Chapter 11

Claudia's hand trembled as she dialed the number. The sun had come up by this time, but in Claudia's heart, it was the darest day she had ever seen. She brought the phone to her hear and listened to it ring on the other side. It rang five times before anyone answered.

"Hello?" A fimillar voice rasped.

"John! Where's Rose? Is she safe?" Claudia shot out in rapid fire.

"She's fine. Under the circumstances, anyway."

"Let me talk to her."

"She's a little tied up at the moment, so to speak." John siad calmly, chuckling at his joke.

"I swear, if you hurt her-"

"Why would I hurt my child?"

"Your not my daddy!" Claudia heard Rose scream in the background.

"ROSE!" Claudia screamed. "Why, John? Why? Why put Rose through this?"

"Why? Because it was all the little brat's fault that you left! No one leaves me, Claudia, NO ONE! If you want your presious daughter back, you better come get her. We're at the summer cabin. You better come alone or Rose will pay for this. That's not a threat, it's a promise." John said, and closed the cell phone. He turned to look at Rose, who was tied to a chair in the middle of the living room. She was crying, but John could tell she didn't want to.

"What's wrong, baby girl?" John said, kneeling on the floor beside her. He laid his hand on her arm.

"Don't touch me. You know what's wrong. If you hurt me, my mom would surely kill you." Rose said through clenched teeth.

"Don't be so hateful. You act like I'm going to hurt you." John said softly.

"Like you haven't before?" Rose asked.

"You always brought that upon yourself."

"And how? By going to the park? I WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD, JOHN!" Rose screamed.

John stood at the sound of his name. "What did you call me? I'm your father. You don't call your father by his name!" John shouted as he slapped her. Rose wasn't expecting it, and it hurt a little. Her head turned from the blow, but she never really felt any pain. It took a couple of seconds to get over that it didn't really hurt. After a few seconds, she looked back up at John.

"You are NOT MY FATHER! My father died the same day that mom found out she was going to have me." Rose said.

"See how much she cared? He went and got himself killed."

"He couldn't help that he died! It was a work-related accident! He loved my mother. Now, you on the other hand, is a whole different ball field. You had a girlfriend, you kept her on medications she didn't even need, and you beat me! What kind of husband and father are you?" Rose asked.

John couldn't believe what he was hearing. How could she habe heard that he had had a mistress? She was only two years old at the time.

"Wondering how I know all this?" Rose asked, reading his mind. "Mom knew. She just never said anything. That's when she stopped loving you."

"Claudia, where are you going?" Chi chi asked as her granddaughter grabbed her coat.

"To get my daughter."

"Let Goku go with you."

"John said to go alone or he'd kill Rose. I'm not taking any chances. I'll be back." Claudia said, shutting the door behind her.

"Leave me alone!" Rose screamed as John hit her again. He enjoyed hearing her scream at him, just for the fact that she couldn't do anything about it.

I guess I'll kill Rose, too, John thought, laughing. I'll let Rose watch as I kill Claudia, then I'll kill her. No one will be the wiser. John snapped back to the present by Rose lightly hitting him with her fingertips, which was the only part of her hand she could move. He kneeled beside her chair and said,

"Honey, your mom is going to be coming for you soon."

"Good. The faster I get away from you, the better." Rose spat in his face. "I hope I never see you again after this. Mom will make sure you get what's coming to you. I hope she-" Rose stopped as John once again knocked her out.

Claudia couldn't believe she was going alone. If Rose is hurt, I swear, I'll kill him myself. I'll do anything to keep Rose safe. But, what if he decided to kill her anyway? Then I don't know what I'd do. She's all that keeps my spirits up. Claudia tried to hope for the best. Well, Rose can hurt him, she's already proven that. I mean, she's broke his knee, for crying out loud. I don't know many ten year olds that cab do that.

Claudia got more and more nervous the closer she got to the summer house. The house was 20 miles out of town, on the oppisite side. She knew it would take at least thirty minutes to get there, since it wasn't raining.

"Please let Rose be ok." Claudia prayed as she drove.

When Rose came to, she was hungry and thirsty. "John." Rose croaked out of her dry throat. She looked around and saw that she was no longer in the living room.

It took her a few seconds, but she finally realized that she was in the room she used when they had come out here for the summer. Rose swallowed and then screamed,

"John!"

He came running and knelt by the chair.

