Flower Petals

Warning: Mentions of neglect, r*pe, misarranges, abuse, toxic relationships. Read at your own risk.

You were a stereotypical married couple, you had your ups and downs but at the end of the day, you loved him. He worked as a manager at a supermarket because he had never gone to college, and you worked at an office while attending college. You were both young and rather dumb people who were in love and married at a young age.

~

You two met in high school, you being the stereotypical nerd and James, your husband, being the stereotypical bad boy. You don't know how in the world you matched, maybe because your parents had divorced when you were just four and his mother died when he was seven. Either way, you both knew what it was like to not have one parent in your life. You met him in the library when he was supposed to be studying but instead was trying to hook up with a girl, and you quickly tried to walk away and pretend that you had never seen their make-out session but accidentally locked eyes with him. He had never seen such a beautiful girl in his entire life, you wore an oversized hoodie and some jeans with your black sneakers your hair was in a bun and it was hidden in your hood. He knew you were destined to be his. He pushed the girl off his lap and she fell to the floor with a thud! and she followed his gaze.

"Oh, you must be my new tutor Ms. (L/N)? It's a pleasure to meet you, madam." He said as he stalked towards you and kissed your hand.

You blushed like an idiot at what he did, you had been shown little to no affection from a male as your father wanted nothing to do with you and most boys made you feel like shit.

"Oh, Mr. Hendrickson I'm sorry for disturbing your little....meeting." You said as you pulled your hand away and tried to back away from him.

"No, you weren't disturbing anything. Good old Misty here was about to leave." He said looking at Misty threateningly as he took your hand making you go into a blushing fit.

"Will a James Alexander Hendrickson please report to the principal's office, now." Said the voice over the intercom.

"Sorry that our meeting had to be cut short Ms. (L/N), but rest assured we shall meet again," James said as he winked at you and began to leave the room.

"How do you know my name?" You asked as you tried catching up to him only to turn a corner and see that he had left you in the dust.

After some time being friends he asked you to become his girlfriend, which you quickly said yes to. You two took it slow at first, but with graduation ebbing closer you thought you two would soon break up, but that never happened you two stayed together. At your graduation party your father showed up you had mixed emotions about him being there, on one hand, he was your father but on the other, he refused to have any contact with you at all. But the part of you that saw the good in people came up and you welcomed him with open arms. And it was when there was a slow song that James got down on one knee and pulled out a box that held a diamond ring and proposed to you. You of course said yes and hugged him like there was no tomorrow.

You moved out of your mothers' house for multiple reasons, mainly the fact that she lied to you about your father and why he wasn't visiting you. You moved into a glorious two-story house that was bought by James.

"Who knew he was rich?" You asked into the phone while putting a pillow on the bed.

"Well, his last name is Hendrickson." Said Dianna, your childhood friend.

"The last name means nothing." You said as you began to lay on your bed.

"Well the McMasters last name means something, you can ask Doris," Dianna said referring to a girl you know knew to lie A LOT.

"Doris just claims something that isn't true." You said as you looked at the ceiling.

"But her last name landed her millions of dollars," Dianna said as she began drying her nails on the other line.

"She lied and that makes a great injustice." You said as you sadly looked at the photo of you, Dianna, and Carol from when you were ten.

"But she got money, which is exactly my point," Dianna said looking at the way her nails shined in the light.

"Touché Dianna, touché. But how did I get so lucky?" You asked more to yourself than to Dianna.

"Stop doubting yourself (Y/N), you deserve more than you know." She said fanning her nails and walking across her room to the closet.

"No I don't, for the longest time I held a grudge against my father for no reason." You said feeling upset with yourself.

"And for the longest time, you had me and Carol. Even though Carol isn't here right now, she's looking at you and smiling right now." Dianna said looking at the exact same photo that she kept on her nightstand.

You began to breakdown crying over your lost friend, she was always the tough one between you three and had died trying to protect you and Dianna from a group of girls.

