Scattered Leaves

Chapter 12: A broken angel

Devon came into Sarah's house, worried about Autumn. He heard a muffled screech then saw Sarah come out of her room a minute later. Her housecoat was draped on either side of her, exposing her horribly tanned body and her pink bra and panties.She held a whip in one hand, it had blood dripping off the end. He stared at the bloody whip and got scared for Autumn.

"Where is Autumn?"

"She was naughty so I gave her her punishment." She held the whip out towards him.

Devon walked up to her, smelling the familiar stench of whiskey on her breath. He angrily snatched the whip away from her, throwing it across the room. He didn't look at her as he passed her and into Sarah's room to find Autumn. Autumn was lying on back, her sweater over her head like a hood, her feet and hands were bound and a gag was in her mouth. He took the gag out of her mouth and threw it away.

"Autumn, talk to me!"

Autumn looked up at him and screamed . Devon took a second to blink before Sarah had the whip around his neck. He felt his eyes widen as his breathing got cut off and the pain shot through the nerves in his neck. He threw his elbow back and hit her in the ribs. She crouched behind him and loosened the whip. He drew in a deep breath and grabbed the whip, throwing it across the room. Devon stared at Autumn. She was turned to him, still unable to move.

"Devon!" She yelled.

He turned to find Sarah there with another whip. He tried to take it from her but she flicked her wrist and caught Devon's wrist with the end. It wrapped itself around his wrist and a sharp pain radiated up his arm. He ignored the pain he felt and pulled on the whip, sending Sarah flying into her bedpost. She fell to the ground and never attempted to get up.

Devon turned back to Autumn, who was still in a daze. He untied her wrists and feet. When Autumn turned around to put her sweater down he stopped her. There were about 15 slashes on her back and each one was bleeding. There was one long, deep slash in the middle of her back. It was significantly worse than the others. He saw some white scars in the midst of all the blood. This wasn't the first time Autumn got whipped, but it would definitely be her last.

Autumn put her sweater down as Devon pulled his phone out. He explained what happened to dispatch. When he hung up, Devon helped Autumn to her feet and they walked to the front door.

"Are your wrists ok?" He asked her.

"No..." She lifted her sleeves to reveal the bloody mess the ropes had left.

"The paramedics will take care of that, ok?"

"No, they can't know! I'll be put in the hospital! I have to stay with you!"

"Sweetheart, you really need something for it. We'll just tell them that the ropes were too tight."

"I guess." They stood in the middle of the kitchen with their arms around each other.

"Devon? What about your wrist?"

He looked down at the torn skin on his wrist, it bled like crazy, but he didn't care. Autumn was safe and that's all he cared about. "It's nothing."

They only had to wait 5 minutes for the first responders to arrive. They took a look at Autumn first. She showed them what the ropes had done and the slashes from the whip. Autumn cried as they dressed her wounds. She held onto Devon for dear life. She didn't want to let go of him.

"I'm not going anywhere hun, don't worry." He kissed her head.

The morning bus went by and everyone stared at Autumn. She felt their eyes on her. The bus suddenly came to a halt  and Penelope jumped off the bus. She ran towards Autumn and her jaw dropped. Some of the flesh on Autumn's wrists came off. The nurse put gauze on top of it and then some tape to keep it in place.