A Delicate Flower Read online

  “Are you though? I mean, runoff?”

  “I thought about it but honestly, I don’t even know where I would go. I don’t even really know where we are let alone how far I am from home.” tears started to fill her eyes. “I have to get out of here, I planned to ever since I came, but therewas never an opportunity. Now that there is, it’s impossible.”

  “Nothing is impossible.” I said, trying to comfort her as I rubbed her shoulder.

  “If I tried running away, I would be shot on the spot or if I did make it back here, I would most likely be tortured. It’s justnot worth it.” she said, visibly upset.

  “Rose, it’s time to go back to your cell!” Davis called from the platform below.

  “I’ll come see you later.” Raven said as she rubbed my hand before I stood to leave.

  I made my way down the stairs slowly and walked over to the guard blocking the door.

  “Remember Rose, you’re safe here.” Davis said.

  I walked over to the door and awaited the guard to lead me down the hall. He stood in front of me and gave me a paper bag.

  “What is this?” I said confusingly.

  “Your meal.” he said without emotion.

  We made our way down the hallway again to my

  room and he shut the door behind me. I sat upon my mattress, opening the bag that collectively smelt of a buffet. I opened the bag to bacon, a grilled cheese sandwich, a full apple and an orange juice box. I squealed at the site of the food.

  I ate my meal in roughly about 30 minutes, savouring every bite. I heard footsteps coming from down the hallway so I hide the rest of my sandwich and a single slice of bacon next to my bed. I pretended to be asleep as the footsteps became as they moved down the hallway.

  Two men entered the room, dressed in full black outfits and wearing masks. The same masks that the men wore when I was taken from the orphanage.

  “We don’t have much time.” One said out loud. “We can do this the easy way or the fun way.” one said in a snarky tone.

  “We’ve probably got at least 45 minutes, lots of time to take turns.” he let out a laugh.

  They started to shake me to wake me up, I opened my eyes and flung myself against the wall. The stepped closer to me slowly, as if my nervousness was a game.

  “We aren’t going to hurt you..badly.” said one guy laughing as he walked closer.

  “Get away from me!” I yelled at them.

  One of them grabbed my face with his dirty hands. “Say another word and I cut off your goddamn hand.” he threatened.

  They grabbed my shirt and ripped it down the front, exposing my bare breast and underwear. They threw me to the hard ground and one of them grabbed my arms as the other started to undo his pants.

  “No, please.” I begged.

  “Shut up!” one said. He laid a harsh slap against my right cheek.

  He took off his pants and exposed himself as he thrusted into me. The other covered my mouth with his hand to counter my screams of pain. They took turns for about a half hour until they realized I was bleeding. After they were done, they covered me up with what was left of my shirt and left the room as I sobbed.

  My body was bruised up on my upper thighs and my wrists were imprinted from his hands holding me down against the cold asphalt. I curled into a ball as my innocence had been stripped from me and taken by a man who didn’t even know me. I felt disgusting as my own blood dried up around me and made my thighs itchy with disbelief.

  I sobbed the whole night as my body became numb. I couldn’t move as my body was sticky and covered in my own urine. I couldn’t fathom to get up and wipe myself off, I didn’t want to look at myself.

  The morning came and my food plate slide in through thehatch. I didn’t budge. I wanted nothing but to die. After hours passed as I laid upon the cold floor, the door opened and the bright light blinded my sheltered eyes.

  “Rose!” Davis yelled as he walked into the room. “What happened?” he yelled again. I couldn’t manage to get any words out of my tired mouth. Davis picked me up and carried me to the Hylander building. He ran with me in his arms and laid me on a soft blanket that was placed on the table. He had tears in his eyes as he gently rubbed my face with a wet cloth. He took off what was left of my teared shirt and took off my blood covered underwear and threw them into a nearby trash can.

  “I’m so sorry Rose.” he said as tears rolled down his face. “I’m going to find who did this to you, I promise.” he said as he wiped away the tears from him eyes.

  He wrapped me up in a towel and brought me outside the building. We were surrounded by dead trees and nearby buildings that were a mix of grey and red bricks. After an unsteady walk over a mixed of gravel and grass, we walked in to what seemed to be a cabin. Davis laid me on a soft couch and wrapped me up in a blanket that was draped over the back.

  “I’m going to get you some clothes, I’ll be right back.” he said as he kissed my forehead and headed into the other room.

  The room was dark except for the few shines of light through the open windows. The smell of sweet tea and fabric softener tickled my nose as I rubbed my hair out of my face with the corner of the blanket.

  Davis entered the room holding some pink pajamas covered in tiny bows.

  “You’ll love these. They were a birthday present but I thought you would need them more so now.” he said smiling as he helped me put on the nightgown and bottoms. I laid back down under the covers as he stroked my head. Iwasn’t even phased by how close he was as my mind was foggy and I felt as if I were in a dream.

  Joyce walked in soon after and saw me laying on the couch.

  “What-what is she doing here?” she said shocked.

  ‘I’ll tell you later, right now I need you to stay with her.” he said angrily. Joyce grabbed his arm as he started to head out the door.

