19 - That Old Greek Coin
1298 Words
Sunlight was barely pouring through the window shade that hadn’t been drawn to a complete close. The sound echoing through the halls was loud and ominous. Rayne tried to focus on her surroundings. It sounded like loud crashes and cussing. Rayne leapt from the bed and pulled a t-shirt and boxer briefs from one of the drawers. Trying to check her hair she rushed down the stairs towards the sounds.
The deep bellowing wail that radiated out of the kitchen was daunting. There was another loud crash and it sounded as if dishes were being throw around the room. Rayne recognized the voice that was wailing in anguish.
“Dimitri. Dimitri! What are you doing? Stop!”
“How the f**k does this happen? Where do we go from here?” his face was reddened in not only anger but tears?
She rushed to his side and he stood rigid and firm. She tried to touch him and figure out what caused this rash behavior and tears.
“Talk to me. What is it?!”
“It’s my fault. I let him go alone. I wanted time alone without him here. I needed to be with you. YOU!”
Rayne stopped dead in her tracks and felt faint. Darius he was talking about Darius. This type of behavior could have a happy ending at the close.
“DIMITRI! Answer me! What the f**k is going on? Why are you crying and destroying the kitchen? What happened…. is Darius alright?”
He stopped and turned to look at her. The face she saw staring back was enraged and overwrought. The voice that came next was calm and commanding, cold, callous.
“Darius is dead. The plane crashed last night and they found him and parts of the plane strewn everywhere.”
The statement was so unemotional she was alarmed. The tears started to fall and she shook her head no trying to steady her stance.
“This can’t be. I talked to him mid-flight. He was fine. How can we live without him. I can’t...” She sobbed.
“This is my fault. I should never have let him go let alone. I shouldn’t asked you to be mine, without him here. If I had waited… if I had gone…”
“Don’t be ridiculous, if you had gone, I would have lost you both. And marrying me very unlikely caused the plane to crash.”
His face distorted in more anger. “Karma is a b***h and this is her wrath.”
“That is stupid Dimitri. You are grieving and trying to find a rationality that doesn’t exist.”
“I am not stupid. I selfishly wanted to stay and have you to myself. You have to go.”
She wiped her tears and looked at him plainly. “Go?”
His voice calm, deep and dispassionate. “Yes, I can’t look at you. I see you and think of him. You made me selfish. This is why love was not ever to be for me. You need to go.”
“I will not let you sabotage this Dimitri. I am not to blame and neither are you! We will be together through this and I will forever be your strength and you my rock. This grief will make us grow stronger and Darius wouldn’t…”
“Don’t f*****g say it woman. You don’t know what he wanted. Get. Out.”
She held up her hand with tears streaming down her cheeks with a look of question. “This means nothing now? Because of a freak accident that some how I created? f**k you Dimitri. f**k you. I will not let go of love or you so easily.”
His gaze went directly in her eyes to her soul. The pain she could see being shoved aside was substantial. His voice was even and inexpressive. “I don’t love. You need to leave. This little game is over and I am going home.”
She stood there and beheld her hand with the ring on it again. Unexpectedly he grabbed the hand so roughly it caused pain and took the ring off her finger. Flipping open the trash can, he tossed it inside. Rayne couldn’t control her next action. Bringing back her other hand, the slap that she lay across his face was heard for miles.
“You son of a b***h. How dare you. I lost him too. Fine. I leave, that is it.” She waited a moment and he stood there fuming.
“Get your s**t and get the hell out of MY home. You are no longer wanted here. This game is finished woman. And if you lay a hand on me ever again, I will forget you are women and take back the same in kind.”
With tears streaming down her cheeks she rushed up the stairs and found her phone. Seven missed calls from Kris. She was mad, sad and in shock. She needed to leave. Dialing Billee she got voicemail.
‘At work what up’ was the text Billee sent in return of the missed call.
‘Need to go to apartment. Ok? It is dire.’
‘Of course. Dire? What the hell is that?’
‘Darius is dead.’ Was all she could text.
Rayne was shaking and crying while trying to pack. She sought out the keys from her suite. Changing into jeans and a bra with black t-shirt she took as much personal items as she could in the two bags from the closet.
‘Holy s**t Rayne. I am coming home.’
Pulling her bags down the stairs she could hear him still breathing and pounding the counter in the kitchen. She needed to grab her purse from the kitchen table but was so frightened to go in there. Taking in a breath she walked shaking into the kitchen.
“I told you to get the f**k out.”
“Oh shut up monster. I am. I am gathering my things and moving as quickly as I can.” She said between shivers and sobs.
He beheld only the counter and didn’t look up. She didn’t want to leave, she wanted to stay comfort him. Tie herself up and let him take it out on her if necessary. She needed to be with him. Her heart was breaking and she was in love with Dimitri. The other love of her heart was dead and this shouldn’t be how it ended.
“Dimitri?”
“No.”
“Dimitri please. This can’t be how it ends.”
“It ended when I lost my head over you. Go. Take whatever you want but don’t come back. You won’t find anything here for you anymore.” He sounded broken, pained, angry.
She walked to him and tried to touch his cheek. His hand grabbed her wrist and his eyes met hers. He was there, she could see it but being thrown further and further back into his psyche with each passing second.
“Please don’t shut me out. I…”
“What you need isn’t here anymore. Go home Miss Mills, don’t come back.”
She pulled free of his hold and set something on the counter as she left. He looked down and screamed a most primordial sound that surely shook even the dead. It was a coin, an old Greek coin that Darius had given Rayne to use when she needed to chose one of them to do a task for her. It was a joke but something the three of them utilized in fun for the near year they spent together. I am hungry, Rayne would say and she would flip the coin. Heads Dimitri had to handle it, Tails Darius. They joked and used it for so many scenarios they wouldn’t even leave the house without it.
Picking up the coin Dimitri couldn’t stop the crying his eyes started and his soul carried on. He lost his brother, the one that loved him beyond all else and all because he couldn’t think of being away from her. As irrational as it sounded, finding a root cause and keep it as the reason this happened, this was where Dimitri was comfortable. Comfortable until the he heard the door close; the house fall silent and her jeep speed away.
What had he done?
- Writer
