Not Today

Chapter One

ROSEMARY I

The seventeen year old didn't know what to expect when her mother burst in the room that day, her messy blonde curls thrown into a messy bun, several curls escaping the hair tie and sticking to the back of her neck. Placing the book down next to her, Rosemary stood up from her seat on the floor, one hand gently pushing the sleeping dog from her lap.

The older woman was pulling clothes from her drawers, stuffing them into an old backpack, Rose hadn't touched in years. Throwing the bag on the bed, her mother signed, "put your shoes on. Pack necessities, your toothbrush, clothes, the whiteboard and pen. Be out in the car in ten minutes." Kathryn Willis' face was streaked with tears, a streak of what looked suspiciously like blood smeared across her face.

"I thought you were shopping? Where are we going?"

Kathryn didn't answer leaving the bedroom, the door swinging back to hit the wall, causing Dixie to jump awake at the sound her owner couldn't hear. Placing her hand on the dog's head, she briefly gave the animal a stroke, before following her mothers requests. She didn't know where she was going, so she packed the basics, two pairs of jean shorts, a few t-shirts, a pair of jeans, a hoodie, a thicker coat and an old oversized t-shirt and loose pair of sleep shorts. Her phone charger disappeared into the bag, along with a few pens, her journal, a hairbrush and hair ties. A toothbrush and toothpaste, along with other toiletries were added to the bag.

The thing she disliked most was the whiteboard and pack of erasable marker pens. While a useful way of communicating for someone who was non-verbal like her, the fact her mother told her to pack them, meant she was going somewhere where Kathryn wouldn't be able to interpret her words.

Her mum was in the car by the time Rose was ready to go, her backpack on her shoulder as she clutched a bag of dog food in her arms. Pushing it onto the floor of the car, she pretended not to see her mum's pursed lips, as she hopped into the passenger seat, Dixie settling on her lap.

Her seatbelt had barely clicked into place, before Kathryn pulled the car from the drive. The two lived in a fairly small town in Georgia the majority of the population being elderly. Which was why Rose was fairly surprised to see her wheelchair bound neighbour, limping across the garden, her nightgown covered in blood. As far as Rose knew, the woman had lost feeling in her lower legs leaving the fragile ninety-five year old wheelchair bound for her reaming days. She had visited her just yesterday. Panicked, the teenager, turned her gaze from the window, her hands shaking as she signed, "Mrs Adler! Why is she covered in blood? Since when could she walk?"

Kathryn Willis barely acknowledged her daughter, her grip tightening on the steering wheel, her eye twitching when a bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. By now Rose was shaking, her wide blue eyes fixated on the blood seeping through her mother's once pristine white shirt.

A shaking hand reached out to it, but her mother's hand swatted it away before returning to the wheel. It was clear that Kathryn wouldn't tell her anything, not even bothering to use the speech to text app on her phone to speak to her as she often did when she was driving.

The drive was long, the time on Rose's phone said it had been nearly two hours since she left her home, and so far nothing could be seen but tree after tree, an endless forest that seemed to span out forever. Melodrama, it seemed, was her only comfort now as Dixie had entertained herself by resting her head and front paws on the open window.

"We're nearly here," read the speech on her mother's phone just a minute later, and true to her words, the small vehicle pulled into a small clearing a few miles out of a town. The woods ran along the back of the cabin, and a blue pickup truck with chipping paint sat in a makeshift driveway, and when Rose looked closer she could make out the beginnings of rust on the metal.