Chapter 18 Facade
Amy’s Misery
Amy was everything Darren wanted, except his girlfriend. His legal wife, yes. His lover, not anytime soon it seemed. Unlike any girl he’d ever met before, he couldn’t stop thinking about her from their very first meeting. She was so smart, so sexy, and so hard to get. It drove him crazy.
It went on for weeks like this. Then months. Sure, she’d always find time to talk with him, hang out with him, even sleep in the same room as him. Their agreement from that very first day had been that he wouldn’t tell his father about her pregnancy for as long as possible, or the fact that she liked girls. In return, she would act as married to him as possible, sleep in his bed, appear affectionate in front of his parents, family and friends. But no sex.
It’s hard to imagine an eighteen year old male sleeping in the bed with a beautiful female, yet unable to act on his natural instincts. Of course, Amy would never have gone for that sleeping arrangement if she didn’t trust him. He remained a gentleman and just kept trying to win her affections.
At times it seemed she was warming to him. But their relationship never got physical except the occasional peck of a kiss to impress his family or friends.
She was soon visibly pregnant. At first Darren was congratulated by his parents, family, and friends. But the math and Amy’s due date didn’t jive. Darren had to tell them all the truth about her pregnancy. They had less than kind things to say about her and even suggested he give her back to the commune. But he stood by her.
When the baby was born, they opted to have a “curtain delivery” so that they would never see that baby. It was immediately taken to the State Labor Commune to fulfill part of their Marriage to Freedom agreement. Darren felt somewhat saddened by the whole thing, but Amy didn’t seem upset.
She bounced right back into a routine of having fun and a little partying. Even though they’d go out and party together and appear as a couple in public, even dancing at the bars, at home she wasn’t interested. Darren had thought he was going to have a little more chance at romance after the baby was born. But she didn’t seem any more interested than before.
He even reminded Amy that the agreement with the State was to provide one more baby. She pretty much told him they still had over four years, so don’t worry about it.
One day soon after, a pretty brunette showed up at the house. Darren did a double take. She looked so much like Amy. “Who’s this?” Darren asked as soon as Amy let her in and they strolled into the living room.
“Chelsey,” said Amy, “this is Darren.”
“I’ve heard a lot about you, Darren. Nice to meet you. Amy always says how lucky she is that you saved her. And I thank you too. We never would have met otherwise.” Chelsey and Amy gave each other a look that said it all.
We? Darren thought. He knew.
“We’re going out for a while, Dar. Don’t wait up.” Amy gave Darren a little punch on the arm as she grabbed Chelsey’s hand, as if challenging Darren to say something.
Darren was no pushover, but he knew to leave it alone. They could always talk later. One thing he’d learned about Amy: don’t argue with her. She was not only very intelligent but very stubborn too. Winning an argument with her was next to impossible. “Have fun. Nice to meet you, Chelsey.”
If it wasn’t bad enough that Darren now felt he had to compete with Amy’s girlfriend, Amy even had the nerve one time to bring her to the house, to his room, and ask him to leave for a while. At first, Darren found it fascinating and once said, “Can I stay and watch?” Amy wasn’t amused.
He had to make excuses to his parents about Chelsey and told them she was just a good friend helping Amy to cope outside of commune life. That explanation seemed to satisfy them.
And then there were her frequent sleepovers at Chelsey’s place. Darren’s fascination with the girls’ relationship had long since turned to outright jealousy. He saw her less and less. They hardly talked any more. He was still crazy about her and it hurt to constantly have the cold shoulder.
The final straw was when she dropped the atomic bomb on him. It was about a year after she had given up her baby. Amy came home from one of her sleepover excursions with Chelsey. “Well Dar, our final baby installment will be fulfilled in about another six months. I’m pregnant.”
Darren’s jaw dropped. This time he got angry. He was furious. “What the f…, Amy! How could you do this? I’ve done everything for you and I’ve put up with anything you dish out just to wait for you to come around some day. And you don’t even give me a little taste. Nothing. You know how crazy I am about you. Yet you tell me you don’t like guys. Now you’re pregnant?”
“I could have made you go back to the commune anytime, you know. I’ve thought about it so many times before, but I didn’t. Because I thought you were worth the wait. But now I’m not so sure. So who is he? How did it happen?”
“Darren, he doesn’t mean anything. Chelsey and I were just partying and there was this guy, and she dared me, and…”
“Stop,” Darren shouted. “I don’t want to hear anymore. I don’t even want to look at you right now.” With that, Darren left her alone at his parents’ house and spent the night at a friend’s house. But he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He still wanted her. In some ways, more than ever.
With little hope that she was going to change, he started researching what 4M treatments might be available. Not for him, but for her. He soon was thrilled to learn that a range of treatments existed for the sole purpose of “recalibrating” someone’s brain. Such treatment was similar in theory to the “instant rehabilitation” used for convicted criminals to ready them for commune life without a fight. It worked on criminals very well.
There were 4M treatments to reverse obsessive compulsive disorder, autism, depression, mania and other psychotic behavior. And for people that had experienced a tragic, traumatic event there were even treatments known as “partial erasures.”
That’s what Amy needs, a partial erasure, Darren thought. But the treatments were expensive. He finally decided to confide some of the Amy situation to his father and ask if he’d pay for 4M treatments to fix her.
“Why bother with treatments? You can just send her back anytime if she’s making you miserable, son. I’m not going to hold it against you. I bought her to help bring some happiness to your life but it sounds like that isn’t the case. There are others girls out there.” But his father could tell that Darren really felt something for her. “You must really love her,” he said.
“There’s no one like Amy.”
So Darren and his father planned how they might trick Amy into going into a clinic under the guise of some requirement for Marriage to Freedom or a pregnancy checkup, where she would instead get a strong initial “partial erasure” treatment. After the first treatment, it would be easy to continue treatments from then on. She could almost instantly be Darren’s faithful wife.
They had but one chance. Amy was so cunning that if she suspected anything, she’d outsmart them. The only other option was to take her in unconscious. Darren didn’t want to go to that extreme. Yet.
¤¤¤¤¤¤¤