Black Hellebore

by Maya Shepherd

  As soon as she gets out of the stuffy and over-filled pub, she gratefully breathes in the cool night air, getting out just in time to see Lindsay’s white petticoat disappearing onto a side street. She quickly runs after her.

  “Lindsay, wait!”

  Instead of listening to her, Lindsay turns off into the next street, and as Lia turns the corner, she sees Lindsay pressing her face against the slates of a rotting wooden wall. She has walked into an alleyway.

  Lia cautiously approaches her and gently places a hand on her shoulder. Lindsay angrily turns around and stares furiously at her with her eye-makeup completely smudged and smeared.

  “You leave me alone! You really do let everyone have a piece; you couldn’t even control youself with Mike, even though you know that I am in love with him! Yeah right you don’t want anything from him!” Lindsay spits at her, her black bangs bobbing up and down as she speaks.

  Lia quickly shakes her head, hurt by her words.

  “There is nothing going on between Mike and me. I didn’t want him to kiss me.”

  Lindsay snorts in disbelief. Her actions make it clear that she doesn’t believe one word Lia is saying.

  “Please Linds; I actually just came here to see you. I need your advice.”

  Lindsay arrogantly looks Lia up and down, fixing her gaze on the big blood stain on her chest.

  “What are you even wearing?” she says before she has a chance to stop herself.

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Please listen to me.”

  Lia looks hopefully at her, but Lindsay just wipes her hands over her running make-up instead of answering her. As Lia hands her a tissue, she groans loudly.

  “Fine, then tell me already!”

  Lia smiles. As strong as her fear and doubts were, she knew deep down that she could always count on Lindsay. As Lia tells her everything that happened with Orlando and Tru down to the very last detail, she stands there, her mouth shut in disbelief. She stares at Lia with wide eyes, nodding her head and seeming to be taking it in.

  “...I don’t know what to do now. Do you think that Tru is telling the truth?”

  Lindsay hesitantly clears her throat, but just as she is about to say something, they are both startled by a loud crashing sound.

  Bradley steps into the alley accompanied by his friends. There is a broken beer bottle at his feet.

  The mischievous smile on his face can’t mean anything good, and Lia immediately starts to panic. Like a frightened animal, she pushes herself tight against Lindsay in the furthest back corner of the alley. Lindsay on the other hand just rolls her eyes, trying not to let on that she is afraid. She stands protectively in front of Lia, and folds her arms in protestation.

  “What is this meant to be? Have you not got anything better to do than to constantly torture her? That is so lame!”

  Bradley’s smile disappears. Nobody gets to insult him. His eyes momentarily move from Lia to Lindsay who is holding her chin up high. As he goes for her, she does not flinch, and Lia admires her for it. Bradley sways with every step, just like his friends behind him, who are just smiling stupidly and whispering things to each other that Lia can’t and probably wouldn’t want to hear.

  There are now only centimetres separating Bradley and Lindsay’s faces, as he stares daggers at her.

  “Did anyone ever tell you not to get involved in things that have nothing to do with you? Nobody is interested in you.”

  Lindsay swallows hard, but still she bravely keeps eye contact with Bradley.

  “Anything to do with Lia has something to do with me!”

  Out of nowhere, Bradley pulls his head back, only to bring it forward again and crashes with full force onto Lindsay’s face. Lia can hear as her nose shatters. Blood immediately shoots out while Lindsay sees black and falls to the ground, unconscious. Lia wants to help her, but Bradley catches her and holds her arm so tightly, that she squeezes her eyes shut in pain. She tries to wriggle out of his grip like a fish on land, but his gaze is fixed on her face. He suddenly lets her go, just so he can push her against the wall behind her. As she stumbles backwards, she bangs her head on the wooden planks, and for a moment sees nothing but stars. Bradley is standing right in front of her again. His friends are standing behind him, acting as a protective barrier. Lia doubts that she could break through it if she tried. She desperately pushes against the wood behind her, but it won’t budge, not even an inch. Splinters delve into her fingers and under her fingernails as tears start forming in her eyes. Her throat closes and she can’t bring herself to say a single word.

