Petal

Fifteen

Warmth.
Heat.
What was happening? I stirred awake, pulling myself up.
Fire.
A mirror balanced on the desk fell and crashed to the floor, the fire engulfing it.
I screamed and pushed my body away from the burning flames.
I heard a yell and Frank's voice entered my mind.
The overwhelming smell of smoke entered my nose, making my lungs burn, causing me to sputter, heave and cough.  of the bed, jumping off and clinging on to my desk. The door was locked, there was no way out.
The tears that ran down my face came without question, the sound of burning wood falling and crashing. I felt my breathing suddenly shorten and I began hyperventilating, even more smoke filling my lungs.
Suddenly a slam sounded from beside me.
There was Frank standing through the clouds of grey. He looked so relieved to see me and so was I.
He ran to me and pulled me in to his arms. I couldn't help but cling to him, because I was saved. I was sobbing in to his shoulder, trying to get my breathing back under control, when he gently laid me down on the far hallway, past the steps, where there was another long hallway and a few doors which presumingly were guest rooms and bathrooms and closets.
I watched him run away from me, grabbing the conveniently placed fire extinguisher off the wall and running back in to the room. I almost wanted to stop him. He was crazy.
I heard him coughing and spraying the extinguisher for the next twenty minutes.
When he came back out of the room he was draped in sweat, black smears on his tattooed skin. He was coughing and heaving so badly. He collapsed against the wall. I crawled towards the man, sitting where there was a small gap between us.
He handed me my phone and told me to call someone named Jim. I did, hardly able to listen clearly to his raspy words.
The thought that it was a phone didn't even cross my mind. Escape? My captors life was apparently more important.
The only thing I heard was "if you touch Gerard I will fucking kill you" he glanced at me through his exhausted haze. He signaled for me to hang up the phone and threw his head back.
I crawled closer as he collapsed to his side with a thump. I began to panic.
"F-Frank? Frank???" I let go of the phone, shaking him. He had a nasty burn through his shirt on his chest.
My breathing went fast and everything went in slow motion as I tried pulling the shirt off of the terrifying mans body. There in the center of his chest was not only a nasty burn, but also a massive tattoo. He was covered in them, actually.
I realized the phone was there and hesitantly grabbed it, glancing at him nervously. I turned it on and the lock screen was a picture of me. I had to stare at it for a second, before it all finally clicked and I realized it was me, in the flower shop. God I missed that place. I wasn't very surprised seeing it, it was just odd, Knowing he was watching me from there. Then it clicked.
The day in the flower shop.
That guy who bought me the flowers.
It was him.
Now that I think of it there was a guy I was talking to. Flirting to, actually. He hadn't even told me his name but he had long black hair and a nice smile. Then he came in, and bought some flowers, hydrangeas, actually. Blue ones. My favorite. I remember he said something really smooth that made me blush, and I thought of him all night.
I wish it could've been like that I wish whatever this was could be normal. I've become attached, like always.
I stared at him again. I wondered if he was good in the heart at all. If he killed people with no remorse just to.
I turned the phone back on, as it blacked out when I was thinking, sliding the lock. There was a passcode. I was almost relieved, though I wanted to see how many pictures he had taken of me. I set the phone down and stared at all of his tattoos for what felt like hours. I tried to control my anxiety by counting them, counting the colors, reading the words in order in my head, checking for his pulse every once in a while.
It was then that I could hear clattering at the door.
Big men filed in. One ordered a few others to come upstairs and start cleaning up the room.
They went through the left stairway, the opposite side of the home.
Then finally the one ordering them around was coming upstairs with a few people with bags at their sides.
"Jesus fucking Christ" the man cursed when he saw me and his unconscious body.
"Come here" he grabbed my arm glancing back down at Frank, before going more gentle, letting go. I was scared.
The man was my height if not taller, bald, pale, fucking intimidating.
I couldn't help but look back at Frank.
Was he going to be alright?
I felt something pierce through my heart as they pulled me away, my body jolting against the mans grip.
"He's going to be fine, kid" the man said, forcing me down the hallway.
"N-no!" My body fought against him. He let me break free and I ran back to Frank's side, going to grab his hand.
I felt all rational thinking slip away as I fell to his side again on the floor. People who looked like doctors put a breathing mask on his face, and I made myself look away when they sterilized and put the needle in his wrist. They had bags filled with water, that they hooked to some tubes they put in him. They began pumping clean air in to his damaged lungs as I watched. Clutching his hand, my head beside his.
"He'll be fine. Let him sleep. A lot of rest. keep him attached to this tank as long as needed. Refill the water in the bag and make sure if he stops breathing you do CPR. Change his bandage a few times a week. Make sure it's clean. There are-" the doctors voice began fading and I just stared at him.
He kidnapped me, but then saved my life. Maybe he saved my life by taking me anyway. I was growing more and more depressed as the days went by. If he didn't take me I probably wouldn't have lived til I was 25.
Did this change anything?
They picked him up carefully and brought him in to his room and I followed. His room was clear of smoke, surprisingly. The windows were opened, but I didn't care. It wasn't worth a try. I'd be pulled off of it in seconds and they'd use chloroform to make me pass out or something.
I refused to leave his side. I couldn't after he did that for me. I laid beside him, holding his hand tightly as I fell asleep curled to his side.
-
Hope this was good