A Delicate Flower

by Chelsea Girard

  “I’ll figure it out, thanks Trake.” and with that, the voice stopped on the other end.

  “Problem solved.” He said as he tossed the walkie- talkie into the clash of bodies on the floor.

  “You can’t be serious?” I said out loud. “I mean, they aren’t going to just believe that you came here alone, lived and nobody else returns home, including you!” I yelled.

  “You’ve got a lot to learn about the way I work Joyce.” he said shaking his head. “We obviously can’t stay here now or they will come looking the last place this guy said he was. We have to relocate.” he said harshly.

  “Relocate? To where exactly?” I questioned him.

  “I don’t know yet, probably far from here though. Germany sounds safer than here for this job, our contacts can help us.” he said confidently.

  “So we’re just going to pick up over 80 girls and drive them to Germany? Because that’s a smart idea.” I said sarcastically.

  “Shut up, woman! God, all you do is talk! Let me handle this and let me be!” he screamed. The room went quiet and I ran out of the room and down the hall as I slide down the wall to side against it.

  As I sat along the wall with both legs stretched out in front of me, I heard crying from the room down the hall. Crying wasn’t unusual here to say the least but this cry was loud and painful, as her sobs became louder and more distressed with every loud scream.

  I made my way down the hall slowly as I came to a slightly opened door, it was Winnie’s room. I pushed the door open as I peered into what looked to be Winnie, sprawled out on the ground as an older man molested her. Probably one of the perverts that ran off when they heard the gunshots and found her room unlocked.

  “Hey, get off of her!” I yelled as I startled him. He pulled out immediately, grabbed his pants and ran down the hall as his bare butt shook as he ran.

  I flipped Winnie over to see her face bruised and her hair covered in her own blood. The man had grabbed her from behind and stabbed her in the shoulder to keep her from moving so much. He told her that if she tried anything, he would stab her again until she couldn’t move anymore. Tears filled my eyes as she told me the story through her sobs and painful movements as she was in a dying pain.

  “Sweetie, what can I do?” I said as tears flowed down my face. I pressed my hand to her cheek as her face cringed in pain.

  “Kill me, please. I can’t stand to be here anymore.” she begged me. Tugging on my shirt and her teeth chattering as her fingers were engulfed in her own blood.

  “Winnie, I can’t.” I told her.

  “Then you’re good for nothing!” She yelled as she through her hands back and painfully inched her way back to her usual corner. “I never wanted to be here, I came here to save Raven, thinking everything could go back to normal.” she sobbed as the blood from her blood continued to pour from her wound.

  “Winnie, at least let me clean that up.” I moved towards her.

  “No, don’t touch me!” She yelled as her words became slurred.

  Her body fell unconscious on the floor, most likely from the loss of blood. I placed her body faced down on her mattress, took of my shirt and shoved it onto the wound. I felt the mattress fabric from behind my palms and pulled out the stitching. I bounded the threads together to make a makeshift bandage to tie around her arm with my shirt as a sling to keep pressure on her wound.

  She needed help and I knew who to call.

  CHAPTER 29

  ROSE

  As I sat in my bed, sobbing at the pictures of Raven and Winnie as children, I couldn’t help but wish I had a sibling growing up. Someone to talk to and turn to when something was wrong. For so many years I kept things bottled up and without saying a word my life ended before it even began.

  A sharp noise made me cringe as the sound of pellets hit the floor beneath my feet where they hung off the cot. I peered through the door to see Joyce standing beneath the backdoor stairs, waving to me to come to her. I didn’t want to play this game, we no longer were going to try and have a relationship and if she thinks after that whole stunt she pulled in front of Davis, that wasn’t going to happen.

  Another pellet hit the floor as it bounced off the wall. I looked out the door again and she was holding up a piece of clothing, it was Winnies. Did she do something to Winnie or was this just a way to mess up my life even more and show Davis that I was a traitor? Joyce was pale, sweating through her bra and she had blood all over her, keeping in mind she had no shirt on.

