The Red Roses Society

Blackmail

Brenda and the sheriff read through the note and knew that the worst is yet to come for Veronica. They stopped their arguments and sat silently in the room, they were left with nothing but sorry in their hearts for the sixteen year old girl who has become a target of such a vicious group. In her room the poor girl layed down on her bed facing the ceiling without moving until she heard her phone ringing. She turned to the side picked up her phone and answered it without a word due to exhaustion and just placed it on her ear.

"Come to sweet valley river close to the third mountain in the outskirts of town. Underneath the mahogany tree near the bridge you will find a box with instructions of what to do inside it. You have thirty minutes to get there and collect the box. Go alone and tell no one of this or there will be consequences. I would get up from the bed now if I were you for the clock is ticking and you don't want to be late."

The man who spoke on the phone ended the call leaving veronica feeling dreadful. 'How did he get my phone number ? What does he want from me ? How did he know I was in bed ? Are they watching me ? Should I tell the sheriff about the call ? What consequences was he talking about ? were the thoughts that kept running inside Veronica's mind. While she was lost in her thoughts she received a text message on her phone.

( Stop thinking so much,,,time is running out)
Veronica picked up her handbag from the hanger placed her phone and her car keys inside opened the window and left the house. She opened the gate of the backyard and left without being heard by her mother or the sheriff. She got into her car and drove off in the direction of the river that was all the way out of town. She increased the speed of the car in order to arrive faster due to the warning she received from the unknown caller.

She arrived at the bridge at the river and parked the car. After parking the car she got off and went to look for the tree with the box. She looked around for a while before spotting the box underneath a small tree that must have been planted not so long ago. She picked it up and run like a deer, leaving clouds of smoke floating in the air and got inside the car. Once inside the car she wiped the sweat that trickled down her forehead and opened the box to look inside.

She saw a fresh red rose flower inside the box and took it out and kept it aside then picked up the note that was lying underneath the rose. She read the note which said, 'Come to the old warehouse near the tip of the mountain at exactly 9:00 pm. Bring your darling friend Maya along with you or the photos inside this box will sent to everyone in town. Don't be late.'

She placed the note down and searched through the box for photos mentioned in the note. She found an envelope inside opened it to find the photos. First she was confused then shocked and finally her entire body went numb from the fear she felt after seeing the contents of the photos. She never would have imagined that her secret, the one that she had so hard to hide from the world would be known by red rose society. Indeed nothing can be hidden from the vile eyes of this society who uses something as beautiful as a rose flower to terrorize people. The photos fell from her hands and back into the box when the thought of the entire town seeing those photos crossed her mind.

Veronica knew that she had to do exactly what those people wanted in order to keep her secret from the world's eyes. She went back home and snuck back into her room and dropped her body on the bed. The dreadful events that took place since morning was eating her up, she wished that very day would be erased from the calendar for all eternity.

Hours and hours went by but she refused to move from her bed even after her father came home from work and went to see her. She still lay there staring into nothing in silence, her brother also tried talking to her after he got home from school but even he was ignored. Archie her boyfriend came to see her after football practice but he had no luck in getting a reaction from her. She kept on looking at the clock on the wall and only decided to get up at exactly 8:30 pm. She left the house by sneaking out through the window and drove off to Maya's place. When she arrived she phoned Maya and asked her to come out and meet with her. Maya come out of the house and entered the car and sat in the passenger's seat.

"I want to go to that old warehouse that closed down last year, the one near the mountain would accompany me ?" she asked her friend who seemed worried about her.
"Sure," Maya said happy that she can do something for friend at her time of need.

The drive to the warehouse was silent and uneventful. They arrived on time and went inside the warehouse in which veronica looked around for anything that could have been left for her by those heartless people. She found a box underneath and old chair and opened it, like the last time she found a rose flower and a note. She picked up the note and read it.
       ' What are you willing to do protect your secret ? If the answer is anything then by any means render your friend unconscious and leave. And if not then turn around and leave and suffer the consequences of having them revealed.'
                                       Red roses society

Fear ran down Veronica's spine as she read the note but the fear of having the entire town finding out about her secret overshadowed that fear and without giving it a second thought she picked up a rod from the ground and used it to hit Maya at the back of her head very hard. Maya became drowsy and tipsy she swayed back and fourth until she finally dropped to the ground. Veronica dropped the rod ran out of the warehouse and drove off.