Cursed (The Devil's Roses 1)

“Aimee.”

I jumped turning, as the lights flicked on. I smiled to see Aleks standing in the hall outside Michelle's guest room.

He was frowning at me, but his white-blue eyes were all I noticed.

“Hey, Aleks. What are you doing here?” I knew Alise would have invited him. It burned inside of me.

“Worrying about you and the reckless things you do when I’m not around. What are you doing down the dark hallway of the house party, full of drunk teenagers and dressed like that?” he scolded me.

I laughed, looking into the garage. “You sound like my dad and Shane. I’m fine, but I will admit, I’m glad you’re here—this garage is spooky. I’m sure Jaime, my sister's friend, has been drugged, so I’m looking for her. If she's not drugged, she's drunk off her ass and that's probably not safe with a pervert on the loose.”

The garage was empty, but the door to outside on the far wall was opened just a sliver, making a whistling sound.

“Let me go first.” Aleks walked into the garage, looking around at the tools and motorcycle. He grabbed a crowbar off of the bench where tools were scattered and crept through the open door. The cool, night air was full of crickets and frogs singing. I looked around, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the dark of the backyard. Aleks put his hand out for mine. I looked at it, feeling guilty about Shane. I felt the sizzle of our skin touching and wondered if he ever felt it too, or if I was the only one falling. I rationalized that holding his hand as a safety precaution. I also reminded myself that he would be gone in a few short weeks, whereas Shane would be with me at least until the end of the summer.

Our feet made little to no noise on the damp grass as we looked around, scanning the back yard.

I heard a rustling and a muffled sound to my right. It was down the yard a ways.

Aleks looked at me. “Stay here,” I shook my head, pleading with my eyes. I was terrified.

He sighed, resigning to the fact that I needed to come. He let go of my hand and put his pointer finger to his lips. I nodded.

He walked with the crowbar in his hands toward the sound. I crept along behind him, nearly peeing my pants, or panties rather—damned dress.

We heard more trees and branches moving to the right of us, in the small patch of bush next to Michelle’s house. It was more like brush in between the houses for privacy, as opposed to a forest.

I heard a crying sound and walked toward it, as Aleks took off running after the other sound.

I looked, trying desperately to see, but the moon had not come out to help out with the light.

“Jaime, is that you?” I whispered. I was angry that Aleks had left me to wander alone through the brush. I hoped he caught whoever had dragged Jaime into the bushes.

She was on the ground in a small clearing, with her shirt torn. I could barely see in the dark, but I reached for her. As I got right beside her, I could see she was on her stomach and her face was covered in vomit.

“Help us, someone help us, please,” I called out into the night. I was scared about giving away my location, but I was even more scared that Jaime had been drugged with the bad batch of drugs. I was certain she had been at least partially raped by the look of her pale legs parted and her skirt up to her waist. I pulled the skirt down, tucking it around her naked bum, and felt like throwing up again.

“Please, help me. Someone.” I started to cry. I was scared. I was not the right person to be handling that moment.

I patted her back. “Jaime, it's okay. Someone will come and help you.” She moaned into the dirt.

The potheads started looking over the railing. “Hey, you down there, are you okay?” one stoner asked.

I sobbed. “Call 9-1-1 and tell them we need police and ambulance.”

“Okay, man. Is someone hurt?” he asked again. No one on the deck appeared to be moving.

“JUST FUCKING PHONE.” I screamed.

“Okay, God—she’s kind of bitchy.” Pothead one spoke slowly.

“Who is that?” Pothead two muttered.

I sat on the grass, certain my leg was brushing against her vomit. I turned her on her side and pulled her clothes around her more.

Someone came running down the yard.

“Aimee?” Shane cried out into the night panicked.

“I’m here.”

“Oh my God, Aimee—are you okay?” His voice was stricken with grief.

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah. It's Jaime.”

He knelt on the ground beside me and touched my shoulder. “For Christ sake, Aimee. I was so scared when you left. I thought you were going to look in the kitchen; I didn’t know you were leaving the house. You never said you were leaving the house. I told you not to leave my side.”

He took his shirt off as he ranted and wrapped it around Jaime. He picked her up and carried her up to the house. I followed him around the side to the front yard. Kids were streaming from the house. Some were running from the front door, hoping not to be busted by the cops for underage drinking. Most of the others were trying to figure out what was going on, as the yard was filling with emergency lights.

