Desdemona

Claude POV

Flashback

I decided it was time to go back to the house I hadn't been to since I was sixteen. When I turned eighteen, I wanted to take back what was mine.

Since I was Dominic Desdemona's only kid, I got all of his money.

Which is much more than most people think. 20,000,000 dollars.

Well, I used to live here six years ago.

Where the hell did it go?

It looks like no one is there and is as old as my dad. The house is full of weeds, the driveway is broken, and the waterfall has green water and moss in it.

The grass in the front yard is as long as my knees. No one has been here in six years, so how did it get this bad?

I walk up the worn marble steps that don't look like they've been cleaned in a long time.

I turn the key in the lock and jam it in... It loses its handle. I lift my foot and use it to open the door.

There's no doubt that squatters have been here.

Pigs.

I make my way across the room. Everything in every shot is the same as it was when we left.

Dust is on every surface, and mold is growing all over the roof. And it feels like dead things... Most likely that fat old maid.

Most likely fell through a floorboard and was stuck there.

As I go up to the next floor of the house, the stairs creak.

When one of the windows was open, the old curtains flew around. The sun makes it easy to see the dust.

Even though it's nice to be back outside of Seattle, I still didn't like it here.

I didn't like how mean that old man was. "Claude, you forgot to bring your bags,"

Yasmine tells him. She says, "This place is huge. Why didn't we come here years ago?"

"Your father is a piece of crap because I didn't want to live here without you," I tell them.

"Well, since we got married and left, we can do whatever we want," she says as she puts her arms around my neck.

"With a bubs on the way," she replies.

I tell them, "It's not good for us to be in here. There's mold everywhere, and if you breathe it in, it's bad for you and our baby."

"I'm afraid of snakes because it's too hot to go outside and the grass is too long," she says.

"Shit. I quickly walk down the stairs and say, "I'm sorry I didn't set up the caravan for you." "Calm down, Claude," she says with a laugh.

We spent the last year making up the house, and now it looks like a real home. With our baby in my arms, Yasmine opens the door so I can see where we're going to start our family.

Yasmine was born into a family of Christians. It was either marry her or stay the fuck away from her, so I chose to marry her.

Even though she comes from a Christian home, she didn't think twice about kissing me and letting me take her innocence after we'd known each other for only six months.

She said that she knows we will be together forever even if we don't get married, so why wait?

Should just say what we were doing. Getting close. Then, not even six more months later, we were married and had been pregnant for five months.

Her eyes are moist. "Don't cry," I tell them. "But it's gorgeous," she says, pointing to the house. I take the bouquet I put on a shelf by the door and walk backwards.

Her eyes sparkle. "Oh my god, they're so pretty, honey," she says as she reaches for them.

I kiss her on the cheek, and she takes Hanna away from me.

She tells Hanna, "You're going to be so spoiled."

We spent most of our time together until Hanna turned one. Around the time she turned two, chaos broke out again in my family.

Yasmine got very sick. She was always throwing up, had a high fever, sweated a lot, and didn't eat much. When a doctor came to check on her, it turned out that she had a rare illness caused by a chemical reaction.

The fact that Yasmine is a scientist can explain a lot.

She ate amatoxin, which is a poison that kills in a few days.

By now, Yasmine is in so much pain that she falls into a deep sleep.

"When will she start to wake up?" I say it in a rude way to the doctor. It's been a week since we arrived at the hospital. The doctor approaches her.

"I'm sorry, but she's in a pretty deep sleep, and it's possible she won't wake up at all. Since she has Amatoxin in her body, she will probably die."

My stomach sinks. "Her liver and kidneys are failing, and no one can help her. She won't make it, I'm sorry."

I get out of my seat and grab the man by the collar.

"I can't save her, we've tried everything, and there's nothing left to do," he says.

I let go of him and walked away so her mom could see her. "Amatoxin comes from the family of mushrooms called "death caps." Over several days, amatoxin kills your liver and kidneys. You will stay awake and in terrible pain until you fall into a coma and die."

Her father said this, and then he dropped his phone on the floor and put his hand over his face.

She is now on the second step.

We both rush into the room as soon as I hear a loud scream coming from it.

First, I look at the electronic display of vital signs and see that her heart has stopped beating.

Doctors and nurses rush in and give her a care plan.

I'll wake up from this bad dream.

I start to breathe deeply as I run my hands through my hair. No, no, no, no, no, and no.

Present

I woke up fast and put my hand over my face. Since that day, I haven't been able to see Hanna. All I heard was that I was to blame for everything, and they took full control of Hanna and moved to a different country.

I've lost touch with all of them, and I can't find my daughter anywhere because I don't remember their names.

After the Yasmine event, I drank and drank and drank until I threw up everywhere every day. I wasted my life drinking and sleeping with women I met at my Circus.

I was drunk most of the time at work.

After years of thinking I couldn't love someone again, Doll came along.

I shouldn't have felt that way about someone so much younger than me, but I couldn't stop thinking about her.

She knew how hard it was for me to lose everyone, but we both felt like The Circus was our family.

I'm 17 years older than her, and it doesn't feel right.

But I can't change how I feel.

I thought it was silly to want to feel loved again.