  Bradley roughly pushes his hand against her breast as Lia helplessly whimpers. No, this can’t be happening! This can’t happen! Please don’t!

  “I wonder how your father can still let you live in his house, or do you do daddy little favours for it?” he slurs into her ear, the strong smell of alcohol making Lia gag, but his words give her the courage to defend herself. She pushes his hand from her chest, but he grabs her other hand quickly again.

  “You could do me a favour too, maybe then I would be a bit nicer to you.” He continues, purring lustfully into her ear, and pressing his hand against her inner thigh, dangerously close to her private area. No!

  Lia ignores the throbbing pain in her wrist, trying to find some strength. She would rather be beaten to within an inch of her life than just let Bradley have his way with her.

  After a while he needs two hands to restrain her, but even that isn’t enough as Lia scratches his face. He lets her go, shouting and swearing and as soon as Lia tries to make a run for it, his friends stand in her way and hold her back. The amused grins on their faces have disappeared, and have been replaced by looks of uncertainty, but also curiosity. Did they know what Bradley hat planned? Was it planned or just a coincidence? Bradley furiously tears Lia back towards him, tearing a sleeve off her jumper in the process. He hits her so hard in the face that her lip splits and blood runs down her chin.

  “You filthy slut, how dare you?!” he shouts at her, shaking her by her shoulders, hitting her head repeatedly on the wooden wall behind her. He quickly pulls a switchblade out of his pocket and opens it right in front of Lia’s nose. The street light reflects in the blade as Bradley glides it over her cheek.

  “I bet your mother would be proud of you. She must have been just as much of a filthy whore as you are.”

  “Crawling in my skin

  These wounds they will not heal”

  His words pierce her heart like needles. Even though she never got to know her mother, she doesn’t want to believe his words. Deep in her heart she can feel that they are not true. Before she realises what she is doing, she spits in his face. His expression changes from disbelief to blind rage.

  “Help me, the slut is asking for it.” He barks at his friends, telling them to hold her arms, but this time they are not as willing to help him. Watching Bradley do something like this is one thing, but to actually get involved and help him is a whole other story.

  “Come on already! Or do you feel sorry for the whore? She is screwing everyone else around town anyway!”

  Lia’s eyes pleadingly search for help, but one look at the boys tells her that she has lost them. Two of the three boys quickly walk towards her and hold her arms down, not looking at her while they do it. They know that this is wrong, but they are too afraid to stand up to Bradley. Only one of them is left standing there helplessly, looking at his feet as he speaks.

  “Someone could walk past at any moment; you should probably do this with her some other time.”

  Bradley doesn’t take any heed to his words, and starts mocking him.

  “You cocksucker, have you pissed your pants or what? If anyone sees us then they will just assume that she wants it. And she does want it, the cheap little strumpet. I bet she is already very wet for me.”

  There are little balls of spit in the corners of Bradley’s mouth when he turns back to Lia and his eyes are raging with lust. He triumphantly brings the k
nife back up to Lia’s face, and then gently runs it over her stomach.

  “Don’t move, or I’ll gut you like a pig!” he hisses at her as he brings the knife under her jumper and slits it open like the zipper on a jacket. The material parts and exposes her chest. The only thing protecting her breasts from the boys’ eyes is her little white sports bra. When Bradley also cuts this open, she can’t help but let out a loud whimper. She fought so hard not to give him the satisfaction of making her cry, but she just can’t help herself now. This can’t be happening. Please, please no!

  It doesn’t make a difference if she screams or tries to call for help, because she knows no one would come to help her. Nobody is coming to save her. Nobody!

  “I’ve felt this way before

  So insecure”

  But then someone else lets out a scream; Lindsay. A shrill scream escapes her throat when she sees what Bradley and his friends are in the process of doing. She quickly scampers to her feet when she realises that it probably wasn’t a good idea to get the boys’ attention.

