The Rose: Chapter One

“Bellamy, I’m leaving,” Maurice called. 

Bellamy looked up from his book. “Where are you going this time?” 

“I’ve got a showing up near the Bouconne forest. I think?” He said looking at his phone. 

“Oh, that’s… interesting.” Bellamy frowned. He shook his head and closed his book. “Could you bring me back something?” He always challenged his father to bring him back something unique. “Something…. blue.” 

“Blue?” Maurice repeated. “I suppose I can.” 

Bellamy smiled brightly. “Merci.” 

“Now, I’ll be on my way. I should be back sometime tonight or early tomorrow.” 

“With the way you drive, I’m betting tomorrow,” Bellamy teased. 

Maurice rolled his eyes. “Goodbye, Bellamy.” 

He watched his father leave the apartment. Maurice was an interesting one, at least in the eyes of most people. Though, most people didn’t think interesting was a compliment. He was an inventor of sorts. He planned on creating the next greatest…. thing. He wasn’t sure what it would be yet, but this week it was a self brushing tooth brush. It was kind of a robot. It stood on the edge of your bathroom sink and held out the toothbrush. It was a little short so you’d have to bend down to use it properly. It brushed, but roughly. Bellamy wasn’t sure this was going to be the next best thing, but Maurice was heading west to meet with an investor. Bellamy didn’t know why they were meeting at this person’s cabin. They must have been on vacation or something. 

Bellamy stood and stretched. He grabbed his messenger bag and slung it around his shoulder. He wasn’t the tallest or most intimidating figure. He was about five foot nine, short brown hair that he barely styled so most days it looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and he had thin round silver frames that made his blue eyes look grey. 

That day, Bellamy wore an old oversized sweater. It was torn in a few places and when the sleeves weren’t pushed up to his elbows they hung past his fingertips. He had equally worn jeans on, and a pair of black chucks. He left the apartment and headed down the steps to the exit. Bellamy didn’t make it to the door when Leo grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the wall at the bottom of the stairs. 

“Hey, pretty boy,” Leo purred. He leaned in, but Bellamy turned his face away. “Such a tease,” Leo sighed. He was taller than Bellamy by a few inches and spent way too much time at the gym. He was strong in a kind of terrifying way. His t-shirt was too tight against his muscles. Some people might find that attractive, but Bellamy didn’t care about those kinds of things. He didn’t care that Leo’s blonde hair was long and lustrous. He didn’t care about Leo’s striking green eyes. Leo was a grade A asshole and Bellamy wanted nothing to do with him. 

He kept his hand on Bellamy’s arm. “Can you not?” Bellamy said. 

Leo leaned back a little. “Where are you off to?” he asked, ignoring Bellamy’s request. 

“The library.” 

“Boring,” Leo said. “You should come hang out with me and Jeanne.” 

“Why so she can glare at me the entire time?” 

“Jeanne likes you,” Leo scoffed. 

“No, she likes you.” 

“Anyway… you don’t need to go to the library when there’s fun right here.” 

“I’m not coming to your apartment,” Bellamy said. “I have better things to do.” 

Leo let go and leaned back. “Brat.”

“Only to you,” Bellamy muttered as he tried to pull away. 

Leo shoved him hard against the wall. “You better watch it.” 

Bellamy swallowed but tried not to show fear. “Or what?” 

“I’m not above taking what I want and I want you, Bellamy.” 

Bellamy’s eyes went wide. “You can’t have me and you certainly can’t take me.” He pushed on Leo hard, making him stumble. In that moment, Bellamy took the opportunity to run toward the door. 

He ran out the door and down the front steps of the apartment building. He hit the cool Toulouse air. For a second he felt better, but that feeling was destroyed by Leo running out of the building after him. 

“Listen, you little shit,” he spat. 

Bellamy wasn’t a coward. He wasn’t all talk and no game, but at this point he didn’t want to see what Leo was planning for him. He took off down the sidewalk and disappeared into a crowd of people. He ducked low and tried to stay out of sight. He couldn’t go to the library now, so he turned down the street in the opposite direction. 

