Walk on the Striped Side (4 page)

CHAPTER-FOUR

August 2013 – Swansboro, North Carolina

Elena

“You viperous heifer! Touch my Jimmy
Choo’s again and the next time you go to bed, you’ll wake up missing something
vital!” A manicured, polished red nail pointed her in the face before the
screeching continued. “Why would you be anywhere near high heeled shoes
anyways? It’s not like you wear them. You’re too manly for that. Wait. Did you
sabotage my shoes? Don’t tell me you somehow ruined my $700 shoes?”

Snorting in disdain, Elena avoided
all eye contact with her eldest sister Chloe. Driving her sister into a raving
lunatic was by far her favorite pastime. Easiest way to do that was to fool
around with her Barbie doll like wardrobe.

“Of course I didn’t wear your
shoes. Didn’t sabotage them either. Like I’d ever wear that kind of crap. But
Moira came over here yesterday to tell me about that undercover sting she has
going on down at the police department. She wondered what kind of shoes hookers
wore. So I pulled out a pair of your shoes to give her a visual reference on
what she’d need to buy.”

“HOOKER SHOES! Why you little bit-“

Chloe launched herself over the
back of the couch at where Elena calmly sat. The shriek here sister let loose
kind of reminded Elena of the sound of a train made right before it hit the car
parked on its tracks. The good news was that Chloe was a lot less destructive
than a train. She might try to hurt Elena, but she would whine for hours
afterwards if she broke one of her precious nails in the process. The bad news
was, Chloe was so curvy that Elena was pretty sure that big ass that would
constitute as her train’s caboose was going to break something when she landed.

Waiting the couple of seconds her
sister was flying airborne towards her, before being almost on top of her,
Elena ducked to the side so that her sister sailed right past her to
unceremoniously crashing into the coffee table. Which Chloe’s wide caboose did
indeed
break.

“Be careful Chloe. I would hate it
if you accidentally hurt yourself from over exertion.”

Chloe pushed herself off the floor
so that she could glare at Elena over the coffee table that now lay in pieces
on its side. “Keep your grubby little hands off of my stuff. Don’t they teach
manners in the Army?”

Elena snorted a laugh. “Sure they
do. They teach us manners somewhere in between showing us how to maintain our
weapons and how to kill someone with nothing but combat knives and our winning
personalities. When is Delta going to get here? We’re supposed to be at the
lawyers’ office in a little over two hours. It takes at least an hour and a
half to travel from Swansboro to Wilmington.”

Gracefully rising from the carpet,
Chloe started to straighten her clothes. “Delta should be home any minute now.
She probably just got lost in the library again. Really, how can one person
read so many books? No wonder she’s still a virgin. Being a virgin at the age
of twenty-two should be something that’s practically non-existent living
outside a military base. With all the marines strolling around Camp Lejeune you
would think she would have taken care of that pesky little detail by now. Our
little sister gives new definition to the word ‘geek-
tastic
.’”

Rolling her eyes, Elena fought the
urge to slap her sister. “Well we can’t all be a whore like you, now can we?”

“I’m not a whore. Whore’s spread
their legs for money. I don’t spread my legs, I just talk men out of it.”
Brushing her ridiculously long golden brown hair out of her face Chloe smiled.
“But it wouldn’t hurt the two of you to be more like me. All it would take is a
major wardrobe makeover, some make-up, and your sincere efforts to act more
like a woman instead of a man.”

Grabbing a throw pillow off of the
couch, Elena beamed it at her sister’s head, sending her shuffling sideways in
her ridiculous four inch heels. “Watch it you overgrown prom queen. I’d hate to
have to go to jail because I gave in to temptation to choke you to death.”

The door to the house flew open,
banging harshly into the wall behind it. Elena’s jaw dropped just before
Chloe’s shrill voice sounded. “What have you done to yourself
Delta!
You look like an emo serial killer! And take off that
Freddy Krueger inspired t-shirt this instant! It’s just
awful
.”

Delta flopped down on the couch
before shoving her dark auburn hair out of her face. Elena stared at her
sister, cataloging every change in the drastic makeover. Gone were the thick
plastic framed glasses. Delta must have contacts in for the first time in her
life. Which was a scary thought to Elena because her little sister was about as
graceful and coordinated as a wrecking ball. She couldn’t help but wonder how
many times Delta had accidentally poked herself in the eye while trying to get
the contact in.

