MaRkeD

Rose ?

~ Emily ~

Stepping out on my way to work, i saw old Joey talking to himself while tending to his flower garden behind the short fence.

"Good morning joey!" I called out.

"Emily! How pleasant to see you. Come over here" he beckoned with his hands from across the road.

I took a brief glance at my watch, then crossed over.

"I heard you were unwell for some time now. How are you doing?"

"Oh! I'm as fit as fiddle. It would take a lot more than a cold to bring this history of a man down." He added with a chuckle.

"That's good to hear. Maybe you should now more than ever consider getting a gardner joey. Taking care of so many flowers is strenuous." I took another brief glance at my watch.

"Oh! Nonsense! It is just this bunch of beauties that need extra care." Old Joey's voice hummed in my ears.

I bent over the fence to have a look.

"It will never be the same" the whisper was ghostlike. It didn't sound like a voice, it sounded like a gust of wind but I couldn't mistake the words.

I whipped my head up immediately.

"What?" My voice was shaky.

"I was saying the flowers should be doing finer by next week" he replied looking at me quizzically.

"Ohh! I'd be on my way now Joey, have a nice day. Say hi to Mrs Lantern for me." I practically hurried away.

"Sure barbie!"

Barbie? Again? That's extremely weird.

~~~

Everywhere was icy cold at work. Miss Yonova didn't show up. No one really expected her to. Cole was like her child and losing children are the worst!

Natalie was usually annoyingly calm. It was obvious she knew something. And Anna was just squeaky and creepy as usual.

I knew i shouldn't be suspecting my co workers but then again, I just moved here and after what happened to Cole, i realized I know nothing about anyone here, as they do me.

Well, first to give away was Rose. I couldn't count how many times she went into the changing room to take calls in hushed tones.

To be fair, she does that almost all the time but i guess I'm just putting everything into consideration.

"What are you thinking ?" Natalie interrupted my thoughts.

She had this cool creepiness to her. Not as creepy as Anna of course but still you didn't expect it.

"Oh I'm just wondering who among us might have killed Cole." I stated matter of factly staring at her.

"Oh really? So who did you decide on?" She held my gaze.

"Natalie where were you that night? And don't even say "around somewhere" cause I sure as hell searched for your ass."

" You sound soo Negro." She had a smirk.

Literally invoking the spirit of calmness rn cause I'm a second away of punching that smirk off!

"Is that even a thing?"

"I wouldn't know. Just saying."

"Natalie where were you?"

" It was important. At least to me."

That was literally the worst answer a person could give on a matter as serious as this but somehow i didn't find it disturbing.

There was something about Natalie that drained me. Whenever we were having a conversation, i found myself struggling. Just fighting something.

I definitely sound crazy but yeah this whole town is f*****g crazy.

Just then Rose came out from the changing room for probably the 5th time.

I decided to corner her after she finished taking an order.

"Rose? You've been on calls the whole day. Trouble at home?

"No just random calls. And this guy I met recently that has been on my neck."

I could immediately tell she was lying. Rose talked endlessly and openly about all the guys in her life. Even the ones she just shared a fleeting moment of eye contact with.

"Ohh just let me know if I can help."

Then i realized I haven't seen Anna for a while. Went to the kitchen and madam Rimora, the cook said she went on some errands.

It was almost time to lock up and Anna hadn't returned.

Usually all four of us lock up after the cook and cleaner and the other waitress left. They were the older women so they left early.

Shortly, Natalie announced she was leaving already.

"I have a stomach upset" she announced just as she left.

That sounded so wrong, But i didn't drag.

It was left to Rose and I to lock up.

More perfect than i could ask for..

After we locked up, i made a show of turning around the corner like i was going home.

Then waited behind the bend to see Rose's movements. She got into a taxi.

Rose didn't need a taxi to get to her house.

I waited for her to drive off before i came out of the bend to flag down a taxi hurriedly.

I followed Rose's taxi to an alarming distance. We were almost at the outskirts of town, when her taxi stopped.

That's weird.

I looked around. There was barely civilization. There was an old and abandoned industry, a car repairs yard. And basically almost no life.

I watched Rose get out of her taxi and half run into an Alley i didn't notice.

I followed her at the most reasonable distance.

We just kept turning into variety of alleys. My legs were starting to ache.

And i couldn't help but notice how careless Rose was. As much she was trying to be meticulous, it was so bad.

Not once in all our 'alley journey' did she look back to even see if anyone else was with her or might have been watching her.

I could have been a serial killer for all we knew.

After so much 'alley journey' we bust out in another part of the city.

We were back in town? I honestly thought we were taking shortcuts out of it.

It took me a while to realize she was just going through those pointless alleys incase she was being followed.

Not that dumb after all I'd say.

Rose eventually entered the most unexpected of places. An ORPHANAGE!!

Rose got into a freaking orphanage?!!! Are we in a parallel universe or sumn?? But then why was she so suspicious about it?

This isn't over. Not yet.

I followed her in. I got tied at the receptionist desk, filling a form cause i was a new entity. I was directed to the ' parlour' where all the children supposedly were.

I stopped a few inches away because I saw Rose leaning against the open door, staring at one particular child. A boy.

"Oh miss Snow! Welcome. We didn't know you were coming in today." A reverend sister who was probably the owner of the establishment addressed Rose.

"Yes just felt like it today." Rose replied with her biggest smile.

"Micheal, come over here and say hi to your mother."

Immediately the boy Rose had been looking at ran to give her a hug.

My mouth dropped open.

"You have a son!" I said aloud in shock.

All the color drained from Rose's face as she turned around. The nun equally stared in shock.

Rose pulled me forcefully along the hallway, into an empty room and sat me down immediately.

"First of all, you must not tell this to anyone! Not even police."

I stared in disbelief.

"Why do you have a son?... I mean.. why are you hiding him? Are you embarrassed?" I was stuttering

Rose laughed dryly.

"Embarrassed? Of course not! I'm...... Scared" she looked away.

"Scared of what?" I didn't understand.

She pulled a chair opposite me and sat.

"When I was younger, i fell in love with this man. I thought I knew him but I did not. He promised to marry me. Shortly after, I conceived. I was going to tell him because i was so excited, but then he got arrested for kidnapping and human trafficking."

My eyes widened.

" I got so scared. I decided to keep the child to myself even after he was arrested. While he was in prison, i stopped visiting him for a while, so he started trailing me. He eventually stopped but that was why I gave Micheal up. He's not safe with me."

"Why didn't you just go police?" I was still staring wide eyed

"Police?" She was looking at me like she didn't believe I'd just asked that question.

"This man has people everywhere Emily. Micheal is only safe here. If he knew about this boy? That i had a son for him? He would stop at nothing!!"

My head was spinning.

"So why are you following me?"

It was my turn to laugh dryly.

"I am conducting a personal investigation on cole. And you tipped me off with your phone calls. Then i saw you get into a taxi. Which we both know you don't need on your way home. Soooo...."

She nodded rapidly.

"So what do you plan to do?" I asked after a while.

"I honestly? Don't know right now."

We stuck around for some time before Rose bade her goodbyes and we left.

I got home and realized I had nothing for dinner. I collapsed on my bed.

What a day!!

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A/n; how was it? Honestlyyy you are the most amazing person on this planet for getting this far with me.

I love you! Hope you enjoyed it?

The idea is to always leave y'all in guessing so you can comment your speculations. So don't fail to do that.

Stay tuned!!

1❤️

Amy<3