Blood Rose

by Jacquelynn Gagne

  So close it felt like an intimate whisper into my ear he spoke again. “Oh, how I love it when they run. Can’t you go any faster? Or are you really so pathetic?” His breathe was hot in my ear with a grotesque sneer in his voice. It was impossibly close. Unhurried and unwavering regardless of the fact we were running.

  Despite how much I had walked, I had never been very athletic so it wasn’t long before my lungs were straining and my legs were feeling a burn. The fear of faltering pushed me to move faster anyways and kick it into over drive. The added speed didn’t help though. No matter how fast I moved I could feel him so close it made my skin crawl.

  “Not bad, little Anna. But you’re still not fast enough.” Anger boiled inside of me as he stated how weak I was. The fact this wasn’t random. That somehow he knew who I was and I was the reason this was happening sent me over the edge and into a rage I had never felt before. It was nothing like being angry with the stupid waitress I worked with. This was a fire that burned much deeper.

  Apparently, I think pretty clearly when I’m angry.

  All at once, I stopped and tucked down into a crouch with my weight on the balls of my feet. This seemed to be the last thing he had expected luckily for me.

  He slammed into me and went flipping over my head and landing on his feet. Oh, shit. Not wasting a second of time I just gained, I jumped up and ran straight up the hill to try and get back to the main road.

  He was on me in a second’s time. This time he moved in for the kill. His hand grappled around my knee jerking it out of socket and throwing me to the ground with amazing strength. The way I fell slammed the joint back into place, both a blessing and a curse as the second wave of pain shot through me with such ferocity it silenced my scream completely. I was left gagging on a hard intake of breath.

  “Nice move, little Anna. I’ll give you two points for that one.” His hand still on my leg twisted. The pressure so great the only way to ease it was to roll to my back. “Don’t worry we’re nowhere near done, kitten.” My cry was an agonized groan.

  He came up to his knees as his hand pulled me down the hill closer to him. His body loomed directly above mine. Hunger flashed in his eyes and I was certain his goal must be rape and worse.

  With my free foot, I jerked back and aimed a kick high. Not for his groin but for his chest. If it were hard enough I had a chance at cracking his sternum, or if nothing else maybe knock the breath out of him badly enough I could escape. Neither availed however. My barrage of kicks barely stymied his onslaught attack.

  My eyes blurred over with tears from the pain so I couldn’t focus on his face. They contorted his features wildly stretching out his jaw and teeth as if he were more monster than man. The roaring in my ears registered as a deep throaty snarl.

  Instead of grabbing my leg to stop me, he swung back to hit me instead. I took the opening to kick his chest again, jerking the other leg free and aiming it for his groin.

  My injured leg hurt so badly I was certain it couldn’t do much damage but in that spot it surely wouldn’t take much. As my foot landed against the crotch of his pants, his hand came down hard on the side of my face. I was lucky.

  If he would have hit me in the skull, at best I would have been unconscious if it didn’t kill me instantly. As it was, I felt my cheekbone crack forcing me to choke on another tormented cry of pain. A fresh wave of pain shot from my cheek up into my skull.

  My hands dug into the earth behind me in an attempt to gain leverage and pull myself away from him. With all the rain as of late there was just mud and scattered rocks to grab hold of. My feet continued a barrage of kicks anywhere they could land as he leaned closer to grab hold of me for what I knew would be the last time.

  Just before his hands grabbed a hold of me again, I found the two biggest rocks I could manage without looking and slammed them up simultaneously against either side of his head. Blood splattered me victoriously. With one more kick, I was free and up and running no matter how much pain it caused.

  “Oh, how I love it when they fight back! Keep running, little Anna. The chase is on!” he bellowed after me with a nauseating guttural laugh just as my feet hit pavement.

  How many seconds until he tackled me again? The question was formed wordlessly in my mind. I forced my body to comply and move faster.

  The closest places of business on this dock were all warehouses. This area was not groomed well enough for the nicer shops and restaurants that Burlington was so well known for. I was alone. Therefor I was far from safe. At least two more blocks before I had any hope of any civilization.

