Consequences of Falling -- 13

Subj: Consequences of Falling ch. 13
Date: 7/11/01 11:56:25 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Nicole

Cottage, 6:00 PM

Constance had been packing most of the day. She was shocked by how much she had acquired in the last four months. She was surprised by how many things she would have to leave behind. She had grown so used to the cottage. It had become just as much her home as her apartment in Manhattan. Now she would be returning to that old home without a finished book, a few new tokens, or her lover.

Constance was only fulling beginning to realize how much she would miss Quentin. The relationship had begun so sudden, as if it had been added on as an afterthought but soon took over her whole being. She had not expected to see someone she had known from her past; she had not expected for them to develop any intimacy that had been unknown to them before; and she certainly did not expect to fall in love with him. She had only been in love once before and that had ended as diastrously as she predicted it would. This would not end as badly, but it might be worse in it's own special way. Unlike the other, this one could have worked: Quentin was interested and seemed to be living the bizarrely extended lifespan perfectly suited to her. She could have been good for him. She could have saved him from whatever drew him back to Collinwood, back to his past. "Ha!" she mumbled. "I can't save myself, let alone Quentin."

When she heard knocks at the door, Constance hoped it would be Quentin. She wanted him to burst through the door, claim that he would love her no matter what the others said, and would be willing to follow her to New York. But Constance knew better. When opening the door only revealed Julia Hoffman, she was not disappointed. "I'm leaving," she announced proudly. "Are you satisfied?"

"Actually no," said Julia. She stepped into the cottage, seemingly surprised by the stacks of boxes that crowded the living area. "I didn't expect you to pack up so quickly."

"I didn't expect to either, but, once the urge to move on hits, you have to go."

"So you're willing to leave everything behind."

"No, I'm not! But I have to go. I have to leave this place."

"What about Quentin?"

"I'll be another notch on his belt," sniped Constance. "Why does it matter to you?"

"It doesn't. You just seemed attached to him from what I've heard," said Julia casually.

"Attachment means different things to different people."

"What did it mean to Jack Andrews?"

"Who gives a damn what it meant to him?" said Constance, her voice finding a timbre between anger and impatience. She composed herself and said, "I think you should leave."

"I don't think so," countered Julia, moving closer to Constance as she spoke. "I came here for answers and I intend to get them."

"You won't like it. You'll regret it. Leave now and it will all be all right," warned Constance tearfully. "I don't care. Just leave me be!"

"After what you've done do you deserve it?"

"Who are you to judge me!" screamed Constance. "You don't know me and you have no right to say such things. Get out of this place!"

"Tell me what you are and I'll leave!"

Constance threw the object nearest her--a small antique vase--at Julia's head. "You nosey bitch! I have received nothing but bad vibrations from you and I did not deserve them! I have never meant you any harm. But you send your husband to check up on me and do your best to discover my past. Now, for the coup de grace, you insist on rubbing salt in my wounds as I limb away defeated. Whatever I may be, I do feel pain and I am seeped in it!" Constance paused and began to laugh, nearly falling to the floor as the hysterics over took her body. "And you want to know what I am? Well, this is your lucky day Julia Hoffman because I'll tell you. But mark my words, if you tell anyone--especially Quentin--I will make pay dearly!"

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.