Vanishing

Celeste and Damien were the life and soul of any party. She loved to walk around the room and chat with friends, colleagues and acquaintances. He loved to see how happy he could make her by being at her side. A couple that complemented each other in every way. They had met at a mixers event in the city. She flirted and gushed. He smiled and listened. He gave her his attention and she received his affection. A few months later they had moved in together and a year later they bought a house together.

“I killed her,” admitted Damien. Peter gasped. “You did what?” he said fearfully looking at Damien. “I killed her,” said Damien calmly. His eyes looked straight ahead at the wall and his hands were placed on his lap. “I had to do it. You know what she did to me.” He got up from the couch where he and Peter were seated in Peter’s living room and looked at Peter. “You were asking and asking where she had disappeared off to and know you know. She’s not in Atlanta. I don't know if anyone would find her body now”. He walked out of the living room, into the foyer, opened the front door and left the house without another word. 

Their first fight had been over Celeste having lunch with an ex-boyfriend and somehow forgetting to tell Damien. He’d seen the text show up on her phone that night; ‘Was fun catching up for lunch today. X’. Damien had a flashback to how he had comforted his sobbing mother one night after his father had stormed out of the house upon catching her looking at texts on his phone from his secretary. Celeste said that he was overreacting. She remembered the night her father humiliated her mother over slightly burnt chicken and stormed out of the house saying he was going to meet his mistress. “You and I are different”, said Celeste, placing her hand on Damien’s knee as he moodily sat on the couch flipping channels with the TV remote. “We will not repeat the mistakes of the past. We will not hurt each other like we’ve been hurt before. The lunch meant nothing. You were working and he called me up and it was nice to go out and be spoiled a little. As friends.” 

Damien heard the sirens and knew they were coming for him. He should never have confessed to Peter but had not been able to hold it in anymore. All he had wanted was to make her happy. To ensure that she did not shed the same tears his mother had shed and that he maintained that smile upon her face. One night, lying in bed together, with her face buried in his chest, she had whispered her greatest fear to him. She was scared of becoming irrelevant; of taking up littler and littler space until one day she disappeared altogether. The door burst open. He hadn't heard the knocking. “Damien Pulowski, you are under the arrest for the murder of Celeste Van Pooten. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a Court of Law”, the policeman said, as they took him away to the station. 

“We found her body and a shovel with her blood and your fingerprints on it”, said Detective Pence sitting across the table from Damien in the interrogation room of the police station. “We know that you confessed to your friend as well. I’m just confused as to your motive. You had proposed to her. What went wrong?” asked the detective. Damien remained silent. Their conversation a few months ago flashed before his eyes. 

“How could you do this to me?” Damien pleaded in shock and dismay. “I always tried to do everything possible to keep you happy. I love you.”

“It was a mistake. I never meant to cheat on you. It was one night” claimed Celeste, “Please forgive me.”

“How do I know it’s only been this one time or that it won’t happen again in the future?” demanded Damien.

“We always come back to each other. I swear I will not let it happen again. I promise” said Celeste, “I was merely out of sorts and in need of being cheered up...he came along and I gave in...I really love you. I want to be with you. I want to be faithful. I can't bear it if I was to turn out like my father”

“Fine, I forgive you. I will give you a second chance or a third or fourth as it is. I’ve lost count. Let’s try to make this work. Let’s try to be happy together.”

Damien brought home an engagement ring at the end of that week, got down on one knee and asked Celeste to marry him. Peter had said it was too soon and that Damien needed to wait and see if Celeste would remain true to her promise. Damien thought differently. She’ll never see what’s coming if she thinks that I want to marry her, he’s thought to himself. It's the perfect plan. I’ve got time to execute my next move. To truly ensure Celeste’s happiness for eternity. To make her biggest fear come true. To erase all traces of her from this world. Celeste threw a party the next weekend. She shoved her engagement ring in the faces of everyone around her and was her usual, exuberant self. The centre of attention as always. She’d invited her father to the party and introduced him to Damien for the first time since they had started seeing each other. The two cheaters, thought Damien. They seemed to move in likeness to one another prancing around seemingly without a care in the world. 

Damien leaned forward in his chair and answered Detective Peters. “You see, detective, it's quite simple. I don't give second chances. She thought that I would give her more time to make it right but I knew that we were not meant to be happy together.”