  “Lia, I’ll get help!” she shouts back as she makes a run for it. Instead of running after her, Bradley sends one of his friends, the one who wouldn’t help to hold Lia down, after her. Relieved to be able to leave, he quickly follows orders and chases after Lindsay, whose loud screams are echoing through the night until they get lost amongst the loud music coming from the pub.

  Bradley just shrugs his shoulders, unimpressed by it all.

  “I don’t think we need this anymore...” he says to Lia and sticks the switchblack back into his pocket, and then lays his ice-cold hands on her breasts. Her tortures whimpers just make him more enthusiastic. As his hands tear at her belt, it almost feels like he is trying to tear out her insides. She shuts her eyes and squeezes them together tightly.

  This is not happening to me. This is not me!

  - 17. Orlando Maundrell -

  After love, hate is the strongest emotion anyone can feel. Orlando is controlled by both. His love towards Lia is responsible for the hatred that is spreading throughout his body as he watches Bradley and his two friends holding her down and torturing her. All three of them will soon realise that this was the biggest mistake they ever made in their pitiful little lives. The force with which he knocks Bradley’s two helper’s heads together makes it a miracle that neither of them is killed instantly. Instead, they both just fall unconscious to the floor, sporting bloody head wounds. Bradley’s as well as Lia’s eyes widen in shock, but the boy doesn’t have much time to grasp the grave consequences he is to face for his actions, before Orlando grabs him by the neck and lifts him off the ground in one foul swoop. Orlando holds him up against the wall with one hand, leaving Bradley’s legs dangling helplessly in the air. His attempt to speak results in a scratchy croak, as his eyes bulge and his face turns red. Orlando squeezes Bradley’s throat harder and harder, but very slowly, because he should suffer just as he made Lia suffer. She stares at Orlando as if in a trance, her mouth and eyes wide open. She blinks and comes back to reality, shaking her head as if she needs to come to her senses. Bradley is already blue in the face at this point, so Lia places her trembling hand on Orlando’s dark jacket.

  „Let him go, you can’t kill him!” she pleads unconvincingly. He looks scornfully down at her, his fingers not budging an inch on Bradley’s throat.

  “Why not? He doesn’t deserve any better!” His eyes wander down over her naked torso and Lia becomes aware of her nudity. She places her arms protectively over her breasts but keeps eye contact with Orlando. She has tears in her eyes. Orlando expects to hear something along the lines of ‘good people don’t do things like this’, but instead she says:

  “People would look for him.”

  ‘Miss him’ would be the wrong thing to say, because nobody really likes Bradley, not even his friends. Every relationship that he has is led by fear. Lia would love nothing more than to see him dead after all the years he has tortured her.

  After some brief hesitation, he removes his hand from Bradley’s throat and lets him fall to the floor like a sack the same way as his two friends before him. He quickly slips out of his jacket and holds it out for Lia.

  “This was your decision. If it were up to me he would not be breathing right now.”

  Lia gratefully slips into his jacket and it is so cold, it’s almost as if it had been hung out in the air rather than just having come off a body. The scent of fresh snow mixed with burning damp wood fills her nostrils. It is the smell of winter, hot and cold at the same time. Lia looks downward, distracted.

  “Thank you”, she says quietly. She would rather not think about what would have happened to her if Orlando hadn’t shown up out of nowhere. She was never more grateful for someone’s help.

  “Come on, let me show you something!” He says to her with a gentle smile and holds his hand out to her. He sees momentary hesitation in her eyes, but then she takes his outstretched hand and returns the smile, as her tears dry on her cheeks.

  Moonlight shines softly through the broken glass panes and ivy, glittering in the green waters. The once white roman statues are covered in moss, and ivy wraps around their free-standing, broken bodies. The hooting of owls and the occasional cooing of pidgeons can be heard coming from the exotic plants and trees. A light breeze whistles through the broken panes and along with the smell of moss and stagnant water, the breeze carries Lia’s sweet strawberry scent to Orlando. Lia is looking up in awe at the former greenhouse, which was built right in the middle of the Italian Gardens.

