Short Story - Just a Girl

Content Warning: Course Language

The afternoon air was still. Sweat slowly trickled down Rosa’s back but did nothing to cool her. The cicadas’ song was loud and distracting as they sat in the trees by the slow-moving river. Rosa paused in the shade of one of the raucous she-oaks to escape the sun, but even in its shadow, the heat was oppressive.

A sudden gust of wind barrelled along the pathway, kicking up leaves and fallen bark as it hit Rosa, wrenching the newspaper from her hands. It was gone as quickly as it came yet it held Rosa’s attention. Change was in the air. Rosa had been feeling it for days, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Her father would tell her she was being ridiculous, seeing importance in the unimportant, ghosts in the movement of a newspaper in a breeze. But Rosa always felt like this when something big was going to happen.

The feeling had arrived as it always did, a dull throb, pulsing away in the background. An uncomfortable mix of nervous fluttering in her stomach and chest, and an innate sense of knowing, deep down and unshakeable. Rosa had been trying to ignore it for days but knew from past experience that that was pointless. Her best course of action was to accept the inevitable. Something was on its way.

                                                *                      *                      *

“Rosa, there you are my darling!” Joseph Ryan, exclaimed.

“Good evening father.”  Rosa handed him his paper as she stretched up on tiptoe to kiss him on the cheek.

“Oh dear, look at this – Another young woman missing – I do wish girls would learn. Independence may be fashionable right now, but these things wouldn’t happen if they’d just listen to their fathers and husbands.”

Rosa pushed her anger deep down. The unfairness of being born a girl, of being treated as less than, blamed for the actions of grown men who supposedly couldn’t control themselves was becoming too much for Rosa to swallow. The fact that her father, who had always treated her well, blindly bought into it by blaming the victims, was crushing.

“How was work today father?” Rosa asked, hands clenched.

“Today was very productive. In fact, I have some exciting news.”

Rosa sat on the lounge next to her mother, Emma. 17-year-old Max, Rosa’s younger brother by two years and the future of the family, as their father often proclaimed, stood by the door, ready to bolt the moment Joseph was finished making his announcement.

“I had a visit from Damon Jasper, of Jasper & Sons today.” As Joseph spoke, he paced back and forth, rubbing his hands together excitedly.

“We have been speaking regularly over the past few months and have come to a mutually beneficial agreement. This agreement means that I will be able to utilise the Jasper & Sons delivery and export connections to expand the reach of our family’s tech products beyond the borders of Aeredeland into the neighbouring kingdoms.”

“Joseph, darling, is it really necessary for me and Rosa to be here for this?” Emma asked, studying her fingernails. She had never been interested in the ins and outs of her husband’s business.

“Yes, it is, this agreement involves Rosa.” Joseph paused and looked directly at his daughter. “Rosa, Damon has agreed that in exchange for your hand in marriage he will give my company an exclusive export contract – we’ll be the only tech company being sold by the biggest exporters with the biggest reach in the citadel!”

“That’s marvellous Joseph!” said Emma as she leapt from the lounge and embraced her husband.

“Awesome, I’m gonna be rich!” said Max on his way out the door.

Rosa sat in stunned silence. She was to be married! She was just a pawn to be used to improve her father’s business?

Rosa was fully aware that Joseph had always treated her better than most fathers. He had allowed her to join Max and his technology tutor during their lessons. He asked her opinion regularly and listened to her intently when she spoke. He had never treated her as a household slave the way some of her friends’ fathers did. She had dared to believe that he thought more highly of her, that maybe she might have some choice in life, but this single, devastating announcement brought her swiftly back to reality.

 “Well Rosa, you’ve always said you wanted to do something great with your life. What do you think?” Joseph asked, beaming.

Rosa burst into tears and ran from the room.

                                                *                      *                      *

Rosa refused to speak to her father for days. She did her chores, ate her meals in silence and retreated to her room at every available moment.

After a week of this her father had had enough.

“Rosa, I won’t stand for this any longer. You’re acting like a spoiled child,” he said one evening as she tried to stalk off to her room after dinner.

“How could you do this to me? How could you marry me off to some stranger? A business deal – is that all I am to you? Just another piece of inventory to be bought and sold?” The distress and anger Rosa had been feeling since the announcement had reached boiling point.

