21-year-old Florence Ivelle struggles through college to claim freedom but gets trapped into a deal with her brother, Alastor, leaving her at his mercy until she graduates. She doesn't expect to be kidnapped into breaking it.
Three masked men take h...
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They didn't strap me to the chair—Toska yelled until they listened to her, and so I sat in the chair unbound and untethered from my body as I watched the three of them look at me.
I assumed they spoke as their mouths moved, but I couldn't hear anything. I was floating through the air in the basement, thinking of pancakes, happy Saturdays, and water chestnuts.
When I was younger, I pointed to a can of water chestnuts and asked my mother what they were. She told me, "They're water chestnuts; a veggie that grows under the water. You know," she added with a smile tugging at her lips, "I heard mermaids help them grow, and mermaids are beautiful princesses under the water. What do you think, baby? Would the mermaids be happy if we tried their water chestnuts?"
I'd beamed up at her and begged her to buy it, but it wasn't really begging if she'd said yes to the first ask. At home, I tried it and hated it. She just smiled and said, "Not everyone likes them. Don't worry; I'll give them a home in my tummy."
I'd felt sad that the water chestnuts I'd eaten wouldn't have friends in my tummy if I didn't eat anymore, so I ate them every day at lunch and begged my mother to keep buying them so they would always have friends in their new home.
When she died, Killian wouldn't buy water chestnuts for me. He said they were disgusting, just like me. Water chestnuts no longer had a home in my stomach, and I remembered sobbing for days, hoping that wherever my mother was, she and her water chestnuts would be together in a new home, even if it was without me. If so, I could join them with my water chestnuts when I died, and we would all be together again.
Now that I was older, I wasn't sure if that was a possibility. I hoped so, but it had been so long since I'd had water chestnuts. I was afraid the taste of nostalgia would cause never-ending tears.
Someone cupped my face, and I blinked, struggling to refocus. It was Toska, my face in her hands as worry lined her features.
"It's okay," I heard myself say. "The water chestnuts will have a home again one day."
She said something in return, sounding more worried than before, but I couldn't hear her. I smiled, hoping that would make her feel better. Then I was gone, back to floating and remembering my mother.
Time passed; I thought it must have, the basement darker than before. Toska was crying, and a concerned frown pulled at my lips.
"Toska?" I asked, looking around for her. "What's wrong?"
I found her sitting at Taehyung's desk, but when she heard me, she hiccupped in surprise. "Flo?"
"Yeah." I wiped my face tiredly. "It's me."
She rushed to me, nearly knocking me from the chair when she hugged me.
"Are you okay?" she asked hurriedly. "You weren't speaking, and nothing we said would get your attention. It's—god, Flo, it was like you were somewhere else."
