Blood Rose

Chapter One

Rosalie Faye woke up to screams. No, scratch that. She woke up to high-pitched, blood-curling screams of bloody murder. So she did what every girl would do in her position, she screamed back, eyes closed, hands over her ears, trying to block out the noises that is seems too familiar to her.

"What in hell?" Ms. Nettie, the woman who runs the tavern that Rosalie works in, bursts into her room, white hair frizzly, clad in a ratty robe, eyes wide, hands holding a dusty rolling pin up high as if it will protect her from harm. If this was a normal occasion, Rosalie would have burst out laughing but this is anything but normal.

"Ask Talla!" Rosalie desperately points at her blonde and usually sweet roommate who was still screaming, squirming violently under her bloodstained covers, eyes wild like a cornered animal's. Rosalie jerked backwards in shock and fear when Talla let out another ear piercing screech that is too much like an animal's and she flinched in surprise at Talla's dark eyes, backing up without thinking. And of course, she just have to fall off her bed. Rosalie's knees buckled on the ground and her hand shot out to meet the cold stone floor instinctively. She winced as she a barely detectable crack, she is going to regret that action later. She blinked as the sunlight streaming through the ratty curtains covering the windows pierced Rosalie's eyes.

"Talliana Ryta, what is wrong with you?!" Ms. Nettie was shrieking to be heard over the loud noise, finger jabbing accusingly at the screaming girl. Talla didn't respond, just keep on screaming and shivering and Ms. Nettie have to grab the other girl's forearms forcefully and forced her still on the bed. Talla struggled, kicking and screaming but soon stopped her screeches when she realized escape was futile. It was then that Rosalie noticed something. Something horrifying.

Talla's blonde hair was stained with dark crimson, red at the edges and was damp and sweaty, sticking to her forehead. Her usually sparkling green eyes were dull and crazed, almost as if they were fogged over by a grey hue. "Ms. Nettie." Rosalie can't stop her voice from trembling, "I think she got the Blood Fever." Ms. Nettie froze in shock, scrambling backwards from the limp serving girl, pressing herself to the wall, taking deep and shuddering breaths. Rosalie squeezed her eyes shut in despair. It had been ten years since the plague, the Blood Fever had appeared. Thankfully it was rare and hardly anyone caught it although it was deadly. And Talla's appearance showed every single symptom of the deadly disease that Rosalie had only heard about in books. "I'm going to get the doctor. Watch her, Rose." Ms. Nettie muttered shakily, face pale as a ghost, hands shaking violently, hurriedly scurrying out of the room, stumbling unevenly every step or so. Rosalie watched what used to be her best friend, completely stiff and unemotional although a battle of fear and panic raged inside her. Strangely enough, Rosalie isn't scared for herself, she was scared for Talliana. It was almost like Rosalie had encounter and evaded death before...

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The doctor looked up from Talla, frowning and his lips were set in a grim line as if he wasn't sure how to deliver the news. "Ms. Nettie, Miss. Faye, Talliana Ryta has indeed caught the Blood Fever." He announced, voice heavy with regret and sorrow. Rosalie want to scream. You have no right to be regretful or sad! You hated Talla, I knew it. Try harder to save her then! Don't give up! But she didn't.

The older woman let out a wail of heartbreaking grief before collapsing into a chair, her head in her hands, her entire body shaking. Talla had been Ms. Nettie's only family, her sister's only daughter, it is going to be the hardest for her to get over Talla's death if she even could. Rosalie bit back a wail, how come the good and sweet people always die? Talla hadn't deserve the fate that God bestowed her. She was kind, selfless, and incredibly patient. Talla had been the one to convince Ms. Nettie to allow her stay when she had found her, amnesiac, and starving. Talla had been the one to teach her how to embroider, how to make tea, how to dance and how to be a proper lady although they weren't one. And Talla was the one, Rosalie comforted when her boyfriend died, the one who Rosalie had giggled with when they shared embarrassing story late into night.

She was startled out of her reminisce by a simple but life-changing sentence spoken by the doctor and another shriek of utter pain that shattered Rosalie's heart into a million pieces. "It is highly impossible for someone to survive the Blood Fever although not totally impossible. But the treatment is going to be long and expensive and painful. It is up to you, her family to decide what to do. I will be waiting outside for your ultimate decision." The doctor informed them sadly before packing up his stuff and exiting the room with another regretful bow. Ms. Nettie's hand somehow found Rosalie's and squeezed it tightly enough to cause pain. Rosalie didn't pull away nor did she wince, it seems like she was accustomed to pain too. "What do you think we should do, Rosie?" She muttered, half-delirious, eyes bloodshot, skin still feverishly pale and warm. Rosalie studied the dying Talla, no tears falling...yet. The girl was whimpering in pain and crying out every so often. She thought back to something Talla had told her long ago when they were playing a game.

"So...would you rather died peacefully at the hands of your loved ones or die painfully while they suffer?" Rosalie had asked, not exactly sure why the question suddenly popped into her mind. Talla had frowned in concentration, hands stopping their embroidering and her eyes seemed to be in a faraway land. "Dying peacefully at your loved one's hands." She had decided, eyes glowing with determination although it was probably because of the fiery flames roaring in the fireplace. Rosalie remembered that she had been so curious. So, so curious. "Why?" She had asked, fire flickering patterns across her naturally tanned skin. Talla placed her embroidery down on the table and had taken Rosalie's hands into her smaller and smoother ones. "Because I wouldn't want my loved ones to suffer because of me, because it wasn't their fault. Also..." Talla had paused uncomfortably here and had finished so quietly Rosalie nearly can't hear her. "Because I'm a coward and I wouldn't want to be in pain. I wouldn't survive." She had smiled so sadly at Rosalie then and asked "Do you understand?"

"Talla would've wanted death. A peaceful death." She replied without thinking, hands clenching so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Ms. Nettie nodded, eyes glazed over with painful tears. "She said that she would've not wanted us to suffer because her. She also said that she's scared of being in pain. She would have wanted to be ended quickly." By now, tears were streaming down Rosalie's eyes like waterfalls pouring from her pale blue eyes and she was blubbering like a crazy witch. Ms. Nettie stifled another sob of her's and wrapped her slender arms around Rosalie, trying to seek much needed comfort that Rosalie found that she couldn't give. In her past she must have steeled herself against painful death and closed her heart off with a icy wall. She must rebuild that wall once again, otherwise she could not survive in this dangerous world.

Suddenly, the room seemed too stifling, too enclosed, and too disgusting with the smell of death in the warm spring air. She jumped up, ignoring Ms. Nettie's startled and alarmed cry. And did what she was always the best at. She turned on her heels and ran. Ran away from the pain that she can't bear anymore. Ran away from the one person that truly cared for her and wanted nothing back. Ran away from the past that she couldn't remember.