Moving her gaze down, she took in
the new clothes. That was a big change. Delta’s nerd loving wardrobe for work
usually consisted of below the knee skirts matched with frumpy polyester blouses
typically topped off with her expected librarian type hair bun. That was just
her public persona. At home Delta never made it out of her sweatpants and Star
Wars t-shirts. As much as Elena hated to agree with Chloe about anything, if
you looked the word ‘nerd’ up in the dictionary, you’d find a picture of Delta
as a definition. IQ, personality, loner type tendencies and all.

The geeky Delta image was nowhere
to be found. Now sitting next to her was a completely different entity. Delta’s
dark auburn hair was cut into shaggy layers that fell around her face to cover
the tops of her shoulders. She’d also dyed a large chunk of hair black in the
front. Her lithe little body was dressed in snug black skinny jeans tucked into
what appeared to be a pair of black motorcycle boots. Instead of her baggy
blouse meant for someone’s grandmother she was wearing a tight red and black
striped tee that accentuated her small body. The whole outfit seemed to give
the illusion that she was built to be petite rock star ballerina. Too bad she
tripped over own tiny feet practically every hour of the day.

Elena wasn’t one to judge people.
Her attitude usually followed the ‘to each their own’ motto. However since this
was her baby sister, half of her wanted to dive into interrogating her over the
drastic
makeover.
The other half of her decided that
it was such a big improvement that she was going to leave Delta alone so that
she could proceed with her favorite activity instead. Torturing Chloe.

“Red and green Chloe, not red and
black.”

Chloe cocked her head to the side
the way a dog does when confused. “What are you talking about? Christmas
colors? Has your brain finally become mush from lack of use?”

Elena fisted her left hand on her
hip while she waved her right one in Delta’s direction. “You said her shirt was
Freddy Kruger inspired. I’m pointing out that once again, you’re wrong.
Freddy’s sweater was red and green. Delta’s shirt is red and black. So it’s
obviously not Freddy inspired.”

Elena watched her little sister try
to keep her shoulders from shaking due to laughter while her older sister
literally bristled like a pissed off cat. “Why you little-“

Holding up her hand to stop Chloe’s
tirade, Elena continued. “Now, now Chloe. Don’t get yourself all worked up
again. I’d hate for you to engage the two brain cells you have left in your
head and wear them out beyond repair. I don’t think they’ve accomplished brain
transplants yet. So the damage would surely be irreparable. Now, let’s move
past Delta’s makeover so that we can head to the lawyer’s office. Mom would be
rolling over in her grave laughing at us if we managed to be late for this
because we were all getting along so well. Besides, I need to get her will
reading over with so that I can contact a recruiter. I need to get away from
you before some of your air headedness starts to affect my oxygen supply.”

Delta’s eyebrows snapped down as a
frown marred her face. “You promised to stay home with us for a while. Why are
you going back so soon? You haven’t even given the civilian world a chance.”

Something was there in her little
sister’s eyes that broke her heart. Hurt. Abandonment. Maybe a little
disappointment too. Wanting to erase as much of that as possible while avoiding
her true feelings on the matter, Elena reverted to what she did best. Which was
picking on Chloe.

“I’ve decided the civilian world
can’t handle all the awesomeness known as me. Besides, if I stay anywhere near
Chloe for too much longer without Mom here to break us up, she’ll start to drive
me crazy and I’ll be forced to retaliate. Imagine if she sent me over the edge
and I shredded all of her precious hooker wardrobe.” Chloe growled in warning.
“That would probably flip her crazy switch for good; then she would try to
murder me in my sleep. One of us would end up in jail. Think of how bloated she
would look in prison orange. Then you would be out two sisters. This way is
much easier.”

Elena grabbed the keys to her SUV
before walking out the door with a huge grin on her face. There was nothing
better than to come home just so she could mess with her elder sister’s
diminished brain capacity. Except for maybe playing war games with her unit.
That always turned out to be pretty fun too. Or polishing her favorite hand
guns. Yeah, that always made her happy. And when she re-enlisted, they’d
station her somewhere far away from here. Elena would make sure of it. Not that
she needed that much distance between herself and her sisters, but
he
still haunted her when she lay in bed lonely at night. She needed to get the
hell out of North Carolina.

