The Rose Necklace

All around me there was darkness. I didn't know where I was or how I got there. All I knew was that there was something sharp holding my wrists above my head and my ankles below me. There was a crusty substance coating my arms. Considering how sharp and tight the bonds holding my wrists were, I knew it was my own blood.

I tried to make sense of what happened. The last thing I remembered was leaving the small town of Oakwood. Aaron, having seen the red diamond rose necklace my father had recently gave me, took it, and asked how I came across the necklace. After I told him that my adoptive father gave it to me, he accused me of lying to him and that I was conspiring against him with my father, who was an infamous crime boss. He ordered me to leave at once.

But what happened after I left? I searched through the fog in my mind. Then it hit me: there was a man standing in the middle of the road. I had to jam on my brakes to avoid running him down. After I stopped the car three thugs ambushed me. They knocked me to the ground and ransacked my purse until they found my cell phone. They held me hostage and not finding my father’s number in my phone, called Aaron, demanding the necklace or I’d die. He told them that he did not know what they were talking about and to do whatever they wanted with me, I was of no importance to him. I felt as though a knife had pierced my heart. My screams for help over the phone fell on deaf ears; he wanted nothing to do with me. Soon after, I must have been knocked unconscious.

Every part of me felt like it had been shattered. The one person I grew to trust more than anyone in the world betrayed me. How could he, when I gave him everything? Was it because of who my father was? My father might seem like a cold and heartless criminal to others, but he was my hero. He took me in and raised me when I was abandoned in the cold. He saved me from death and the harsh cold of the winter.

Warm tears ran down my face. I was mentally and physically exhausted but that was nothing compared to my emotional exhaustion. My heart was broken into pieces. I cried in the dark silence for what seemed like hours.

A door creaked behind me and I was blinded by a light reflecting off the wall in front of me. I could hear a man speaking in a foreign language. I did not know what they were saying but it probably wasn't good.

The door soon closed and the thud of heavy feet sounded behind me. As my captor drew closer and closer, my fear intensified. I struggled to break free only to be stabbed in my wrists and ankles. I glanced at my bonds and realized that the pieces touching my skin were spiked. When I pulled, the spikes sunk into my skin and a fresh stream of blood flowed down my arm.

"If you struggle, bitch, you will only cause yourself to bleed more." My captor walked around in front of me and stared me face to face. He was a tall pale man and had scars all over him. "What do you want?" I spewed at him.

He lifted the lantern he was carrying and shined it in my face. I squeezed my eyes closed. He came close enough that I could smell his foul breath as he said, "You haven't figured it out by now? You're not very clever for being the daughter of him."

"What?" I said, opened my eyes, too shocked to think of what else to say.

"You will tell us where the necklace is or face the consequences," he smiled.

Regaining my composure, I lied. "I don't know what you are talking about."

The man smacked me hard across the face. My eyes to stung with tears, "Don't lie, you filthy rat," he bellowed, "We saw you wearing the necklace! You’re father stole it and gave it to you. We will get the information out of you, one way or another."

He walked behind me and the door opened again. He spoke in a foreign tongue and then, as if to taunt me, he said, "Break her; we need that information if we are going to accomplish our mission.”

The man left to torture me tried everything, from cutting me to using small torture devices. I was hurt but I wouldn't give in. My father stole things because he believed that in the wrong hands they would be dangerous; if he stole the necklace there must have been a reason. Eventually, the man left but kept the lantern shining in my face. Its purpose was more subtle but it was still a form of torture.

It wasn't long before I fell asleep from exhaustion. I did not know how long I slept but I was awakened when the door creaked open again. This time it was a curiously pale man.

I pulled against the chains and the spikes dug into my flesh a rush of warm blood oozed down my arms. The pain of the spikes meeting my flesh was long gone. Maybe out of defense my body was numb, allowing me to struggle more.

"You will only bleed to death," the man said smiling mischievously.

I continued to struggle against my bonds, "Better than the alternative! I will never tell you where the necklace is!"

He grabbed my neck and put his face a hairsbreadth from mine, "So you admit that you had it. One way or another we will find it, and then we could use what’s inside it to bring the world order to an end."

"You're a monster!" I spit in the man's face.

He smacked me again and bellowed, "Show some respect. You're in no position to do such things!"

He stormed off behind me. I heard the men talking in another language; the pale thug’s voice was particularly menacing. "Do your worst to her, we will get what the boss wants, one way or another."

"You can't scare me!" I hissed, not knowing how excruciating this new thug's tortures would surely be.

I didn't know if anybody could hear my screams of agony. I eventually passed out from the pain. How did my life come to this point?

My name is Helen. When I was just a newborn I was left outside in a trashcan by a young teen. My father saw her leave the ally she left me and found me crying in the cold. He spared my life.

I didn't know how long I was captured and tortured, but that was nothing compared to the pain I felt when Aaron betrayed me. Somehow I knew that I was going to die there.

Exert from a recent police report: Mutilated body found in an abandoned shack 4.38 miles outside of Oakwood. After DNA testing it was found to be Helen Karl owner of the Chevy Camaro found just outside of Oakwood a week earlier. No suspects known, further investigation required.