Rose woke up to a normal day at the Flowers house, nothing interesting, nothing new. Just another boring day in Florida. Rose was so bored with her life. Yes, she liked her life and she was lucky to be rich, but it was boring all the time, being an only child, especially to a 13-year-old girl. What Rose craved was adventure and mystery. But no, she lived a boring life being watched all day in her mansion. But sooner than she knew that would all change.
Her hard work of screaming every day at her home school teacher was enough to make anyone go crazy. Let me tell you, that girl has lungs! It was only a few days before she needed a new teacher. She needed a lot of new teachers. Downstairs she heard her teacher, Ms. Dodds yelling at her father and couldn't tell what she was saying, but she had the idea. She quit. As Rose watched out the window, she saw the gates of the mansion open to let her teacher out. Then she looked into the mirror with a crazed grin. She won again. But it would not last for long; soon a new teacher would come, but this time she had an idea.
Rose played on her iPhone for hours waiting for midnight to come. It was now 11:59pm and Rose's heart was beating faster and harder than ever. All she hoped for was that her dad didn't hear the constant thump-thump of her heart beating. She watched her clock very contently waiting for what felt like forever until finally the clock hit 12:00.
Rose grabbed the emergency backpack that was filled with freeze dried food, 100 dollars cash, an emergency-only credit card, a water canister, a flashlight, and a knife (she hoped she would never have to use that).
Then she slowly tip-toed to her door. She thought she was going to faint as she went to turn the door handle. When she pulled herself together, she slowly turned the handle and flinched as it squeaked softly. Very lightly and very slowly, she pushed the door open without another sound and closed it the same way. She slowly tip-toed down the stairs, the backpack was starting to feel like lead on her back. Finally she reached the last step, almost tripping from the weight of her backpack. Then she reached the door. The last door to freedom. She slowly twisted the handle, trying her best not to make any noise. As soon as she fully twisted the handle, the alarm went off.
In all of her panic, Rose completely forgot about the alarm!
"Who's there?" yelled a deep voice, her dad, from the top of the stairs. How could she explain this to him? Rose just ran as fast as she could outside into the dark and snowy cold. Within minutes her skin and eyes stung from the cold, and she was stumbling around in the dark... and she lost her backpack. Alone and afraid. Ahead of her there were lights.
"A town maybe? Hopefully someone who can help me," she said to herself.
It was almost too much to hope for, but when she reached the light there was a single house and a small shed. It was a one story house, and it was quite small and made of bricks. She needed help, but she didn't want to have to ask a poor person. Before she knew it, Rose found herself knocking at the door. To her surprise somebody actually answered, an extremely skinny girl about Rose's age and height with frisky red hair and icy blue eyes. Rose thought it would be polite to introduce herself first.
"Hi I'm-"
The strange girl cut in, "Rose, I have been expecting you for some time. Here, come in; you must be cold. So sorry, I should tell you my name. I am Iris." Iris talked so smoothly and slowly as if she had all the time in the world.
Iris led Rose inside to a square wooden table. "I'll go get some hot chocolate," Iris said breaking the silence and then ran outside.
Looking around, Rose didn't see much. All she saw was the square wooden table, four wooden chairs around the table, a stone fireplace, and a few piles of wood. Rose was wondering so many things like: who is Iris, what will she do to me, how did she know I would come. But one thing was clear to her: she had to get out. Rose walked toward the door and pulled on the handle, nothing happened.
"Ok," she said to herself, "it's a push door." This time Rose tried pushing, still with no luck.
"Let me out of here!" Rose screamed. For what seemed like hours she cried, not caring if anyone saw her, but who could? There were no windows.
After a few more hours, Rose scolded herself, "Crying won't get me out of here! Wait, I'm an idiot! There is a fireplace that must lead outside. But there is a blazing fire there. And..." Rose glanced to a bucket in the corner of the room with some kind of liquid in it.
"I just found my way out." Again she did her little devilish grin and went for the bucket.
When she peered inside she saw some kind of green slimy-looking liquid. She muttered under her breath, "I hope this extinguishes fires."
When she dumped the green goo on the fire, it started to glow a bright warm green before fading and dying. When she touched where the fire had been it was already cool, but it was still slimy. At least she could now get out. Assuming she could climb out of the chimney. Rose took one last look around the room and shakily climbed up the cold and slimy chimney.
When Rose got out she realized that it was already day again. How long had she been there four, five hours? She had to get home. She didn't want her dad worrying too much, but that house still scared her just looking at it. Rose made a promise to herself that when she got home she would make her dad personally destroy this house so no one else could go through what she just went through. She was so lost in thought she hadn't noticed the tracks from last night were still in the snow, hardly noticeable but they were there. She could go home.
As Rose took a step forward she heard an agonizing scream. She would know that scream anywhere. It was her dad. She heard it coming from the little shack next to the house she had been held captive in. She saw the same kind of handle from the house. A one-sided handle. Rose turned the handle only to find her dad quivering in the corner, it took a few minutes for him to notice her presence. He looked up and raced towards Rose and tackled her with a hug. "Let's go home," she cried softly into her dad's ear.
"Yea," he agreed sorrowfully.
After that, Rose's dad was different. They moved into a regular house in Texas, he let her go to a public school, they were normal. They never talked about Iris or that day. Rose felt like it was some kind of lesson for her dad, but she didn't know what happened to him or why Iris knew so much about them. He didn't even report it to the police. He has just been so different after that day, so... Distant.
