as well. This fiction will end about 3 – 5 chapters after this one. Thanks for the encouragement. Happy New Year.
It didn't snow in Los Santos on Christmas. It did not snow in Blaine County. It always snowed in North Yankton however. For once, Michael thought it would be good for his children to visit their hometown during the holidays. He invited Franklin along, feeling that the young man shouldn't spend the season alone. Though he did not invite Trevor, he told him his plans – so he showed up there. The day before Christmas eve the De Santa's played secret Santa with Franklin, Trevor and a webcam Lester.
Because they had enough money, they spent the trip at the nicest inn the town offered. Franklin shared a double room with Jimmy and they stayed up the evening of Christmas Eve playing Jim's latest game. Tracey and Amanda stayed in the main lobby, by the fire, drinking eggnog. Though they weren't at all drunk, the joy they felt had them laughing as if they were. Michael sat nearby smoking a cigar, watching Amanda throw her head back in hysterical amusement. His lips curved into what was a smile around the thick cigar. They'd be making love later and it would be good, because he did good.
Trevor stood outside the North Yankton airport Christmas Eve. He couldn't stand the happiness, joy and family time. Because he had the money, he paid for a first class ticket from Liberty City to North Yankton. His Broker babe, who he learned was named Ciel, ran into his arms after dropping her bags at the automatic door upon seeing him. Though he didn't love her, he didn't want to be alone.
And Patricia didn't answer any of his phone calls.
Christmas morning he gave her a small token of his appreciation. To him it was nothing, to her it was amazing. The gown was long, a deep red. It had no back and when she tried it on, he wanted terribly to push the whole thing over her legs and do her on the floor of the hotel room. The dress was Tracey's idea, and they bought it the day before.
"It's beautiful." She said to him while twirling around in it." She was stopped by his arms placed firmly on her shoulders.
"Stay with me. Until New Year's." He told her. His expression was serious and made her pull back from him suddenly.
"I was hoping to spend it with my family, since I'm spending Christmas with you."
"I'll give you more gifts –"
"It's not gifts. I want to be with my family." Her eyes were wide, shocked that he seemed so desperate. At no time at all, of all their occasions together, did she ever see him desperate. Her heart fluttered a bit to the idea that he needed her, but when her eyes swallowed his image he seemed more frightening than anything.
"Stay." He said through gritted teeth.
Her heart sank when she finally admitted to herself, that although she was confident they were both devices for each other, it was he who always really used her. She knew she'd never write any screenplay about his heinous ways and live to tell about it. She understood the kind of man he was. Things had always been under his control. She never stood a chance.
She lowered herself to the floor, staring at the dress as she sat there in a mess of red fabric. She clenched the bottom of the dress, tears welling in her eyes and cascading down her cheeks. Even then, she didn't know his name. How could she be so stupid.
"I'll stay." She said.
The De Santa's rang in the New Years at home, in their mansion. Franklin and Lamar had a small get together with old friends at the recreational center. For Lamar, it was nice to have Franklin back in the place they grew up together. For Franklin, it was nice to see Tanisha. Though she was with her husband, right before the lights turned out during the countdown they had been staring at each other from across the room and through the sea of people. He felt strongly that she stared to get the perfect picture, the perfect image of him; to imagine, while kissing her husband.
The incoming year it was likely Franklin, though he always felt he had some morale, would lose it, and become the other man. He felt that very strongly.
Trevor remained in North Yankton and drank champagne during the last few seconds of the year, staring out the window. Ciel stood by his side, slowly drinking her own glass, wearing the red gown. She was certain her life would end there, in that hotel room. At first, she figured Trevor would keep her around, but concluded he wouldn't when he destroyed her phone before her very eyes. No one knew where she was, and no one could reach her.
"Happy New Year." He said to her, while unmoving. She looked to him, and she looked back out the window to the small quite snowy town.
"Happy New Year." She said back.
That evening they had sex like they never had before. It was different, filled with a passion it was always void of, for the feelings of attachment were not mutual. At that moment, they were. He bit the flesh her neck, behind her ear and she moaned loudly. He devoured her, kissing her skin, sucking parts of her until they hurt, low moans and euphoric cries escaped her then. Her back arched, and body raised off the bed as he feasted between her thighs. He was different that night, for it was not about pleasing himself, but about him pleasing her. He worked for her, it felt like. Her pleasure being the height of his goal.
