Bloody Rose

She felt the cold nuzzle of the gun against her forehead, she closed her eyes tightly and prepared for the worst.

This was definitely not how she expected her second day in a foreign country to turn out.

"One wrong move..." She felt his hot breath on her face, his baritone voice sent shivers down her spine.

She didn't want to open her eyes because she couldn't meet his gaze again.

"...and I'll blow up that pretty face of yours."

Then the nuzzle went lower and lower till it was pressed against her neck and something warm hovered over her lips.

"We wouldn't want that now, would we?"

She blew out a shaky breath and opened her eyes to look at the man who towered over her small frame. Menacing eyes met hers and his thumb rested on her lips.

Dark brown eyes stared back at her.

"What's your answer going to be?"

She couldn't stand on her own two feet, how was she to reply?

" Yes... I'll do it!"

As she fought back tears, she couldn't help but think about all that led her up to this moment...

TWO DAYS EARLIER...

Blood…

She could almost taste it, it was calling her… telling her to bleed. Make yourself bleed!

Rain splashes water on her face, she stares at her reflection in the mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot, her hands that held the bathroom sink trembled , .

Fear, fear….the words kept repeating in her head, she wanted to forget because those memories brought back fear, reminded her of what would’ve been or what might still be.

There was an open pocket knife right next to the silver faucet, the sound of running water seemed to add to her frustrations, clouding her mind even more.

She turns it of, the voices stop, the ringing in her ears disappears.

She exhales slowly, looking at the person in the mirror doing the exact same thing. She grabs the pocket knife and puts it into the right pocket of her jean jacket where she had also kept her phone.

She wasn’t sure how much longer the people outside the bathroom could wait, they had had been knocking for so long and she was pretty sure they were about to break down the door in anger.

“Almost done!” Rain yelled out. She picked up the contents of her purse that had spilled into the sink and dried them with a paper towel. She did not bother to check her reflection one last time before she left.

She couldn’t bear to see what she had become, what her last had made her become despite the fact that she fought so hard against it, against being broken.

She exited the airport bathroom. As she opened the door, she saw a short lady standing there with a dissatisfied expression and her hands on her waist. sShe was desperately looking for who to pour her frustrations on.

“Is there a problem Miss? Why are you blocking my way?”

The lady scoffs, Rain found it funny how the woman had to raise her head to look at her. Rain was talker than most women, which made her stand out in a lot of places.

Her 5ft8inches height was intimidating to most men but not all of them…Rain shook her head, clearing the thoughts if that man out of her head.

“I have been knocking for close to ten minutes and yet here you are saying such rubbish, shouldn’t you be like… apologizing?” the lady’s voice was squeaky, as small as her voice… Rain mused.

“Is that the reason why you’re standing in front of me looking like a fucking sippy cup for toddlers?” she stared at the woman waiting for a reply. The woman gasped in outrage, her face now red with anger. Rain noticed how the woman’s fists clenched tightly.

How nice if a story it would be, to beat up a short lady in front of an airport bathroom.

“You rude bitch!” The woman said through gritted teeth. Rain chuckles “I’ve been called worse, trust me”

The woman stomps her feet on the ground and then closes her eyes. Rain raises a brow, waiting to see what the woman would do next, her hands crossed over her chest.

The woman breaths in deeply and exhales “Anyways… I do not have time for the likes of you!”

Rain stares for a few seconds and then scoffs.

“How fucking boring” she leaves the woman standing with her mouth agape.

Rain sighs in disappointment as she makes her way to the entrance of the airport, she drags her luggage behind her grudgingly tempted to just throw it in the trash but then again she was in a foreign land and she was not ready to walk around her brother’s house naked.

A taxi stops in front of her and with a frustrated groan she enters the taxi.

“Good afternoon miss!” The man had a thick French accent, she almost did not understand what he was saying. “Where will you be heading today?”

Rain sighs, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.

She hands over the address clumsy scribbled on a small piece of paper she had torn out of he post it note book. The driver gives it one look and then nods, he laughs like he had just hit the jackpot.

“yes, yes I know the place miss” then he starts the engine. Rain could only see the back of the man’s head but she could see how excited he was, which meant two things, either he is a serial killer or the place her brother lives is really far from the airport and she would have to pay the man a ton of money.

She honestly hoped it was the latter or else her brother would really suffer in her hands. He had practically begged her to come. sShe had a panic attack in the bathroom reminding her if just how foolish her decision to enter a country which she had never been before was.

“So, is this your first time here?” the driver tried to make small talk, Rain groaned, she didn’t want to come off as rude considering the fact that the driver looked a bit elderly but in all honesty she was not in the mood to speak.

“Is it that obvious?” She didn’t mean for her tone to come out so snarky, she seemed to have caught the driver off guard probably leaving him to wonder what exactly he did wrong that made her sound so upset and angry.

“Well…” the driver clears his throat, their eyes meet in the rearview mirror before Rain looks away.

“…I’ve picked up a lot of tourists from the airport before and you don’t look or dress like one but with the way you’re trying so hard not to look outside the windows and see the scenery, it is very obvious that this is your fist time here… um… miss” he sounded nervous, like he was afraid she would get upset by his words again.

Rain shrugs “Huh…I guess I gave myself away then” she says, she then forces herself to look out the window. Even though she didn’t want to. Her brother had told her countless time that it was a beautiful country and that he would’ve like if she moved in with him and blah blah.

He had said she would fall in love with the country the second she sees it, so she has been avoiding trying to see it.

“You will love it here miss, as long as you stay in the right places, Italy is one of the best countries in the world!” the driver says.

“Is that why you left your country to drive taxis in Italy?”

The driver nods excited. “There is so much fun in my job miss, I would not trade it for anything!”

How nice, he gets to have fun everyday driving a taxi.

“Must be nice” Rain mumbles under her breath and looks out the window, he said stay in the right places which means that the country is not all that butterflies and rainbows.

Rain dailed her brother’s number for the third time in the hour since she had left the airport, he still was not answering which got her pissed…has he forgotten that he was supposed to pick her up from the airport or at least be at home when she arrives?

Rain sighs. The journey was taking way too long and she was getting tired if sitting in the taxi for too long, she had already spent twelve hours on the plane, she wasn’t sure her ass could handle it anymore.

“How long till we reach our destination?” Rain asks the drive , they had both been in silence for the last hour so hearing her voice startled the driver.

“Uh…in about an hour, we will arrive there miss”

“An hour?!” Rain groaned and tried not to vent on the driver.

“Fuck me…” she cursed under her breath.