Wilted Roses

Wilted Roses

Regina lay in bed at 10 p.m., staring at the ceiling. “Where is my husband?” Felix had promised he’d be home Sunday morning from his fishing trip. It was now Sunday night, and he still wasn’t there. He’d never stayed out this late or ignored her calls.

By morning, there was still no word. Usually, Regina would be packing him lunch and stopping by his office, loving the way his face lit up when she walked in. She missed that feeling, missed working, too. She left the police force seven years ago after Gillian was born because daycare was too expensive. When Felix’s income increased three years ago, things felt stable again, but after Maribelle was born a year later, money tightened once more.

After dropping Gillian at school, Regina sat at the table, staring blankly at the newspaper. Maribelle’s gurgling pulled her attention to the highchair, where food was smeared across the tray, the floor, and the toddler herself.

Frustration surged. Regina tossed the paper aside and glanced at her keys on the counter. She knew she couldn’t just sit and wait anymore.

Regina carried Maribelle outside, buckled her into the car seat, and drove to Felix’s office. In the mirror, she caught her daughter reaching out the window, tiny fist grabbing at the air, and forced a small smile.

After parking and picking up Maribelle she stepped towards the doors and walked up to the front desk.

The receptionist was staring intently at the computer. “Hi, welcome. What can we do for you-” she tore her eyes off the screen, “Oh- hey Regina!” She smiled. Her face lit up when she saw Maribelle. “You brought this little cutie- “she tickled Maribelle’s stomach with her pointer finger, “What do we owe the surprise?”

“Felix didn’t come home last night; is he here?”

The receptionist’s face dropped and she looked at Regina. “He didn’t come in this morning, we assumed he was too sick to let us know. He always calls us and hardly misses a day.”

“Trust me I know,” Regina said. Her anxiety spiked. “Do you have any idea where he could be?”

The receptionist thought for a moment.

“Have you talked to any of the people he went with?”

“He always goes alone.”

Confusion crossed the receptionist’s face. “Ein called this morning. Said he just got back from a trip with Felix and wasn’t feeling well, we thought Felix was sick too” He didn’t mention that he was going with anyone.

“Do you think I could have Ein’s phone number?”

“We’re not supposed to give out an employee’s phone number, but since it’s concerning Felix, I’ll make an exception.”

Regina half-heartedly smiled at her. “Thank you.”

Regina left feeling more confused than when she came. As she buckled Maribelle up, she called Ein. No answer. She called again. Still nothing.

She’d been to Ein’s house before for game nights, every few weeks. Felix arranged them; Regina drove. She knew the way.

Desperation overruled manners. She pulled into his driveway, Maribelle on her hip, and rang the doorbell. Once. Twice. Three times. Until she heard movement inside.

Ein opened the door, his hair a mess, stained undershirt, robe hanging open. No pants.

“Regina? What’re you doing here?”

“I’m sorry to show up like this, but Felix didn’t come home. He hasn’t answered my calls. I heard you went on the fishing trip with him?”

Ein frowned. “Yeah. First time he ever invited me. Said something about ‘safety in numbers.’ But we just took the boat to Hillsdale Lake. Nothing dangerous.”

Safety in numbers?

Regina steadied her voice. “Do you have any idea where he could be? “Ein shrugged his shoulders. “When we got back to town he said he had some business to take care of at the Pink Lotus, which I thought was weird considering it was early in the afternoon. But he seemed anxious the whole trip, so I didn’t think much of it.”

“What’s the Pink Lotus?” she asked.

“It’s a bar off 532nd and Coolidge Street.”

Maribelle was getting heavy, Regina switched her to her other hip.

“Okay I’ll check there next. Thanks Ein, I hope you feel better.”

He put a hand up as if to say, “no problem”.

“Take care of yourself, and your family… And Regina,” he paused, “I’m sure Felix is fine.”

Regina was unsure. She thanked him and made her way back to the car.

Regina dropped into the driver’s seat and exhaled, dragging her hand through her hair. She glanced back at Maribelle, worn out from being carried all day, and Regina decided to stop home first and get something to help her out.

Soon, she pulled up to the Pink Lotus. Pushing through the bar doors like she was stepping into a saloon, she entered with hands on her hips, scanning the room. Maribelle was strapped to her chest in a black carrier, facing outward. Only person there was the bartender polishing glasses. She walked over to the bar and waved the bartender over.

“Did you see this man here yesterday afternoon?” She asked and showed the bartender a picture of her husband on her phone.

The bartender squinted, then grinned. “Oh yeah. Victor. He’s here every week, came in around one yesterday, met a group in that corner booth.”

“Victor? His name is Felix. He’s my husband.”

The bartender shrugged. “Everyone calls him Victor.”

Maribelle started fussing and Regina grabbed a dum-dum sucker out of her pocket, unwrapped it and gave it to her. Her crying stopped instantaneously as she ate the sucker.

