Suzie
By Wendy Hayes

The sound of birds chirping outside made Suzie jolt awake. She slowly cracked her eyes open and sighed with relief. She was in a soft bed with pink sheets, dressed in a pink nightgown. The walls were covered in pretty, pink-flowered wallpaper; small furniture decorated the room.

A smile spread across her face as she stretched. This past year had been a nightmare. Her mother had died in a car accident just after she turned eleven. After the funeral, her father started drinking. A few months later, he began hitting her. She had several visits to the ER due to her “clumsy nature,” or so that is what her father told everyone. She met Cole a couple months ago. He had given her many gifts over the past few months, but none as important as the cell phone with his number programmed into it.

Last night, her dad started drinking and throwing things. She ran to her bedroom and locked the door, hoping he would forget she was there. His rage seemed to worsen as the minutes ticked by. Terrified, she picked up the cell phone and called Cole.

“Hello,” came a deep voice after the second ring.

“Cole?” Suzie asked.

“Suzie, are you okay? What do you need?” Cole asked, full of concern.

“He’s drunk. I’m scared,” she whispered.

“Can you get out of the house? I will meet you at the park in an hour.”

“Okay,” Suzie whispered.

Slowly, she opened the window, crept outside, and started running as if the devil were chasing her.

Cole pulled up in a dark Toyota that looked like it had seen better days. He lowered the window.

“Suzie, come on, get in.”

Suzie scrambled to get into the car and Cole sped off.

They arrived at a beautiful house about 45 minutes later. Cole pulled into the garage and parked the decrepit Toyota next to a BMW. Cole led her to this room and told her to get some sleep.

Enough lounging around, she thought, time to get out of bed and figure out what was next.

“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Cole said as she walked into the kitchen.

“Do you like pancakes?”

“Yes, pancakes are awesome,” she replied eagerly.

She hadn’t eaten since lunch the day before.

Setting a big stack of pancakes in front of her, Cole said, “We need to talk and figure things out.”

“Why are you helping me?” Suzie asked.

“You remind me of my Lily. If you want, you can stay, or I can take you back to Cleveland on Monday.”

Noticing that Suzie looked uncomfortable, Cole added, “You don’t have to decide now. How about I show you around the house after breakfast?”

Suzie got a tour of the house, the garden in the backyard, ending in the pink room she woke up in. Everything was spotless in the house and seemed to have its own place.

“This was my daughter Lily’s room and if you decide to stay it will be your room. There are plenty of clothes for you to choose from. Pick something and get changed, you can help me in the garden this afternoon.”

Suzie changed and met Cole in the backyard. He showed her how to pull weeds and care for the beautiful flowers.

Suzie decided to stay; it would be nice not to worry about her father getting angry, drunk and beating her.

Cole told her “If you are going to stay, there are some rules. First, you can’t go out the front door because someone might see you. Second, I would like to start calling you Jasmine. This way if I talk about you at work, they won’t connect what I say back to you. There isn’t a missing persons notice yet, but your father may report you missing in the future.”

“Jasmine?”

“I like that name and it suits you.”

“OK, Jasmine it is,” Suzie said, smiling.

Over the next couple of months, they got into a routine. Suzie would fix breakfast and take care of the household chores; Cole would go to work. She became accustomed to making sure everything was perfect, not wanting to disappoint him.

Over dinner, Cole asked, “Are you happy here?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Cole looked a little awkward as he said, “You can call me Daddy if you want to.”

Suzie’s smile was shy as she looked at him, but she didn’t say anything. Cole let out a sigh and left the table going into his office. This wasn’t the first time he had asked her this.

The next morning as she handed him his travel coffee mug, she said, “Have a good day, Daddy.”

Cole’s brilliant smile brought out the dimple on his left cheek, and he left for work.

Suzie smiled to herself as she tidied the kitchen and pondered how she had gotten so lucky.

That evening after dinner, Cole said “I have a surprise for you Suzie. Come with me,” and took her by the hand and led her to the basement stairs.

This was the only part of the house she hadn’t seen.

At the bottom of the stairs, there was a yellow door. Opening the door, he drew her into a strange room and said, “Welcome to your new home, my dear.”

The room was stark, with a stainless-steel table, white walls, bright overhead lights. Her mind spinning, she looked at him with huge eyes, blinking slowly.

Cole sneered, “You made me work for it, didn’t you? I think you are gonna be one of my favorites, Jasmine.”

Seeing her confusion, he gestured to the wall.

On the wall were pictures of girls that resembled her with names… Rose… Violet…Daisy… Petunia… Lily….

Cole walked over and hung her picture at the end with Jasmine printed on it. She thought of the garden in the backyard filled with roses, violets, daisies, petunias,and lilies.

Tears streaming down her face, she stammered “Wha...what are you going to do to me?”

“Whatever I want.” he chuckled as her face turned pale.

“I always wanted to be a doctor but became a lawyer instead.”

She ran to the door.

“Oh, no you don’t,” he said grabbing her arm and dragging her to the table.

He strapped her down and picked up a knife from the table.

“Where should we start? I like doing a little cutting and stitching first. We will move on to breaks and surgery later. I want to savor every moment I can with you.”

He sliced a long cut in her right thigh and picked up a needle and started stitching.

As he worked, he explained how he had been planning this for some time. “All you needed to do was trust me. Once you called me “daddy,” I knew that you were finally mine.”

Her leg felt like it was on fire, and each jab with the needle sent pain shooting down her leg.

Suzie heard screaming and wondered where it was coming from, then realized it was inside her head.

Her mind splintered, leaving only Jasmine to deal with the torture.


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