Lets Do This

Chapter 7: ABC for a mom

It was Friday afternoon and Rose was in her living room ordering illegal amounts of drugs to try out for the next week. She continued to add every available pill, powder, and edible she could afford. Usually the air was filled with the constant sound of her children nagging for things like food, water, clothes, air conditioning, but it was quiet today.

Since the kids were with her ex husband, James, he decided to take the kids in his truck to the gas station. The kids hopped out and ran around while James put the gas in his vehicle. All of a sudden a white van pulled up and saw the children. Paul started barking but then the man offered them candy. Lucy was the first to run inside the van to grab some, then the others followed. The man closed and locked the van doors with the kids inside. When realizing they couldn't get out, they started growling and Veronica started whimpering. The man drove off. When James was done with filling up his truck, he noticed a note on his truck. The note read:
"Hello, I have kidnapped all of your kids, if you want them back you must pay $10,000 by the next month." Attached to the note was a location and date, exactly one month from then. James panicked a little bit, knowing he doesn't have the money, he decided to call Rose when he got home to make it her responsibility instead of his. James called Rose and let her know the children were missing, and there was a ransom, but Rose was too cracked out on her new drugs to care in the moment.

Rose started throwing up because of the large amount of drugs she took. She hobbled into the kitchen and grabbed the closest thing to absorb her mess. She reached for the newspaper on her counter but accidentally dropped it. Rose, about to throw up again, bends down to grab it but notices there is a flyer attached to it. She rips the flyer off about to use it to clean when she sees money signs on it. She squinted her saggy eyes and started reading it. The flyer read:

Come on down to the local carnival! There's rides, food, and tons of entertainment!"

Rose continued and read the section near the money signs.

"You can enter a fruit themed beauty pageant, where you will be assigned a fruit based on your features! The prettiest person will be assigned the strawberry, and will win a cash money prize."

Rose's eyes lit up. The only thing on her mind was winning the strawberry fruit title. Rose thought about all the new drugs she could buy with the money, but then suddenly remembered she needed money for her kids' ransom. She knew she needed to enter.

That night, she decided to prepare for the carnival the next day. She drank a lot of alcohol, headed into her dingy yellow bathroom, and put in her hair rollers. While they were sitting in her hair, she applied crusty stale makeup to her face which smelled dank. Rose made sure to put on the reddest lipstick she owned, so she could win the strawberry title. After she took her hair rollers out, and picked out her outfit, she thought there was no chance anyone could take that money away from her. She laid on the couch and decided to watch tv. She turned the volume all the way up, and watched her favorite show until she fell asleep.