Chapter 2

Chapter 2
The next morning, Molly Carter saw her daughter Sheila, smiling. It was the first time in 2 years that her daughter had that twinkle in her eye, the one that screamed the word “love”.
Sheila was depressed for most of her life. Her father abandoned her when she was quite young. It was considered foul play when Molly reported his disappearance to the police. Not a body was found, and since the Carter family was poor, they did not have sufficient resources to track Adam down. Sheila was relieved to find out her father may never return home. This was a story her mother Molly concocted to protect her daughter, and herself.
Adam Carter owned a funeral parlour in downtown Genoa City. He was always at work, and would often come home drunk. When he returned home, he would pick fights with his wife, and beat her with his belt. Sheila was so terrified of her father’s wrath, and became worried that he would eventually turn on her. She would see horror movies, which portrayed child abuse to its core. This only added to her fear and insecurities. She severely doubted her father’s love, and became increasingly worried about her mother.
However, Sheila never knew the psychological damage that her mother endured at the hands of her tyrannical father. She was also unaware of how her father “disappeared”.
One night, something happened that would change Molly Carter’s life forever. Adam came home from another one of his drinking binges, and he saw that the house was a mess. The dishes weren’t washed, the beds weren’t made, and Sheila left her crayons on the coffee table. He was furious, and he told Molly: “How could you let this happen? You are supposed to maintain this house while I’m at work bringing home an income to support my family! You are the laziest bitch that I’ve ever met!”. Molly tried explaining herself, but Adam said: “You know what this means, don’t you?”. She begged him not to take his belt out, but he exclaimed, “I have no choice, dear. You disobeyed me, and now you must be punished.” He got his belt and whipped her until she was bleeding. She pleaded with him to stop, but he just kept going. He finally stopped when he passed out on the living room sofa.
Molly sobbed like she never had before. She was in agonizing pain, but the red on her shoulders and back made her see the colour red. She became angry and filled with rage. She crawled into the kitchen, and got a butcher knife. Her rage gave her the strength and courage for what she was about to do. Her rage gave her the strength to stand up again. Adam awoke from his slumber, and found that Molly was not on the floor as he left her, brutally beaten. Suddenly, she ran towards him screaming and plunged the knife right through his heart from his backside. He fell over on the couch, and as he died he had the shocked look on his face.
Molly Carter couldn’t believe what she had done. Since it was dark, she had to find a way to get rid of the body. Otherwise, she would be charged with murder. She dragged the corpse to the garage, grabbed his car keys from his pant pocket, and put it in his trunk of his vehicle.
She nervously put the key into the ignition, and drove for three hours in a frantic search for the perfect place to hide his body where no one can ever find it. She had to be smart and to get creative. It finally occurred to her: the perfect place to get rid of his body.
She drove and parked the car in his place of work. Because it was the night and everyone had gone home, she went into the funeral parlour dragging the heavy corpse. She went into a dark room, one that only Adam had access to. A room that was filled with secrets, and no one except Adam left that room alive. Until tonight… in an ironic twist of fate.
The room had an unusually warm temperature and was very humid. It was the perfect place to hide evidence. She put the body into a plain, unfurnished pine box and set it on the conveyor belt. The slide opened, and it was fire. Molly Carter had an evil and twisted smile on her face, and thought to herself, “Flames to dust.” “He had it coming”, she reasoned. As the burning flames incinerated the remains of Adam Carter, the most disgusting human being that Molly mistakenly agreed to marry at the age of 16, she thought for a moment that it was beneficial and ironic that she married a man who owned a funeral parlour. He cremated people every day, and now he was the one being cremated, with use of his own devices. After her deed was done, Molly washed the blood off her hands and mopped the floor with a remarkable cleaning solvent.
Molly returned from the past after she saw the smile on her daughter’s face. Behind Sheila, Molly saw the only remnant of her crime: a blood stain on the couch that she tried desperately to get rid of. Sheila saw her mother staring at her, and asked her why she was staring. Molly said, “It’s just a joy to me to see my daughter smile after years of sadness and heartbreak. That’s all, sweetheart.” Sheila smiled, and she told her mother about Scott, though she didn’t mention his name. “He’s the most wonderful guy, Mom. It’s the love that you feel instantly, but I’m just afraid that something will happen to make me hate him. Do you know what I mean, Mom?”. Molly knew exactly what she meant. That is the exact emotion she felt when she killed her husband. To which Molly replied, “I know the feeling. Believe me, I do.” Molly then replied, “You must fight for what you want, my dear. Your problems aren’t going to subside if you don’t take action. Don’t let anything or anyone stop you.” Sheila immediately thought of Lauren, and she said, “Believe me, Mom. I won’t.” Sheila was a victim as well, and she harboured a deadly secret of her own. She loved Scott, and she was not about to let the past take over her life. She recited the lines in her head: “Don’t let anything or anyone stop you.”