Black Roses

The Rising

Back at Troian’s house, Kate sat still watching the lights flash brightly reflecting her face on the screen of the T.V, Mike crouched in the corner crying alone looking at the damage he had created, angry and fuming Troian was in his room looking out at the night’s sky, the moon shinning bright amongst the glimmering stars, the sky alone black, as cold air blew in through the window of which sat open a crack.

Troian looked out at the nights sky, listening to the sounds of wolves howling and bats flying through the air, wondering what he had done wrong, why he got this life, why it was him and not someone else, sitting on the ledge beside his window Troian’s eyes turned red as tears of anger came streaming down his face landing on the ground beneath him, he wondered at the world around him as he held his head in his hands Troian’s thoughts raced through his mind.

1 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, suddenly before he knew it the sun was rising and it was time for him to go to school, rushing into the bathroom locking the door he ran the shower over his naked body, as bruises and cuts stung, causing him to grip his body tightly. As the hot water ran down his face onto his feet Troian washed himself before turning all the taps off gripping the towel that hung on the hook behind the door.

Covering his wounds, holding back the tears, hiding the anger, not letting out any of his fears. Waving down the bus, bag on his back hanging on one shoulder, his dull posture caused him to slouch as he reached the seat in the back corner of the bus.

“Anyone sitting here?” A voice soft and angelic harmonised in his ears

“Um, nah” a slight look up, unable to bring himself into a smile, earphones went in and suddenly he was dosed off looking out the window feeling like he was trapped on the outside looking in to the world where Troian new he didn’t belong.

Eyes watering, smile fading, head racing, heart pounding, people say around every corner there is a rainbow, after a thunderstorm the sun will shine, but this didn’t ease Troian’s mind. “why? Why me? Why is this happening to me?” is all he wanted answered. School was 6 hours long, he couldn’t keep still in a seat for longer than 2 minutes, his rage flowed throughout his body, through his blood creating friction which he couldn’t control.

English was writing, working on their up-coming assessment task, ‘creative writing’, as he sat fiddling with his pen as it moved up and down tapping the blank pages beneath his arms, trying to hold it back he closed his eyes, pulled his jumper over his head, continuously rubbing his eyes, over and over, stomach rumbling, mouth trembling at every word he spoke, whispering to himself to not let it get out, repeating over and over not to do it.

As the scene from the day before and all the days before that played over and over in his head. His mum being slapped, smacked, hit, whipped, pushed, yelled at, the broken fragments of her bones, the messed-up life that he lives, unable to speak a single word to anyone, although his mind told him he had said things, he knew deep down he had, he wanted help, someone to help them out, but the consequences made it too risky, his mums sadness, his dads anger, what more was there to do? What could he do? There was nothing that could be done.

A note passed through the class, as Troian watched those around him laughing, vaguely listening to all the teenagers talk smack, as they joked and laughed, the note eventually fell into Troian’s hands, as he slowly un-folded the crimpled paper he began reading, every word a knife which pierced his heart and sent his mind spinning in circles, the world around him suddenly felt small, inquisitive he scrunched it in his hands, the rage inside his bones was beginning to ware on his face.

Jumping up, chair flying across the room, he was unable to stop himself, the anger steamed through the room, frightened teenagers sunk down in their chairs, horror shown with bold expressions, a classroom of youth and a teacher who seemed paralysed in her position of standing.

“YOU ALL THINK THIS IS FUNNY? YOU THINK IT’S OKAY? HUH? DO YOU?” his words sending everyone’s ears ringing, “WHAT? WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS WILL DO FOR YOU IN LIFE? YOU THINK PUTTING OTHERS DOWN WILL HELP YOU IN YOUR GOD DAMN JOURNEY? I DON’T GET IT, WHAT’S THE POINT?? YO DON’T KNOW ME, YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MY LIFE, SO DON’T GO MAKING THESE JUDGEMENTS ABOUT ME, TELL ME, HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW MY LIFE? HOW MANY OF YOU KNOW WHO I AM INSIDE? HUH?

That’s what I thought”

Troian ranted on and on about how messed up the world is, all the people’s faces he knew were faded, they were distorted images, scared of what they didn’t understand, didn’t like the fact they were being told the truth.

He paced back and forth then a stream of tears began rushing down his checks but he was too angry to acknowledge them, as he made his way to the back of the room he leaned against the wall, sinking down to the floor Troian hugged his knees tight, looking around the classroom he suddenly had no idea what was going on, everything was spinning around in circles, he regrated everything he had said.

