A Delicate Flower

by Chelsea Girard

  have friends in high places.” he said with a wink and left into the dark alley across the street. I shook my head in confusion and unlocked the door. The house was filled with grey and black furniture that reminded me of one of those old fashion magazines where the designers recommend the latest “dark” fashion.

  As we entered the apartment, I saw a woman standing in front of the cabinets in the kitchen, filling the shelves with canned food and boxed cereal. It was Ms.Jakes. I ran up to her and embraced her with a gripping hug.

  “What are you doing here? I thought you were -” “Dead?” she interrupted me and replied with a smile. “I mean, the fire, the shooting?” I said, frantically

  grasping at my thoughts.

  “Davis and I had a deal, you and I both live if I keep you safe.” she said, grabbing my hands in hers. “I will be taking care of you two from here out, keeping you safe. You are special Rose and you are nothing like your parents and deserve a better life than this.”

  After introducing Winnie to Ms.Jakes we decided that our little family would remain hidden and we would have no more secrets between us. Ms. Jakes told Winnie and I about how she had been preparing this place all afternoon and how she was thrilled to know that I was safe.

  There were two beds in one room, a bathroom, kitchen and small living room. Perfect for us, I would say that Joyce made a good choice. We all decided that it was way too late to stay up so we both decided to sleep in one bed together. Winnie was to scared to sleep alone and I didn’t mind the company.

  We woke up to the warm sun shining through the window as I stretched my arms. For the first time in years, I slept through the whole night, comfortably. I looked to the side and saw that Winnie wasn’t next to me.

  I threw my feet over to the side of the bed and made my way to the living room where Winnie was watching the television attentively.

  “You’re up early.” I joked at her. Winnie shrugged as her eyes turned towards the floor. She rubbed her big toe against her other foot in an uncomfortable attempt to stray my attention away from her.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked her as I placed my hand on her shoulder.

  “You can’t be serious about all this?” she snapped at me. “I mean, moving here and running away? This is all just some sick joke! I never asked for any of this and now I’m just some run away with a death wish!” she screamed in my face as her eyes filled with tears.

  “Winnie, I-” I tried to explain myself.

  “No,you never cared about me in the first place. You just wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible. You didn’t even ask me what I wanted, Rose.” she let out a loud sob into her hands as she cried on the couch next to me.

  ‘Winnie. I was just looking out for you. After Raven”

  “Don’t even start about her. You didn’t even know Raven!” she yelled back, interrupting me. “I am here because I wanted Raven back and when I finally see her, I kill her. I shot my own sister, Rose!” she cried.

  “Winnie, I’m so sorry.” I hugged her tightly.

  “I spent all those years in that cell, hoping I could see her just one last time.” Winnie’s tears filled her red cheeks as she wiped her nose with her long sleeve shirt. “I lost my best friend Rose. I came to this disgusting place to get her back and she’s gone because of me.”

  Winnie and I sat together on the couch in silence as she wept silently. Ms Jakes peered into the living room a couple times to check on us but she stayed away to give us some alone time with our thoughts. I thought to myself about how I could make her pain go away but I couldn’t imagine what she had been through.

  “What can I do?” I said, finally building up the courage to jump into a conversation.

  Winnie looked at me with a confused look on her face.

  “You-you can’t do anything anymore. The only person I wanted to see all these years is dead. It’s all my fault.” her eyes built up with tears again.

  “No, no, Winnie. You may have shot her but you weren’t in your right mind. It could have been anyone and you clearly didn’t know what you were doing.” I hugged her tight in a warm embrace with my nose breathing heavily on her cheek. “You can’t change the past but you can work on what your future holds.”

  She smiled me and held my hands in hers. As a single tear fell down her cheek she looked into my eyes and sighed.

  “Thank you, Rose.” she smiled. “I just miss her voice, I would give anything to be with her one last time. We had the best memories as children but she was taken away so much sooner than we all expected. It’s like my parents knew she was leaving and we had no way of stopping it.” she looked down at her hands.

  “What do you mean, it’s like they knew?” I asked her.

  “I don’t know. It just felt so real that she was gone. Sure, they were upset but it was like they knew what to do. Like it happened before or something.” she said as she shrugged.

  “Were you and Raven the only children?” I asked.

  “Yeah, Raven was obviously older and I was the youngest. Why?” she looked at me with confusion on her face.

  “What if your family had some debt to pay Davis? Giving Raven up for their own needs?”

  “You can’t be serious. How could my parents have

  had any part in what happened? They were absolutely

  traumatized after losing Raven that” she stopped talking

  and sat with her eyes wide as she stared at the floor. “What is it?” I asked, shaking her.

  “Oh my god.” she said as she covered her mouth with

  one hand. “I remember my dad talking to some guy on the

  phone about looking for Raven but I never thought anything

  of it because well, we didn’t know where she was.” “Okay, and?” I said intrigued.

  “When I asked who he was talking to he would always

  say an investigator but the police nor an investigator came

  over, ever. Even after her disappearance, the police were

  never called or anything. Why weren’t they called, Rose?”