She didn’t know this place existed, yet Felix was here often. And with a group?

“Who was this group he was with?”

The bartender shook his head. “Listen lady I don’t appreciate the third degree, and I’ve answered enough. Order something or leave, although you shouldn’t be drinking if you’re carrying a baby with you,” he said staring at Maribelle.

Regina slammed her fist on the table, startling the bartender and Maribelle.

“You listen!” she pointed at him. “Don’t fuck with me! I’m looking for my husband. He didn’t come home last night, and his daughters are missing him. He hasn’t answered his phone, so I need to know where he is- “she paused, staring into the bartender’s soul, “-so you better tell me everything you know unless you want a very angry mother on your hands.”

The bartender nearly dropped his glass, clearly not expecting to be yelled at by a woman with a baby at 11 a.m.

“Alright,” he muttered. “He was with the Wilted Roses. Rough crowd. Yesterday there was shouting from their booth. One of the big guys grabbed Felix by the shirt and dragged him outside. The rest followed.”

He leaned in. “Your husband might be in trouble.”

“Should I call the police?”

His eyes widened. “No. Don’t. The Wilted Roses always walk free, bar fights, whatever. Cops never touch them. I don’t know what kind of pull they have, but they’re bad news.”

Regina took a minute to absorb. Felix was the nicest person she knew, he couldn’t be mixed up with a bad group.

“Okay, when these ‘Wilted Roses’ aren’t here do you know where they are?”

“I don’t think it’s a go- “

“Just tell me! Then I’ll get out of your hair, and you won’t have to worry about it.”

He sighed and wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to her.

“Here’s the address of their business.”

Regina looked at the small piece of paper and nodded her thanks to him. Then she was on the road again.

Minutes later, Regina pulled up to “Flores Flowers”. A flower shop didn’t exactly scream “dangerous crew,” but she wasn’t taking chances.

She strapped Maribelle back into the carrier and stepped inside. A bell chimed overhead. The shop looked quiet, pretty arrangements near the entrance, a workshop straight ahead, but no one at the counter.

Then she heard muffled voices from the back. Arguing.

Keeping close to the wall, she edged forward. She glanced down at Maribelle, fast asleep, her sucker hanging loosely from her hand.

The voices got louder. “Do you think we’re fools?” She heard a feminine voice say. Then a slapping sound echoed across the building, followed by whimpering. followed by another slapping sound.

As she got closer the whimpering voice was slightly more audible, but there was something was blocking the sound. She got to the edge of the wall and looked over her shoulder. There were three doors attached to three different walls. The door on the left was open and led to a storage room the size of a warehouse.

Stacks of cardboard boxes were littered all over the room. As she looked around, she saw several large shipping crates as well. Why would a flower shop have so many boxes?

She inched around the corner and faced the open door. She heard the click-clacking of shoes on the cement floor. Then she heard a familiar voice.

“Please, I have a family. I needed the money!”

She knew that voice. She’s known it for over 10 years. The voice that asked her to marry him, the voice that said, “I do”. It was the voice of the man she loved, her husband, Felix.

Tears welted her eyes. He had been missing for over a day and here in some hostile situation with some shopkeepers.

She took a deep breath and made her way into the room keeping her back to the stack of boxes.

“I don’t care if you were the person that cured cancer. Where is the money?” The voice said.

Regina cringed as another slapping sound echoed throughout the room. She looked down at Maribelle; phew! She was still asleep.

She kept her back on the boxes as she inched towards the right, bouncing as she stepped to keep Maribelle asleep, and peeked behind her.

She saw a woman holding a switchblade, she had a half-shaved head with purple hair; tattoos going down her neck and wore a leather jacket that read “Wilted Rose’s” with a blood red rose losing its petals below it.

She moved and revealed a second person in the middle. The man had dusty brunette hair, a tattered fishing vest, waders, and his hands and waist were bound to a metal chair. Felix!

The girl circled Felix, like a hunter surrounding its prey. “We let you in, gave you the world, and yet you betray our trust.”

Felix laughed nervously. “Jackie, come on! We can talk about this.”

Jackie laughed coldly. “What’s there to talk about? I left you alone with the cash and you took more than your share. Did you think we wouldn’t find out?”

So, Felix was kidnapped. Regina wondered if she knew him as well as she thought she did. Why was he involved in handling cash, what cash, and with this stranger.

“I needed that money more than you do! I have two daughters; one is a baby. You don’t have children you wouldn’t understand!” Felix shouted.

Regina looked down at Maribelle as if checking that she was a baby.

Jackie swung her switchblade across Felix’s cheek, sending blood streaking down his face.

“We’re a family. We provide for each other. We let you in our family business, you betrayed us, you are no longer our family, and now you will pay.”

Felix writhed around in his chair. Regina looked around, there were all sorts of illegal contraband littered around. There were bags of white powder on top of a few boxes closer to the ground, in fact, there were those bags in every corner of the room. Nearby there was one crate open, with pistols and packing peanuts inside. Three loaded pistols were on a table inches away from Regina.

