S2/02. Bad Blood

2.1 Diana Foster
Spring 1998, SMU Clinic bus station, San Myshuno

 

Diana studied the schedule. Of course she'd missed the bus by a minute and had to wait a while now. She was exhausted. Since she'd started at her new workplace, life was anything but easy. The university clinic was much busier than Newcrest General and it showed in the staff's attitude. Her coworkers were stressed and hasty and barely took time to work in the rookie. Diana had to guess a lot, which made her look clueless and slower than she was.

Not exactly the best way to be seen as a valuable asset.

To soften the bad impression she stayed overtime daily, until she'd be almost late to pick up Lana from daycare. Dinner today would be take out again...

"Oy! Damn right, it's Diana!" a remotely familiar voice called.

"I thought I'd seen the last of you when you disappeared."

Oh crap. Diana'd have preferred if it'd stayed like that. Though she had a hard time making friends here, this guy was probably the last person she'd want to meet in San My.

"Martin..."

He was the last boyfriend she'd had, it was here in San Myshuno.

"Oy, Cookie, don't pull that face on me. The good ol' days are definitely over, the Wolves are no more. You ran away, didn't ya. You did right, I'm telling you. Wasn't half a year and we got busted. Someone snitched on us and we all went down. Most of us got away with community services, except for Jen and Mirco, they're gonna serve a while for poor Jo. We still don't know who's the rat..."

So many memories that Diana would rather cross out of her memory.

Cookie. A "tough cookie", Martin had called her admiringly, for not letting the gang stomp on her despite being significantly younger.

The Wolves. The local neighborhood thugs were rather a menace than a threat, but they'd caused enough trouble to get a certain reputation. They made lots of noise, spread drugs and occasionally fear in honest citizens and burglarized here and there if their allowance was too small. Martin was their head and Cookie his sweetheart, and therefore she was the most sheltered asset. A place that made Diana feel safe and cherished.

Then Jo happened. It was an accident, or so she was told. Two of the gang relieved yet another convenience shop of its daily revenue, only this time the owner's son and his friends stood up against them. Naturally, the Wolves had to defend their newly acquired property, just Jo and his crew didn't wanna let them be.

It ended with Jo in the hospital, he died the same day on internal bleeding.

Diana had grown more and more uncomfortable with the gang's increasing violence, but only then it was that she left them. It was as if she woke up from a bad dream when she finally took Frank's offer to move to him to Oasis Springs.

Martin huffed.
"It wasn't you who told the pigs, was it, Cookie?"
He eyed her suspiciously.

"Of course not!" Diana exclaimed, livid about the sole assumption. As much as the last days in San My had scared her, she'd never tell on her friends, no matter how bad they were, and especially not to the police.

Martin cackled. "Relax. I always knew you ain't no snitch."

He got her again. She still fell too easily for his mocking her, and he still took advantage of it.

"Jerk." She hit his arm playfully.

How simple it was to fall back into old patterns. So much less scary than she'd feared. He said the violent days were over, thank god. He was just a normal guy, one that kept the same charm she fell for years ago.

"It's good to see you again," Martin said, his voice soft. "What have you been up to these last years? Where were you?"

"At my brother's,” Diana smiled. "Got my high school degree and started nurse training. I switched to here because the pay is better," she pointed towards the hospital building a street further, not without a trace of pride in her voice.

Martin whistled. "A made lady, right?"

Diana giggled.

"Not yet! But what about you?" she asked him.

"Not as lucky, I ain't got a big bro to pull me outta my mess. I got a job here and there, nothing permanent... No – nothin' like that," he assured her, she'd really must have a telling face, "I can't risk meddling with the pigs again," he grunted. "Anyway, I do get by."

Diana couldn't help but smile. She'd always hoped that he'd make it out of the trash, and today proved her right.

When she met him seven years ago, he'd been her shining prince. Yes, Martin was as poor as the others, and beat people too, but he never beat Diana. On the contrary, he protected her from those that wanted to hurt her, and god knows she needed it with a dad drowning in various debts and her talent to be always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When she was a child, Frank had looked out for her, but it'd changed once he finished high school. He'd joined the army, it paid well and even his university fees, but it left him little time for Diana. The money he sent her for clothes and food was only a small consolation.

Diana was lonely, until she found her place on Martin's side and the Wolves. She barely even missed her brother when he had to move to Oasis Springs for good.

"Why don't we go somewhere more comfortable?" Martin proposed. "Wanna come to my place? I live close by."

Diana sighed. "I'd love to," she said, truthfully; as much as she'd been worried to run into people from her past, now she was glad she met Martin. "But I have to pick up my daughter, I'm already a little late."

"Daughter? You married, too?"

"Uh, no, I'm not."

"Ha. Your man too broke to get you a proper ring yet?" Martin snorted.

"Oh, no... no, it was an accident, a one night stand," she admitted. She was embarrassed, a feeling she never had before when she talked about her mishap.

"Woah." Martin's smug grin got wider, "I always knew you're quite the slut, eh, Cookie."

Diana inhaled sharply. When she still lived in San Myshuno, she would try to find excuses now, take his insult as validation for being ashamed. She never knew if Martin just teased her or was serious, sometimes what looked like a joke turned quickly into rage. He'd never hurt her physically, but she'd try to soothe his outbursts as much as she could nevertheless.

But now Diana was a different person.

"Fuck you," she snapped, "I'm proud of my girl and I'm proud of myself. And you can't tell me shit anymore, because I couldn't care less what you think!"

She turned around, head up high and entered the bus that just arrived.

"What, now that you all cleaned up and shit, you think you're better than me?" Martin yelled after her. "You're still a dirty whore, fuckin' any man that'll buy you shit- "

The doors closed and the bus left.

Diana's heart raced.
She was proud of herself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's note:

Martin Simmons was donated by Maladi. You can read her story here!
Thank you very much🖤