The drive to the lawyer’s office in
downtown Wilmington, North Carolina was a quiet one. All of the back and forth
banter between sisters vanished under the oppressive reminder that their
vibrant, loving, kick ass Mom was no longer around for advice on their lives.
Or for hugs. Even the occasional slap to the head would be greatly missed.
Agatha Demos’ hunger for life was like nothing Elena had ever seen duplicated
in this world. The woman was the prime example of taking the world by the
balls. Living life the way she thought it should be lived. To hell with
everyone else. Aggie always reminded them that all you really needed in life
was your family. Especially your sisters.

Elena took some time to observe her
baby sister Delta out of her peripheral. Wondering over the drastic changes her
sister had gone under for a second time that day. Bugging her with questions
wasn’t the answer though. Out of the three sisters, Delta had been the least
like their mother. Quiet, shy, unassuming mouse like little Delta. Although the
surface changed, Elena figured deep down Delta was still that wall flower. The
one that they had to bribe with some high end technology if you wanted her to
go out in public and mingle with other people. Only time would tell if she
offered explanations or inner changes to match the outer ones.

Glancing to the rear view mirror
she observed her older sister Chloe. The first of the three Demos sisters, she
was a prissy version of their mother. She had a firm grasp on their mother’s
concept of taking the world by storm. Not letting anyone hold her down. Even if
she used her feminine wiles to do it. And Chloe had been that way ever since
the ex-boyfriend Butowski had hit her. Chloe had refused to ever be so used or
abused by a man again. Insisting that Mom’s ideals had merit. Not wanting to
ever marry. Any children Chloe ever had would be raised in an entirely women
filled household with tough feminist ideals.

Delta would be the opposite. Elena
knew that her little sister longed for that once in a lifetime love. The kind
of stuff fairy tales were made of. Elena had no grand notions of that. She had
no use for keeping a man around permanently. The last time she had entertained
that idea had landed her in a world of hurt. She wasn’t exactly eager to repeat
it. Living life without a man in it wasn’t that bad. If she got lonely enough,
she could buy all the companionship she needed in an adult toy store.

For the most part, she found the
idea of having a man around annoying now, unless they were doing something she
considered beneficial. You know. Take out the trash. Cook dinner. Give her the
much needed marathon of wild monkey sex. Besides that, why keep them around? So
she could watch them lay around in their underwear, scratching their
unmentionables before farting? Living in front of the television to play the
latest war game instead of living life on the edge? No thanks. Elena was coming
back around to the way her mother had been. Men were only good for what they
had in their pants. The only difference between her and her mother? She had no
plans for having kids. Ever. As far as she was concerned, birth control was her
best friend.

The Army was as good as it would
ever get when it came to a commitment for her. She not only adored the men and
women she had worked with, but it filled something in her nature that she had a
hard time finding in everyday life. The only drawback to the Army was that she
had to settle for being a MP, or military police, since what she considered
were all the cool jobs (Infantryman, Calvary Scouts, Rangers and Delta Force)
were closed to women. And that sucked because often enough, she longed to be in
the thick of things. Smack dab in the middle of it all. Most women thought she
was strange. She just thought it was fun. Maybe all her wires were crossed.
Because the thought of going on one of Chloe’s shopping trips was pretty much
equivalent to torture in her book. Give her an M-16 and some grenades before
pointing her in the direction of the enemy? Heaven.

Putting her thoughts on hold, Elena
parked the car in the parking lot bordering the lawyer’s waterfront building.
Standing quietly on the sidewalk outside the building, the three sisters
reached for each other’s hands before walking any further. They might pick at
each other mercilessly, or squabble until the neighbors threatened to call the
cops on them for disturbance, but that didn’t mean they didn’t have each
other’s’ backs. Without a doubt, Elena knew Chloe and Delta would be there for
her no matter what. The same held true for her if she ever felt like her
sisters needed her. Strengthened by the fortitude of their bond, they continued
on. Minutes later, they followed a receptionist who looked like she highlighted
as a call girl into Mr. Adam
Wroth’s
office.