  I slowly made my way down the stairs passed Davis. “Where do you think you’re going Rose?” He asked in a conniving tone.

  “Just need a drink, going to the kitchen and I’ll be right back I promise.” I said, still staring at the ground to avoid meeting his eyes.

  “Very well.” he said hesitantly.

  Once past Davis and the other men in the room, I met Joyce outside the back door. As she met my eyes she ran to me and grabbed my shoulders.

  “It’s Winnie, she’s really hurt and I need your help to get me things so I can fix” she said rambling.

  “Winnie? Since when do you care about anyone but yourself?” I hissed at her.

  “Look, right now is not the time if you want to save your friend.” she ignored my arrogance and overpowered my overthinking.

  “Fine, where is she?” I asked, unconvinced that Winnie was in trouble.

  “She’s in her room, I need alcohol and some tape. Can you do that for me?” she asked quickly.

  Uh yeah, I think so. Where do I find those things?” I asked.

  “Back at Davis’s cabin, there is some alcohol in the cupboard and the tape should be in the kitchen drawer. You need tohurry though, she’s been stabbed and I need to fix her wound before it gets worse.” She said as she shook from the cold air that blew in from the outside.

  “Okay, I’ll meet you in Winnie’s room.” I said as I ran in the opposite direction towards the cabin.

  The path was much scarier at night time as I could barely see where I was going. Luckily Davis left his bedroom light on and I could see the light in the distance. As I entered the cabin, the smell of dirty laundry filled the air and my nose became disgusted with the stench.

  I began my search in the cupboards, looking everywhere for alcohol. I grabbed a bottle of Vodka and Whiskey, two of which that were in the very front as I had no idea if they were even alcohol at that point. I ran to the bedroom to change my shirt quickly as I could smell my odor from miles away. I placed the bottles on the bed sheets and rummaged through Davis’s drawer, moving everything around to find a clean shirt. I threw on a black t shirt and closed tried closing the drawer. Something was blocking the gauge, I grabbed the piece of paper from in between the drawers and opened it.

  “Dear my sweet Davis, As you know, I can’t raise a child in these conditions. I hope you know that this is best for not only the baby but our relationship as well. Ever since I arrived here, you welcomed me and treated me as your own. I will miss you but this is not the life I want to live. If you love me, you will understand that. I know you will be mad and probably hate me but please don’t come looking for me as this will only make matters worse. Our child will be fine and so will I.

  Joy, xx” I tried to read the note again to see if my eyes were deceiving me but then I heard the front door crack open and footsteps walking inside. I had to be quick and I hide, I grabbed the bottles of alcohol and hid behind some clothes in the closet. The noises seem to be of those from two men as their mumbling voices trailed into the bedroom. They began to smash glass and throw chairs around the kitchen as if they couldn’t find what they were looking for.

  The two men entered the bedroom as their shoes left mud marks on the torn up blue carpet. I could vividly see their shoes through the closet slits but just enough to know it wasn’t Davis. Their voices were low but viscously aggravated.

  This place is a shit whole.” one of the men said while laughing.

  “You would never know the kind of money thi
s guy makes by the place he lives in.” the other responded with a laugh.

  “Did you find it yet?” asked one of the men as he rummaged through the drawers in front of the closet.

  “Nothing in here. Maybe Joyce was Raven was lying, he obviously can’t have all this money if he can’t hide it in the proper places where you would obviously hide it.” the man’s voice became enraged and slammed the drawer shut with a harsh bang to make the dresser hit off the back wall.

  “Dude chill, we don’t have time for mistakes.” the other said, trying to calm him down.

  “Fine, let’s just go. This place smells like cigarettes and old socks anyways.” he said with a laugh as he threw a pair of socks onto the bed from the table.

