Little Flower

Marley's POV

Like a blue bird in a gilded cage, I am trapped. I’m not sure exactly how I got here, nor do I know how long it’s been. I lost count of the days a long time ago. I’ve begged and pleaded with God to save me, have someone come find me and take me away from this place. 

I miss my home, my room, my friends, my family. I’m sure they must have forgotten about me by now, or think I’m dead. I can remember their faces but I have forgotten their names.

I can still remember the last time I saw the sunlight. I was near the pool at a resort my friends and I snuck into. We were laughing, swimming, tanning, and dancing to the songs that the DJ was blaring over the speakers.

Spring break.

It was spring break week. Tons of tourists gather in my city every year and have week-long celebrations. Well, for the majority of the tourists it would last a week, but for the residents, the celebrations would last close to two months, considering everyone’s Spring breaks would start at different times throughout the country, it just depends on where you lived.

I met a guy, he told me he was sixteen, just staying for the week before he went back home. I can’t remember where he said his home was, I was distracted by that gorgeous smile of his. I think he knew that too.

He told me his name was Lucas. His name has never left me. We danced and he snuck in a few drinks for us throughout the day. The last thing I can recall is that the sunlight dimmed and the stars twinkled above and Lucas’s face turned into a huge blur before my vision went completely dark and I woke up, hog tied and in the trunk of a car going down what I could assume was a highway.

I saw my captor’s face, it wasn’t Lucas. No, this man was much older, more muscular, and he had a small prominent scar on his cheek bone. His eyes were dark and lifeless, his lips were in a tight thin line and he had a very well groomed beard that defined his jawbone. He noticed my eyes were gazing right at his face,memorizing his features. He held his glock up and smacked me right on the side of my temple, knocking me unconscious again.

I’m not sure how long I was knocked out for, but ever since I woke up, I’ve been shackled to this bed in this dark room with not even a window to show me the outside world.

I’m not the only one here though, there are twelve other girls here. I talk to them, they talk to me, I’ve never seen their faces though. Even when the men would come take them or myself away to do god awful things. Horrid things.

The things that would keep you up at night if it were to happen in your own neighborhood.

You hear stories like mine all the time on the news but no one truly listens, or has the mentality that it would never happen to them.

It could though, it very well could.

Ember, one of the girls a few beds away from mine, her own step-father put her here. From what she remembers, he has always been an alcoholic and a gambler. He got worse over the years and somehow she ended up here when she tried her best to remain invisible to him. When asked about her mother, apparently she was too doped up to even give a damn. Her younger brother was always locked up in his room, starving, and when she tried to get help, she would get beaten into silence.

She has never seen the good that life has to offer, and just like me, she’s a prisoner here for no fault of her own. The people she was supposed to trust have betrayed her in every way a person can be betrayed. She hopes her brother escaped, and she vowed if she ever gets to live to be free of this place, she was going to go find him and run away to a place where they can both be free.

We all hope that he is still alive whenever that time comes.

If that time ever comes.

The only door slowly creaked open. It was so dark that not even the light of the hallway could reach us.

“One of you has been misbehaving…” A deep disgruntled voice spoke into the vast.

I can feel the hairs on my body sticking straight up as the man slowly descended the staircase. I couldn’t see him, but I knew he was heavy, especially when the wooden steps would groan from his weight.

None of us dared say anything, and I can hear one of the girls sobbing as quietly as she could, begging to a god that isn’t here to not let it be her turn.

A soft metallic snick cut through the air as the man was getting his gun ready.

“One of you ladies bit one of our most honored guests. We all know that is a no go. Now it’s time to remind you all just what you are. And if you don’t like it, then you will meet your maker sooner rather than later.” He lectured as he walked down my row, his fingers brushing down the side of my body as he passed.

My body tensed up and he froze, I could feel his sinister grin glaring right at me. “Not you, little flower, ” He spoke, “but I will have my way with you this evening, don’t you worry.”

One tear slid down my cheek, but no words came out of my mouth. I knew he meant his words. He always does, I’m his favorite. I never found out why he calls me his Little Flower, but I never dared ask him either.

He started to walk again, slower this time until he found the girl who broke the rule.

“You, my desert cobra.” He growled out in a low husky voice.

Maya.

“Please, he asked me to bite him.”

“He didn’t ask you to bite his ear off, bitch!” He yelled out, smacking her across the face, the sound of bone crackling filled my ears and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out.

I wasn’t the one being attacked, but the fear is so deep in my bones I couldn’t help but to react.

“Please don’t do this.” Maya’s broken voice came through, her nose sniffling from the tears she tried to hold back.

“You left me with no choice, but I’m not going to kill you… not yet. Maybe in a few minutes but first…”

He unzipped his pants and we could all hear him get on top of her, her breathing hitched to a halt as he grasped her throat.

“One sound and you’ll be dead.” He warned her as he grunted when he pushed himself inside of her.

Maya’s breaths grew heavy from the lack of hair, the mattress squeaking underneath them.

“You think, you can bite some guy’s ear off and live to tell the tale bitch? Well, do you?” He asked in between his groans. “Let’s see how you fucking like it?!” He kept on and Maya began to scream in the highest pitch I have ever heard.

“Please stop!! My ear!” She screamed out as the man gripped her ear with his teeth and slowly tore her ear off. Once he was done, he kept pushing into her, spitting her ear out onto the next girl who screamed out when she felt the body part land on her bare stomach. The man pointed the gun at her. “Scream again and I’ll shoot you too, slut.” He warned and the girl quickly got quiet.

Three more thrusts and the man let out a guttural grunt as he finished. He got off of her and slapped her against her wound, making her whelp. “You were a fine piece of meat, such a fucking waste.” He said as he zipped his pants back up and the sound of a gun shot echoed across the room as he shot her point blank between the eyebrows.

“For the rest of you sluts. Let this be a fucking warning. You are here as our fuck puppets, no more, no fucking less. Cross us, and worse will come to you.” He yelled out and slowly walked back to my bed.

He hovered over my body, his bloodied tongue licking up the middle of my flat stomach until his lips and his disgusting breath hovered over mine. “I’ll see you after dinner Little Flower.” he promised before kissing my lips and walking back up the stairs, slamming the door shut behind him.

The girls were eerily silent, the rustic smell of blood filled our nostrils.

One girl down, eleven girls – other than myself – are left.

None of us are getting out of here alive.