Ginger Fox

I practically leap out of Dexter’s car when he parks at the mansion’s entrance. The detective heads off, saying he’ll go to Jon's grandmother’s location. It’s already nine-thirty in the morning, so everyone should be gathered for breakfast, but when I enter, the room is empty, and the untouched breakfast is laid out on the table. I rush up the stairs, skipping two steps at a time to quicken my pace.
"Miss Fox!" Lira calls out, startled as she exits Aunt Charlote's room and nearly collides with me.
"Where are Baby and Jon?" She shifts the broom in her hand to the other side, shaking her head, looking confused.
"I don’t know, Miss..." Damn it! This woman never knows anything! My heart pounds as I crane my neck toward the door.
"Is Madame Roy in there?"
"She’s resting, Miss." I clench my fingers, frustrated.
I push past her, running to my room. The door is slightly ajar, so I just have to push it open. I freeze, petrified, as I take in the destroyed bed, the wardrobe smashed on the floor with its doors hanging off, and the dresser where I kept my things reduced to a pile of wood.
"What happened here?" I ask, confused, looking around. It hasn’t even been four hours since I left this room, and it wasn’t like this when I did.
"Mr. Roy lost control when he didn’t find you in your room this morning, Miss Fox." Lira stops beside me, leaning the broom against the corner, and picks up a twisted piece of wood that used to be part of the beautiful headboard. She looks at it, lost, turning it in her fingers.
"Where is he, Lira?" My arms wrap tightly around myself. It’s as if he wanted to punish everything for not finding me.
"Mr. Roy left and hasn’t returned yet, which is why Madame is asleep. Miss Roy gave her a sedative; it’s been a bit of an eventful morning." My head slowly nods as my eyes fall on the droplets of blood on the wood.
I close my eyes, trying not to see the pain he unleashed with every blow to the furniture. I step over the wreckage, heading to the door that connects to Jon's room, wiping away my tears so that the lanky guy won’t see how shaken I am. But as I pass through the door, I freeze, unable to move. My eyes lock onto the woman sitting on Jon’s bed, pulling up her panties.
"What are you doing here, Lorane?" I storm into the room, and she startles at the sight of me. She jumps off the bed and runs to the corner of the room.
I stare at her, half-naked, then turn my gaze to the bed, holding my breath as I fully grasp what this tramp has been doing here! The disheveled sheets, the smell of sweat, of sex! It wasn’t Bob who was molesting Jon.
"You sick freak!" I clench my fist and lunge at her, but I trip over something large and fall to the ground, twisted.
As I look at my legs, I see Baby’s unconscious body. Her forehead is injured, blood spreading across her face. My heart stops beating when I see her bleeding, unresponsive.
"Baby..." I crawl toward her, cradling her face in my hands. "Baby, look at me! God! Lira, get the doctor, call the doctor!" I scream in fear, watching Baby’s breathing slow. I lift my gaze in fury to Lorane, who’s cowering in the corner, biting her fingers. "What did you do, you bitch?! What did you do to her?! Where’s Jon?!"
I don’t manage to stand. A hard blow to my head disorients me, plunging me into total darkness as I collapse on top of Baby.

The bitter taste in my mouth grows as I slowly regain consciousness. Through my groggy eyelids, I see Baby's body being dropped near the flowers. I can’t comprehend where I am or what this place is. As my mind clears, the last scenes I witnessed come rushing back. The sharp sound of heels striking the floor echoes quickly, accompanied by hushed whispers, causing me to shake my head in a daze. I try to move, dragging myself until I find the support of a wall. Leaning my shoulder against the hard structure, I scrape my back against it, managing to sit up. A sharp pain shoots through my head as I bump it against something solid. I lift my head to see a frame hanging on the wall. I curl my body, trying to move my limbs, but my wrists are bound tightly, stuck together with a strong tape, just like my ankles, leaving me immobilized.
Lira stands up, stepping away from Baby after binding her wrists.
