Rose with a Thorn

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I woke up to a lot of screaming and crying. I couldn't piece together what noise was coming from where, my head felt fuzzy this time. I scooted back away from where the yelling was and sit myself up against the wall. It felt like someone was sitting beside me, and my head started to pound. I closed my eyes tight and waited for the fog to clear out of my senses.

Someone grabbed my hand and I jerked away with a yelp. As I looked over, I saw Amelia and her face was covered in black streaks and tears.

“What happened?” I whispered. I still didn’t know why everyone was yelling so much. And where did Keith and Derrick go?

“You... You... You said...” she said between breaths.

“Oh no, what did I say Amelia?” I felt my face pale.

She turned away from me before she broke into tears again. I stood up, wobbling slightly from the dizziness, before someone grabbed my shoulder to stabilize me. I didn’t recognize him by name, but I remember seeing the old man’s face outside before we came down here.

“I’m Michael. Let me get you some water before I show you the tape and take you to talk to the Boss.”

“Why is there so much yelling?”

Michael stood there looking at me like I had three heads. “There is no one yelling Miss... Only Amelia here is crying. Everyone else is outside getting the cars ready.”

I looked around the room and saw he was right, no one else was here except for us three. But the yelling wouldn’t stop. Michael wasn’t sure what to say, so he walked over to the mini fridge I noticed for the first time and grabbed me a bottle of water.

As I reached out my hand to grab it, I heard gunshots. I dropped down to the ground covering my head. This wasn’t happening. Why would they be shooting inside the house? My breath quickened and I felt Michael shaking me.

“Rose, what’s wrong? Why are you on the floor like that? There's nothing here to hurt you, you’re safe.”

When I concentrated on his words, all the other sounds stopped. I lifted my head slightly to see that no one else was in the room and Michael was crouched down beside me, confused.

“Are they shooting someone outside? Did they shoot Derrick!? Oh my God, I have to stop them!” I stood up and started running up the stairs. I heard Michael running behind me telling me to slow down, but I knew I couldn’t. I had to save him, even if he was one of the monsters.

“STOP!!!” I screamed as I burst through the door. Everyone stopped and looked at me. There were no guns. No one was shooting anyone. Michael ran into my back from my sudden stop and we both stumbled to the ground. He got up and reached his hand down to help me up too.

“Sorry, Boss. Miss Rose here was hearing yelling and gunshots. I tried to stop her, but she moved so quickly.”

“What does he mean, Rose?” Keith looked perplexed. “No one is shooting any guns.”

“I was...” I said bent over out of breath. “I was so dizzy, but I could hear muffled yelling and then someone started shooting! Who did it? I know I couldn’t have imagined that.”

“Did you show her the tape yet?”

“No, Boss.” said Michael. “She was acting strange and then took off thinking you were shooting someone out here.”

Keith looked back at me. “Interesting...”

“Okay, what the hell is happening? Where is Derrick? Why is Amelia downstairs crying? What did I say?”

“Can someone please go get the video camera so our Rose here can see for herself.”

We all stood there silently before someone walked out with the camera. I took it from them and turned it on. I needed to see what happened. My sole focus was on what I was seeing and hearing. It looked like I sat there touching Derrick for several minutes! It felt like seconds at the time.

I watch in the video as my body stiffened and Keith stepped toward me. It looked like my body swayed slightly before I'm fell back and he caught me. I heard him ask what happened.

“Amelia’s dead.”

I couldn’t believe what I just heard come out of my own mouth. I looked up at Keith and that same anger I thought I glimpsed before fainting passed over his face again. He stood there rigidly, watching me.

“What do you remember, Rose?”

He was mad, I could hear it in his voice. I didn’t know what to say. I truly didn’t remember anything specific, besides that my body felt different this time.

“I remember being sucked back and your face full of anger before I lost consciousness. I remember that my body felt different this time, like I was more relaxed and not worried about what was happening. Honestly Keith, I don’t remember anything else. But Amelia isn’t dead, I was just downstairs with her.”

My head swung to the side with the full force of Keith’s slap. “Don’t you f*****g lie to me, Rose. What else did you see!!?? I refuse to let my daughter die! Tell me... now!”

I covered my mouth to hold back my sobs. He slapped me! I turned back to look at him again, when I felt his hand connect with my face in the exact same spot. This time, he hit me so hard I fell to the ground.

“Boss...”

“Don’t you dare, Michael. Stay out of this before I have your f*****g head!”

“I just don’t think she knows, Sir. You should have seen her when she came through. It was like she was still inside of whatever she was seeing and couldn’t collect her grounding.”

I tried not to move while Michael defended me. I wasn’t sure how Keith was going to react. He crouched down next to me and pushed my hair behind my ear.

“You better remember, Rose. If anyone is going to die, it’ll be you before it will be Amelia.”

I shivered from the anger I heard. He stood back up and walked away.

Michael knew better than to offer me help getting up this time. I tried to collect myself before getting to my own feet.

“In case you forgot, Keith,” I begin as he froze. “I am your daughter too! I may not be your flesh and blood, but YOU took me in as a young child, and YOU chose to raise me! How dare you continue to threaten me! If this is how you’re going to treat me, I might as well let you kill me now! At least I’d know I wouldn’t be helping a psychopath cause any more chaos!”

He turned to walk toward me, but I stood my ground. I refused to show him any of my fear anymore. I felt his hand grip my throat; the pressure he was using had me grabbing his hand trying to loosen it.

He brought his mouth close to my ear as he whispered, “You were never my daughter. You will never be my daughter. You are some sore excuse of a child Miranda and I were never able to have, and you just so happened to have a talent that I could use in my organization. Don't get me wrong, Rose, you will do great things alongside me. But you are nothing more to me than a tool I can use for my own benefit. Don't you ever forget that.”

Tears welled in my eyes. I couldn’t tell if they were from his words, or that he was cutting off my oxygen and I could hardly breathe. He threw me away from him like a rag doll and my face met the ground. “Put her back in the basement and tie her to the chair. I have seen enough of her today.”