The Rosey Thorn

Chapter 10

“What are you doing here, Stan?” I asked as I rubbed my eyes from sleep. He stood by the window watching me.

“I wanted to see how you were doing,” he replied.

So much for keeping visitors out of my room. “Well, now you see me, so you can go.”

“Sweet Rose,” he says, and I cringed. That was my nickname before everything happened. Everyone called me Sweet Rose because I was nice and friendly to anyone I met. I was never rude, never mean. I was just kind and gentle. I helped anyone that needed my help. I had a smile for everyone. It was how I got the name.

What sucks was that I helped anyone that needed me and when I needed help, no one came. I was forgotten. “Don’t call me that,” I snarled through my clenched teeth. “I’m not her anymore.”

“Rose-”

“How long?”

“What?”

“How long did Jake and Mary wait before they married?” I asked, staring intently at him. I didn’t want to think about those two, but I needed to know. My heart aches, even thinking about it.

“Three months,” Stan says softly.

I scoffed. Three months. Three months to get over me. Three months to forget about me. Three months to marry someone else and not just anyone, my own sister.

“Did Jake or anyone try to find me? Did I matter to anyone? Did I even cross your mind?” I asked, my voice rising.

My heart rate accelerated as the monitor beeped rapidly. I suffered beatings and r***s for months and years, and what does Jake do? He falls in love with Mary. I’ve been betrayed.

“Rose, you left,” Stan began.

“But I didn’t!” I cried, throwing my hand down and slamming on the bed. Why can’t everyone see that? They all think that I abandoned Jake. Didn’t they know how much I loved him? I still do. I never stopped thinking about him, never stopped imagining his face. Jake is the love of my life, my soulmate.

“We thought you did. You should have seen Jake. He was devastated and heartbroken. He cried Rose. I have never seen him cry. So, no Rose, we didn’t try to find you. We never went to your apartment. We just assumed that you wanted to be alone. We didn’t even know you were missing until now.”

My eyes widened as I gasped. All this time, they moved on with their lives, removing me from their memories. My body shook with not just my tears, but with anger as well. “Do you know what I went through? How much pain I endure? Do you know how much I hoped to be saved? How can you possibly think I could ever leave Jake? I loved him so much, I still do. I was ready to marry him and spend the rest of my life with Jake. He’s the love of my life! And now after literally running back to him, he married my sister!”

“I’m sorry, Rose. Mary was there. She helped him through it. Rose…” His voice strained as I looked at him. “Mary went on your honeymoon with Jake.”

It’s where it all began. That was when my love for Jake dissipated. He did not care. He let me suffer because he did not care to come after me. He did not give a chance to even go to my home and see the destruction. He immediately thought that I had left him. Of all the years of me showing up for everything. Every date, every medal ceremony he received, every vacation we took, and every other event that we planned, I showed up. And the most important event of our lives that I ended up missing, his first thought was that I had left him. Just like that. I thought I was already broken, but now I am crushed into pieces.

“You know, Stan, if our roles were reversed, I would have looked for Jake, and I would not have stopped. If he was dead, I would have never stopped grieving.”

Stan didn’t say anything, but his eyes said everything. There was pity, regret, and sadness. I no longer want to look at him anymore. “Please leave Stan. Don’t come back no matter what.”

“Rose, please, I am your friend.”

“No, you’re not!” I speak. “You were all Jake’s friends in the beginning. True friends would have looked for me. Please leave Stan and tell everyone to stay away. No more visitors. The staff already knows. Don’t come back, Stan.”

There was nothing else to say; Stan knew that. So, he left quietly and slowly. My life is over. It probably ended the day I was taken. I was a fool to think it wasn’t, but this wasn’t my fault, it’s El Toro’s. He did this to me. He ruined my life and squashed it like a bug. Suddenly, my anger turned into something more. It turned into revenge. I’m going to hunt and kill El Toro.

Every rose has its thorn, they say. Well, mine is about to come out.