  There was no telling if he was still behind me so all I could do was run. As the first block was ending tires squealed behind me just as I was stepping off the first curb. On foot, I had a chance. If he got me in the car, I was dead.

  There was an alley to the right. Too small for the car, or could he follow? Would it be a dead end and he’d have me cornered? It was my only chance. I lunged for its opening.

  My knee gave as my foot twisted off the curb sending me stumbling forward. Instinctively, my arms thrust out but as I landed my wrist bent back painfully. Nor had my arms softened the blow to my face as I hit the cold wet concrete.

  Blood spattered from my nose and mouth. My lungs were too fatigued to even muster a scream. Instead this sickened pathetic whimper gurgled out through the stream of blood.

  As I lay there, trying to muster enough will to get up, the tires squealed to a stop right next to me. A high-pitched echo rang in my ears combined with the sound of blood rushing to them. “Anna!”

  My whole body shook violently when I heard a rough baritone voice scream my name in an intense rage. There was no way I could run from him anymore. Would I die here? Will he take me somewhere else to prolong my suffering? How long would it take?

  Another dark thought. Is this what Neesa and her mother had seen?

  Futilely my eyes closed. If I had to be conscious, I refused to watch my own death. “Anna! Look at me!” One hand held onto my shoulder turning me slowly as another hand carefully took a hold of my chin, tilting it up and making me cough on my own blood.

  “No.” Worthlessly defiant. I gurgled coughing on the blood filling my mouth relentlessly.

  “Alright. Just hang on. I’m going to move you, okay,” his voice filled with laughter. Though weak and painful, it flooded with the sound of relief.

  “No!” The scream was weak and sprayed blood as I spoke. My hand shot up defensively swiping at his face to try to push him away from me. The hand at my chin released to take my wrist gently.

  “Lianna. Anna. You don’t need to look at me. Just listen. Listen to me, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you. Well not intentionally. I’m afraid moving at all is going to hurt though. Are you with me, Anna?” his golden voice filled with reverence and concern. His hands on my body were firm cool and gentle.

  “Damien?” Between the tears and blood, I couldn’t see anything as I tried to open my eyes. The blood rushing from my nose and mouth like an open faucet threatened to drown me if I wasn’t careful. Adding yet another fatal threat against me. It was almost comical.

  “Shh. Just hang on, honey. This is gonna hurt,” as he spoke, his arms slid around me and before I could protest, he was standing. I sucked in a sharp breath to keep from crying out as he carried me. In the next second, he somehow managed to open the passenger side door and slide me in. It hurt like hell. I never made a sound.

  In moments, he was in and we were driving. Despite my body being little more than a lump in his seat I knew we were speeding. Sucking in a ragged breath Damien nearly groaned. “Are you cold?” his voice was carried a hard edge.

  “No. I need a towel. The blood-” With a sigh of relief he rolled the windows down automatically. A second later a blanket was pulled up from the back seat over me. In another moment, he placed a wad of napkins in my good hand and I held them tightly over my face to stop the blood.

  “Please, don’t take me to the hospital.” I groaned tu
rning my head to help stop the bleeding. Despite all, I was horrified of what would happen if my father saw me like this.

  “I wasn’t,” Damien’s answer was surprising as it was relieving. Curled in his passenger seat I saw his hand reach to the complicated looking stereo. Eminem and Rihanna sang to me about just the way I felt. At some point quickly after that, I blacked out.

  X

  “THE DEAD DON’T SLEEP”

  By the time I woke up the pain had taken over my whole body from my toes to the ends of my hair. There was a blanket pulled over me, I noticed as I forced my eyes to open.

  The room was mostly dark. What little light there was, wavered and changed its brightness in a pattern that registered with me as a fireplace before I had the chance to look. Not that I wanted to move anyways.

  At just the perfect sound level music filled the room. Low enough you could talk easily but still hear the lyrics. Another bonus. I knew the band and they were one of my favorites. Shaman’s Harvest “Dragonfly” had just turned on. I’d worn my first CD out the first week I’d had it.