They claimed that you had winked at one of their boyfriends and wanted to beat you up, but Carol wasn't going to let that happen and stepped in. They stabbed her and walked away and went on with their life as if it were normal, well except for one her name was Hera and she tried to save Carol. You pulled out your phone and call 9-1-1 as quickly as you could with shaky hands. And she the paramedics arrived she was nearly dead, as they tried to stabilize her and get her to the hospital but she died that night in her bed. You cried for the first five months of her death and wished that you fought the girls. It was when you finally had enough strength to go over to her parent's house and talk to them. You found out that they had just started to go through Carol's things and began asking for her friends to come over and get what they wanted. When you entered the room you saw the pink and green wall decorated with butterflies was still the same and that her stuff was neatly put away. You nearly cried and would've if you hadn't cried all of your tears out on the way over there. You looked through the many things she had and saw one of the friendship bracelets that you made when you first met, you grabbed it and put it into your bag. You saw the microphone she had accidentally hit you in the head with when she was in a fight and you got too close, and you put it in your bag. You saw the one thing she always told you not to touch: her secret box. She said that it held a demon and if you opened it would be released, but that story had no longer stopped you anymore, a demon would be a great touch and something that you could tolerate.

When you opened the box you found that it contained files, many files, and many paper butterflies that she made. You were very curious as to what the files were about and began to look through them, and those you didn't read were quickly shoved into your bag. Most of them grasped the concept of past lives and other stuff, one of them said you all had met at a very young age during the 1920s and that Carol died due to poisoning from her husband. You flew down the stairs and out of the house and ran home. You found out that her parents were very happy about their daughters' death mainly because they kidnapped her and she found out.

"(Y/N)! That's it, I'm coming over" Dianna said into the phone before hanging up.

You began to panic, the house was still clean but what would you wear? What if Dianna didn't like the house? What if she brings Hera with her? What if Hera doesn't like the house? What if Hera brings her children with her? What if James comes back and is upset that you let friends come over without him saying it's okay? Okay maybe the last one is a little drastic, but still what if they just hated your house. You began to furiously clean around the house and dressed as nicely as you could without your outfit screaming, "I have more money than I know what to do with!" You made a present for each child Hera had and for Hera and Dianna and moved the furniture to your liking. When you heard the knock at the door, followed by many doorbell sounds, and opened the door you saw Dianna and Hera standing there both with their eyes filled with excitement.

"Wow! (Y/N) you look great!" Said Hera as she looked at your dress.

"Thank you, Hera-"

"I can't believe you're wearing nail polish (Y/N)!" Said your pink-haired friend.

"Dianna,"

"Huh?"

"Shut up."

"Let's go inside, I bet it's beautiful."

After you gave them the grand tour you brought them back to the living room.

"So, James bought you all of this?" Asked Hera.

"Yep." You said wringing your hands.

"When are there gonna be little (Y/N)'s and James' running around?" Asked Dianna.

You stopped breathing for a minute, you loved your friends and you loved James but you didn't want them to find out about the child that you were carrying. It wasn't the right time.

"I-I don't know." You said as you looked down at the floor.

"What is it (Y/N)? Did James say he didn't want children?" Hera asked in a motherly way.

"No, it's just that- Never mind." You said trying to dismiss the subject.

"I don't understand why you guys like men, they're always sooo horny!" Said Dianna as she rolled her eyes on the word 'horny'.

"Yeah, look at the pot calling the kettle black!" Said Hera as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey!" Cried out, Dianna.

"Face it, Dianna, you're two-dimensional." Said Hera as she smacked Dianna on the back of her head.

"Ouch! I'm not two dimensional, I like money, sex, and food. See three things!" Dianna said holding up three fingers childishly.

"Alright Dianna, alright!" Said Hera as she rolled her eyes at Dianna again.

You three went on conversing about the random things in life, mainly about Hera's four children. And they soon had to leave, leaving you in an empty lonely house. You thought of everything that could've and should've been and began singing.

"Oh when these blue skies turn grey, and when this nighttime turns into day
I cry my little heart out at the saddest of things, of you and what the world may bring
The light is fading in the endless sky, and the stars are much to dull to dry
To dry all of these tears that I've shed over you
Maybe they will know
Maybe they'll leave me alone,
But you'll understand when one day." You concluded as you placed a hand on your stomach and looked at it. Then you suddenly heard clapping behind you.

"You sounded amazing babe," James said as your eyes went wide.

"J-James, I didn't know you were home." You said as James walked over to you.

"You look amazing! I knew I made the right choice of marrying you!" James said as he lifted you off the ground and spun you around.

"James, your dinner in on the table." You said as he put you down.

"Aw, babe I thought you would eat with me." James pouted.

"I would but I start my job tonight." You said pecking James' cheek.

"I thought I told you I don't want you working," James said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I know, I know, but I wanted to save money so that we'd always have something to fall back on if something happens to all your money." You said looking at your husband with sincerity in your eyes.

