FLO'S LIMP BODY LAID ON THE BED IN A COLD ROOM. evelyn watched over her, placing her washcloth down. she just finished washing up her arms and hands, which were full of sap and pieces of the forest.

the mother tucked her in a little bit more, making sure she was warm enough in the cold basement, before going up the stairs.

regan greeted her at the top, awaiting for her mother to give her an update on the girl.

"how is she?" regan asked.

"she's still out. i suppose she'll be up soon though." evelyn replied, and then stroked her daughters hair.

the two girls went outside and saw lee and marcus, getting ready to leave.

"is she ok?" marcus asked his mother, and evelyn smiled.

"she's not up yet. she will be by the time you get back though." evelyn assured him, smiling at him.

lee kneeled down to marcus, adjusting his bag before they left.

"i don't want to go." marcus objected, scared of what would happen.

and also a little bit worried about the pretty girl with the blue bat that had showed up to their house.

"there's nothing to be scared of." lee assured him.

"...of course there is."

regan walked up and stood by her father.

"i'll go." regan offered.

lee stood up off the ground and in front of his daughter, "i need you to stay and help your mother with the girl."

regan was upset with this response, and lee walked to evelyn and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"i want to go." regan stated to her father.

"just say here. you'll be safe." lee told his daughter.

regan was not happy with this answer, and stormed off into the corn field.

evelyn looked over at her husband with a disapproving look.

"...next time." lee promised his wife, turning and beginning to walk on the trail, leaving marcus behind.

"can you make sure she's ok?" marcus asked his mother.

evelyn nodded with her crossed arms, "regan just needs a little time to cool off."

"not regan. well, kind of. but the girl." marcus asked.

evelyn smiled, "of course."

marcus smiled at his mother one last time, before turning and catching up with his dad.

••••

FLO'S EYES FINALLY OPENED after an hour from passing out. she noticed that she was face to face with a newspaper wall, which caused her to squint her eyes at it.

she turned to her other side and saw she was in a basement, probably of the farm she had ran to. flo sighed in awe, feeling herself relax in the bed.

hearing footsteps come down the stairs. she turned and saw a green dress at the persons feet. and when they got closer, flo realized that it was a blonde woman. she was a very pretty one as well, and had a pregnant stomach. the woman was carrying a cup of water, probably for flo.

the blonde woman got closer to flo, and then kneeled down in front of her, handing her the water. flo took it with shaking hands and took a sip, as it relieved her dry throat.

"do you need anything else?" the woman asked in a hushed voice.

flo took another sip of water before answering, "um...i think i'm okay?"

evelyn nodded, "i'm evelyn. the boy who found you outside is marcus. i have some fresh clothes for you if you need them." she offered, pointing at the clothes at the foot of the bed.

flo nodded and turned to evelyn with glossy eyes.

"thank you." she whispered in a hoarse voice, making the mother's heart ache for the girl, "i'm florence, by the way."

flo could've said that her name was flo, since she preferred to be called flo anyways, but her mother always used to call her florence.

evelyn nodded, "i'll be upstairs if you need anything. you can come up if you have enough energy. just make sure to step on the paint marks." evelyn told her, getting off her knees and going towards the stairs.

once flo knew that she left, she looked at the clothes again. it had a black tank top and her own flannel, which she supposed evelyn had washed, and some jeans.

drinking the rest of the water in one gulp, flo stood up and got dressed, buttoning up her flannel and tucking the front of it into her jeans. she walked towards the stairs and noticed the paint spots over it, making sure to carefully step on them.

once she stepped on the last step, flo turned to go outside for some fresh air. she had been in the stuffy basement for a while, which made her a little nauseous.

flo placed one foot outside the door when someone tapped her shoulder. assuming it was evelyn, she turned and was faced with a girl, probably a little older than her, in a striped shirt. the girl smiled at her, and then nudged her head to the stairs going up.

assuming that she wanted to go upstairs, flo agreed and followed her, stepping on all the paint smears and going into the bathroom with the girl. taped on the wall of the bathroom was a sign language sheet, A-Z.

the two girls stood in front of it, and the girl nudged flo's arm to grab her attention. she then pointed at a couple of letters, spelling out a name.

R-E-G-A-N.

thinking that this was a way the family communicated outside of the basement, flo smiled and spelt her name out as well.

F-L-O-R-E-N-C-E.

pausing for a couple of seconds, she then spelt out another word.

F-L-O.

regan nodded at the nickname, knowing that she was probably more comfortable using flo. she then turned to the sink and picked up the thing that was in it, handing it to flo.

flo stared at the scissors that were placed in her hand, wondering what regan wanted her to do with them.

regan pointed at flo's hair, which was it a horrible state. there were knots everywhere, it was dirty, and flo definitely couldn't brush through it anymore.

"cut it?" flo whispered to regan.

regan looked at her confused.

flo turned to the board, lifting up her trembling hand to it.