  Winnie became angrier with every word. “What if they had a

  part in Raven’s kidnapping? What if they wanted us to be

  gone?” Winnie became frantic as she stood up and began to

  pace around the room.

  “Winnie, calm down. You don’t know if any of that is

  true!” I yelled at her, trying to calm her down. She began to

  peak outside the window actively every couple seconds and

  began to pace some more.

  “You can never be so sure” Winnie said as she looked

  back into my eyes.

  CHAPTER 32

  JOYCE

  Davis ran into the bedroom in a panic as the sound of sirens surrounded the Capri. The flashing blue and red lights could be seen in the distance as they drew nearer with each minute that passed through the small cabin window.

  “We don’t have much time!” he yelled in a panic as I sat at the edge of the couch. Davis had been in a fright ever since we sent Rose and Winnie off two nights ago. He kept blubbering about how someone who would find them or they would tip us off.

  “ You made sure they were hidden right? With that orphanage lady?” he gocked at me from the closet as he threw random shirts and sweaters into a luggage case.

  “Yes, I promise. Bruno said it was all figured out. I already told you all this a thousand times Davis, stop worrying.” I said angrily. “They aren’t our problem anymore.” I muttered under my breath.

  He smirked down at his dresser as he closed the sock drawer and closed the suitcase on the bed. He was traumatized from the cops showing up a couple days ago but he couldn’t bare to step foot back into the main room of the Capri. He had called off his guards the night when Rose left and ever since, he hasn’t left the cabin.

  “We have roughly 20 minutes until they find the cabin and snatch the stolen girls. We have to at least take some with us, right?” he said, looking for my
approval.

  “You can’t be serious. We can’t just walk along the forest trails with a line of underage girls, do you understand what you’re even saying?” I yelled in his direction. “We can start over, we just need to find somewhere safe to go and quickly.”

  Davis snapped out of his own mind, grabbed my hand in his and with the suitcase from the bed, we ran down the hall to the front door. He started hyperventilated as his mind began to think about every wrong doing in his life until this point, he would surely be subjected to the death penalty for how many girls he sold, molested, raped and killed over the decades.

  As we ran from the cabin to the North, Davis had a car parked in the forest on a hidden trail that one of his guards brought before fleeing the scene. It was packed with a couple cans of food, some noodles and a few phone charges for our phones while on the road. Not only was Davis beside himself on what to do next, he had no choice but to give up what he started with and move forward with the new life handed to him.

  “Are you ready to do this?” I asked him, holding his hand.

  “Ready as i’ll ever be, I guess.” he responded, looking down at his shoes.

  “I’m here with you every step of the way, we can run away and never look back at this place or this life.” I said excitedly.

  “I’m not sure what I want to do yet. I haven’t decided our next move.” he said with a smirk.

  “Next move? What next move? I thought this was over?” I asked, confusingly.

  “Joyce, we’ve only just begun.” he responded with a wink.

  We sat silently in the car for hours as we drove slowly away from the nearing police cars attacking the Capri from a few miles behind.You could hear the smashing of windows and the yells of the officers voices in the distance. We continued to pull further away as the Capri burst in flames in the rearview mirror.

  “Goodbye, sweet home.” Davis said as his face turned a pale white. He was sweating from his forehead profusely as his stress built up within his uneasy mind.

  CHAPTER 33

  ROSE

  I woke up to the sweet smell of pancakes doused in maple syrup and covered in miniature strawberries. Ms.Jakes had served Winnie and I our plates at the small, round kitchen table with a side of orange juice. She was recently showered as her wet hair dripped over her sky blue nightgown.

  “Good morning, girls.” she welcomed us with a smile as we took our seats in front of our sweet smelling breakfast.

  “Wow, this looks delicious.” I said to Ms.Jakes who was washing the frying pan in the sink. Her back was facing us but you could sense her smile.

  “Yes, thank you. This looks so good.” Winnie added with a smile as she aggressively grabbed her knife and fork and started cutting.

  “Thank you ladies. But please, call me Kate.” she said over her shoulder. “We will be spending lots of time together and calling me by last name makes me feel like an old lady.” she laughed.

  With our mouths full of sweet dough, slips of mail slide through the mail slot in the door as they landed on the front carpet. Kate walked over to pick them up and brought them to the table as she opened them using a butter knife.

  “Bills, bills, credit card stamps and one for...it’s for your Rose.” Kate looked at me with a confused look. “Nobody is supposed to know where we are.” she said with an uneasy look on her face.

  “What is it?” I asked anxiously.

  Kate opened the letter and skimmed through the contents with a sigh of relief.

  “It’s from your mom, Joyce.” she said smiling. “They got away from the Capri safety and they are on their way to the safe house.”

  “They have a safe house too?” I asked confusingly.

  “I guess so, it doesn’t really say where it is so they must be safe.” Kate replied.

  “What should we do today, Rose? Watch a movie maybe?” Winnie said with a mouth full of strawberries.