"She's going to ruin everything," Lorane mutters as she paces in front of me, staring at nothing and biting her nails. "That bitch is going to ruin everything! Kill her... You have to kill her."
"Oh, shut up, you whore! Why don’t you help instead of freaking out?!" Lira snaps, throwing the tape in Lorane's direction, but she doesn’t even attempt to catch it, and the roll bounces on the hard floor.
"You have to kill her, you need to kill her," Lorane continues whispering, pacing back and forth like a broken record.
I glance around the room, my head throbbing with pain. I see dark windows lining the walls and orchid pots scattered around. It’s the greenhouse! They moved me here from Jon's room while I was unconscious.
"My back is killing me! Do you know how heavy that bitch is? You left all the weight on me and didn’t even bother to hold these whores properly!" The silent maid, the one I always suspected, stretches, cracking her back.
She stops when she turns toward me, her gaze filled with interest.
"Well, look who’s awake! The sleepyhead’s finally up!" Lira strides over to me, grabbing my hair and inspecting my head. "I should’ve hit you harder."
I clench my fist despite my bound wrists. With all my strength, I punch her breast, making her let go of me. She cries out in pain.
"Get your hands off me, you bitch!" I spit in her direction, glaring at both of them in disgust.
The slap across my face is swift, her open hand striking my cheek with a loud crack. My jaw drops, and the pain radiates through my head as it slams against the wall from the force of her blow.
"Bitch, you filthy bitch!" Lira rubs her chest, glaring at me with rage.
"Come on, stop wasting time!" Lorane yanks her, pulling her toward the door and pushing her. "Keep an eye out until Jonathan arrives."
Lira's eyes linger on me one last time before she leaves the room with a silent promise of pain, a promise she’ll take pleasure in delivering.
"Where’s Jon, Lorane? What did you do to Baby?" I look at the woman who was once elegant but now is just the pure face of madness.
"SHUT UP! SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH!" She slams the door shut, marching toward me, her hands clenched tightly at her sides. Her unhinged eyes dart toward Baby, filling with sorrow, before she resumes her pacing, back and forth across the greenhouse.
"Lorane, please... Please," I sob in fear, looking at Baby’s condition. The wound on her head is only making the pool of blood near her grow larger. "She needs a doctor. Please, Lorane..."
"SHUT UP!" Her fury is immense as she lunges at me, yanking my hair and tearing out a chunk in her hands.
"OH GOD!" I scream in pain, twisting my body and pressing my back against the wall to make her back off.
She rises, squeezing the hair she pulled from my head, clenching it in her fingers. Her eyes flicker between hatred, insanity, and fear. The strands fall slowly to the ground as she raises her hand, biting the tips of her nails.
"You have to kill her, you need to kill her now!" My eyes shift back to Lorane, watching her whisper. The way she stares at the greenhouse is terrifying, as if someone else is in the room with her.
The faint sound of a gun’s safety being disengaged makes my blood run cold. I turn my head to the left.
Lorane isn’t crazy or talking to herself. The silent observer is standing in the corner, staring at me, arms raised, gun pointed in my direction. He walks slowly, his face filled with sorrow.
"Jon... Jon, put the gun down." My trembling voice pleads, unable to tear my eyes away from the weapon. "Jon! Oh my God! Jon, put the gun down."
His head drops, eyes fixed on the floor, his shoulders hunching in fear.
"Kill her! You have to kill her!" Lorane hides behind his back, rubbing her face against his shoulder, whispering in his ear.
"Jon, don’t listen to her." I need him to look at me. His withdrawn, frightened demeanor is cornered by this monstrous woman. "Please, put the gun down. I’ll take care of you, don’t listen..."
"Shoot her in the head, make her shut up..."
"NO!" My eyes widen, screaming in terror. "She’s using you, Jon. Please, put it down. She’s just using you, like she used Bob..."
Lorane buries her face deeper into Jon’s neck, rubbing her cheek against his skin, digging her nails into the boy’s waist.