Home / The Flower Room / Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

All Chapters of The Flower Room: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

Outside the door, my little brother broke down sobbing."Mom, Ethan wasn't trying to hurt me! Please, open the door!"He's severely allergic to pollen! What if something happens to him?"Noah pounded on the door, panic shaking his voice. He begged again and again, but Mom stood her ground."No!"Her face was hard, without a trace of sympathy."If I don't put my foot down, he'll never stop scheming against you."Noah fell silent. Then came the heavy thud of his knees hitting the floor."Mom, I was wrong."Ethan didn't even place that takeout order. I took his phone and ordered it myself. I was the one who forgot to request no peanuts. It was all my fault. Punish me if you want, but please let him out."I pressed myself against the door. For one brief moment, a little warmth crept back into me.Surely she would hesitate now.Instead, Mom's furious voice rose another octave. She jabbed a finger at Noah, still kneeling on the floor, her anger boiling over."Did Ethan tell you

Chapter 2

I lay curled in the middle of the flowers, my eyelids so heavy I could barely lift them.A bitter coldness spread through me.All my life, whenever I failed to care for Noah exactly the way Mom wanted, she accused me of trying to hurt him. Then she locked me away.The room was never really a storage room.It was my private torture chamber.Once, Noah came home sweating, so I lowered the thermostat by a single degree. Mom caught me and insisted I was trying to make him sick with a fever. She turned the room into a makeshift freezer and shut me inside for three hours.Another time, Noah came home hungry after playing outside. I bought him a burger with my own allowance.Mom accused me of feeding him junk food to ruin his health. She brought home nearly two quarts of filthy, used frying oil and forced me to swallow it in that room.Every kindness I showed my brother became another calculated attack in her eyes.The grief was almost as unbearable as the pain of the allergic reacti

Chapter 3

Mom's expression softened a little when she saw Dad.He hurried straight to the door."Ethan, don't be afraid. Dad's here. How are you feeling?"Dad was an allergist. He had rushed home with a full emergency kit for treating severe allergic reactions.But the door was still locked.He turned on Mom."Diane, open this door immediately!"Ethan has a life-threatening pollen allergy. If his airway closes, he could go into shock and suffocate. Are you trying to kill our son?"Mom was utterly unhurried, although she spoke more gently to Dad than she had to anyone else."Why are you getting so worked up? I know what I'm doing."I left plenty of allergy medicine in his room. If he feels sick, he can take it himself. There's no danger. Stop making such a fuss."I looked at the flowers packed into every corner of the room and gave a sad little smile.Mom, I'd never be able to reach the medicine you left me.Dad's fury exploded."Making a fuss? If his airway closes, he could be dead

Chapter 4

Two uniformed police officers entered the house.Mrs. Dawson came in behind them and pointed at Mom."Her! She knows her son has a severe pollen allergy, and she locked him in a room with more than a hundred pounds of fresh flowers!"Mom looked nervous at the sight of the police. But the moment she heard Mrs. Dawson speak, she started shouting."Claire, you've got some nerve! You called the police over my private family business?"The lead officer, whose name tag read Kessler, glanced at the locked steel door."This woman reported that someone has been confined in a room for hours and may be in immediate danger. We're here to investigate."Noah hurried to explain."Officer, it's my older brother in there. Mom's had him locked up for hours."He wiped the tears from his face and told them everything, carefully, one piece at a time.When he finished, Officer Kessler frowned and turned to Mom."Ma'am, is that accurate? Open the door so we can check on your son."Mom drew hersel

Chapter 5

With the lock finally released, Dad drove his foot into the heavy steel door. It flew open.A cloud of pollen and a sickening metallic smell swept into the hallway.Flowers lay piled in tangled heaps across the room. Petals soaked with my blood had darkened and stuck together.I lay motionless in the middle of them.My body had long since gone cold.My face was the worst of it. The rats had damaged it so badly that my features were barely recognizable. My throat and neck were grotesquely swollen.Three gray rats were still feeding. The faint sound of their gnawing made everyone's skin crawl.Mrs. Dawson took one look and crouched on the floor, covering her mouth as she wept and retched.The officers' faces turned grim. One immediately called for backup over his radio. Soon the house was being secured as a crime scene.Dad pushed through everyone and stumbled into the room.He dropped beside me and began pressing down on my chest, again and again, trying to bring me back."Et

Chapter 6

Mom gathered my cold body into her arms and held it tight."Ethan, don't scare me. Mom won't lock you up anymore. I won't yell at you again."Please, just wake up. All right?"Watching her, Dad finally lost the last of his restraint.He raised his hand and slapped her across the face.His eyes were bloodshot as he roared, "Are you satisfied now?"Diane, you killed your own son!"Her head snapped to one side. A thin line of blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.She didn't dodge or argue. She only clutched me tighter and sobbed.Over and over, she repeated the same words."He isn't dead. My Ethan isn't dead. You're all lying to me."Noah approached her slowly, his eyes red and empty of warmth. All that remained in them was disappointment and resentment."Why?" he asked, each word deliberate. "Why have you spent our entire lives accusing Ethan of trying to hurt me? Why did you keep finding new ways to torture him?"I've told you a thousand times that it was my fault. You

Chapter 7

Whatever hope Mom had been clinging to finally shattered.I watched her standing there, broken and dazed. I no longer felt hatred. Only a vast, hollow numbness.Every punishment, every false accusation, every act of cruelty I'd endured growing up had come to an end.Mom let out a scream that seemed to tear through the house.She staggered back to my body, pulled me into her arms, and held on. Her warm tears fell against my damaged face."Ethan, Mom was wrong. I was blind. Please don't leave me."She rocked me desperately, her voice breaking."Wake up, please. I'll never bring flowers into the house again. I'll never punish you. Whatever you want, I'll do it."Officer Kessler, who had reviewed the paramedics' preliminary findings, stepped forward. A pair of handcuffs clicked in his hands."Diane Carver, you're under arrest in connection with the abuse that resulted in your son's death. You'll need to come with us."Her grip tightened around me. She recoiled."Don't arrest me!

Chapter 8

One month after my death, the house that had once been so crowded and noisy stood cold and empty.Noah had moved in with Dad. He'd cut Mom out of his life completely.There wasn't a single bouquet left in the big house. Dad had carefully gathered all my little belongings, packed them in boxes, and locked them away in his study.After reviewing Mom's psychiatric evaluation and the circumstances of the fatal abuse, the court issued its ruling.She was deemed unfit to care for a child and permanently lost custody of Noah. The court also ordered long-term treatment in a state psychiatric hospital.In her small, secured hospital room, Mom drifted between agitation and confusion.Day and night, she held a faded pink stuffed animal close to her chest. It had been the only toy I'd owned as a child.She carried it everywhere, stroking its worn little face and murmuring my name."Ethan, Mom won't buy flowers anymore. Please come home."I was wrong. I shouldn't have locked you up. I shou

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