  As the two left the bedroom, I couldn’t help but think what they meant by Raven was lying about Davis having money. Where would Davis have gotten all this money from? What money is she even talking about? I hope these guys don’t get the wrong idea about Raven, she’s dead anyways so she can’t be very useful now, can she?

  As I heard the footsteps fade, I slowly made my way out from the closet and shut the door behind me. As I took the two bottles of alcohol with me into the kitchen, I still needed to find some tape. I would assume that would be in a drawer but I mean Davis wasn’t the organization type, in his business and house combined.

  As I made my way to the kitchen, I saw the mud marks from the mens boots along the hallway floor. They were faded but looked to be construction boots of some kind, but none i've seen before since I’ve been here.

  The kitchen was destroyed from head to toe as they flipped the house upside down in search of the so called money they were looking for. As I tore through the drawers in the kitchen for the tape, I finally found the tape and put it with the pile of things I was bringing. As soon as I was about to leave, I remembered the note and ran back to the bedroom, grabbed the note and ran out the door with all my supplies.

  As I entered the Capri, I ran right to Winnie’s room and saw Joyce standing over her, sobbing into her own hands.

  “Finally, where the hell were you? We don’t have much time!” She snapped at me as I handed her the supplies.

  “I had some trouble.” I said under my breath. “It doesn’t matter now, help me bandage her.” she pulled me down by my arm to the floor beside her.

  I held Winnie’s lifeless body against mine as Joyce poured the alcohol on her wound and Winnie winced at the pain. I rubbed her head and pushed her hair out of her face to comfort her. As Joyce kept pressing on the wound, I ripped the tape with my mouth and handed her piece by piece.

  Winnie’s tears became silent as Joyce continued to mend the knife wound in Winnie’s back.

  “You’re good at that.” I pointed to Joyce as she tapped up the last open spot of the wound. “I mean, I’ve never seen someone bandage with tape.” I said with a giggle.

  “Well, now you can say you’ve seen it all.” she replied with a smile. “We’ve got to get her out of here...and you as well.” She said with a disheartened look.

  “Wait, what?” I said shockingly. “You mean, you’re going to let us go?”

  “You obviously found the note I left for you,” she said as she smirked, stroking the hair out of my face. “I wrote that a long time ago. Davis had no idea it would all lead to this of course, neither did I. I mean, I guess I can say I’m glad I met you but this isn’t the life for you, but it’s the only life I have.”

  “No, you can come! We call all run away and find somewhere and”

  “No Rose, I really can’t. I have nothing out there but you and Winnie are still so young, you can finally live the life you always wanted.” she explained.

  “Do you know anything about Raven telling others about Davis’s money?” I said slowly.

  “Oh of course she did, I knew she was a traitor since day one.” she said as she failed her hands.

  “Wait, you knew about the money?” I said confused?

  “I knew everything, it was o ur back up plan if Davis ever went crazy and everything went down the drain.

  “I took so long at the cabin because two men-”

  “Bruno and Tray, those two guys used to buy from Davis but I guess they got fed up after the police charged in, they obviously know the money isn’t going to come in so they probably tried to take it into their own hands.”

  “Wait, you knew about them too?” I said confusingly. How could Joyce know all about this and have such a hard time in life. She seemed to have friends all over the place.

  “They were on our side, mine and Raven’s. When Raven was younger, I told her we needed a back up plan if anything ever happened. Unfortunately, it all happened so quickly after I found out I was pregnant. I made the deal so fast that I didn’t think about how it would work in the long run.” she said as she traced the lines on her hand.

  “They didn’t find any money though, I mean, they looked around and trashed the police but as far as I know they didn’t find any money.” I replied.

  “That means their ready. We need to get you two out of here fast.” she picked up Winnie like a baby and carried her out of the room as I still sat on the floor beside the now empty mattress.

  “Are you coming?” she asked.

  I stood up quickly and followed her to the back of the building. She placed Winnie by a tree and left me to sit with her. She said she would be right back as she needed to grab me something, somehow I didn’t believe that she was coming back.