  It took me a few moments to remember why my body hurt the way it did. As the memories came flooding back I became rigid with anxiety. “Damien?” I whispered my voice rough as sandpaper.

  Please let that part not be a dream. Please be here.

  “I’m right here.” His hand lay onto my cheek gently. It startled me because I hadn’t noticed he was even sitting so close. “Careful. Don’t move you’re pretty banged up. Is it alright if I look at your leg? I think the ankles the worst.”

  “Okay. How long have I been out?” There was neither strength nor energy left in my body. It was as if I had become paralyzed. Paralyzed, with full feeling of every single burning nerve inside my body.

  “Including the drive, maybe forty-five minutes. We haven’t been home long.” He folded the blanket so that my legs were revealed. It was then I realized I was only in my underwear and a bra beneath the blanket.

  “Home?” My eyes sought to watch him, which wasn’t easy as my neck was too stiff to lift or turn.

  “Yes. I brought you to my house because you didn’t want to see a doctor.” His cool fingers probed along my knee and all down my leg to my ankle, which felt as if it had swollen to twice the size easily. In fact I was sure it had I just didn’t want confirmation visual or otherwise.

  “Oh.” Funny I remember clearly, when I asked that he had replied he wasn’t. So it seemed it was never his plan to take me to the hospital in the first place. The memories flooded me.

  “I believe your ankle is broken. Your knee was dislocated but it’s fine now considering. Your wrist is at minimum fractured.” His fingers barely traced the skin in his examination. “That’s just the big injuries of course.” He eyed my cheek but quickly looked away.

  “How do you know?” Unless he was a human x-ray, how could he possibly know?

  “You’re better off not to look.” Well, that meant in my book I had better look. I raised my head slowly but it wasn’t enough. With a slight groan, I pulled my body upright, which caused the blanket to fall off me. This wasn’t my concern though. The concern was my ankle twisted in a direction I couldn’t contort it to naturally. Yeah, it was broken. Damn it.

  “It needs to be set.” A sigh escaped my lips as I spit small amounts of blood with each word. Damien’s brow rose curiously, as he gave me a look that said I must be insane. So I shrugged and gave a nod before confirming his unspoken question. “Yeah, I know I sound nuts and you have no idea how much. Can you do it or not?” My voice was little more than a horse whisper by this point. It felt like my throat had been thrown in the blender.

  Damien sighed in a way that hinted I wasn’t the only one torn up at the moment. “Lay down. Don’t bite your lip. It’s already badly busted. I think your nose is broken. Your cheek too.”

  Laying back down was still a painful process. “On three...” Damien gently placed his hands on my bare foot and ankle.

  Instead of counting though, he surprised me by jerking it back into place with an audible snap. I stuffed my fist into my mouth but it wasn’t in time to muffle my scream.

  “Three,” he mumbled as he moved closer to kiss my forehead. “I’m sorry, Anna.” He turned away from me, sitting on the floor. His knees were up near his chest, elbows planted on them as his hands drug down over his face.

  Tears splashed down my cheeks. The act of crying hurt in itself as it reminded me of my broken face. There was no price too high I would not have paid if it would have made me stop crying but I just couldn’t. Everything was too much. The exhaustion. The fears. The unanswered questions and now the pain.

  It was almost worse that I couldn’t even cry as hard as I wanted. My face hurt so badly the only thing I could manage was a solid stream of tears as I lay there. At least I was silent.

  It took a while for me to calm down and collect myself. The tears hadn’t stopped but they were slightly more spaced out. I could speak though, “He was gonna kill me.” I couldn’t tell if it was a question or not.

  “Probably.” Damien flinched. “Yes.” Swallowing down his own ragged breath he nodded slightly.

  “You knew him.” It was a fact as true to me as the pain. Though how, I will never be able to answer.

  “In a way… but not personally.”

  “Do you have any aspirin?” My head was pounding like a jackhammer while trapped in a vice. Every muscle ached and burned. All of this didn’t even begin to describe the pain I was in.

