Thursday was back to school. The nation was still in shock but making a concerted effort to move forward. And that meant returning to normal activities and schedules. They talked about this in her classes. How even in the face of such tragedy American’s on the most part, refused to admit defeat. They pulled themselves up and continued on with daily life. They continued to live even in the face of such overwhelming death. They talked about the strength of American’s. They talked about the strengths of the countries who, even thousands of miles away, still felt the pain of this scarred nation. They even discussed the obvious arrogance American’s once felt in the fact that nothing this horrible could ever strike this country, and how that arrogance was shattered in less than a hour a mere two days ago. Things would never be the same. Things would change. And maybe, in some aspects change was good.

This was her Visual Media class. It was about more than just the words that were said, but more about the images that were shown and how people responded to those images. The professor wanted them to do some research and report on other incidents, both big and small, where imagery played a major roll in the telling of the story. Times when the story itself took a back seat to the pictures being portrayed, where the pictures themselves were the bigger story; tell all that needed to be told without the utterance of a single word.

Brianna was more than intrigued on the subject. After class she made her way to the library and threw herself into research. She looked through the abundance of archives of newspapers, film, and internet stories. She wanted to compare different styles of photography and filmmaking. Try to decipher how each method contributed in its unique way to the story it was trying to tell. This area of study was important to her. After all, it was her declared major and soon to be profession of choice – photo journalism.

She was comparing two distinctly different styles of photography on a related story when her eyes focused on the window she had been gazing at. She realized it was getting dark outside. “Oh, shit!” Brianna slammed her books shut and frantically started putting things away as quickly as possible before racing out of the library to her car. All the way back to her apartment she kept praying that a police officer wouldn’t stop her for speeding. She prayed that her watch was fast. She just prayed in general. Pulling up to her apartment her heart began to race. There in its normal parking space was Mitchell’s BMW. He was sitting on the hood. He didn’t move as she pulled into her parking space. Grabbing her keys and books she quickly got out of the car and rushed over to him, not sure what to think or say as his face was expressionless.

“Mitchell, I’m so sorry. I was studying and time…” She didn’t get to finish.

“You know, Brianna.” He cut her off. His voice was cold and detached. “I don’t ask much from you. I don’t ask for much of you time. I don’t care when you go visit your family or your friends. I know how to share. The one and only thing I DO ask of you is for you to be on time. To show me a little respect. That’s all.”

“I know Mitchell..”

“I wasn’t done.” He stood to his full height towering above her. “Don’t ever interrupt me.” His icy blue stare kept her from finding her voice. Instead she just nodded her head and then looked at her feet. “I do everything I can for you. I take you places, and give you things. Not because I feel as if I have to, but because I want to. The ONLY thing I have asked of you is to be ready to leave when I get here. I hate to wait. Believe it or not, my life is busy, but I make time for you. The least you can do is make a little time for me.”

She didn’t know what to say. He is right. He is absolutely right. She thought to herself. He has a business to run. He has a lot of things to do everyday, but he always makes time to come here when I need him. He’s never asked for anything. I feel horrible for how I’ve totally disregarded him. But there is nothing I can say. I was studying? Yeah, right. I could have gone back to the library later in the weekend. The assignment isn’t due until next week. It’s not as if I have a heavy class schedule this semester.

“Are you listening to me?”

Brianna’s head snapped up, eyes wide as she nodded her head.

“Good girl. So, like I was saying. Just forget about tonight.”

“But Mitchell, I can be ready in like five minutes. Just let me…”

“Didn’t I say don’t interrupt me.” He had grabbed her by her upper arms and was forcing her to look up to him. Swallowing hard she nodded her head that she understood. “Now, I said forget about tonight. I don’t want you just going out looking like that. You need to be presentable and you can’t do that in five minutes. I have to go out of town tomorrow, on business. But you can make it up to me by going out with a friend of mine. He likes to go dancing.”

“But Mitchell, I have plans with Megan tomorrow.”

His hand came down hard across her mouth, effectively stopping her from talking more. Also, stopping her from breathing as his large hand covered not only her mouth but her nose as well. “You will go out with Eric. You OWE me a favor for this. Maybe next time you will learn to be on time. I don’t care where you two go, you can have your little fun with Megan. Eric won’t mind joining your friend. But you WILL take him with you. I won’t accept no, Brianna. Remember you owe me.”

He removed his hand from her mouth just as she was starting to feel lightheaded. Taking a deep breath she squeaked a quiet okay.

“That’s my good girl.” Mitchell smiled at her and brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek. “And make sure you look good for him. Just as if you were going out with me, okay. You should always make a point to look your best Brianna. You have it in you if you just try. I’ll see you on Monday. We’ll have dinner and talk, try this again.” He moved his hand to grasp her chin. His grip was strong and his fingers bit into her skin. “I’ll be here a 7 p.m. Don’t make me wait this time.” Then he released her, walked to his car, and left.

Turning slowly, Brianna made her way into her apartment and back to her bedroom before she lost control. Sinking down on the bed she cried. She had let him down. Not only was she late for their date, she looked like hell. Looking up into the mirror she saw her tear-streaked reflection staring back at her. Her hair was held back out of her face by a headband and the little makeup she had worn that day had mostly worn off, leaving her face dull and oily. She was wearing a comfortable pair of old jeans and a t-shirt. Yes, it was a plain fact, she looked horrible. No wonder he didn’t want to go out with her tonight.

Well, I’ll just have to make it up to him. I can show him that I know how to dress the way he likes me to dress. I can do that for him.

Too upset to eat, Brianna found her little secret container in the back of her underwear drawer. Taking a few sniffs, she ran the water and lost herself in the sensations of a hot bath and cocaine high. Long after the water had turn cold, Brianna finally pulled herself from the tub and crawled into bed.

<~ Chapter 82 or Chapter 84 [coming soon]~>

In the End

Karina 2003