“Rosa, I know you’re upset – I can imagine the idea of marriage might be overwhelming for you. But you did so well at finishing school, I thought you were ready,” her father said

Rosa stared at him in disbelief. She was his daughter; did he really have so little understanding about what he was doing to her? Rosa felt like her future, her dreams, her very life had been ripped from her grasp before she had even had a chance to begin living it.

“Listen, we’ll be hosting the engagement party at the end of the week. You’ll get to meet Damon and you’ll soon see that everything will be fine.”

“But…”

Rosa’s interjection was swiftly cut off.

“I’m sorry Rosa but as head of this household, I know best. My decision is final.”

                                                *                      *                      *

On the night of the engagement party Rosa stayed up in her room until all the guests had arrived. Her father tapped gently on her door then pushed it open.

“Oh Rosa!” was all he could manage as his eyes filled with tears of pride.

Rosa gave him a forced smile. She knew that he was only doing what he thought was best for her. She was strong enough to make the best of any situation and besides she knew she had no choice.

Joseph took Rosa’s arm and led her to the courtyard where the guests were gathered. It was time to present her to her groom.

Damon was tall, handsome too. Rosa had to admit this when she first saw him, although she was shocked by the noticeable age difference.

As her father led her across the sandstone pavers, Rosa watched Damon talking to the guests surrounding him. He exuded charm and had them all hanging on his every word. When he turned his gaze on Rosa, she felt an intoxicating appreciation radiate from him, it was irresistible. Maybe marriage to this man wouldn’t be as bad as she feared.  

When they reached Damon, Joseph took a deep breath and with a smile and nod of encouragement, he let go of Rosa’s arm and shook Damon’s hand.

“Damon Jasper, it is my pleasure to introduce you to my daughter and your fiancée, Rosa.”

“At long last. I was wondering if I would ever get to meet you, Rosa. You are even more beautiful than I was led to believe. I think this is going to be a most satisfactory arrangement.”

“It’s nice to meet you sir,” Rosa said, her voice barely above a whisper.

Damon cleared his throat to catch the crowd’s attention.

“Thank you all for coming. This marriage is going to be a great enterprise. A merger beneficial to both my family, and the Ryan family. But there is something that I have not had the chance to do and so this engagement is not yet official….”

“Rosa, I give you this ring as a promise that soon you will be my wife.”

As he held up the ring, he looked deep into her eyes. Rosa had to lock every muscle in her body to stop from flinching at the sudden intensity of his gaze. It was filled with desire and a look of smug satisfaction, belief in his ownership of all he saw before him.

Rosa’s father nudged her arm before she realised that Damon was waiting for her to hold out her hand to receive the ring. The moment he slipped it onto her finger Rosa was hit with an overwhelming sense of dread. The rest of the party was a blur.

That night Rosa dreamed more vividly than she ever had before. The dream was filled with screams and blood. It was terrifying and disorienting. Rosa told her parents about the dream and her concerns about marrying Damon but her father assured her that it was just nerves and that they would soon pass. However, over the next week the dreams continued.

“Joseph, maybe we should listen to Rosa. You know the gift of prophecy runs in my family,” Emma said.

“Don’t be ridiculous Emma, psychic abilities, magic, witches, they’re all just old wives’ tales,” said Joseph.

“But Joseph…”

“Enough! Rosa is getting married and I won’t hear any more of this nonsense, from Rosa or from you.”

                                                 *                      *                      *

Damon began visiting the Ryan home daily, mostly to speak with her father but he always took a few minutes to talk to Rosa. As time went by he began to caress her hand or arm, nothing too familiar but Rosa felt he was taking liberties that were not yet his to take. She felt he was demonstrating his ownership of her and her initial feeling that marrying this charismatic man would be okay was soon eroded by the understanding that he was nothing like her respectful and kind father. Damon was the kind of man who took what he wanted without regard for anyone else. Rosa began to believe that maybe the dreams were a warning not to marry this man, a warning that he may even be dangerous.

Rosa was relieved when Damon told her that he had to go away for a few days on business. She enjoyed those three days as she had never enjoyed herself before. Soon this became the routine. Damon would visit daily for a couple of weeks then he would go away on business for three or four days. The date had been set for the wedding and Rosa was determined to make the most of what little freedom she had before she became his wife.

