Carolina Rose

Mom (2)

The pic of Lina's tattoo was drawn/edited by yours truly. Please don't copy or use without consent. Thank you!!

~~~ /// ~~~ \\\ ~~~

Third Pov

It was the first day of reopening at Griddy's Doughnuts, which had been trashed just a few days ago. And Hazel and Cha-cha, looking for more information regarding Five and Lina's whereabouts, were in for a visit.

"You know, the secret ingredient is that I let the doughnuts rise for about half of an hour before I fry them up. That's what makes them so light and fluffy." Agnes, the old waitress who worked at Griddy's Doughnuts told Hazel.

"How come you're so light and fluffy?" Hazel questioned.

"Well, they say that you are what you eat," Agnes replied, laughing.

But the pink atmosphere didn't last long. The moment Cha-cha got out of the washroom, Hazel was forced to get back to the mission at hand. Tracking Lina and Five down.

"So, uh... is there anything that you might be able to tell us about the night that this place got shot up?" Hazel asked tentatively, acting as though he hadn't been flirting with Agnes just a few seconds ago.

"Um... well, I- I mean, I already told the police everything I know. Are you guys involved with the police?" Agnes asked, not really wanting tot alk about the scary night.

"Do you remember the boy from that night?" Cha-cha asked, not giving a single fuck about Agnes's feelings.

"I didn't really notice him, to be honest," Agnes answered.

"What about the girl?" Hazel asked.

"Girl? Oh, now that I think about it, there might've been another child there, with the boy."

Lina was the type of person that could blend into the background completely and not be noticed when she felt like it. Unfortunately for the trio in the doughnut shop, the night that Five and Lina were attacked was just one of those days.

"THe boy and his father sat right there," Agnes pointed out.

"That was most definitely not the boy's father," Cha-cha grumbled audibly.

"We- uh, we're just worried for the two kids, you know? It's a harsh world out there. Something bad might've happened to them." Hazel said.

"Oh. Are you involved with the police, or...?" Agnes asked again.

"We were hired by the boy's parents to get to the bottom of things." Cha-cha cut in, making up a believable lie.

"So if there's anything that you could tell us, we'd- uh, I'd really appreciate it." Hazel thanked.

"Well, there wasn't much... but I do remember the boy having a tattoo on the inside of his wrist. The tattoo that the girl had was quite different from the boy's, but they were matching." Agnes confessed, thinking back to what she had seen last night.

"I thought that it was quite strange because you don't see a lot of kids nowadays with tattoos," She continued.

With Cha-cha's request, Agnes drew the tattoos on a piece of paper. One was an umbrella within a circle- and the other was a much more complicated umbrella tattoo.

"The girl's, as far as I remember, was shaped the same as the boy's but the umbrella also had different objects like an upside-down cross, numbers one to seven, a pentagram- and at the bottom of the circle, it said some weird words," Agnes explained.

"Weird words?" Hazel muttered, confused.

Cha-cha thought to herself, thinking back to the first time that she'd met Carol. Not too long after she joined the Temps Commission, she became known for her methods in torture. And that got the Handler's attention.

"Cha-cha, this is Carolina Rose- my daughter." The Handler introduced, gesturing to the beat-up young girl dangling from the ceiling by her chained wrists.

The Handler's office was beautifully decorated, filled with mementos from many different eras. but at one corner was a just barely alive young girl strung up to the ceiling, bloody and bruised. At first, Cha-cha didn't understand the reason why the most famous and skilled agent that they had was being tortured in an office.

"Carol? Sweetie, it's time to wake up," The Handler spoke softy, before slapping Lina harshly.

SMACK-!!

"Motherfucking Satan-!! And I was having such a nice dream, too!!" Lina grumbled, her voice cracking.

The girl took notice of a young Cha-cha standing in the room and snickered. The woman that she called mother but others knew of as The Handler had been bringing in skilled torturers within the organization, one after the other in an attempt to break her.

"I'd shake your hand, but I'm afraid that it isn't possible right now," Lina stated, gesturing to her chained-up state casually.

Even then and after, Cha-cha had never met someone who was quite like Carolina Rose. Through hours of beating and torturing, the only one to get tired was her, not Carol. Cha-cha knew firsthand just how annoying and strong Carolina Rose's gift was.

And exactly how the tattoo on the inside of her wrist and back looked like.

~~~ /// ~~~ \\\ ~~~

2.6 pages, 853 words