Circling Carousels (7 page)

Still she went on drinking, the incident with her children never dealt with, her girls in a state of confusion as to what happened that afternoon and why their mother was now so aloof and cold towards them. Most of Sienna and Crystal’s time was now spent with the other women, primarily with Tamara and her own two girls, but also a few of the others who enjoyed the feeling of mothering these damaged little angels. Candice didn’t seem to mind, didn’t seem to notice, and even didn’t seem to care, so lost was she in her state of depression and steadfast determination to fight her way through it.

Chapter 11

A
t mealtimes and on weekends when the girls were home, Candice still found it hard to spend time with them without feeling guilty and ugly in the shining light of their beauty and innocence. One morning, though, she got up, woke them from their bed where they slept, announced that they were going to the local show, and took them out for one fantastic day of fun.

These days money was no object for Candice, as she was earning well, so anything her girls wanted she treated them to this day.

Crystal and Sienna loved the look of rides, but for the moment, a lot of them were beyond their young bodies, so for now, they were happy with the carousel. Candice gave them the money for the ornately decorated ride, and they purchased tickets for the beautiful horses attached to gilded poles. The girls laughed as they ran around the perimeter trying to choose their favourite horses, and when they found two they loved, right next to each other, they rode around and around, waving to their mother with every revolution. Candice stood watching, and she mused about how life was so similar to the carousel. It could be beautiful and enjoyable, but so often like the greasy
cogs and gears hidden underneath, life could be ugly and dirty. She thought of how much she would love to get off her particular carousel, that this ride was all too much for her. She gazed at the circling, the going around and around, and all of a sudden, she needed a drink, her eyes tearing up and her mind reeling.

They returned home, tired but happy, and Candice offered to dress them up, do their hair, and make them all pretty for dinner downstairs that evening with the rest of her friends.

It had been a while since either of the girls had had a haircut, and Candice always did their hair, so it was agreed she would trim their bangs as well that afternoon. Candice had taken a flask of vodka with her and secretly drank from it during the day, but by the time half the morning was over, it was empty and she was looking for another drink. On the way home, they stopped at the local shops. The girls stayed in the car, and Candice bought them ice creams and hid two purchased bottles of spirits in her bag. By the time she came around the corner and back to the car, she had consumed a third of one of them.

Both Sienna and Crystal sat in chairs waiting for their mother to cut their hair, while she finished having a shower and took a couple of pills she had been given by one of her clients. They were supposed to make her feel more energetic and happy, but on this day, coupled with the alcohol, the effect seemed to be more of a manic one, and she went through a series of overstated emotions that made her behaviour very erratic.

Now as the girls sat looking in the big mirror on the wall, Candice appeared from the bathroom with scissors and comb in hand ready to trim their long golden locks. She had instructed them to do so, with their hair taken out of their pony tails, and although she was quite a long time in the shower, they had obediently sat ready, but they had forgotten to take their hair down. Candice took one look at them and smiled an odd smile, admonished them for forgetting to take the elastic bands from their hair, and then said, “No matter, I’ll do it.” In two swift moves, without the girls even realising what had happened, she cut their entire ponytails off above the ties.

With cries of disbelief, Sienna and Crystal looked at each other and their mother and began to object. Candice yelled over their cries, saying, “What’s wrong? Don’t you like that? Don’t worry. I’ll fix it so it looks pretty.” With that, she began chopping wildly at their hair, a bit off Crystal’s and a bit off Sienna’s until both girls, distraught and wailing, had crazily short hair, chopped in great chunks and looking more like a bizarre boy’s haircut than her pretty girls’ haircuts, which she usually did so well. Still with scissors in hand and with the girls crying and bleeding from cuts to their ears and scalps, she continued until Bonnie forced open the door and stopped her with a look of anger and panic that would have stopped anyone.

Sienna and Crystal ran into her arms and for the second time in two months, the girls were sent out of the room and looked after by the others while Bonnie dealt with the now completely manic Candice. This was the last straw, and Bonnie was tired of the wild behaviour. She grabbed the scissors and forcibly sat Candice down on the bed for a serious talking to. It was to no avail, and although Candice sat quietly, the moment Bonnie left the room, she got up from her seat and left the building in search of more liquor and alone time.

When she returned, no one having come to find her this time, Sienna and Crystal had been set up in a permanent bedroom in the opposite wing of the building to their mother, which had been vacated by Sharon, who had mysteriously left the week before. There had been a massive amount of talk about where Sharon had gone and why, but it was the general consensus that Sharon may have taken her own life. Bonnie was keeping this very quiet and close to her chest in order not to upset the other girls, but Jacinta had seen an ambulance late one night and Sharon had not returned.

So in essence, Candice’s children had been put in quarantine away from their mother, who could no longer be trusted with them. From that time on, her visits with them would always be supervised, and after a very short period, she stopped bothering to see them at all. Their mealtimes did not match up, and
Candice didn’t even worry about it. Their paths never crossed, and she barely saw a problem with it and sank deeper and deeper into her habits of alcohol and medication abuse.

