{"id":914,"date":"2012-02-27T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2012-02-27T14:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=914"},"modified":"2013-10-01T12:49:44","modified_gmt":"2013-10-01T19:49:44","slug":"season-5-episode-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/?p=914","title":{"rendered":"Season 5: Episode 7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mia slammed the door behind her, hands shaking. She felt sick. Gulping lungfuls of air, she closed her eyes trying to rid her brain of the horrible encounter she’d just had. How could<\/em> he? And with Sarah<\/em>? With any other guy she could easily believe such infidelity. In her – quite limited – experience men were nothing but lying, cheating assholes\u2026 but Tom? He had been the ultimate pin-up husband as far as they were all concerned. He\u2019d been supportive of Ana\u2019s delusions way past the point Mia and Willow had been. They didn\u2019t blame him for wanting a break from her. Ana was the one they thought had lost the plot, constantly talking about how Sarah was scheming to steal her husband.<\/p>\n

It was starting to look as though Ana had been right though.<\/p>\n

Mia walked out of the gate, her mind still reeling. Her immediate instinct was to call Ana, but she paused. Should she tell her? This would surely mean the end of Ana and Tom forever. Did she want to be responsible for such a monumental break up? Her hesitation was only momentary. Ana had a right to know and if Tom was going to be stupid enough to shag someone in – of all places – Ana\u2019s house, then he was really asking to be caught.<\/p>\n

If it was me I would want to know<\/em>, Mia thought as she dialled Ana\u2019s number.<\/p>\n

Ana answered on the third ring. She sounded as though she\u2019d just woken up. Mia could almost hear her heart breaking as she told Ana what she\u2019d seen.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you OK?\u201d Mia said gently after Ana had been silent for about fifteen seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cFine,\u201d said Ana. \u201cI\u2019m fine. Really.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then she started sobbing.<\/p>\n

Mia glanced at her watch. Shit. She was already running late, but work would just have to wait. This was way more important.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m coming over,\u201d Mia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d said Ana, between sobs.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

The cab had just pulled up outside Ana\u2019s parent\u2019s house when Mia\u2019s phone rang again. She looked at the caller ID. Work. She took a deep breath before answering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were just wondering if you were planning on gracing us with your presence this morning?\u201d Felicia, her boss, inquired cooly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sorry,\u201d Mia said. \u201cA friend is going through a rough time and\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Felicia cut her off. \u201cThat\u2019s a new one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia gulped.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week it was family drama and the week before\u2026 a death in the family wasn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia cursed inwardly.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m not mistaken these are all metaphors for a hangover?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo! My friend has just\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Felicia cut her off again. \u201cMia, I thought we\u2019d talked about this. I expect to see you walking through this door in under an hour, understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia agreed and hung up. An hour would give her enough time to see Ana, have a cup of tea with her and then grab another cab to work.<\/p>\n

She was surprised to see Ana so calm when she answered the door, the only sign of the earlier hysterics were slightly red eyes. She followed Ana through the grand entrance hall – complete with indoor tropical forest – into the huge, modern kitchen. Mia had been there a couple of times before, but was still awestruck by the huge mansion that Ana\u2019s parents called home.<\/p>\n

\u201cBreakfast?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure,\u201d said Mia feeling suddenly very out of her depth. These situations made her uncomfortable and she had no idea what to do or say. It was a shame that Willow wasn\u2019t here. She was so much better at dealing with stuff like this.<\/p>\n

Ana switched on the custom espresso machine and the rich smell of coffee wafted through the kitchen. She toasted some homemade crumpets, smothering them with butter and jam.<\/p>\n

They ate slowly and in silence. Mia was sure that the crumpets and coffee were delicious, but she couldn\u2019t taste a thing. Ana\u2019s calmness was making her even more uneasy. She glanced at the clock wondering how soon she could leave. It wasn\u2019t that she didn\u2019t want to help her friend. It was just, well, she didn\u2019t know what to do<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMia,\u201d Ana said, turning to her. \u201cCan I ask you a huge favour?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything,\u201d said Mia, grateful that Ana had broken the silence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to watch something with me,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m\u2026 I\u2019m not proud of this but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I can look at it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia had no idea what on earth she was talking about, but obediently followed Ana to the guest wing of the house. She would watch whatever Ana wanted her to, then rush to work. Fine.<\/p>\n