"Did you ever stop to look around ya? I'm rich! I only work this little job as a manager to keep people from thinking we're rich and coming into our lives begging for money." James said looking at you.

"Well, I enjoy working." You said as you walked upstairs and into your bedroom to get dressed.

When you came downstairs James sat on the couch watching TV and half asleep, you kissed him goodbye and took your car keys.

~

When you arrived at your job there was a lady at the front desk that wore a tight red coat, a white blouse, a tight red skirt, and a pair of red heels. You just couldn't look at her as she looked through the pages of the magazine and paid you no mind. You're new boss told you what floor you needed to go to in an email, but he also told you to talk to some of your new co-workers so you wouldn't be lonely. You decided to skip Miss Red, as you nicknamed her, and went to your floor. When you arrived you saw there were only men, outside of the occasional female coming to deliver papers to them, and tried to find your boss's office. Unfortunately, you had to take the stairs the rest of the way to the top floor because your boss didn't like people to easily access his office so he made it to where to get to the top floor you had to put in a password. You walked up the stairs (that were directed by some of the men's desk) and pulled down your skirt occasionally, you had no idea why your boss insisted that you wear a short skirt on the first day of work. However, you did what your employer said and dressed accordingly. When you reached the top of the stair you were greeted by the sounds of papers being sorted through and groaning, you ignored this and knocked three times on the big wooden door.

"Ugh! Come in." Said an irritated male voice as you slowly opened the door. When you peeked inside, you saw that the room was in complete disarray, there were papers strewn about, the trash was overflowing, and one could hardly see past the desk. You were shocked, you couldn't believe that a place that was so clean on the lower floors would be so dirty on the top floor.

"State your name and business." He said as you heard the typing of a keyboard near the desk.

"(Y/N) (L/N) Hendrickson." You said pulling your skirt down.

"Hendrickson? Hmm. Shouldn't you be in a big mansion?" He asked.

"Y-Yes, but I refuse to be a housewife." You said trying to look over the desk.

He hummed in thought so a second. "Since you're already employed here, you can start by cleaning up this room." He said as the typing resumed.

"Yes sir!" You said eagerly as you began picking up papers.

Weeks of you cleaning the room had passed and you finally saw what your boss looked like. He was a blonde man who was 6"2' and had yellow eyes. You had come to know him as Mr. Nikoladis (his last name not first), and you two became close. A little too close for your husband's liking. One day when you had come into work late, you had to explain to Calix why you were late. You had a doctor's appointment and he was completely understanding. He had even offered to give you a couple of weeks off, but you declined. And then it happened, you came home late from work, to which you found a very upset James sitting in a chair positioned to face directly in front of the garage door with a stack of papers in hand.

"What's this?" James asked looking at you accusingly.

"What's what?" You asked looking at him confused.

"These. All of these doctor bills." He said shoving the papers forward.

"I had to get a check-up, that's all hon." You said trying to brush him off.

"Yeah. I know. But what about these ultrasound photos? Huh? You thought I didn't know you were banging your boss, did you?" He said looking at you angrily.

"Banging my boss? Why would I have a need for him? You're all I need James." You said looking at him with big (e/c) eyes.

"(Y/N) don't you lie to me," James said looking you in the eyes his red ones were clearly shining with a mix of emotions.

"James, I'm not lying." You said looking at your husband trying not to cry, you hated confrontations and weren't good at them.

"You are lying, you came home late because you had to tell him he got you knocked up!" James screamed throwing the papers on the floor.

"James, calm down you're blowing this whole thing out of proportion." You screamed back at him.

"Whore, you're no better than that Misty; you'll let anything sleep with you!" He yelled again this time walking forward and grabbing your hair in his hand and slamming your head onto the counter. You screamed in pain and tried to pull his hand off of you, but he was too strong.

"I hope you learned your lesson, whore!" James screamed as he let go of your hair and walked away. You sat there and cried your eyes out. Out of all of your time together James had never laid a hand on you and never argued with you.

The next day you showed up to work with heavy makeup on, everyone ignored you except for Janice, the receptionist who you passed by every day.

"Hey, (Y/N) is it? Why are you looking so glum?" She asked stopping you in your tracks.

"Oh, it's nothing just you know pregnant and mood swings." You said trying to smile a bit, but you couldn't force a smile on your face.

"I can tell that's not it honey, you might've only worked here for a couple of weeks and we might not have had that many conversations but you're extremely easy to read," Janice said looking at you concerned.

