Shadow of A Rose

Chapter 1 (Part 2/3)

Part 2/3 contd.

"Mom! I'm home!" Yvy called out, but her mom didn't respond.

"Mom?" She called out, walking towards her mom's room. She heard yelling from inside.

"You b!tch! I had saved that money to buy us a car!" Said Dave as her mom cowered in a corner, bruises covering her face.

"Dave, we need food more than a car," her mother stated, surprisingly calm.

"I am the man of the house! I decide what we need and what we don't."

He saw Yvy standing at the door.

"Why doesn't she start a job? Then maybe you can buy all the food you want."

Fifteen year old Yvy shuddered at the way he looked at her.
**

She was violently woken up from her sleep as Dave crawled on top of her, muffling her screams with his hand. She desperately reached around to the porcelain doll on her side table and smashed it on his head, gaining just enough time to slip out from under him and run to the door, yelling for her mother.

Her mother, frail and bruised, dropped her cell phone nervously, her hands shaking.

Yvy's hair was yanked backwards by a furious Dave who now held a knife at her neck.

"Don't you f*cking dare! I'll slit her throat if you call the police."

Her mom dropped to the ground and sobbed.

"Get up, b!tch. Let's go to your room."

The moment he turned to move her, she slipped out of his arms and moved backwards.

She ran to pick up the cell phone lying on the floor and into the bathroom, her heart beating loudly in her ears.

As she was going to close the door, Dave stuck his hand through and she couldn't close it.

"Get out of there and I won't hurt you."

She desperately tried to switch on the cell phone. Come on, she thought. Please switch on.

She quickly dialled 911 as it switched on, holding Dave's weight against the door by sheer will power.

She didn't know what she had said on the phone. She didn't even know how long she held the door and how long it took to hear the police sirens. As the police took Dave away, she could see her mom sitting motionless, an officer trying to talk to her.

She didn't even realize when she had passed out.
**
"Mom, I'm going to start a business."

Her mom simply looked at her, her eyes empty and face expressionless. The doctors said that she had depression. Yvy's jobs weren't able to support her treatment and medications. She was trying hard and juggling three jobs with school. She had just turned seventeen and would soon have to start applying to universities. She knew she could get a scholarship if she wanted, but the jobs took up too much of her time.

She had saved five hundred dollars for her mother's treatment and was trying to find money to fund the business she was going to start. In her spare time, she would make the daily little fixes she always did. Her neighbours loved them and would pay her a few dollars per piece.

She went and hugged her mom. "We'll get through this, mom. I promise. Dave's in jail now. I'm almost about to finish school. The doctors found you responding well to the medication. And tomorrow is my birthday, remember? I'll cook you something fun!"

Her mom didn't respond. She kissed her mom goodbye and went to school.
**
She woke up to a strange sound. She pushed her covers away and found that her mum wasn't in bed.

"Mom?" She called out as she fumbled in the darkness, trying to find the light switch.

As the light turned on, she saw her mother lying on the kitchen floor, wrists slit, a knife and a piece of paper lying beside her.

"Mom!" She cried out, quickly running to get her cell phone to call an ambulance, her hands trembling.

Her mom wasn't breathing.

Tearsblurred out the words in the note:
Happy Birthday Yvy. I'm sorry I couldn't be strong for you. Just remember that I love you so much. Use the treatment money to start your business.
I hope you find it within you to forgive your mama for leaving you alone here.
Mom.

**
"Hi! Would you like to buy handmade innovative daily use items at cheap prices? Please visit The James Home Shop!" She yelled out to a man at a busy cross section. The man simply ignored her.

"Hello ma'am, would you like-" The lady simply rushed past her.

The ran a hand through her hair in frustration. This wasn't working. Although the neighborhood loved the stuff she made, it wasn't enough money. She had spent two hundred dollars on a small shed, fliers and signboards, but it wasn't much help. She'd left one of her jobs to work for the shop, but a single job wasn't enough to pay the rent or for food and so she would often sleep hungry. She stood at the intersection every day, trying to get customers. Some boys would often yell lewd remarks at her, but she ignored them.

She had almost given up and was about to go back home when a middle aged man approached her.

"Hello sir, would you li-"
The man nodded happily and smiled at her.

"It's my wife's birthday tomorrow. I want to buy her something cheap, and useful."

"You have come to the right place, sir! Please, follow me!"

A/N: This is the second part. The third will be the last of the first chapter.