The ambulance was there first, rolling into the driveway very slowly, so as not to hit any of the kids mulling about.

I had grabbed Jaime’s hand when her head went floppy against Shane’s bare chest.

The outside lights flicked on and Michelle came running out in a panic. “What’s going on? Who called the cops?” she was angrily shouting at the men getting out of the ambulance. “Get off my property. You need a warrant to come on here.”

They ignored her completely and walked to where Shane was holding Jaime.

Michelle froze, watching as a stretcher was carried to where Jaime was. The men started to work on her. Shane put her down gingerly on the stretcher and stepped back, as a blanket covered Jaime. I couldn’t get the vision of her two white legs stretched out behind her in the dark woods. I imagined it was going to take me some time before I got past the entire spring. Shane spoke to the two paramedics, no doubt explaining the situation with care so no one else would hear.

He walked to me and put his arm around me. We both smelled of her vomit and were covered in dirt.

He whispered in my neck, "I'm sorry I got mad at you."

I shook my head, trying desperately to ignore the tears streaming down my face. "You were right. I shouldn’t have left without you."

He held me tighter. "You saved her, Aimes."

We watched in silence, as they took Jaime away. The police had arrived and were asking questions of the paramedics who remained. They all pointed in our direction.

Constable Bindley and Corporal Williams made their way to us with grim looks on their faces.

“Aimee and Shane, want to come with me? The rest of the guys are going to stay here, take pictures, and talk to the kids that are left,” the corporal asked.

I nodded as Shane spoke, “You want to see where we found her?”

Williams nodded. “Yup, and the exact path you took to get her here.”

Shane pointed. “I came around the side of the house this way, and walked up the grass from the backyard.”

Williams pulled out a huge, long, black flashlight that looked more like a baseball bat. He walked around where Shane told him. He looked down at the ground carefully, the entire way down the back lawn.

“Who found her?” he asked, as we walked back to the spot slowly, so he could look around.

I cleared my throat. “I did. I saw her at the party, and she looked bad. I just knew something was wrong. She had the same cup I remembered Giselle and I drank out of—you guys showed us. Anyway, I ran around looking for her for about fifteen minutes and I ran into Aleks—”

“He was here?” Shane asked roughly, his hand biting into my arm.

I nodded. “Yeah, I met up with him on my search for Jaime. He came with me. We were walking down here and when we got to about here—” I stopped and pointed to the bush. “—We heard a noise there. Aleks ran after whomever it was with a crow bar—” I stopped, realizing he had never come back. I felt my eyes widen as I spoke, “He never came back. Do you think he’s okay?”

Williams shook his head. “No, either way, he’s in trouble now. He’s probably looking at an assault charge now. He probably never came back when he saw the lights. Who is this Aleks?”

Shane crossed his bare arms looking at me defiantly. “Yes, who is he?”

I shrugged. “He’s a social worker of some sort from the city working here for a family he helps.”

Williams shook his head. “If he comes near you again, Aimee, you need to phone me right away. There is no such thing as a social worker from the city coming to a small town. We have our own here. They are government workers like me. They work where they’re assigned. He’s a suspect right now, and I want you to treat him as such. What’s he look like?”

I gulped as Shane started spewing out the facts. “Tall like me, white like me, built like me, blue eyes, dark-blond hair shorter than mine, clean cut. That’s what all the women in town say anyway.” he spoke through his teeth.

Williams clicked on the radio at his collar. “Dispatch I need a BOLO put out on a young man, early twenties, late teens, Caucasian, dark-blond hair, blue eyes, six foot two, muscular build, seen fleeing from 1942 Elder Grove Road—”

“Black jacket and blue jeans.” My voice was hollow.

“Seen wearing a black jacket and blue jeans.”

I pointed to the woods as he finished. “It was right here.” I didn’t want to walk back in there. Shane put an arm around me, as Williams walked very carefully into the brush. He stopped when he reached the spot.

Bindley came down the yard. “Corporal, you need anything?”

“Yup, I need some lights and some pictures.” His voice was solid and steady and I wondered how he did it. I was sickened, just guessing what had happened. He was going to have to pick it all apart, until he got a story from all the gory details.