Ana had her laptop set up on a large mahogany desk. She typed in a web address and a picture appeared on the screen. It was a grainy picture of a bedroom and there was someone asleep in the bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat looks exactly like Sar\u2026 I mean, your old room,\u201d Mia said. She peered closely at the screen. \u201cWait, that is<\/em> your old room!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you have a picture of your room?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana didn\u2019t say anything and clicked on a link. The picture changed slightly. It was still Sarah\u2019s room, but this time it was empty. A small set of numbers in the corner indicated that this footage was from the previous day.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou put a camera in her room,\u201d Mia said, her heart sinking. This wasn\u2019t going to help Ana\u2019s case one little bit. If she confronted Tom about it, he would probably accuse her of spying and Sarah would undoubtedly go to the police this time. Having sex with someone else wasn\u2019t a criminal act; setting up a hidden camera was.<\/p>\n

All thoughts of getting to work on time vanished and Mia watched, horrified, as Ana started fast forwarding through the video. She stopped when Sarah came into the room and started getting changed. Mia looked away, embarrassed, as the image of Sarah admiring herself in the mirror dressed only in lingerie appeared on the screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew it,\u201d Ana said under her breath. \u201cThe lingerie.\u201d She froze the video and Mia looked at the flicking girl in front of them. She was dressed in some dark coloured underwear, but the image wasn\u2019t clear enough to prove it was the exact set that Ana accused her of buying with the stolen credit card. At least, Mia didn\u2019t think so. The video started again and they watched as Sarah pulled on a white shirt and jeans, throwing her head forward to muss up her hair.<\/p>\n

Ana fast-forwarded again until they saw the door swing open. This time there were two people on the screen. Sarah and Tom. Mia heard Ana inhale sharply as the couple on the screen embraced passionately.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to do this,\u201d Mia said gently. \u201cWe know what\u2019s going to happen. Isn\u2019t watching it going to make it worse?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana didn\u2019t reply.<\/p>\n

Sarah pushed Tom onto the bed. He lay perfectly still – like he was asleep – and she pulled off her shirt and sat next to him. She put her hand on his chest and ran it down to her belt buckle, slowly undoing it. All of a sudden, Tom leapt up and pushed Sarah off him. He was a bit wobbly on his feet and there was no sound, but the wild gesticulating indicated he was furious with her. As soon as he started though, he seemed to lose steam and collapsed back on the bed. Sarah poked him and he pushed her hand away. She went out of the room and came back a few minutes later with a bottle of wine, a glass and her handbag. They watched as she poured the wine and then pulled a small bottle out of her bag, glancing at Tom to make sure he wasn\u2019t looking before putting some of it in the drink. He sat up in bed and obediently drank the wine before falling back down, dropping the glass in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2026 that\u2026 bitch!\u201d Mia said, her mouth falling open. \u201cDid you see that? She drugged him! She put something in his drink!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ana nodded grimly. This wasn\u2019t what she\u2019d been expecting either. It was better in some ways, but so much worse in many others.<\/p>\n

The rest of the video played out much as they expected: Tom lying passed out on the bed, still mostly clothed, as Sarah tried everything she could to rouse him. Eventually, she settled for tugging his clothes off, placing them strategically around the room for that flung-off-in-passion look and climbed into bed. She read a book for about thirty minutes before turning the light off and falling asleep.<\/p>\n

Ana closed her laptop screen. Her hands were shaking slightly and her mouth was set in a firm line.<\/p>\n

“You can’t let her get away with this,” Mia said. \u201cWhat are you going to do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said Ana. \u201cI really just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mia slammed the door behind her, hands shaking. She felt sick. Gulping lungfuls of air, she closed her eyes trying to rid her brain of the horrible encounter she’d just had. How could he? And with Sarah? With any other guy she could easily believe such infidelity. In her – quite limited – experience men […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[202],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1298,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914\/revisions\/1298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ravenoustales.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}