Frigid Flora

thirty - the confession

Chapter Thirty

//be prepared for some emotion, and let this be your trigger warning for sexual assault. if reading the story behind flora's fear is uncomfortable or triggering for any of you, skip past the large chunk of text in italics toward the end of the chapter and I'm sure you'll manage to pick up what's going on throughout the rest of the story/chapter comments 😩//

I hadn't been punished before. It's not that my mother was particularly lax, more so that I never used to do anything. My bed and I, the television and I, the laptop and I, Skylar, the reclining chairs and I... I hadn't exactly been very wild or adventurous in my day to day doings. It seemed that my mother now looked at me in an entirely new light.

Upon our arrival home, she'd given me barely a moment to sit down before she launched into a hysterical rant. Granted, Mrs Montgomery was well within reason to do so, but I was finding it extremely difficult not to bite back. It still hadn't been safe to tell her anything, not until I had a plan to get rid of Ian without the possibility of him hurting her. It was somewhere between blaming Parker for every bad thing that had ever occurred in my life and the suggestion of a restraining order that something within me snapped. Though I hadn't let anything slip about Ian's true identity, I had rather vocally voiced my thoughts about him. That he was Satan's spawn, he was a vile, disgusting man that shouldn't be under our roof, that she barely knew him and it was far too soon for him to be there. Of course, after having heard that she would listen to no claims of Parker's innocence and shut the situation down completely.

I'd spoken to the police in my living room, my mother refusing to let them take me to the station. Whether that was because the memory of my father would have been too strong what with him having worked there or whether it be because I was now under an extreme level of house arrest, I wasn't sure. Nor was I sure what to say to the police. My mother had taken away my phone in case I tried to reach out to Parker and so I had no idea whether I was supposed to describe Jason or not. There was a chance that if I told them of my attackers identity that they'd take Jason into custody and he'd spill his guts about Parker and the guys' dealings with Ian. If one went down, they all did. It wasn't people involved in this case, but domino pieces. So I claimed never to have seen who stabbed me. A shadowed figure, I said, impossible to make out. Parker had saved me. Their faces betrayed their acceptance of my statement, utterly unbelieving. At this point, I didn't care. What I'd said couldn't possibly get Parker in trouble for I'd painted him out to be the hero that he was. My mother, who had been listening behind the door during, had not looked happy.

Soon after the police left did the terms of my house arrest get made abundantly clear:

"There will be no free time until I trust you again, Flora. I'm sorry but it's what has to be done both for your safety and my sanity. You leave for school, Ian will drive you. He's kindly cut back on his sessions with clients until this whole thing blows over. When at school you do not talk, borrow pencils from, or even look at Parker Heywood or any one of his delinquent cronies. I've spoken to the headmaster and he has agreed that this be for the best. Your teachers have been made aware. No after school lingering or clubs or anything of the sort. Ian will pick you up the moment that bell rings and bring you straight back home." She paused. "Don't give me that look, young lady. You think rolling out your bottom lip and making your eyes shine like that will make this all go away? It won't. This is for the best and you'll understand that when you're older. He's been an awful influence. Now Skylar can visit, of course. She's a lovely, trustworthy girl, but she may only come here. You cannot go to her house in case you're sneaking off to Parker's house. No matter how lovely she is, she's your friend not mine. I can't chance it. Have I made myself clear?"