Flora (Dark Romance)

36

Chapter 36// Rescued

Alex single-handedly brought down one of the FBI's most wanted trafficking rings. They would traffic drugs and people across borders. The police and the local news hailed him a hero. Although, Alex didn't feel like much of a hero. They said the authorities have been attempting to infiltrate the organization for awhile, but they were always unsuccessful. Meanwhile Alex, a soon-to-be-nineteen-year-old with no law enforcement experience whatsoever, exposed them. And all because he loved a girl enough to fight for her.

Alex couldn't understand how the news sensationalized what he did. He killed someone, for Flora, but he still killed someone. He took a life. That was a lot for a person to live with.

John was a piece of shit, but Alex kept thinking about how he must've been a son, a brother, an uncle, a friend. He took that away from someone.

Apparently John wasn't just a messenger. He was higher-up in the organization than Alex originally thought and the Feds had been wanting to bring him in for a while. And Alex brought him to them, in a body bag, but apparently that made him some kind of hero. He only wished Flora felt the same.

It's been over two weeks since everything happened, but Alex noticed Flora started acting distant around him. During the first week, Alex thought she was processing the trauma she went through. She needed time and space, and he gave it to her. She was kidnapped by a notorious trafficking ring and held hostage for seventy-two hours, and that was a lot for anyone to go through.

It's the reason why Alex pulled the trigger. He had John on the ground, he was no real threat to Alex. But he thought about Flora. He thought about how they held her in that filthy room with no food or water in sight for three and a half days. It enraged him. That's why he grabbed the gun. Maybe if the local news stations knew this they wouldn't be calling him a hero.

He didn't kill a man for self defence. He killed him for revenge.

But now, nearly three weeks later, he didn't know why she could barely utter a few words to him. She watched him kill someone in front of her, Alex thought he might've scared her. The press thought he was a hero, but the girl he saved thought he was a monster. The irony.

He already hated himself enough, he couldn't bare the thought of Flora feeling the same way.

As for Brad, he was found trying to flee the warehouse when the police showed up. He admitted to everything. He even took a plea deal to rat out the other guys involved. Turns out they had more girls than just Flora. They planned on trafficking them for profit. The thought made Alex sick. How could anyone commodify a person? How could you reduce someone to product? How could you put a price tag on a human being's freedom? Thinking about it made Alex feel less guilty for killing John.

That became his therapy. Every time he found himself feeling guilty, he'd remind himself what a piece of shit John truly was. And it was a lot cheaper than getting a real therapist.

Today was the first day Flora came back to Alex's apartment since before the kidnapping. He spent most nights in her bedroom, and with Brad no longer in the picture, her mother allowed it. In fact, her mother allowed pretty much anything in regards to Flora. Her guilt was too strong for her to ever tell Flora no. 

Flora was resting on the couch while Alex sat by the window, staring out at the vacant parking lot, completely lost in his thoughts. The weight of the past few weeks pressed heavily on his shoulders, the burden of his actions and the aftermath of the rescue was taking its toll on him.

He glanced over at Flora, who sat on the couch with a heavy wool blanket wrapped around her shoulders, her once vibrant eyes now dulled with pain and exhaustion. The nightmares had been relentless, haunting her every sleep, tearing at the frayed edges of her sanity. Alex wanted to help her, to heal the wounds that were etched deep within her soul, but he felt utterly powerless.