As the wedding got closer, Rosa was becoming more certain that there was something not quite right with her fiancé. She researched him online and found out that he had been married before, about ten years earlier. His wife, Fiona, had disappeared while they were on their honeymoon, there were no details about what had happened, she had just disappeared without a trace. Rosa needed to know what else Damon might be hiding.

She had an idea. The next time Damon came to the house she met him at the door and took his coat.

When Damon went to speak with her father she made a small opening in the lining of the coat, slipped in one of her father’s tiny tracking devices and stitched up the opening.

The tracker was linked to her mobile phone – which she had managed to tweak so that it could act not only as a receiver for the signal but it would also save the trips that Damon took so she would have proof of where he spent his time.

Damon left the next morning on one of his business trips. Rosa watched the little red dot creating a path on the map on her phone. It headed to the edge of town where the streets ended and opened up to empty fields which faced onto the Dark Forest.

Rosa was confused, especially when the little red dot headed into the forest itself. After a few hours the dot stopped moving – was this the end of his trip or had the tracker just lost signal?

She had to find out where he went. She asked her father’s permission to stay at a friend’s house, explaining that she wanted one last night as a child before she became a responsible wife – the lie slipped easily from her tongue. Joseph smiled and readily agreed with her request. Rosa checked the signal on her phone then headed off to follow the path made by the little red dot.

                                                 *                      *                      *

 Rosa soon stood at the edge of the forest. The sound of vehicles rumbling in the distance behind her contrasted sharply with the emptiness before her, calling her back to the safety of the citadel.

Sunlight warmed her back. The few shafts that managed to penetrate the branches, thick with leaves above her head, were defeated twenty or thirty feet in. Beyond, the forest was cool and dark.

She hesitated there at the edge. Dread slid like ice through her veins, urging her to turn and run back into the open, but she had to go on.

Rosa began to make her way forward. She stumbled on a fallen branch and reached out to catch herself on the gnarled bark of an ancient oak. She paused, she could no longer hear the sounds of civilisation.

There was a loud crack to her left. The wind picked up, carrying the scent of earth to her nose and rustling the leaves in the surrounding trees. She found herself shivering. The forest might look empty but she knew it wasn’t.

She took a deep breath to slow her pounding heart and forced herself forward.

                                                  *                      *                      *

Rosa was beginning to worry that she would be lost in the forest forever when she finally came across a small cabin. It looked abandoned, old wood, grimy windows, moss and lichen covering the sagging roof. This was where the tracker stopped.

She waited, hidden in the trees and watched the house. By this time the sun was beginning to set. When she decided that there was no one around she crept up to the closest window. She peered inside and almost fell over from the shock of seeing herself within, until she realised she was seeing a picture of herself standing next to Damon that had been taken at their engagement party.

Rosa decided she needed a closer look, she moved quietly around to the front door and tried the knob – it was unlocked. She stepped inside. Beside the door was a coat rack on which hung her fiancé’s coat. This was where he had come but there was no sign of him.

As she crossed the room she was startled by the sound of a woman screaming followed by a cry “Let me go. Please!” Rosa froze.

There was another scream and once again the cry of a woman “Let me go. Please!”

The cry was coarse and high-pitched, it didn’t sound quite right to Rosa. She looked into the dark corner of the room where the sound was coming from and as her eyes adjusted she realised she was looking at a bird in an ornate cage.

Once again, the scream and the begging cry issued forth. This time Rosa was certain, it was coming from the bird.

Taking a deep breath to steel herself Rosa kept moving forward.

There was only one other door off this room. She crept over to it and turned the knob. The door opened onto a staircase that headed down into the dark. For a time, Rosa stood debating herself. Going down into a dark basement was probably the stupidest thing she could think of doing but she was determined to know just what Damon was up to so, using her phone as a torch, Rosa descended.

“What are you doing here? Why would you come?”

Rosa spun around to confront the croaky female voice that spoke from the shadows in the corner.

A dishevelled woman was huddled there looking at Rosa with fear in her eyes. She was small, skin and bones, with long matted hair. She pulled herself up using the table next to her and hobbled towards Rosa, hands out, pleading. Rosa was horrified, the woman looked weak, close to death.

“You have to leave now, before he gets back!”

“Are you ok? What happened to you?” Rosa asked the woman, taking her arm as she stumbled. She helped her to sit in a chair by the table.

“I was brought here on my wedding day, chained to this floor and have been here ever since.”