  As I nodded in approval, I placed my plate in the sink and jumped on the couch under a soft orange blanket. I turned on the television and the news immediately caught my attention. I lifted my index finger from my lap and pointed towards the screen. I grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

  “The story that is sweeping the nation this morning after a police officer came across a sex trafficking business this morning at 4 a.m. Numerous kidnappings have been solved after a sex trafficking business has been shut down after 25 years of stealing young girls from the city of Kilo. The kidnapped girls will be reunited with their families later this afternoon. Davis Moore and Joyce Teriko are told to be the leaders of this organization by inside sources but have not be apprehended at this time. If anyone has any known whereabouts of these two fugitives, please call”

  I sat shaken from what I just heard as Kate turned off the t.v.

  “Rose, are you okay?” she said as she placed her hand on my cold shoulder.

  “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. It’s just sad to know that those horrible people are my parents.” I replied with tears in my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to be able to say I had loving parents and an incredible childhood but honestly, I didn’t. I hated every aspect of the word “love” because I never felt the true meaning of the word.

  Kate took me into her arms and embraced me with a warm hug. As tears streamed down my face, Winnie stared at me from across the room as she finished her last piece of pancake that dripped, covered in syrup.

  “We need to do something.” she said with her mouth full.

  “What do you mean? We can’t do anything. I just, I don’t understand how they can just get away with all of this.” I said frantically.

  “Then let’s make it so they can’t.” Winnie replied with a smile. She ran to the bedroom and within a few seconds she ran back out into the living room with a paper and pen in hand.

  “We’re going to find out where they are going and catch them in the act.” she said with a confident smile on her face.

  “Winnie, that sounds completely crazy. They could kill us!” I shouted at her. “I mean, there is no way that we could ever work that out, we have no idea where they are going.” I said as I sunk into the couch cushion, hugging a pillow against my chest.

  “Maybe we can find out?” she asked, raising her hands as her palms faced the ceiling. “How hard could it be?

  “They could be literally anywhere!” I said angrily. Winnie had no idea what she was saying. There was no possible way we could track them down without them noticing or giving ourselves away.

  “I may have a small idea.” Kate chimed into the silence as she looked at her folded hands with an uncomfortable look on her face. “I hate how much you two have gone through and I can’t just sit here and watch you wither away into your thoughts anymore. It’s killing me.”

  “What is your idea Kate?” I placed my back on her back as I moved closer to her on the couch.

  “There’s something I need to tell you, Rose.” she said with tears in her eyes.

  “Go on..” I said in a confused tone.

  “Davis and I were really close growing up, I knew him since we were childhood and well, we were kind of dating for a very long time.” she said cutting herself off.

  “Um, what..” I said as I was stopped dead in my tracks. My mind was everywhere and I couldn’t think straight.

  “The orphanage, it’s where his girls came from until the fire. I always knew you were his daughter but I could never say anything because he threatenedto kill me.” she said as she started to sob.

  I immediately jumped off the couch and stood near the t.v. on the other side of the room. I stared at her as if she were a stranger, clearly that’s all she ever was.

  “You knew..You knew who he was and still w as with him and you even helped him!” I started to scream at her, I couldn’t understand what was coming out from my mouth. Kate was what he wanted her to be and she did everything for him.

  “Was I..part of the plan?” I asked genuinely as the tears streamed down my face.

  “No,
no never, Rose. I’m telling you this so you will trust me!” she stood up from the couch and motioned her arm towards me.

  “Don’t you dare come any closer.” I said as I raised my arm out to stop her. Winnie sat in against the kitchen wall with her hands over her ears to block out the yelling as she sobbed quietly.

  “Let me tell you everything, Rose. Let me tell you and Winnie everything, please.” she begged as she fell to her knees and sobbed on the floor in front of me.

  “Why should I trust anything you say?” I growled back at her.

  “Because you have no other choice! I’m what you need!” she screamed.

  I stood silently, awaiting a rebuttal to pop into my mind but nothing changed as the anger continued to build inside my veins.

  “Go on.” I said, sitting on the table in front of her.

  “Thank you, thank you.” she breathed heavily as she gathered herself together. “I met Davis when we were children and ever since we were close. Until Joyce came into the picture. He loved her, I could tell. Once he told me we couldn’t be together and after the baby.” she stopped herself as her eyes widened.

  “The baby..? You, you had a baby with him?” I froze.

  “Yes, a baby and he wanted nothing to do with me or her because it would ruin his relationship with Joyce if she ever found out. He chose to send her away from me so I would never be happy but than made me promise to open an orphanage to help him maintain his god forsaken sex trafficking business.” she pushed her face into his hands as she became enraged just talking about it.

  “And you helped him? After her made you give your child? But why?” I started to become frantic.

  “Well, he did keep one of his promises.” Kate said as she looked down in disappointment. “Davis said if I kept up my end of the bargain by providing him with girls, I would get my child back one day.”

  “Well obviously you didn’t.” I said, frustrated.

  “But that’s where you’re wrong. I did.” she said smiling.

  “But who?” I asked confusingly. She wiped away her tears and looked up into the kitchen, staring at Winnie. “I would have never thought that I would let someone else raise my child but I had to, so one day I would be able to get her back again.”