chapter 7 – hannah and gina

"...I don't know...I don't know...I know how it sounds...you just...Hannah, you have to trust me on this..."

Amanda was in the guest bedroom closet. Her closet. She was whispering as urgently as she could. Hannah was understandably having a hard time grasping what Amanda needed help with. Even Amanda was having a hard time with it since Candice had gotten it engrained in her head that she was happy with how her life was. Still, concerns cropped up and Amanda knew she needed someone else to know about this...whatever it was.
But they couldn't come to the house.

"...no...NO!... You can't come to the house. Listen to me, Hannah. You. Can't. Stay far away from here.

The woman we hired. Candice. She's..." Amanda tried to form a bad thought about her, but she couldn't. "Well, she's amazing. I love her. But, she's doing something that I need you to help me with. Us...with. David too. I don't know what she's doing exactly, but...something. He's been...She's done something to him. They're having sex. All the time. That's okay, right?...That's what I'm talking about. You need to go to David's office. Meet him there and talk with him. Remind him...just remind him of everything from before. Before Candice. It might bring him back just enough to--."

Just then, the closet door flung open. Amanda yelped and spun around to find Candice standing there with a disappointed look on her face.

"I...uh...H-hi Candice," Amanda guiltily spit out.
Candice pursed her lips in frustration and rolled her eyes. "Tell whoever it is you're talking to to come directly to the house to talk with you."

"Hannah," Amanda said, turning back to the phone. "Actually, just come to the house. We can talk here." This was a better plan.

"Tell her you're fine."

"Listen...Hannah, listen. I'm fine...I'm fine. I promise."
"Tell her you were confused and you'll talk about it when she gets here."

"I was just confused...It's okay. We'll talk about it when you get here. Okay...okay...thanks...okay, see you soon. Bye."

With that said, Amanda lowered the phone from her ear and peered up at the Candice who stood over her, arms crossed and tapping her foot like an angry mother. "Who was that?"

"My sister."

Candice tossed her head back and laughed. "Your sister!? God, I didn't even think to cover that. Don't worry, I'll take care of her. What was your whole plan exactly?" she asked, grinning.

"Well, I figured that if she could get to David alone at his work, she could wake him up like you woke me up by asking me to remember when you were the maid. Then, David could save us."

Candice laughed. "Shit, gotta choose my words more carefully. Wow, that's actually a pretty good plan. Keeping your sister away from me, that's good. Well, that's all over now, because when she gets here I'm gonna *** up extra good just as a punishment to you. But you like that, isn't that right?"
Amanda beamed. "Love it. Can't wait to see what you do to her."

"You love what I've done to you and David, don't you?"

Amanda couldn't believe Candice had to ask, "Are you kidding?! It's great! David finally gets to fuck a hot, sexy, sophisticated woman like you and I'm a fat mess," Amanda grabbed her new pot belly and jiggled it. She was really happy. "It's like a dream come true!"

"Well, you can forget about me ever being the maid, okay?"

Amanda squinted her eyes and looked away, "You were the maid?"

"Nope, you're the maid, silly!"

"Oh, I know!" Amanda stood up, remembering that she had laundry to do.

"Now, when will your sister get here, do you think?"
Amanda thought it over, "She lives about 15 minutes away. I would think she'd head right over. So you have plenty of time to get ready for her."
Candice grinned. "Yep. Get your phone back out. We're gonna have another party tonight."
Amanda raised her eyebrows. "Oh fun!"

* * *

Hannah had stopped to pick up her daughter Gina on the way to her sister's. Gina was 22 and almost finished with her first college degree in criminal justice. Her goal was to become a judge one day. Or work for the FBI. Hannah was the head of a tech company downtown and she spent most of her day keeping software developers on task.

Hannah could tell that something was wrong with Amanda on the phone. Amand had been adamant about her not coming to the house and then had completely reversed on that suddenly. That's why she brought Gina with her. As a back-up, Hannah thought.

"Did Aunt Amanda say why we couldn't come to the house?" Gina asked.

"No, she never explained it. She really wasn't making much sense. Something about another woman."
Gina sighed, "Uncle David better not be cheating on her. Maybe Amanda found out and she's losing it."
Amanda shook her head, "I just don't know. That's why I want you riding with me. You should wait out in the car until I can check everything out. If there's anything wrong, just..." Amanda didn't want to scare her by telling her to just drive away. "Just don't come in until I wave you in, okay?"

They pulled up to Amanda and David's house. David's car wasn't in the driveway so he was obviously at work. Everything looked normal. "Alright," Hannah said unbuckling her seat belt and shutting off the engine. "Wait here."

Hannah walked up to the door and before she could even knock, Amanda opened up and greeted her.
Hannah gasped.

Her sister must've gained over 100 pounds since they had gone out to lunch a few weeks ago. "Hey, sissy!" Amanda squealed to her big sister and grabbed her arm to lead her into the house.

"My god...Amanda...what have you done...?" Hannah couldn't find the words. The front door shut behind her and Amanda pulled her to the living.
"Don't worry about that. You have to meet Candice. She'll change your life..."

"Hello, Hannah," Candice had said.

Hannah was confused. "Um, hello..." Hannah tried to whisper to Amanda to the side. "Amanda, who is this? Is this the woman you were talking about?"
Candice had a huge unopened bag of Cheetos in her hand. She tossed the bag to Amanda, "Alright, Amanda, here's your treat. Go sit in the corner and eat the whole bag while you watch me take care of your bitch sister here."

Under normal circumstances Amanda would've been devastated that she brought all of this down on Hannah. If she hadn't have called her, Hannah would've gone on with her life. But, now Cheetos were involved. Amanda forgot all about Hannah once that yummy bag was in her hand. She headed to the corner and ripped it open, practically shoving her head in the bag.

"Excuse me?!" Hannah yelled, "You can't talk about me that way--"

"Shut up."
Hannah shut up.

"We're best friends. Aren't you glad to see me?"
Immediately, Hannah's face shifted gears from fear and confusion into total excitement. "Hey, girl! So good to see you!" She leaned forward, embracing her sister's corruptor in a warm hug. "What've you been up to?"

"Oooh nothiiiing," Candice said mock-innocently, "First off, who else knows you're here?"

"Well, my daughter Gina's sitting in the car waiting for me to tell her it's safe to come in."
Candice playfully slapped Hannah's shoulder, "Well, shit, girl! It's totally safe to bring her in here!"
Hannah laughed it off and walked over to the front door to wave Gina in. She left the door open and returned to Candice as they both listened to the approached footsteps outside.

"Mom?"

Candice answered for her, "Hi, Gina. Close the door and remain calm." Gina did as she was told. Candice turned back to Hannah. "Hannah, we should put Gina in the closet for a little while until you're all sorted out."

Hannah agreed. "Sweetie, go stand in the closet until Candice sorts me out."

That's when Gina began to get scared.
"Aunt Candice," Candice corrected and Hannah repeated it. "Do as your mother says," Candice ordered.

Gina walked past her fat aunt sitting on the floor eating Cheetos. It seemed weird to her that Aunt Amanda was sitting there, but Gina needed to get into the closet until her mother got all sorted out. She opened the hallway closet, stepped inside and just before shutting the door, Candice called out,

"You're completely fine being in there." Gina smiled and shut herself in.