Violet stared at me in horror. “What did you do?”
“What I had to. Don’t worry, Violet, it’s over now. She’s won’t be able to hurt anyone ever again. I took care of it. I will always take care of it.” I couldn’t help it.
“B-but what? Clover, it’s…wrong,” Violet whispered. Her eyes were wide, scared, and her hands trembled with shock. Wrong, I repeated in my head. No, what the whore did was wrong. I’d prevented her from hurting anyone else. No child would lose their family because of her now.
My heart raced at a hundred miles an hour. How could she accuse me of being in the wrong? My hands clenched into fists of their own accord. I took a deep breath to clear my anger. She doesn’t understand what I’m doing, that’s all. “Violet, you don’t understand.”
“No,” she replied, shaking her head slowly. “No, I really don’t.”
“I have done nothing wrong. You know what she is, don’t you?” Violet nodded her head, showing me she understood the whore was a prostitute. “Good. Do you think they should be allowed to rip families apart? To dress like a tart and give herself to anyone that has the money. Is that right, Violet?”
“No,” she replied, a tear trickled down her cheek. Finally, she was starting to get it.
“That’s right, it’s not. Poppy?” I looked over to where Poppy was sitting frozen on the sofa, shaking. “Do you think they should get away with it? After all, the police do nothing to prevent it.” Poppy shook her head stiffly. Her eyes were as wide as her mouth was hung open. I smiled. “You see. What I’m doing is…righting a wrong.” I scratched my head. “Now, we need to clean this up.”
“Clean it up?” Violet squeaked.
“Yes. Fill a bucket with hot, soapy water, get bleach and garbage bags.” Violet and Poppy stayed still. “Now,” I snapped. I knew there were still body bags in the cupboard under the stairs. I’d bought no more since Mother died, but I knew now I would have to.
I returned to Violet with the body bag. She and Poppy had already made a start. I pressed my fist to my mouth and dropped the body bag beside them. “Put it in that,” I murmured against my fist. Blood seeped from the wound in her gut, making my stomach turn. My breathing became shallow and my skin crawled. I felt dirty, as if the whore’s germs were crawling over my body.
Fleeing from the room and locking the door, I sprinted to the shower and got in with my clothes still on. Peeling my soaking clothes from my body, I grabbed the sponge and scrubbed until I my skin was red and raw.
Sunday, July 17th (2005)
I parked the car in the same spot as yesterday and got out. They were here tonight, huddled together on a bench. Closing my eyes, I sighed in deep happiness. Both of them were beautiful. Lily had long light blond hair, a golden veil, and Rose was the exact opposite with shoulder length jet-black hair. Neither was more attractive than the other, though; they were perfect.
I got out, barely able to hide my joy. “Hello, ladies,” I said. They both jumped, startled. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
“It’s okay. We didn’t see you coming, that’s all,” Rose said.
“Where are you headed?”
“Um.” Lily hesitated. “We’re trying to make our way to London.” London? They were miles and miles away from the capital. “It’s taken us almost a week to get this far and we’ve only come fifty miles. We’re trying to earn money where we can, but it’s hard.”
“Well, I don’t know if this would help, but I live about forty miles out of London. I’d be prepared to take you that far if you like?”
Rose’s eyes lit up. “Really? That would be great.”
“Of course. I would quite enjoy the company on the long drive anyway. I’ve just stopped to get a drink and sandwich. Would you like one too?”
“Yes, please,” Lily replied, grinning wide. “I’m Bree, and this is Sadie.”
I smiled tightly. “Bree, Sadie, shall we head off?” They nodded in unison, as if they had practiced, and walked with me to my car. I drove home and felt light, complete. Four flowers. Four perfect, innocent, beautiful women. My family was complete.
15
SUMMER
Tuesday, December 14th (Present)