  “Unbelievable!” She blurts out and squeezes Orlando’s hand a bit tighter.

  “I always come here when I want to be alone. You are the first person I have ever brought here with me.”

  It’s true; he has never even shown Mary the greenhouse before. It is very inconspicuous from the outside, as the windows have all been broken by vandals or graffiti sprayed on them. It has lost its former beauty. This was always his private getaway, but he knew that Lia would like it, and she desperately needed a bit of joy after what Bradley had put her through. Maybe he just wanted to hear her pure and innocent laugh again. Her smile is tentative, like the Mona Lisa’s, but the twinkle in her eye tells him that she really is enjoying herself.

  His feet glide silently over the moss-covered ground. As he sits down into a bench swing, it creaks loudly. Apart from the sounds of the night and the rustling of the leaves in the wind, it is completely silent; making Lia’s pounding heartbeat much more obvious. She still seems very unsettled and agitated. She had not said a word on the drive here, being even more quiet than usual. It breaks his heart to think about what would have happened had he shown up a few minutes later. Why didn’t she defend herself? He has felt the enormous power and strength that she possesses. It should have been very easy for her to free herself, and he had seen the desperation in her eyes. Why was she suddenly so weak and helpless?

  He wants to comfort her. He wants to see that mysterious smile on her face again. He wants to feel complete and care-free once more.

  He gently releases his grip on her hand and strokes her cheek, yet Lia remains unresponsive to his touch. As he lightly turns her head towards him, he sees that tears have formed in her eyes. Her spirit seems broken, and Orlando silently swears that he will never let anything like this happen again; he will never let anyone hurt her again. He gently places his lips on hers. Even though he can’t give her any warmth, she seems to relax with his kiss and timidly kisses him back. As they kiss, her lip splits again and the bitter taste of her blood fills his mouth. He moves away in shock, knowing now that he wasn’t imagining it the first time. Her blood is one of a kind, but also truly undrinkable. How can something smell so amazing but taste so revolting?

  Lia looks at him confused, but this time it is him who is silent. Lia follows his gaze and looks up towards the stars. It is such a cold night that it seems like the whole galaxy is visible.

  “Have you ever seen a shooting star?” Orlando asks, trying
to make small talk. He has seen enough of them over the centuries to know that no matter how hard you wish on them, and how much you want something, they do not make those wishes come true. People make their own luck. But instead of answering his question, she asks one of her own.

  “Did you bite me?”

  Taken aback, he looks towards Lia, who is still staring up at the sky as if she had not said anything. Her heart is now beating calmly and at a normal speed. Is he hallucinating? But then she starts again.

  “Do I have to drink blood now?”

  She knows! And yet she is sitting there as if it were nothing. He shakes his head.

  “I wanted to, but I just couldn’t.”

  This time it is his hand that squeezes hers a bit tighter, as Lia smiles, not realising how special she really is. Orlando should leave it at that, making her believe that his love for her is greater than his bloodlust, but he wants so much to share this unbelievable discovery with someone other than Mary. He says the words without even thinking about them beforehand.

  “Do you know what is special about the black hellebore?”

  When she doesn’t answer him and instead gives him an irritated look, he stands up from the swing and walks into the overgrown field. Between the moss, wood and stone and under large palm leaves there is a small patch of white flowers. They have small heads like snowdrops, but they are fully bloomed and have a striking yellow centre. Orlando is reluctant to pick one, and instead turns back to Lia who followed him out of curiosity.

  “They are beautiful to look at, but their sap is poisonous, even deadly. You remind me of them.”

  Lia stares at him strangely, and the moment it over.

  “Deadly? Are you sure we are talking about the same Lia here? I am useless, an absolute nobody.”

  Instead of continuing with what he started to tell her, Orlando backpedals on his words, thinking that Lia has already gone through enough tonight with the brutal attack she suffered. How would she even know why her blood tastes like acid? It was stupid of him to even start this conversation.