One early morning, about three o’clock, Cindy was woken up by the sound of sobbing coming from just outside her room, and she found Candice slumped on the floor outside her children’s room, unable to enter, as the door had been locked from the outside and could not be accessed without a key. Unbeknown to Candice, everyone had a key except for her and the girls were able to come and go as they pleased. She was the only one who was unable to enter. It was for everyone’s safety, and although it sounded cruel, it was best for now until Candice was able to get some help. That she was not allowed access to her beautiful girls just added to her misery.

Only two weeks later, Candice was given an ultimatum by Bonnie: Either get a handle on her problem or leave. She offered her a number of options for treatment and help, but Candice was resolute she could do this herself. On the very same day, Candice confided in Marcus, her favourite client, and told him of the happenings with the children, leaving out the all-important information about the beating and the manic haircutting incident. Marcus believed her story and felt she was being treated dreadfully. He offered to take her away, give her love, and one day even marry her. He promised to take care of her and her children, and being a man of massive financial holdings, he hatched a plan to offer Bonnie a substantial amount of money to let Candice and her children go with him. Candice agreed to his idea, so Marcus made an appointment to do business with her employer.

On that morning, having been privy to the rumours of Candice and Marcus’s plans, Bonnie was ready for Marcus’s arrival, armed with the truth of Candice’s condition. Marcus said he didn’t care and that he would handle it and that he alone could help her. Bonnie was opposed to the idea. She really didn’t trust Marcus and wondered at his motives. She wondered if he was simply trying to buy himself a full-time prostitute. She was
worried, but after she had summoned Candice to her office, talked to her alone, and then talked to them together, she felt she had little choice. She couldn’t very well hold Candice prisoner, and although there was a contract, the amount of cash being offered by Marcus was certainly enough to cover her income and then more. Candice was beginning to be somewhat of a liability anyway with her erratic behaviour, and she was often unreliable and unavailable or in too much of a drunken state to be of any consistent use.

So, having ascertained that this was truly what Candice wanted, Bonnie reservedly agreed to nullify the contract. There was one condition, though, and that was that she and the other girls be allowed to remain in contact with them, both to check on the safety and welfare of the girls and to make sure that Candice wasn’t resold to another buyer and sent to a worse fate. Bonnie would never have it said that she
sold
Candice, simply that she let her go and was needing some sort of reimbursement for the loss of her potential earnings. It was true enough, but she did so with a queasy feeling in her stomach and deep concern in her heart. The clinching of the deal lay in the fact that Marcus sincerely promised to get Candice the help she needed for her substance abuse problems. He also promised to take the majority of the care for the children, although he had never even met them. He had always wanted to have a family, and what better than to begin with two beautiful girls he could
call his own.

This was hard for Bonnie. She was intensely worried about relinquishing her care of Sienna and Crystal over to anyone else, much less a client. She did feel that she had very little room to negotiate, though. The very next day, the twins and their mother were armed with the phone numbers of all of the girls, along with Bonnie’s, and an agreed time every week when Bonnie would contact them. They left the big house to pursue the dream of happiness and freedom, from the life Candice so struggled with, and they all sincerely hoped that this might be the right answer for the little family. Bonnie doubted it, but only
time would tell. Tears were shed by all. Crystal and Sienna were frightened, but Candice was happier than she had been in a very long time. The children went with her with joy beneath their tears because they wanted so much to have their mother back again, the way she used to be.

Chapter 12

M
arcus had the most wonderful home. It was completely different to the one Candice, Sienna, and Crystal shared
with the women from the big house. Where there were ornate and embellished fixtures and fittings with decadent velvet and deep rich colours, wooden floors, and antique furniture, Marcus had ultramodern furnishings, stark black, white, and purple decor and a swimming pool as big as the one used for the Olym- pic Games. The carpets in his home were so plush and thick that their feet sunk into them in comfort with every step. There was a sound system and flat screen television that took up one whole room in what was known as the theatre, and in his enthusiasm to have them there, Marcus had purchased every game system and all manner of games for the girls to play and installed it in their massive bedroom with another flat screen, which took up at least half of that wall as well. There were so many toys and books and a laptop computer for them to help them with their schoolwork and just for fun. With their safety in mind, they would only be able to access certain sites, but they were able to enjoy it all the same.

Candice, too, was well catered to, with an amazing array of designer clothing, fragrances, and jewellery—all of it extremely expensive and all gifted to Candice with great flourish. He was very careful to make sure they would enjoy living in his home. To commemorate their arrival and their birthdays, which were coming very soon, he had planned a special dinner for them that very evening. Sitting them down and asking each of them in turn, he ascertained what kind of foods were their favourites and what they would enjoy. As a result, this list was given to his staff, and their every whim was met. This made for an extremely varied menu, the difference between the adults’ and the children’s palates, but with the whole affair being turned into a buffet-style event, everyone was happy and full to the brim.