Her legs were placed firmly on his shoulders and he went deep into her. They both cried out, and he lost control of himself inside of her, spilling out his essences. He thanked a God he wasn't sure he believed in for making morning after pills over the counter.
As they laid there holding each other, her mind wondered. She was pressed against his firm chest, and found the hair on it to be pillow like. She wasn't afraid anymore. If she was to die there, she wouldn't mind. She had lived her life thoroughly, she thought.
It didn't matter how he'd kill her. He could smother her, strangle her, it was okay. She accepted her fate. Or what she thought would be her fate.
"Go." He told her. He released her from his arms and turned his back to her. "You stayed with me. So you can go now."
Was he serious? Was it for real? He was setting her free? Ciel quickly dressed, grabbed her things and left the room. The last thing he heard, before drifting off to sleep was the door slamming. Trevor's heavy lids couldn't stay up anymore. He was tired. He made his best attempt to stay awake. It didn't work.
He didn't like being away from TP Industries for so long. What was he doing there in North Yankton anyway? Why did he force that girl to stay with him? He'd definitely lose her now. The only girl to ever find him interesting. What was he thinking?
His eyes closed and he reopened them to find himself in the body of a child.
He hadn't been a child for years. Many years. Brownish hair, covering innocent eyes.
He looked around and found himself standing in the middle of a snowy nowhere. It was void, empty. He was cold, shaking and discovered he had no clothing on. Just a lone child, there, naked in the snow. He walked for what felt like hours. His toes were numb. His nose red. How he was still able to go, could not be explained. In the distance he saw a small house. His eyes widened, and with a shimmer of hope he began running. His feet hit the snow, heavy, hard. He ran, fast as his small legs could carry him. Then he arrived to the door. It was unlocked and he looked around the small home.
The walls were dingy and falling apart. There were cracks in the glass of the old windows, a faucet that continuously dripped. The television was on, white noise. He looked and saw a thin cat that circled around an empty bowl. The cat and he made eye contact and it walked towards him, slowly. It brushed against his leg and purred loudly.
He picked it up and held it to his chest, closely. He felt a little warmth, in the dark and mysterious place. The cat, who looked as fragile as he felt, his only friend. He wondered and walked up a terrible flight of treacherous stairs.
The wood, creaked, the planks were lifted, pointed, grazing the skin of his feet causing him to bleed. He was glad to feel the pain after having feet numbed while running. He reached the top of the stairs and stared down the hall. He walked, slowly and the cat ceased it's purring. He looked down and saw the small animal had died in his arms. His eyes welled with tears. He placed the creature down and pet its head once more. Starvation, or cold its murderer. Maybe both.
He looked up and stared down the end of the long hallway. There was a light that peeked out the door on the right. He heard low moans. Was someone there? He ran down the hallway, as fast as his small feet could carry his little body. As he ran years past and his body aged, his footsteps heavy, firm, his body moving fast, faster, fastest. There.
He came to end of the hallway, and breathed heavily. His chest rose and fell violently. He grabbed the knob of the door and pushed it open slowly, his breathing becoming shorter and shorter. His eyes widened to the sight.
The room was his, when he was young. Airplane models sat on floating shelves. Awards, ribbons, from his prosperous time as a youth. Trevor was always smart. Always succeeded. Even at what he laid his eyes to next.
"Trevor, are you paying attention?" She said to him. "This is how you please a woman." Mrs. Phillips laid in his bed, stark naked. Her legs, wide open. The head of a young man between them, motioning up and down. "You have to swirl your tongue in just the right place. Suck on the cherry a little, to make her go – ohhhh" A low moan escaped his mother as the young man with his head between her thighs followed the instruction given.
Trevor's eyes widened and he felt the same blistering cold he did outside. It was like he was a naked child again. What was he watching? Why couldn't he take his eyes off the horror before him?
His stomach turned and held his chest, where his heart was. Was he going to die? There? Watching that? Was he going to die? 'No…' he thought. 'Don't let it end like this.'