A door opened from the outside. A guy with black hair and a goatee strolled in wearing the same leather jacket as them and carrying a box.

“Look what Santa brought us for Christmas!” He walked over to the nearby table littered with pistols and dropped it in the open spot. Regina held her breath praying he wouldn’t notice her. He clicked his tongue when he noticed Felix.

“Felix, Felix, Felix. We sold all this nose candy, and you took more than your fair share of the profit?” He picked up two pistols and threw one at Jackie.

He approached Felix, the goatee guy pressed his gun into Felix’s head. “You claim you stole for your family, but where you’re going you won’t have to worry about your family ever again,” he clicked the safety off, “I hope your wife enjoys being a single mother.” He smiled menacingly.

Regina was scared shitless. These men were going to kill her husband. She had to do something. Eyeing the guns, she threw precautions to the wind and lurched her body forward and snatched the last remaining pistol.

She must’ve moved too fast because Maribelle woke up and cried, echoing across the room. Shit, not now Maribelle!

Goatee Guy removed his pistol from Felix’s head and looked around puzzled. Then he nodded at Jackie and she held her pistol in front of her and walked around, searching.

Regina quickly ducked her head back and put a hand over Maribelle’s mouth, then grabbed another dum-dum sucker from her pocket, it was the last one she had better make it count. She unwrapped it and gave it to Maribelle and she ceased crying, but that didn’t stop her from being hunted.

She dared to look over her shoulder. No one was looking in her direction. She shuffled along the floor towards the next high stack of crates.

She heard footsteps from behind her and was about to be caught. Then she had an idea. She dipped her body forward holding both hands over the baby as if she would slip out, and donkey kicked the boxes behind her.

“Gah-!” Regina heard Jackie scream before being buried under the large crates. She turned around and the guy with the goatee stared right at her, and Felix looking at her mouth agape.

“Regina?” He gasped.

Goatee Guy looked at Felix. “So that’s Regina, huh? She came to your rescue, and with a baby. What a woman,” he turned his attention to Regina and pointed his pistol at her, “what a shame, at least you’ll get to watch her die.”

She was not going to let this coke-smuggling freak be the end of her. She ducked as he shot a bullet at her, and she quickly darted behind another stack of crates.

“Regina! Get you and Maribelle out of here!”

Goatee Guy chuckled. “You can hide, but you can’t run.”

Regina held the gun up and clicked the safety off. “Who’s running?” Hugging the boxes with her back, she turned her head around the corner and holding one hand over Mirabelle’s ear, pushing the other one into her shirt and shot in his general direction. He dove to the ground, scowling.

“Now you really pissed me off!” He ran towards her. Shit, she needed a plan. As she heard the steps get closer, she donkey-kicked the boxes behind her. These guys never learn, he got buried under the boxes too.

She ran over to Felix and carefully crouched down to untie him. Maribelle had dropped her dum-dum and resumed her crying.

“Baby what’re you doing here?” He asked.

She focused her attention on the ropes. “Next time,” she untied his wait, “call me back.” She looked up at him.

A sharp pain in her leg launched her onto her back, dropping her gun. She held a hand over Maribelle and touched where the pain originated in her leg. She had been shot.

She yelped as she sat up. Goatee guy sauntered toward them swinging his pistol around. “What a cute family, you all get to die together, isn’t that sweet.” Goatee Guy said, holding his hand, the pistol was to his cheek. “I think I’ll start with the baby.”

Fury filled Regina and adrenaline surged through her. This man was not going to hurt her family. She leaned over and grabbed her gun and shot up on her legs, ignoring the pain. He pointed at his gun at her chest, but Regina’s reflexes kicked in and she shot the hand that his gun was in. He dropped the gun and yelled. “You bitch!”

Regina pointed her gun at his stomach. “Go to hell!” And released the trigger. He gasped and clutched his stomach, then fell to the ground.

Regina panted then her leg gave out on her and she fell back onto the floor, landing on her butt.

“You saved me, you saved us.” Felix cried.

Regina breathed heavily and looked down at her crying baby. “We are going home and you are telling me everything.” Regina leaned and untied the remaining rope around his hands.

“Not before I take you to the hospital,” he rubbed his wrists then held a hand down and helped Regina to her feet, he wrapped her arm around his neck for support. He looked at her then down at their baby.

“You’re badass. Not only knocking out a Wilted Roses’ gang member but shooting one too, all while having our daughter strapped to your chest,” he paused, “that was really stupid, why did you bring our daughter to a safe house.”

She wanted to punch him, but he was the only thing keeping her and Maribelle off the ground. “I didn’t think I’d be bringing her into a warzone, I’m just glad you’re safe,” she brought a hand to Felix’s face.

He smiled at her. “How did you find me anyway?”

She sighed, “It’s a long story.”

THE END