Vines

A Story by PaopuKitten

This was an english assignment, thought i'd share it even tho it could be better

The sun started to set and Grey walked around the house, preparing everything for the perfect anniversary. He kept straying toward the closet, where he knew, his mother’s engagement ring was. Could it be the night? Could it be right? To his utter surprise, he grabbed the ring and stowed it in his pocket.

He looked at his watch; it was nearly time for his longtime girlfriend, Roxanne, to come out of work and into his arms. He calculated what time she would arrive at the door step (one minute, twenty-seven seconds), so he turned on the stereo and fed it the CD “Outlandos d'Amour” by The Police and turned it to the third track, “Roxanne”. Several minutes passed and nothing… No sign of clacking high heel boots she loved to wear or her cherry red curly hair. No green eyes lingering and no rose scented perfume…

He called the office. He called her cellphone. “Hey this is Roxanne, leave me a message and I’ll get back to you. Thank you!” He called his future mother-in-law. Nothing. He realized he was on the bed, in fetal position. It was at two in the morning when the doorbell rang. How ironic, he thought as he opened the door.

“Good evening, sir,” the officer “Coleson” said, glancing around. “I came to my attention that a Miss Roxanne Derule has gone missing. I’m here to ask you some questions.”

Twenty minutes later, Coleson left and Grey was alone…again. He put the engagement ring on a chain around his neck.

Over the next three sleepless days (“I can’t sleep,” he said, “not without her safe here and at home. I’ll never be at rest until she’s safe here with me.”) Officers came and left. Also did Roxanne’s mother, Kristen, who provided moral support. Grey hugged her and focused his bloodshot eyes on hers, “Kristen, I was wondering when this is all over… Could I ask Roxanne to marry me?”

She smiled, kissed his cheek and nodded. She opened her mouth but was interrupted by Grey’s phone’s ringing.

“Hello, Greyson Noore speaking.”

“Hey Grey,” a shaky female voice said, nearly a hoarse whisper.

Roxanne.

“Where are you?!” he asked frantically, “Please come home, Roxy. I love you, plea-” he heard her whimper and a male voice so sickeningly familiar growled “Listen your girlfriend asks to go home. But I just can’t part with her… Such a beauty!”

He laughed and said, “Expect a ‘blessing’ tomorrow.”

Roxanne’s screams and pleading. The line cut off just then.

The next morning, he felt his brain turning into mush. Sleep evaded him, yet he could feel it gnawing on his eyelids. Officers and future mother-in-law were in again. He went to go retrieve the mail and on the counter he saw a box. He ripped off the tape and inside was a small silver box and a note. “Hope you enjoy this, for it was her only prized possession she was willing to give you. She says she loves you.- SC”

His heart thumping, he opened the box, its contents as horrifying as they were, broke his heart and he screamed loudly, tears poured down his face and then he fainted. Kristen peered into the box and tears silently poured down her cheeks.

It was Roxanne’s finger.

Left ring finger.

It had her tattoos.

Vine tattoos.

Grey dreamed in his sleep. He dreamed Roxanne in her beautiful wedding dress she had once designed on a whim. It was covered in her blood. He woke up, Kristen watching over him.

“You slept such a long time Hon.”

“What time is it?”

“2:30 PM sweetheart”

“Have they found her?”

“Well…”

“Have they found her…?”

“They have a lead.”

At that moment, the phone rang and Kristen stood to go answer it, leaving Grey time to think as he thumbed the ring on his chain. He stared up at the ceiling, wondering where she could be. He heard her screams and remembered her bloody finger…

Kristen came back and screamed with tears of joy in her eyes, “They found Roxy!”

They drove to the hospital, hearts racing, fearing that she would be take away again. They found her sleeping.

Grey nearly wept with joy but he determined to stay strong. Her red curls no longer curls; they were mostly cut up, stringy and crusted with blood. She only had nine fingers and all of her toes. She seemed thinner and very pale beside bruises, harsh, jagged cuts and brutal burns. Greyson couldn’t stand hearing her ordeal, so Kristen was told by Officer Coleson about how she was raped, tossed down stairs, bound, gagged, mutilated and starved. Why could Grey sense a hit of smugness?

Roxanne went into surgery for breaks and stitching and fixing up her left hand. She was slowly coming back out of the anesthesia when Coleson talked to Grey again. Her eyes fluttered open in horror and she shrieked until her voice was hoarse.

“It was him! Grey, get him! He took me and raped me and beat me ‘till I passed out! Arrest him! Get him!”

Grey tackled him to the ground and Coleson was taken away after he confessed to everything. Grey rushed to Roxanne and he held her as she wept uncontrollably, held her tighter and sang “Roxanne”, her song.

He kissed he bandaged hands, took the chain off his neck and put it on hers, “Please marry me Roxanne, I won’t let anybody hurt you. I don’t care how you look I love you for who you are. You’re still the same girl I fell in love with when I first laid eyes on you. ”

She cried silently, she smiled for the first time in what seemed ages and said, “I will. And I love you too.”

Together they said:

“Forever More…” Just as they always did…