"You're doing a good job Trevor." Mrs. Phillips said to her son. Trevor turned around and saw standing behind him, with the same horrified face, the child him. He turned back to the sight of his mother being pleasured and saw then felt his heart stop when he saw the face of the young man who had been doing the job.
"NO!" He screamed.
"You've done a very good job, Trevor. Good boy." Mrs. Phillips kissed the cheek of the young man who was revealed to be a teenage Trevor. His lips, glistened with her juices. Teen Trevor's eyes were lifeless, showing no soul in them. Trevor's own eyes welled with tears. "Now, you won't ever look at other boys, because mommy showed you what girls are like, right?" She asked.
"Yes ma'." Teen Trevor said simultaneously with the adult Trevor.
Mrs. Phillips got up out the bed and covered her body with the sheets then walked out the room, her body passing through Trevor's as he was not there. His eyes were wide with fear. The child Trevor cried tears behind his adult self. The teen Trevor lay in his bed repeating his mother's words.
"Now I won't look at other boys." He said over and over again. "Other boys. Now I won't look at them."
Trevor stood there, naked, broken and feeling his heart near its last beat. He sank to the floor, swallowing hard. "Because mommy showed me what girls are like."
Ciel shook Trevor violently, suddenly his eyes opened and he gasped for air, grabbing onto her and nearly falling out of the bed. His eyes were filled with tears. He breathed heavily and held her small body to his. Ciel shocked, held him back and whispered to him.
"It's okay. Shhhhh. It's okay."
"My name is Trevor. Trevor Phillips." He told her as if he would perish had he not done so.
"It's okay Trevor. It's okay." She cooed. She rubbed the back of his head and hushed him.
"You didn't leave."
"No. No, I didn't. I couldn't."
"My mother." He said. Ciel leaned away from Trevor and looked at him, confused. He appeared to her a way he had never had before. Terror. A man who himself was terror's physical manifestation, had now experienced it himself. "You asked me about love before, right? My mother. My mother was the first woman I had ever been with."
Ciel's eyes widened to the thought that Trevor had an incestuous relationship with his mother. She felt her mouth water with the urge to vomit, violently. She stepped back and ran into the bathroom throwing up into the sink. Trevor felt a darkness inside him he never felt before once hearing her retch. He climbed out the bed and made his way to the bathroom. He stood there, staring at her as she ran the water, washing away her disgust. How, dare she judge him?
How dare she?
"It's fine." He said.
"Huh?" She looked up into the mirror and saw him behind her.
"I gave you the chance to go and you didn't take it." He approached her, and wrapped his hands around her neck. "You've made your choice." And the slow strangle of her life began. Ciel's tried to grab his hands, tried hard to pry his grip from around her throat, all was to no avail. Her eyes widened, bulged and the noises she made became weaker and weaker.
"You don't know my mom. She's a good woman. A great woman! The best!" He yelled to her as her eyes began to roll to the back of her head. Trevor caught glimpse in the mirror of his mother smiling and saying
"Good boy, Trevor."
Trevor woke up and turned to see Ciel asleep in his arms. He had told her to go and she didn't. She stayed. Tears filled his eyes and he pulled her sleeping body closer to him. Ciel made small, gentle noises and her eyes fluttered opened. "Hey you." She said. Her eyes met his.
"You didn't leave." He said to her almost breathless.
"Of course not. You're my muse." She nuzzled into his chest and closed her eyes to return to sleep. For the first time Trevor felt he understood Michael and his love for Amanda. Though he did not love Ciel, the girl would not leave his side. Their few months of intimacy and she was more loyal to him than people he had come to trust.
"Trevor." He said to her.
"Hm?"
"I never told you my name. It's Trevor."
"That's a nice name. Now go to sleep."
"Right. You get to go back to your family tomorrow. I'll get you a ticket out of here, first thing."
"Go to sleep Trevor." She turned over and gave him her back. No more words came from her and for the rest of the night between the two of them, nothing else was said. He knew they were done then. She knew it too. They slept and because he knew for sure she wasn't going anywhere that night, dreams of his mother would not haunt him.