Rosa looked down at the woman’s bare feet. A rusted chain was clamped to her ankle, it ran from there to a ring fixed to the floor in the corner of the room.

“I don’t know how long ago that was, I barely remember a time when I was anywhere else. But please Rosa, you have to leave now, before it’s too late.”

“I’m not leaving without you. Wait, how do you know my name?”

“Damon told me he was planning to bring you here, he showed me your photo. You’re to be my replacement.”

Rosa’s eyes grew wide. She grabbed the woman’s dirt encrusted hands.

“Damon did this to you? Oh my god, you’re his first wife? Fiona? We have to get out of here.”

The sound of a distant door banging closed drew Rosa and Fiona’s attention. The bird began screaming again.

“Too late.”

 “Fiona, my love, I’m home,” Damon called from upstairs. “We have a guest.”

Rosa gasped.

Fiona placed her hand on Rosa’s arm and held her finger to her lips.
“Quiet, he doesn’t know you’re here. Hide over there in the corner behind those barrels.”

Rosa moved quickly to crouch down in the shadowy corner, hoping she was hidden well enough.

She switched off her phone just as light flooded the room. Damon came down the stairs carrying a lamp and something bulky, wrapped in a blanket over his shoulder.

Rosa cautiously shifted herself until she could see what Damon was doing.

There was a woodfired oven in the corner where Fiona was chained, the table stood next to that and a bed was next to the table. Fiona’s chain, she realised was long enough that she could reach all the corners of the room but she wouldn’t be able to reach the door at the top of the stairs. In the floor in the middle of the room was a large drainage grate.

Damon dropped the blanket wrapped item on the floor and placed the lamp on the table.

“Fiona, get the fire going. Jack, Matt, and Sean will be here soon.”

Rosa watched as Fiona set about starting a fire in the oven, it was a welcome warmth in the cold, dank basement.

“Now my lovely it’s time for you to wake up.”

Damon unwrapped the blanket and Rosa suppressed a gasp, it contained a young woman, dishevelled and bruised but still beautiful. Damon slapped her hard.

“Wake up!” As he spoke the bird upstairs started screaming and a door slammed open. Several pairs of boots stomped towards the stairs. Rosa went cold, frozen with fear.

Three men joined Damon in the basement.

“You’re late,” he said.

“Well why don’t we stop wasting time and get on with it?” said the largest of the newcomers.

The young woman began to groan and then her eyes opened. She screamed.

“Let me go. Please!” she cried out. She spotted Fiona cowering in the corner “Help me, please help me.”

The four men laughed at her. She tried to stand up, to get to the stairs but they knocked her down.

Rosa had to bite down on her finger to stop from crying out and giving herself away. She scanned the floor for a weapon but soon realised that even if she found something it would still be four large men against one small woman. She couldn’t help this girl without becoming a victim too and she hated herself for it. She decided that at the very least she would get Fiona out of here and then she would find a way to put a stop to Damon and his friends.

Rosa watched, helpless as the men circled the girl. As one they pounced.

Her screams were heart-wrenching. The men had produced knives, slashing and cutting the girl repeatedly. Butchering her alive. Rosa squeezed her eyes shut, almost fainting as the sounds died away.

Something hit her, landing in her lap. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

“Oh Shit! I lost her finger!  It just shot off! Shit!” said one of the men. “I think it flew over into the corner.”

“Who cares,” said another.

“It had a real nice emerald ring on it. I was gonna give it to me wife.”

“Jack, you can find it later. Fiona get cooking,” said Damon

Rosa watched in horror as Fiona, with tears streaming down her face, gathered up the freshly butchered meat and put it on to roast.

Despite her revulsion, the smell of roasting meat made Rosa’s stomach growl, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

The men feasted, tearing with their teeth like wild animals. When they were finished they trooped upstairs carrying all the bones and scraps, slamming the door behind them.

Rosa heard them cross the floor above and head outside.  Soon she thought she heard the sound of vehicles starting up.

“Rosa, you can come out now. They’ve gone and won’t be back tonight.”

Rosa crawled out of the corner, her legs heavy and stiff from sitting awkwardly for so long. She still had the finger with the emerald ring. She put it in her pocket – proof of Damon’s true self.

“We have to get out of here,” she said. “Do you know where they keep the key for your chains?”