"What is it, sweetie?" he asked.

"I'm thirsty. And why am I in here? I can't see to well. I want to go back into the living room."

"Ok. I'll get you some water. then, when you're done, I'll move you back to the living room, ok?"

"Ok." Rose said. It was all she could do. She wanted to hit him, but she couldn't, her arms were still tied to the chair. He left for a few minutes and then came back with a glass of water. It was very warm, almost hot.

She drank most of the water not because it tasted good, it was horrible, but because she couldn't seem to drink enough to wet her throat. She was afraid to ask for anything to eat. Last time she had, John hit her. She was sore from him repeatedly hitting her, and she didn't want him to do it again.

John lifted the chair as if it weighed nothing and then moved her back into the living room.

"Better?"

"Yes."

"Good. Your mother should be arriving soon. If you promise to behave, I might let her see you."

"What? Might?" Rose asked, puzzled.

"Yes. She'll never know what hit her." John said, more to himself than Rose.

"No!" Rose said, starting to struggle against the ropes that held her to the chair. "You can't kill her! She didn't do anything to you!"

"Yes, she did!" John screamed back. "She left me! I took care of her for eight years, then she left me!"

"Only because you hit me!"

"You deserved it!"

"I deserved to be hit just about as much as you deserve my mother's love! Which you don't!" Rose screamed. That stopped him. He just looked at her for a moment. He took a minute to gather himself and then he raised his hand to hit her again. If it wasn't for a knock on the door, he would have done it.

"You better be glad." John sneered as he turned and went to the door. He opened it and there stood Claudia. Since he had only cracked the door open, she never seen him grab the butcher knife off the counter by the door.

"Hello, Claudia. You're looking beautiful, as usual." John said, putting on a smile.

"I'm not here for compliments, John. Where's Rose?" Claudia said, not showing any emotion at all.

"In the living room." As soon as she heard that, Claudia rushed to the place he had mentioned. She stopped when she got to the door.

Claudia looked into the room and saw Rose tied to a chair. Her left eye was swollen shut and purple. Her cheek on the same side almost bigger than her eye, a shade darker.

"Rose!" Claudia cried, raising her hand to her mouth.

"Mom." Rose said. It sounded muffled because of her cheek being swollen. Rose saw something gleam behind her mother and her right eye grew wide. Claudia turned around just as John brought the knife down, causing it to stab into her heart.

Rose wathed her mother fall to the floor, motionless. That was ll it took. Rose screamed and struggled against the ropes as hard as she could. John ran to the chair and started to hit her. She was so overcome with grief that she didn't feel the pain of the blows that John delivered to her.

It didn't feel like any time at all, but she eventually got out of the ropes and pushed John out of her way, getting out of the chair. She rushed to her mother's side, but she was already gone. Rose started to cry, laying across her mother's body. After a few minutes, she turned to look as John, who had started to laugh.

"You killed her!" Rose screamed. "Now I'm going to kill you!" Rose jumped up and ran at him. He couldn't do much before she got there. She knocked him down and sat on his chest.

"What are you doing?" John asked, becoming alarmed.

"Giving you a taste of your own medicne." Rose said as she started to hit him in the face. He tried to stop her, but couldn't. She was stronger than he thought she was. She continued to hit him, not realizing what she was doing, crying for her now dead mother, all because of the man she sat hitting. "HOW COULD YOU!" Rose screamed as she hit him again and again. John finally got tired of her hitting him and pushed her off of him, hard. She flew and hit the wall, landing on her stomach. She was stunned, and couldn't find it to move.

He stood up, his nose and lip bleeding. He walked over to Rose and looked down at her. He stood there for a few minutes and then kicked her. Rose spit up blood, her eyes flying open from the pain. Rose couldn't believe this was happening. Just as the wave of pain faded, she was kicked again. He waited another moment and then kicked her again.

John started to laugh like a little boy kicking a ball down a sidewalk. That was what she had become to him, a kickball. I'm going to die, Rose thought as she was kicked again. She looked up at John and saw red.

As he kicked her again, she grabbed his foot and pulled. It caught him off guard and he fell. As she done so, her side felt as if it were on fire, and it was hard to breath. She knew her ribs were broken on the right side. As John fell to the ground, Rose was trying to crawl away. He grabbed her ankle and she screamed. He twisted and broke it. That was all it took to cause Rose to snap.