C-U-T I-T.

regan nodded to her, sending her a supporting smile. she could tell flo wasn't really on board with the plan, seeing her disapproving face. but there was no way that her hair could be fixed. they could send her to the best barber in the world and she would walk out of the place with at least 5 knots still in her hair.

flo walked up to the mirror, and lifted up a piece of her hair. she finally noticed how matted it was. it was unhealthy and disgusting, which kind of made flo a little more relaxed about cutting it off. she opened the scissors up to make her first cut, but regan stopped her.

"your hands are filthy. let me do it."

flo looked at her confused, having absolutely no idea what she just said. regan took the scissors from her hands, and that's when flo finally noticed her hearing aid on her right ear. they had known sign language before the incident had happened.

now feeling a little stupid and smiling at herself, flo looked in the mirror behind her and saw regan cutting off pieces of her hair. flo would be lying if she said it didn't feel good to finally get her matted hair off her head. it just proved to her that sometimes, change is good.

regan cut one last piece of hair off and then did her best straightening it out, making sure that flo didn't have huge split ends. obviously, it wasn't perfect, but it was enough to make flo smile at herself.

her hair was now above her shoulders. if she had her hair cut like this when she played softball, she probably couldn't put it in a ponytail. flo thought that she looked very pretty, as she ruffled out her hair a little bit to make sure there wasn't any pieces of hair hiding in it.

"you look pretty." regan smiled, but flo could read her lips loud and clear as she mouthed what she was saying.

"thank you." flo whispered honestly to regan.

••••

REGAN HAD LEFT A WHILE AGO TO VISIT SOMEWHERE. she told flo that it wasn't important, and that she would be back before flo knew it. and before she left, she asked flo to keep an eye out for marcus and lee, since they were supposed to be back soon.

flo had offered to help eveyln with the laundry she was hauling back and forth form the basement to the clothes line, and the tired blonde accepted her help.

flo grabbed one of the last two bags and went towards the stairs, traveling up them until she reached the top and waited for eveyln.

evelyn followed shortly after, a huge bag of laundry trailing behind her. she stopped going up the stairs when it got caught on a loose nail, causing her to tug on it harshly. evelyn did this a couple more times, before it became free and she fell forward on the stairs.

flo set down her bag and quickly went towards evelyn, helping her up and grabbing the bag.

"i can hang up the laundry. you look tired." flo whispered to the sweating mother, as evelyn gave her a grateful smile.

"that would be amazing. not even lee would do that for me." evelyn sarcastically whispered.

"he needs to be more grateful." flo smiled, throwing the bag over her shoulder and causing evelyn to smile even more at the girl.

flo went up the stairs and went outside, finally being faced with fresh air. she went towards the clothes line and opened one bag, beginning to take out the clothes and hang them up.

she never knew a family could be this organized in a situation like this. they had crops, shelter, and ways to get by without making a sound. flo was very impressed.

throwing over a sheet on the line and clipping it on, she grabbed the empty bags and began to walk inside, before something caught her eye. out of the corner of her eye, flo saw the blue wildflowers. the ones that rose had given her. they sat there as flo stared them down, wondering if she should pick them to keep to herself, a reminder of rose.

ignoring the thoughts in her head, flo turned away from the flowers and went inside.

••••

NIGHT HAD FINALLY COME, and flo was out on the porch eating some grapes evelyn had given her for a little snack. flo thought they were the best thing in the world at the moment. the last time she had eaten any fresh fruit was in the car before her softball game.

popping another one in her mouth, she chewed on it as she looked at the farm with the lights now turned on. it was very nice.

flo heard slight footsteps on the stairs, assuming evelyn was coming down from upstairs, where she had been for about an hour.

"florence?" evelyn whispered, clearly in distress.

flo turned to evelyn, who was now sitting on the stairs, gripping the railing in pain. she set her grapes down and rushed towards evelyn, as the mother grabbed flo's hand for support.

"i need...to go downstairs." evelyn whispered, her breathing getting out of hand.

"no. you're clearly in labor, evelyn-"

"florence...grab your bat. go outside and wait. you can't be in here. it's too dangerous." evelyn quickly explained to her, gripping the girls shoulders harshly, which were sure to leave bruises on her.

flo nodded and went towards the basement, rushing down the stairs and grabbing her bat. once she got to the top, she ran outside to wait for anyone to get back.

a crash went throughout the house, followed by evelyn groaning in pain. flo wanted to run inside and help her, but evelyn wanted her outside, so she listened.

flo stood outside, breathing hard.

but loud and horrifying footsteps were getting closer and closer to her, causing her eyes to grow wide. gripping her bat with white knuckles, she ran into the corn field, placing her hands over her mouth to quiet her breathing.

a creature had gone into the house, not bothering to listen for flo's breathing, but for the crash that was made instead.

flo saw this as an opportunity to run farther into the corn field, hopping over every rock and twig that was in her way. her bat in her hand was getting harder to hold onto, due to her sweaty hands.

and the moment she got to the back of the corn field, a scream from the house was heard, followed by the explosion of fireworks.

A/N:

sorry it took me a while to update!! i had a softball tournament this weekend, and i've been really tired!

but enjoy this chapter, where we actually get into the movie!