As the Principal entered the classroom with the school’s councillor the boy sitting in the back of the room stood up, bending down next to Troian he said; “mate, this is s**t” with that Troian had oddly made a friend who he was yet to see he’d do a lot with.

That afternoon when Troian arrived home from school he walked into his house and there sat his father, just a chair, a bottle of whisky as smoke filled the air, fire breathing in the brick fire place, the crackling wood and beaming flames Troian tiptoed his way through the house as far as he could get himself, but was stopped by a vein filled arm.

“What do you think you’re doing?” a deep voice whispered in the dark

Troian said nothing, he removed the arm that was blocking his pathway, without any words he was suddenly on the ground, everything was dark, it was black, he could feel his stomach burning, he began screaming, “HELP ME, HELP ME PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP ME”

Pain ran through all of his veins, his skin was wilting away, everything seemed to be dark, as he rolled around the floor, Kate came running down the corridor into the room of fire, the light shining on her face, heat making her sweat, what could she do? Frozen still her son in the distance, fear filled the smoking room around them, Kate got the courage to move forwards approaching the phone, her husband walking her out of the house as they watched their house go up in flames, Troian screaming inside as neighbours came rushing out to the street, ambulances and fire engines covered the roads.

As the light went down and the heat was suddenly at ease, cold wind blew around through trees, Troian in an ambulance as nurses asked questions, trying to get a response, Kate sitting beside him.

‘I’m sorry’ Kate whispered in his ear as she watched Mike from the back window being questioned by police in big back jackets.

Crying into Troian’s chest he could hear her voice shaky and upset, she was there telling him she’d figure it out, they’d get away, she was repeating it over and over, “you’ll be okay, we will get away I promise you this’ll all be okay”

But Troian had other opinions on that, soon he was at the local hospital being wheeled inside as nurses surrounded him blocking his sight, the night’s darkness, the town asleep, yet people bursting constantly in and out of the doors all sorts of emergencies.

“Can you hear me?”

“What is your name?”

“How old are you?”

“Can you count to 10?”

all these women up in Troian’s face, he could hear them but no longer was he able to respond, he’d lost all touch with emotion and feeling, his words were sitting on the edge of his tongue, making his head explode, the fire burns but he can’t scream, his heart pounds but he can barely feel it, people holding his hands squeezing It tight as if they’re holding onto his life, but his body is failing to do exactly that.

In the hospital room, his eyes at rest Troian felt his stomach aching, his heart slowing down as the monitor beeped, faster and faster, Troian was out, Kate called for the doctor, they sent her out of the room where she sat head in hands shivering, an hour passed and she was alone in the corridor waiting for an update on her son.

“Kate, uh, Wellington?” a tall man dressed in a blue uniform wearing a badge that stated his name stood in front of the closed door.

“Yes, uh, yes that’s me” Kate stumbled over her words in tiredness

“So, we have some bad news” He sat down in the chair beside Troian’s mother, he went on to explain what had happened with her son.

“I’m so sorry ma’am, he is not responding to any of our treatments, we are unsure as to how bad the burns were, we will be putting him through an operation which will scan his body and give us some X-rays so we can see if the burns effected any of his organs, the burns did go through the dermis and affect deeper tissues. This can, most prominently will result in white or blackened, charred skin that may be numb.

but most likely his lungs have been inflamed with smoke which has been trapped inside him and clogged his throat stopping him from breathing. The burns however are at the forth degree, now his chance of survival I’m sorry to say is a very low percent, his survival rate is 30, so you should be prepared in advance” The tall man continued on to tell Kate about how her son may have to undergo a skin grafting procedure as a part of treatment.

Kate sunk against the wall behind her, her heart skipped a beat, suddenly she could no longer breath, the walls closed in all around her, her chest shrunk inside her, blurred out vision, tears streamed down her warm checks, hearing became impaired as she shrunk into a ball on the floor, hugging her knees tight…

People stopped and starred, children walking with their parents would point as their words circled round and round in Kate’s head, “Why is she crying?”, “Mummy what’s wrong with her?”, “Isn’t she too old to cry?”.

The doctor stood her up, wobbly legs and matted hair she continued to let out water from her eyes, Kate was approached by a blurry face, strong hands rubbed her on the back and a faint voice cracked as a man asked her if everything was alright, she looked up, there he was, the devil himself had risen from hell.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHY ARE YOU HERE? You did this, you nearly killed him, how dare you show your face here….” Kate’s words stumbled over each other as he closed fist punched the man in the chest, her shortness did her favours.

The man grabbed her arm tight, twisted it around and pulled her to the outskirts of the hospital facility. Kate asked in fury where he was taking her, as her power slowly went away she fell faint to the ground beneath her.