Blood and Flowers
*TRIGGER WARNING*
*THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS ASSAULT AND ABUSE*
I walked into my apartment, I threw my keys onto the stand next to the door. I slowly made my way to the bathroom to see what kind of condition I am in. I slowly brought my head up to look into the mirror. My eyes were puffy and red, I have bumps and bruises all over, my shoulder looks absolutely fucked. I have dried blood all over my arm and chest. I signed and reached for my phone in my back pocket. My finger hovered over Susie’s number, what do I say? Do I tell her what happened? I can’t go into work like this.... do I lie? I feel the anxiety build up in me as I try to figure out what to say.
“Fuck it” I said out loud tapping her number. The line started ringing.
“Hey darling! How are ya?” Susie answered with her voice all perky. I laughed a little.
“Hey Suz” I sighed with a raspy voice
“Oh no no no honey what’s wrong?” She asked, hearing the pain in my voice.
“Uh I had a rough night Friday”
“Sounds it, darling, you sound defeated lovey”
“You could say that, uh I was wondering if it was okay if I took today off?”
“Oh honey, you don’t even need to ask. Don’t come in until you feel like you can. Don’t stress about it babes. I can handle it, you need to focus on you”
“Thank you Suz”
“No problem darling. Do you want to talk about what happened? Do you need me to come over? Do you need me to bring you anything or take you somewhere?”
“Oh, no-no. I’m okay Susie. Thank you, I’m just gonna lay low and relax”
“Okay, darling. I’m one call away, feel better... bye lovey”
“Bye Susie,” I said, hanging up. I looked in the mirror one more time, I had tears gathering in my eyes. “What the fuck is going on” I sighed out loud. I threw my phone onto the sink and turned on the shower. Slowly took my clothes off and stepped in. I let the water run over me, I started to get overwhelmed with everything that just happened and what’s going on in my life. I slid down the wall of the shower and sat down on the floor. Issac was right about everything. I’m in debt because of college back in Texas. I transferred to a new college because I felt like I needed to be more independent. Bad idea, I didn’t know transferring to a new college would cost me a shit ton of money, I took out 2 loans to move out here and to pay the transfer fee for my new college putting me in debt of $5,000. It might not seem like a lot to others but coming from a poor family it is... I got the job at the thrift store to try and make a little money to pay it off. But my rent takes up half of my paycheck leaving me barely any money to live off. Susie pays me every other week, I won't complain because she helps me a lot. Other than that I’m depressed as fuck, one of the reasons I moved out to Colorado was because my ex-boyfriend cheated on me with my best friend. Typical right? I thought about the $2,000 Issac gave me, I can’t use that... I didn’t earn it, I’m hard-headed like that.
It has been almost a week since Issac said he would get a hold of me to check on my stitches. Guess I have to go to the doctor. Great... My shoulder is still kind of sore, so I came back to work and told Susie I pulled a muscle in my shoulder so she put me on light duty. I was in the backroom rolling change when Susie came in.
“Del darling, someone left you a surprise out here,” said leaning in the doorway. I rolled my eyes and giggled.
“Who?” I asked, assuming it was my ex trying to win me back. He’s been trying to get in contact with me but I’ve ignored him every time.
“Come look!” She said all excited. I sighed and stood up. I walked out to see a beautiful arrangement of, of course, Delilah, lilies, and roses. It was huge, Ryan never sends me arrangements this size.
“Woah, that’s huge,” I said raising my eyebrow and looking with wide eyes.
“I know! They’re beautiful! I’m jealous! There’s also a card here, Susie said, plucking it out of the flowers. That’s weird. Ray usually tells the delivery guy to just say it’s from him. Hmm. Susie handed me the card, I grabbed it with a confused look on my face. I opened it.
Meet me outside your apartment at 10 tonight, I’ll have my car.
-IR
“Ooooh, who’s IR?” Susie said, peeking over my shoulder.
“Susie!” I said giggling. “He’s no one” I laughed, closing the card and throwing it on the counter.
“Uh no one just sends flowers like this to someone,” she said pointing at the flowers.
“Please, it’s probably Ray trying to get my attention under a different name,” I said laughing and rolling my eyes walking into the backroom to continue rolling change.
“Uh-huh sureeeee,” she said, winking at me.
The rest of the day went by quickly. I got off of work at 9 and took the long way home which took me about 20 minutes walking. I rounded the corner to my apartment and saw Issac parked in front of my apartment. I checked my phone and it was 9:25 he was early... I walked up to the car, I looked around to make sure nobody saw me and I quickly got in.
“Damn I thought I was gonna have to go see a doctor to check on this,” I said, sighing and turning my head. Issac was wearing his hood up on his hoodie.
“I knew he shouldn’t have trusted you,” a voice said that definitely wasn’t Issac. He turned to look at me. Who the fuck is this?! I went to reach for the door handle when I felt something around my neck yanking my head against the headrest choking me but I could still breathe a little, I grabbed whatever it was and it was a rope. There was someone behind me choking me. Then I felt a cold object on the side of my head... a gun, it was another person in the backseat. “Look, I’m sorry it had to be like this Delilah, but I need to protect my clan. Can’t have any loose ends” he said as he grabbed a handful of hair from the back of my head. The guy with the rope released and the guy who grabbed my hair slammed my head into the dash. I felt blood starting to run out of my nose.
“Ah!” I cried out. Someone grabbed my wrist and cuffed them together. The guy with my hair yanked back slamming head into the headrest. The rope was around my neck again. The gun was placed against my temple also.
“Move or scream and he won’t hesitate shooting you,” the guy in the driver's seat said grinning. He started to drive, where is he taking me? Did Issac order him to do this? Tears started to gather in my eyes and a lump formed in my throat. We drove for an hour then pulled up to what looked like an abandoned motel. The driver got out and walked over to my side of the car and opened the door. He yanked me out of the car and onto the ground. The other two guys got out. They started laughing amongst themselves. I was picked up and pushed towards a door to the motel, one of them opened the door and pushed me in sending me to the floor again. My shoulder was fucking killing me. I was yanked off the floor again and looked around. There was a full-sized bed with an iron frame, wooden chairs around the room. The lights in here were dimmed. The windows were boarded up. When everyone was in the room one of the guys shut and locked the door.
“Mind, we’ll have some fun before we shoot her,” the driver said, pushing me onto the bed...
Thank you for reading! Take care of yourselves and stay healthy! ❤