  “Tell me what happened.” she insisted, not letting go of her grip.

  He looked at me sadly, thinking of what to say to Joyce.

  “Someone hurt our little girl.” he said as he grinded his teeth.

  “You mean…”

  “I’m going to kill whoever did this.” he said as he slammed the door behind him.

  Joyce stood silently at the door as she placed a hand on the hardwood slammed in her face. She looked at me with tears in her eyes, still in shock.

  “Oh Rose.” she said walking towards me. She kneeled on the white rug next to the couch I was laying on and gently rubbed my forehead. I tried to speak but no sound came out.

  “Don’t worry about anything right now, you need your rest, sweetheart.” she said in a gently voice. She fixed my blanket to tuck me in and left to the kitchen. She pulled out a chair and poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher on the table. With her head in her hands, she began to sob uncontrollably.

  I didn’t think she really cared about what happened, I honestly thought she felt sorrier for herself that she had to deal with Davis after he returned. He left angry so there was no doubt in my mind that he would return the same. Davis seemed passionate about caring for me as he could have easily left me there to pick myself up later on. No doubt that he didn’t clean every girl after they were dropped back off after their jobs.

  All I knew for sure was that Davis would not be coming back a happy man.

  CHAPTER 20

  JOYCE

  It broke my heart to see her like this. I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself. Davis had came back in the middle of the night, destroying everything in the bedroom. Lamps, blankets, clothes, everything ended up on the floor in a dramatic pile of garbage.

  He cried himself to sleep last night as he slept in a chair in the living room that was across from Rose sleeping. I told him countless times to come back into the bedroom but he refused and sat in that damn chair all night. He triple checked the locks on the doors and closed every blind in the cabin as if someone was constantly watching his every move.

  He told me he handled it but I couldn’t picture him
hurting a fly. He may have guards to do his dirty work for him but I couldn’t get the thought out of my mind that he had blood on his hands after what happened to Rose.

  I highly doubt she had sex before, she’s so young. She must have been so scared and confused. A part of me felt bad for you, she is my daughter after all. But another part of me wishes she would have had sex sooner, it would have been easier for her and less painful. When I was first raped it was traumatizing but it got easier as it kept happening. She obviously didn’t know the different between sex that is rape and sex that is love.

  I laid in bed for almost that whole morning until Davis came into the room. “Time to wake up, Joyce.” he said as he through a pillow at me that was on the floor from his rage last night. I didn’t respond as my body was numb with the thought of Rose being held down by someone who was not only twice her age but probably three times her body weight.

  “Joyce!” he yelled at me.

  I jumped as his voice grew in an angry tone. “Jesus christ, I’m up.” I said, flipping over to face him. “I’m taking her back today.”

  “Back? Back where?” I asked.

  “Where do you think? Her cell.” he said as his rage

  was increasing.

  “How can you bring her back to that horrid place?

  After what they did to her? After”

  “Shut the hell up, my god all you do is talk!” he said,

  his voice so loud that it shook the lamp on the side table. He

  walked up to me and grabbed my face harshly. “Don’t you

  dare talk to back to me! Do you understand?” he said. I said

  nothing.

  He smacked me against the face hard and I fell to the

  floor.

  “Do you understand me?” he yelled.

  “Ye-yes.” I whispered.

  I hadn’t seen him act like this since I ran away years

  ago. My eyes began to fill with tears.

  “Clean yourself up, you’re a mess.” he said as he threw a towel at my feet. “We wouldn’t want Rose to follow in her mother's footsteps, now would we?” he said as he left the room.

  He was right, not about following in my footsteps but about me being a mess. I had to be stronger I wanted to survive this time. He wasn’t going to ruin me this time, not again.

  After getting myself together, I made my way to the kitchen and saw Rose was gone from the couch where she had slept the night before. I threw on some shoes and ran towards the Hylander building. To my surprise, the front door was unlocked, it was never unlocked. There was no security by the doors, outside, nowhere to be seen.

  I entered through the front door and accidently walked into what seemed to be a meeting hosted by Davis, of course.

  “Don’t you dare talk back to me!” he yelled as I walked into the room.

  I had all eyes on me as I made my way along the wall to avoid the attention.

  “As I was saying,” Davis continued. “I will not be fooled into things you guys have my back. Never again will you have my trust until you show yourself, because I will find out.” he yelled at the guards who sat in three different rows in front of the platform.

  “I’m not going to ask you again. Who did this to Rose?” he asked calmly.

  Nobody answered and no heads turned away from Davis’ direction.

  “Bloody hell!” he yelled as he startled the already shook men.

  “Nobody is leaving this room until I find out who it was.” he said assertively. He sat in his chair and pulled out a cigar as the men awkwardly sat and looked around at each other.

  “Don’t want to sell out one of your friends? Fine, they I won’t be showing you any mercy myself.” he said with a shoulder shrug. The room was silent for almost two hours as Davis circled the men, staring into each of their souls.

  “Davis, can I talk to you?” I asked from the corner where I had taken my seat. He walked over slowly, almost as he was trying to intimidate me.

