by Bethany-Kris
He wasn’t sure he knew how to give that anymore.
Vera was his child, the one thing he had left of Gia, and he didn’t know how to love her.
“She is so beautiful,” Demyan whispered. “She’s got my black hair, but your curls. The shape of my eyes, but blue like yours. Every time I look at her, I see you staring back at me. I don’t know how to do this. I don’t know how to live when what made me feel alive isn’t here.
“People break, you know. It’s what we were always told. Their hearts break. Apparently, I’m not like everybody else, Gia, because I fucking shattered. There are shards of me everywhere. There’s nothing that can put me back together.” Demyan kneeled down, placing the two calla lilies on top of green grass. “One for me and one for her. I can’t come back here again. I just won’t. But, I wanted you to know I loved you. God, how I loved you, Gia.”
As fast as Demyan made his way up the path to Gia’s grave, he left it. The harshness of his deadened emotions froze his veins with every step he took.
“Papa! Papa!”
Vera babbled louder the closer Demyan came to where his daughter, his sister, her boyfriend still stood waiting.
“Demyan?” Ana asked.
“Can you watch her for the rest of the day?” Demyan asked.
Ana shifted Vera on her hip. “Sure, if you want.”
“Good. Thanks. I’ll move her car seat over into Koldan’s truck.”
“Demyan, Gia would—”
“Don’t, Ana,” Demyan said. “Don’t ever mention her name to me again. Just don’t.”
With that, he turned to the direction where he parked his vehicle earlier. He didn’t miss the sad question trailing behind him.
“Why doesn’t he cry?” Ana asked.
“Broken men don’t know how to,” Koldan replied quietly.
Demyan had to agree. Every bit of pain came from his own hands. He allowed a man to be invited into the safe haven that was his family’s home. Ana’s attack followed. The way he handled that issue led to Gia’s murder. Lives around him were irrevocably changed because of his choices. It was the worst and truest form of devastation. That’s who he was.
The least Demyan could do was save his daughter from being hurt by him, too. He didn’t want to wake up one day and realize that he resented his innocent child for keeping him from following her mother like he always promised to.
There was one other thing that stayed nailed to the back of Demyan’s mind, too. Liam Dolan. The man promised to take two of the things Demyan loved. He only took one.
All Demyan ever did was ruin beautiful things.
Vera wouldn’t be one of them.
About the Author
Bethany-Kris is a Canadian author, lover of much, and mother to three very young sons, one cat, and two dogs. A small town in Eastern Canada where she was born and raised is where she has always called home. With her boys under her feet, a snuggling cat, barking dogs, and a spouse calling over his shoulder, she is nearly always writing something ... when she can find the time.
Find her on Facebook, her blog, or Twitter - @BethanyKris.
Author’s Note
It isn’t often I find the need to leave a note at the end of one of my novels, but in the case of Demyan & Ana, I believe it’s needed. Initially, while penning this novella for my readers, I was aware there would be triggers and topics that would be incredibly difficult for some to read. Not only because the readers so adored these characters and wanted to see more of them, yet their journey wasn’t necessarily a happy one, but because of the subject brought up.
I didn’t intend for Demyan & Ana to become a rights vocalization, or a forum for my personal opinions and views on rape, victim-blaming, slut-bashing, and so on. But, I also knew that with every word I put down, I was opening up that door. I do not condone vigilante justice like what took place in the novel, but Demyan & Ana is fiction and dramatized to follow the kind of lifestyle they live. It is not real life.
The statistics, however, are frightening and very real. One in five women will be raped in their lifetime. Consent has turned into a grayed area in today’s society. Victims regularly feel unsure about their rape, or worse, to blame for it. If something feels off, it probably is and listen to the gut feeling you have. It can sometimes be the best—or your only—defense. Rapists are not just shady people in a dark alley. Often, they are someone we know.
My mother is one in five.
My friend is one in five.
I am one in five.
Please seek help in whatever way possible if you or someone you know is one, too.
Always,
Bethany-Kris
Copyright © 2015 by Bethany-Kris. All rights reserved.
WARNING: The unauthorized distribution or reproduction of this copyrighted work is illegal. No parts of this work may be used, reproduced, or printed without expressed written consent by the author/publisher. Exceptions are made for small excerpts used in reviews.
ISBN: 978-0-9937797-3-2
Cover Art © Gabriel Georgescu
This is work of fiction. Characters, names, places, corporations, organizations, institutions, locales, and so forth are all the product of the author’s imagination, or if real, used fictitiously. Any resemblance to a person, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