"Janice, it's nothing." You said trying to get to the elevator.

"I have a lunch break at twelve-thirty sharp, if you wanna talk then I'll be waiting on you," Janice said going back to her desk.

The elevator ride was extremely long, you felt like all time had slowed and wished that the day would quickly pass. When you got to the twelfth floor you quickly walked to the stairs leading to Mr. Nikoladis' office. You nearly tripped on the fourth step but kept on pushing. When you reached his door you heard yelling, but it was just Calix yelling, which you found odd, but figured that he was on the phone.

"N- NO!"

"I won't fire her!"

"Getting what-?"

"Listen you bastard, I don't give two sh*ts if she is your wife, and I don't care if you think she's carrying my child but I assure you that it's yours." You heard the phone click and Calix groan out in frustration.

"(Y/N), I know you're out there, you can come in," Calix said calmly as you opened the door.

"I-I'm sorry Mr. Nikoladis, my husband gets really jealous but I never thought he would ever go that far." You said lowering your head.

"Well, just tell him that if he calls here again I'll get him arrested," Calix said angrily as he picked up his coffee mug.

You just blinked, you never knew that James would take his jealousy that far. You started to straighten up your desk, which was a little dirty and sat there ready to take calls. When twelve-thirty came around, you asked to go on a lunch break, which Calix allowed you to do. As soon as you got out of his office and was a few steps away from the door you sprinted down the steps then to the elevator, you were already late and couldn't risk being ditched. When the elevator door opened you tried to look like you didn't just run down a few flights of stairs. Janice was there waiting on you with her purse.

"Ready to go (Y/N)?" She asked looking at you.

"Yes." You responded.

When you two got to the restaurant and you told her all about what James had done that morning and the night before she looked at you stunned, her shock quickly turned into rage.

"How dare that bastard lay a hand on you." She said as her face turned red.

"Janice, please don't make a scene, I don't wan-" Your phone rang interrupting your sentence. "Hold on." You said answering the phone.

"Who is this?" You asked nicely.

"I don't know who you are b*tch, but you're my wife, act like it and get away from that slut." A deep male voice who you recognized as James said into the phone before you hung up and nearly dropped the phone.

"Asshole called you?" Janice asked as you pushed yourself away from the table.

"H-How did you know?" You asked looking at the female who had pushed herself away from the table.

"Because he's a control freak and he's also toxic. I thought you would remember me from high school, but I'm Janice Downer-Hart his ex." She said looking at you sadly. "You're so unlucky to have married a monster, he would've done the same had I married him. But just so happened to save me, and for that, I am forever in debt to you."

You had nearly said 'thank you' had it not been for blood hitting your face and the screams of multiple people. You looked at where Janice's body was with the life draining out of her by the second.

"R-Run." She said as she stopped breathing. And so you did, you ran as fast as your feet could carry you, that was before you were hit over the head with a bat.

Long story short you were brought back to your house, where you were met in the basement with a very angry James.

"Whore! I thought I told you not to talk to that slut." James said looking at you angrily. You tried to yell, but you were bound and gagged.

"At least that dipshits child is dead now," James said as your eyes widened, you screamed and shook the chair you were in.

"But now you can have mine~" He cooed as you cried harder. And so it began, the endless cycle of torture. You'd get pregnant one day, and when James found out he would be extremely happy and nice for about a week, he'd even let you out of the house occasionally. But then he'd get paranoid and abuse you for hours, and sometimes days, on in causing you to lose the baby. This constantly repeated for about a year, that was until he accidentally left the basement door unlocked, and that's when you made your escape.

You rushed out the front door and across the street to the neighbor's house where they called the police. You sat there, your (S/C) skin bruised and bloody, your (e/c) eyes that once had light in them dull and seemingly lifeless, your (h/c) hair disheveled and knotted up. You sat there, waiting on the police to capture him waiting for some sign that he was out of your life. But the neighbor who helped you insisted that you moved away from the window facing the house you hated. And so you did, she gave you a shirt and some sweat pants so you could get a shower. But when you got out you didn't hear about James being arrested, so you sat in front of the TV waiting for the news to come on. And when it did, you were relieved beyond your soul that Jame was being arrested. But what he said made your blood run cold.

"I'M GOING TO FIND YOU WHORE. AND WHEN I DO YOU'RE GONNA BE SORRY! YOU BI-" You turned off the TV and laid on the couch, read for your nightmare to end.