  “I can go one better. In the first aid kit I have some Vicodin. I shall be back in a moment.” As he stood, his lips brushed the top of my head before he left. His step seemed to swagger in a way that made his misery more blatant.

  “Water please?” I hated taking pills dry. I could manage but it sucked.

  “Of course.” A minute later, he returned with a large first aid kit that looked more like a paramedic bag, a pill bottle and a bottle of Fiji water. With a straw. How thoughtful. I couldn’t contain the sigh. Even when I was a kid, I hated being taken care of. Not that I ever was really. It felt unnatural.

  “You’re my hero.” I laughed bitterly. It hurt like hell. “What are the pills from?” Surely he saw the question coming. Not many people kept narcotics on hand. I did but I get hurt a lot. Seriously, a lot a lot. Having a doctor as a father helped too. We didn’t acknowledge each other as family but no other doctor would see me. Given his position, one would assume that was his doing. At least he was charitable with the drugs.

  “Broken leg last year snowboarding.” He shrugged casually as he opened the pill bottle and after some hesitation- it seemed he was pondering how many to give me, he handed me the bottle. I dumped four into my hand as he opened the bottle of water. As he handed me the bottle, he slipped a straw into it.

  It was lukewarm. Not kept in the refrigerator then. I was blessedly grateful the water wasn’t cold. It would have hurt like hell if it would have been.

  “Thank you. Where’s your bathroom?” I downed four pills and half the bottle of water all at once. It hurt like hell but soon it wouldn’t. Blood mingled with my water. Copper twang, sweet and salty.

  He moved up next to me, sliding an arm around my waist he helped me stand. I swatted him away when I spied the door and used furniture and the wall to hobble. I almost made it but three foot from the door my knee gave out. Damien caught the fall and helped me to the door. Once in the restroom, I kept the light off. I wasn’t ready to look.

  Water dripped from my hair around my forehead. Most the blood was washed off though a few places still oozed and some dried still remained mostly on my neck. My lip was pretty torn up on the inside and split up to the top. At least I had all my teeth, thank god. Yes, both my nose and cheek were broken.

  I straightened my nose myself. Damien hadn’t been happy about that at all. If not for the pain, I would have laughed at how upset he’d gotten. As it was, I wiped more tears away instead.

  * * * * *

  Back on t
he couch, we sat in silence for a while. Playing with the straw and the bottle opening, I finally asked him, “So you gonna make me ask? You know I need answers.”

  “You need stitches. I can manage them if you like. And yes. I did say I would try to give you some peace of mind. If you’ll give me a starting place I will do my best to give you some answers.” I nodded to the stitches with a small sigh. I hated stitches I already had just a few hundred scars and stitches made them much worse.

  “You lied about Florida. Start there and work through how we ended up here while you stitch my lip.”

  First aid kit my ass. You buy first aid kits at the pharmacy. This was a professional’s bag. Damien sighed as he opened the black paramedic’s bag that he’d brought out with the Vicodin. It was well equipped for sure. It had all sorts of bandages of every size. Stitching kits. Throwaway tubes of god knows what. Iodine swabs and all sizes of wraps. You name it. Even a few things that looked like needles, which should have disturbed me a great deal. “And what’s with the bag? Don’t think I’ve seen a first aid kit quite like that before.” My head nodded at the med kit.

  “Anyone can buy a paramedic’s kit. But you’re right. I wasn’t going to Florida. In fact, I don’t know anyone in Florida. I don’t believe I have ever been actually. Though I have to say I’m surprised you knew.” Damien pulled out a tube of Lidocaine and dabbed it with a cotton swab over my lips and down my chin. Apparently I lost a good deal of skin. Sexy.

  “That numbing gel tingles. So do you even have a brother?” Sounded like, “Ah umbing ell ingles. O ew yew emen av eh utter?” He understood perfectly.

  “Two actually and two sisters as well. Don’t talk or it’s going to hurt more.” He leaned against the couch as I lay still to let him work. My hands and body trembled. Taking the water bottle from me, he covered me back up before he started to stitch my lip back together.