**

Maurice was lost. Not even a little lost, but completely horribly lost. He scratched his temple and ran his fingers through his grey hair. It always stuck up in weird places anyway, he didn’t care about mussing it up more. He looked at his GPS and sighed. 

“Please turn around and get back on….” 

“I don’t want to go that way,” Maurice interrupted the machine. 

“Maurice, this is the correct route.” 

“Ah ha, I knew it.” 

“No, Maurice…” the GPS pleaded, but he shut it off. 

Another one of his inventions, but he didn’t seem to think anyone would want it now that everyone used their phones. He was sure that the self brushing robot would be a big hit. He found a dirt road and turned onto it. He just needed this investor to believe in his product. Then he would make it big and give Bellamy the life he deserved. The poor boy lived in that tiny apartment with him. Neither of them could afford anything else and his sisters left as soon as they could. 

Cosette was a small-time actress and Aveline was a small business owner. She had a crystal shop in downtown Toulouse. Both the youngest and oldest respectively. Aveline was thirty, Bellamy was twenty-five, and Cosette was twenty. Maurice hadn’t seen his youngest in the last two years since she moved out and it had been even longer since he’d seen Aveline. At least after they left Bellamy could have his own room. When they all lived together, Cosette and Aveline shared a room while Bellamy slept on the couch, and Maurice had his own room. Half of it was taken up by his tinkering so there was no room for Bellamy. He stayed on the couch until both of his sisters moved out. 

Maurice felt a little bad, but his son never complained. So he assumed everything was fine. He slowly drove up the dirt road and glanced around at the sight before him. Everything was overgrown and basically untouched. He frowned because this investor was supposed to be rich and could probably afford to keep his land manicured. He kept going anyway until he pulled up to a large cabin. Though calling it a cabin was kind of a joke. It was at least three levels. Almost mansion-like, but hidden in the woods. The windows were boarded up. Ivy vines creeped up the building. 

Maurice killed the engine and got out of the car. He was hit with a cold like he had never felt before. He wrapped his arms around himself and looked around. There was a large lake nearby that was completely frozen. Maurice let out a slow breath and could see it in the air. Maybe he should turn around and leave this place behind. He should go back home and be done with his stupid brushing robot. He sighed and climbed back into the car. He turned the key and nothing happened. He tried again, but the car refused to start. 

“Crap,” he muttered. 

He thought maybe the owner of the cabin had a vehicle and a jumper cable. Maurice left the car and walked up to the cabin. Snow slowly drifted down. He knocked on the door, but no one responded. There was probably no one home. He groaned. Maybe if he called Aveline…. but his phone was back in the car. 

As he turned toward the car, something blue caught his attention. A bush near the side of the cabin. He walked in the direction of the bushes and discovered beautiful blue roses. They were absolutely stunning. He could pick one to bring to Bellamy. He would be so surprised! A natural blue rose. 

Maurice took his time picking the right rose. He took a pocket knife out of his jeans and flicked it open. He gently wrapped his hand around the most perfect deep blue rose and pulled it up just enough to get the knife under it. He sliced the stem and held onto the rose. 

“Beautifu-” his voice became strangled. He screamed out in pain and dropped both the knife and the rose. 

Thorns began pushing up through his skin. All over his body he felt the sharp pain of skin ripping and thorns appearing through the torn flesh. 

Maurice screamed again as he fell to his knees. He could see thorns like those of the rose bush all over his hands. He trembled as he reached up and touched his face. Thorns. 

“Somebody help me!” he cried.

“Help you?” a deep voice rumbled. 

Tears rolled down Maurice’s cheeks. His vision blurred. He couldn’t see who was speaking. 

“You destroyed my garden,” the voice growled. “You deserve the curse that has befallen you.” 

“Please!” Maurice cried. “I’ll do anything!” 

A hand grabbed onto Maurice’s shirt. He could feel claws at the back of his neck. 

“Oh you will work for your cure.” 

Maurice was lifted to his feet and shoved forward. He stumbled and fell into a light dusting of snow. He rolled over and wiped at his eyes. He saw the outline of the creature that had been speaking to him. The thing leaned in close so Maurice could really see him. 

“Are you scared yet?” it snarled. 

Maurice screamed.