                                                *                      *                      *

Rosa went straight to her father and told him everything that had happened.

Despite Joseph’s absolute belief that Rosa was telling the truth, the Chief of Police wouldn’t listen and the mayor wasn’t interested in besmirching such an important local businessman. After all Rosa was just a nineteen-year-old girl too scared to get married, and Fiona was an unknown woman who jumped at her own shadow. They weren’t considered reliable witnesses. In Aeredel even the most upstanding women weren’t permitted to report a crime or give evidence in court.

For days Rosa’s father petitioned the mayor’s office, begging to have Rosa heard, all to no avail. Rosa was at her wits end, then she found the finger in her pocket.

“Father, tell everyone I’ve come to my senses. We need to go ahead with the wedding rehearsal dinner. The mayor will be there, so will the chief of police. I have a plan to catch Damon out, I know just what needs to be done.”

                                                 *                      *                      *

The wedding rehearsal dinner happened just as planned. Damon seemed out of sorts but showed no sign that he suspected Rosa had found his hidden cabin, that she had released Fiona from her chains.

Rosa was shocked to see that Damon’s cannibal friends were in attendance, but so were the authorities and she was determined to take Damon down.

It was customary at a rehearsal dinner that once the food was eaten, guests would share stories. Usually they had some guidance for the bride to be. Sometimes they were ribald tales to remind the groom of the wonders of a wife. Sometimes they were personal or family stories and sometimes they were classic tales passed down from the times when magic still existed. Everyone took a turn.

“So, Rosa, do you have a story to share with us?” Damon asked, flushed with wine and food.

“I don’t know any stories sir,” she said.

“Come on you must have something to share with your husband to be.”

“Well…. I don’t have a story, but I could tell you about a dream I had a few nights ago.” Rosa tilted her head down, looking up at Damon from beneath her fluttering lashes.

There were nods of encouragement and “yes, do tell” rippled around the gathered crowd.

Rosa scanned the room to make sure the cannibal friends were all still there as well as the mayor and the chief of police. She also looked to the doors and was pleased to see the extra police security that her father had ordered were standing guard.

Rosa looked at Damon as she spoke.

“In my dream I came across a cabin deep in the woods. I went inside and down into the basement where I found a woman chained. She said her name was Fiona.”

Damon paled and his friend’s jaws dropped.

“I hid in the corner behind a barrel and, in my dream, I saw you, and you, and you, and you come down the stairs” she said as she pointed to Damon and each of his friends in turn. “You were carrying a young woman.”

The four men were frozen, staring at Rosa.

“Next, I watched you all take out knives, and as she screamed, you cut up the young woman, cooked her and ate her.”

A chorus of gasps swept around the room. Damon’s friend Jack looked angry now. Damon put a restraining hand on his arm. Despite the lack of colour in his cheeks, Damon still managed a smug smile.

“Oh Rosa, that sounds like a terrifying dream. It’s ok, you don’t need to go on. I’ll forgive you that you weren’t able to share a story tonight.” He turned to the rest of the guests and opened his mouth to speak, but Rosa interrupted.

“It’s ok sir, I can go on.” She took a breath and continued.

“In my dream, as you were cutting up the young woman, one of her fingers flew into the corner of the room where I sat. It had on it an emerald ring.”

“But how…?”

“Jack hold your tongue,” Damon hissed. “Oh Rosa, what a terrible dream.”

“Yes, it was,” Rosa nodded. “In my dream, after the four of you left I got up, found the key and released the prisoner, Fiona.”

“My dear you have such an imagination. Now why don’t we move on…”

“Oh, but there’s one more thing. The strangest part of the whole dream.” Rosa paused for effect. “The strange thing is…. It wasn’t a dream. And I have proof. Fiona!”

With that Fiona walked into the room and placed the severed finger with its emerald ring in front of the Chief of Police.

The room descended into chaos. Damon’s friends tried to run but were stopped by the guards. Damon stood shouting denials and demanding Rosa be arrested for witchcraft, lying to the Mayor or anything else he could think of. Yelling that Rosa had proved nothing.

“She’s just a girl, why are you listening to her?”

“Quiet!” The Mayor had come to his feet. Everyone fell silent. “Rosa, is there anything else you wanted to add?”

“Yes Sir, I also have a map to the cabin in the woods…. if that helps.”

The End.