Page 2 of Banshee
“Let’s get you taken care of then.” The door opened, and another woman dressed in scrubs held it open.
“Is the transport ready?” Dr. Robinette asked.
“Waiting downstairs.”
“Good, let’s go.”
Dr. Robinette pushed the bed through the door and down the hall. No one questioned where she was taking me. Not even me. We entered the elevator, and neither woman spoke; instead, we all watched the numbers descend, as they lit up and darkened, until we reached the basement.
I had been in this hospital many times over the past three years. Tests were done upstairs, not in the basement. As we sped closer to the double doors that led outside, my apprehension grew.
I tried to look at the two women, but the more I turned my head, the more the nausea threatened to take over.
“Relax, Irene. We’re here to help,” Dr. Robinette assured as she rubbed my arm.
“Slyce, get the door.”
Slyce? That was the woman’s name? Slyce wheeled my bed into a waiting ambulance, and a young girl with pink hair turned to look at us over her shoulder.
“Kytten, is everything ready?”
“Ready to go, Val. Once she’s secure, I’ll pull out.”
She’s driving?
A child?
“No lights or sirens; we don’t want to draw attention,” Dr. Robinette, or Val, said.
“You’re no fun.” Kytten pouted.
Dr. Robinette looked at me as she held my one good hand. “I know you’re scared. My name is Valhalla. I am the president of the Nyght Nymphs MC. We’re here to get you to a safe place where you can heal, and then we will get you a new identity and a place to live. We’ll set you up with a career and make sure your husband can never find you.”
“You didn’t explain all this to her before we kidnapped her?” Slyce asked.
“There wasn’t time. She’s been in and out of consciousness for over a week. And we didn’t kidnap her. I assumed she wouldn’t want to go back given this isn’t her first visit, only the worst.” Val looked down at me. “Was I wrong? Do you want to stay?”
I shook my head vehemently as I squeezed her hand. I needed her to see the desperation on my face.
“I didn’t think so.” She rubbed my hand, and my stomach settled. Relaxing into the mattress, I closed my eyes. Peace, mixed with a relief only women who had lived the way I had over the past three years knew, swept over me. For the first time in ages, fell asleep without fear.
“Sleep, Irene. You’re safe now.”
June 2023, Diamond Creek, Nebraska
“I don’t know anything about flowers,” I cried.
“It’s okay, Aspen. This is a small town; you can learn as you go.”
“Until someone asks me to make bouquets for their wedding.”
I looked around the store. The grand opening was tomorrow, and I had no idea what I was doing. I’d gone to college as a business major, so running the business didn’t scare me. But I didn’t know squat about flower arranging.
Thankfully, Val hadn’t asked me to grow the flowers. There were suppliers for that. I could handle the inventory, the record keeping, the orders. I was an organized person. Detail-oriented with a bachelor’s in business accounting.
What I wasn’t was creative. That was my mother. She could make anything look beautiful. I missed my mother. Val was strict, so I couldn’t contact my family. Not yet, anyway.
Not if I wanted to stay hidden.