  CHAPTER 30

  JOYCE

  As I ran back to the cabin to grab Rose a backpack and find the hidden money, I ran into an angry Davis in the kitchen, venting under his breath as he sat at the kitchen table.

  “Would you happen to know anything about this?” he asked me without looking up.

  “What-what do you mean? What happened?” I asked.

  “I thought you would have known, I mean, the all- knowing Joyce should be able to tell me why my place is trashed and looked as if someone was searching for something.” he said with a snarky remarks.

  “And why would I know anything about that?” I asked back in a confused tone.

  “Because I knew you wouldn’t be here forever,” he said with a depressing tone that tore at my heartstrings. “I knew wewere too good to be true and that this wouldn’t work out.” he covered his face with his hands and sighed heavily.

  “You’re wrong.” I replied.

  “I’m wrong about what?” he asked.

  “Us, I don’t belong anywhere else except here, with you.” I said as I walked towards him. “I originally came back for Rose, yes. But when I saw that you changed, when I started working here again, I felt powerful.” I said as I clenched my fists in front of me.

  “So, you want to stay?” he asked, confused.

  “I’ve always wanted to stay, but I need to do something first.” I said as a nodded to him.

  “I know, I understand.” he said as he looked down at his hands with a smirk. “Go take care of our girl.

  As I started to walk away, he cleared his voice.

  “She’s the one that gave us away, you know that right?” he said nonchalantly.

  “I knew from the minute she walked in that she was going tobe trouble.” I replied with a slight laugh.

  “Just like her mother.” he replied with a wink.

  I moved over to the bedroom and grabbed a bag from the closet. I threw multiple shirts into the bag along with some pants and socks. I ran to the kitchen and grabbed some granola bars and some waters and added them to the heavy bag.

  “Would you like to come and say goodbye?” I asked as I opened the front door to leave.

  “No, she never liked me anyways.” he said with a smile.

  I ran back to where I sat down Rose and Winnie and slide back next to them against the tree. Rose was holding Winnie now that she was awake and wiping away the tears from her face.

  “I’m back, I got some supplied for you girls.” I said as I opened the back and motioned
Rose to look inside.

  “What’s happening?” Winnie asked as she swayed back and forth after just waking up.

  “We’re getting out of her.” Rose smiled back with a reply.

  “Be careful okay? Once you’re to the village, go through and follow the dirt path. It will lead you to the city. If you leave now you can make it by night fall. I made arrangements for you guys to stay in a side by side house”

  “A what?” Rose interrupted.

  “It’s a house connected to another. Davis is making the payments now so it should be yours by the time you get there.” I wrapped my ponytail in Rose’s messy hair and kissed her on the forehead. “You can do this. Go live the life you always dreamed of.” I said with a smile.

  Rose nodded and helped Winnie stand up against the tree.

  “What do we do when we get there?” Winnie asked.

  “Live your lives. Here is $8 thousand in cash, it may look like a lot but it really isn't in the long run. We split the money in half from what we earned in this last week and we couldn’t send you off with nothing in your pocket. You are our daughter after all and we didn’t want to get you involved like this. Davis and I plan on getting out of here tomorrow morning so this money needs to be going somewhere anyways.” I shoved the money into the bottom of the bag.

  “Now go.” I pushed them forward.

  CHAPTER 31

  ROSE

  Winnie and I walked for hours until we finally got to the edge of the city. The villagers were confused to see two girls walking alone in broad daylight and the dirt path was the worst hike of my life. The city lights were beautiful and the fresh smell of freedom and growth filled the air around us.

  We walked to the street where Joyce told us the house would be and we were greeted a man covered in paint and wearing a baseball cap.

  “Rose?” He pointed to me in questioning.

  I nodded.

  He handed me a large bag and the keys to the house. “By the way, my name is Bruno. Your mom is lucky to