Chaste (A One Week Chronicles Story) Pt. 02

Before she arrived at Departures, Cheryl had a moment of panic. Mary would be on the other side of the doors. She saw folks hurry as they neared, eager to leave and be reunited with their loved one. Without thinking, she ducked into a large group and kept her head down. Mary wouldn't recognise her anyway. She had lost weight and Maggi had insisted she keep her hair a deep red. Mary would be looking for a brunette.

As the large group neared the exit, Cheryl slipped from them and carefully made her way to a café. She ordered some coffee and paid for it with her new card. She took a spare seat by the window and looked outside. It took a moment, but she found Mary easily enough. Cheryl's heart beat loudly in her chest at the sight of Mary. She was still beautiful, still filled with a vibrant energy that made Cheryl's heart skip a beat.

She looked nervous and eyed the door to Departures for any sight of Cheryl. She wore a long flowery dress and it suited her perfectly. Her hair cascaded down her back in thick curls and Cheryl loved how it moved as she turned her head.

Cheryl sipped her drink and watched her for a few more minutes. She had just worked up the courage to approach Mary when she saw a woman walk past. She wore a tight satin dress and towering heels. Instantly, Cheryl's conditioning kicked in and she felt her arousal race through her, crashing through her defences. She closed her eyes for a few moments and gathered her will, calmed her body.

It took a while and she opened her eyes, searching once again for Mary. As she did so, she spied another woman wearing a long leather jacket and her mind flashed to the time Maggi hade made her into a leather clad whore to be used by all and sundry. Once again her conditioning kicked in. she clenched her fists, willing the surging emotions away.

As a child, she had read The Lord of the Rings and had asked her mother why Frodo had left for the Grey Havens at the end. Her mother, a kindly woman who had loved the books so much, she had written her dissertation on them at University, had given her a gentle smile.

"He's broken," she said simply and it wasn't until Cheryl sat in the airport and tried to control herself did she fully understand what her mother had meant. She understood it so very painfully because it summed her up.

She was broken.

She reached a decision and gave one last look at Mary, slipping from her seat and walking out of the airport to catch a taxi. She couldn't stand the thought of showing Mary what she had become. What Maggi had turned her into. She didn't think that she could ever be fixed and it wasn't fair to put that on Mary. What would she tell her anyway? How would she explain her absence? The truth would kill her if she ever spoke it aloud.

Mary waited for hours. She was nervous and excited. Louise hadn't said what had happened only that Cheryl would need help. Mary had searched desperately for Cheryl for a long time. She'd contacted the police, tried to instigate an investigation into Emma, but it was futile. It was as if Cheryl had never existed. Mary continued with her life, formed relationships and let them go. Every time she did, she thought of Cheryl. Louise's call had caught her off guard but she had raced to the airport, joy in her heart. She didn't care what help Cheryl needed or how long it took; she would be there every step of the way.

Realisation eventually dawned that Cheryl wasn't coming. She'd been too quick to believe a phone call from the blue, so quick to latch on to any hope. Willing herself not to cry, she turned away and left the airport, hailing a taxi from the very same place that Cheryl had done earlier that day.

The End.