  “Don’t you need them guarding the building and the rooms?” I asked.

  “I could care less about those other girls, Rose is the only one I care about.” he said as he bent down to talk directly into my eyes. “I will send them out and back to their duties but when I find out who did it, I will kill them myself.” he said calmly.

  He stood back up and walked over to stand in front of the men once again, examining everyone as if they all were at fault.

  “Get back to work.” he said. Nobody moved.

  “I said get back to work!” he yelled and pointed towards the door. They all slowly walked towards the door. “You will be questioned individually, eventually.” Davis said with a smirk.

  “I will have my revenge, Roses revenge.”

  CHAPTER 21

  ROSE

  I woke up back in my cell, no joke that Davis could care less about what happened to me. I woke up on a new mattress with my head on a pillow and the soft blanket I was given when I was at Davis’s cabin. My thighs hurt with every movement and my head was pounding. I turned to face the door and see that my food plate had already slide into my room without waking me up.

  I rolled over and reached for the plate that had a bagel withbutter on it and a juice box. I wasn’t hungry but the smell made my head feel better, if that makes sense. I heard a scream from the room next to me, a girl’s loud shriek.

  I scraped out the dried dirt from the tiny hole and peered through. The girl was crying and pounding at her mattress.

  “Control yourself!” the guard yelled as he tried to stop her from screaming. After a small struggle and a knock to the head, the guard left the room with an angry outburst.

  “Hello?” I whispered through the hole. “Are you okay?” I said again.

  She looked at me and shrugged.

  “Come here.” I said.

  She crawled over to the other side of the room where I sat on the other side of the wall.

  “Hi.” her little voice said.

  “I’m Rose, are-are you okay?” I asked her.

  “I’m Winnie.” she said with a shy look to the door. “I’m alright, just tired, that’s all.”

  “Where did the guard go?” I asked her as my eyes darted to the door.

  “I don’t know. He comes and goes.” she giggled. “I’m pretty sure I make his life a living hell.” she shrugged.

  “How old are you, Winnie?” I asked her.

  “I’m 13. Well, I think. I’ve been here for so long I have no idea now.” she made a frowning face and sat down.

  “I’ve been here for a couple weeks, I think.” I let out a laugh. “Sometimes you never know, right?” we both giggled.

  “I wonder what the outside looks like.” she said as she played with a loose string from her nightgown.

  “You haven’t been outside?”

  “I haven’t even left this room since I’ve been here.” she said still looking at her string.

  “Jesus, why not?” I asked shocking.

  “I don’t know, they just don’t like me I guess.”

  “Do you know how you got here?” I asked her.

  “Now that’s a funny story.” she said with a smirk.

  “My sister was stolen over 10 years ago and when these disgusting people found out my parents had me, they offered a trade. Me for my sister. When we met at this open field, my parents had a plan to pull me back when they gave over my sister and we were going to run away. We never even had the chance to say goodbye.” Winnie’s eyes filled with tears.

  “What happened?” I asked sympathetically.

  “When I started to walk towards my sister, a guy ran from the tall grass and grabbed me. My dad tried running after me but they shot him on site. My sister tried to run to my mom when the shot sounded but a big man grabbed her too and they beat my mom in front of us.” she sobbed silently.

  “Winnie, I am so sorry.”

  “It’s fine. We should have known that it was too good to be true. And besides, I was just bait for my sister, they
never loved me anyways.” she said as she pulled her hair behind her ear.

  “Bait? For what?”

  “My parents never wanted me in the first place, I assumed they had me just to get their precious Raven back and get rid of me instead. They were always so upset and hardly cared for me.” she started to angrily make hand movements and pull on her dress.

  “Wait-did you say, Raven?” I asked.

  “Yeah, she was stolen from a grocery store years ago when her and my dad went shopping. He swore that he tried to get her back but everyone thought he killed her for the longest time.” she shrugged, unfazed.

  “Winnie, what does your sister look like?”

  “No idea, last time I saw her she had short brown hair but she never looks like the same.” she said.

  “Winnie, Raven-”

  The door swung open and a guard, not paying attention to Winnie, grabbed his chair and her empty food plate and left the room.

  “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” she said as she quickly covered up the hole.

  “Wait!” I yelled.

  “They will catch us.” Winnie’s muffled voice said as it faded between the walls.

  Raven never mentioned a sister. I mean, why would she? It never came up and I was always so hell bent on Joyce. I needed to find her. I needed to tell her Winnie was here.

  I banged on the door for what seemed to be hours until a guard finally came to the door.

  “What do you want?” he said frustrated.

  “I need to see Davis.” I said.

  “He’s busy.” he tried shutting the door but I put my arm in between so he couldn’t shut the door.

  “I said, I need to see him.”

  “Fine you little brat.” he said as he opened the door to let me out.

  We walked again, down the hallway to the Hylander building.

  As the guard opened the door for me, I ran to Davis who was sitting in a chair, filling out some paperwork.

  “Oh Rose, are you okay?” he asked concerned.

  “No, I’m not.” I said angrily at him.

  “I’m doing all I can, I promise.” he said as he put down the papers and gave me his full attention.