His Happy Daughter

Day Two

  Rose was in bliss, living life happily, feeling the best she ever has. How come she's never tried this before?? She feels like she's floating, in such a good mood, she couldn't imagine life without such a thing!! She kicked her socked feet in excitement over this new thing in her life, this new reason to live, and continued coloring in her book, her mind full of happy and excited thoughts about what to draw. A lot of the things she drew were her father, it's all she knew, all she loved. She had no clue who her mother was, the news said that her mother went and became an actress in America, how exciting for her! Rose giggled at the thought that she's the daughter of a Constable AND an actress! Oh, no one's gonna believe her when she tells people! Once she gets out! Get out? Oh, yeah. She's stuck in this house, but she didn't view it as being 'stuck' anymore. With these pills, she thought of it more as relaxing happily at home up until she's 18. 18 wasn't that far away, just about 5 more years, that wasn't too bad of a wait.

  After an hour of drawing, all of her happy thoughts very slowly died down. The colors around her became such ugly hues, and everything seemed so depressive again. She puffed her cheeks out, as the colors on her drawing weren't as pretty as they were a moment ago. She sat up, and glanced at her beautifully vibrant room as it slowly became such a dead sight to see. She scooted on her knees from the center of her room to her night stand, and opened the top drawer, grabbing the white pill bottle. She opened the lid, thinking about all of the colors that she just saw, and how happy life would be if she could just pop another one now. The effects of the strawberry pills haven't worn off yet, the world around her was flashing from beautiful to dull back to beautiful, but her mind was depressing. It wasn't as happy as it was a moment ago, and what's the point of life if she isn't happy 24/7?

  Her mindset was broken when there was a knock at the door. It seemed like all of the happy things the pills made her think died with her breathing. A knock? Whilst her father was away? People knew this was Constable Hale's house, everyone in the neighborhood, everyone in all of Wellington Wells knew each other. So why was someone knocking at the Constable's house, knowing full well that he isn't home at the moment? She stood up from her bedroom, her world around her becoming such a dull feeling once more. But this time, she wasn't annoyed by the dull feeling, no, it horrified her. Someone was outside, clearly not waiting for her father, or else no one would have knocked on the door. She slowly made her way to the staircase, looking down with fear. Her door has a big window at the top of it that was always closed off with a curtain, her father made sure that curtain never moved, fear of people peering in.

  A shadow was casted on the curtain by how the sun was positioned onto the house. Rose's breath started to quicken, someone knew something, something bad. She tried to think reasonably ' maybe it's dad! No, he wouldn't knock, everyone thinks he lives alone, why would he knock on his own empty house? Maybe someone thinks he's home? No, dad is very quick to answer the door, he doesn't want me to get the moment to glance out, or be spotted. And everyone knows he works Monday-Friday from 7 am to 9 pm. Maybe it's someone looking for shelter? No, it's completely illegal to beg around for a home, especially a constable's home.' Her only conclusion was that someone had a suspicion that she was there. When the person didn't leave, she knew then that the person didn't just suspect her to live in the house, whoever it was knew that the law was being broken.

  She slowly made her way down the stairs, trying to make as little to no noise as she possibly could. She slowly snuck down the stairs and to the left of the door, making her way to the window right next to the dining table. She pulled back a small amount of the curtain, looking at the doctor standing outside of the door to her house. She gasped, quickly clamping a hand over her mouth to silence whatever noise she could possibly make. She studied the man outside of her house, knowing the danger that he could bring to her and her father. But by the time she realized the man was looking back at her, it was already too late.

  Constable Hale sighed, looking at the sky slowly going from a soft and beautiful pink into a lovely dark blue, almost black. It reminded him of Rose, funny enough. She would have her moments where, even without having taken Joy all her life, she would be bubbly and sweet, and then right after, have an attitude towards him. Hale knew that she was just reaching her teen years, him himself having gone through it once before. He smiled at the thought of going home, and making dinner for Rose, even if she hated her home with a burning passion. "'Ello, Constable Hale." A voice brought Hale back from his thoughts. "Ah, hello, Constable Steven." Hale solutes to his fellow Bobby. "I'm afraid I have some serious news." Constable Steven spoke.

  Constable Hale felt his heart drop, his ears ringing as Constable Steven spoke. He couldn't believe what he was listening to, all of his fears, all of the anxieties he's felt for the past 13 years have finally surfaced from deep below. "We found a child hiding away in your house" Hale felt pain, he felt like he might as bloody well thrown up! "I've got to go." Hale spoke before running down the street, his Joy was wearing off as he panicked, begging that this was all a dream, that he would wake up and know to take his Joy before going to sleep. Begging that his fellow Constables were just playing a huge joke on him, but as he arrived to his home, lungs burning up, feeling as if they were about to burst, he knew that all of his fear and pain had become a reality as other Bobbies stood in front of the home, police tape barding the front door, but nothing was as painful as the scream his little girl gave out.

  "Please! Please let me go! I'm sorry! I was just hungry! I didn't know it was a constable's home! PLEASE!" Her voice was hoarse, she had clearly been screaming for a while. Hale looked over at his daughter, his own blood, being carried by two other constables, holding one arm each. Rose looked at her father, tears streaming down her red face, she had panic in her begging eyes, begging that he think of something quick before she's killed. Hale walked forward, not thinking at all, before someone placed a hand on his chest. "Constable Hale, we found her in your home. No one knows where she came from, she's been screaming about how hungry she was. We have reason to believe that she has been living there for some time without your knowledge. She even had joy in a drawer for herself, she clearly had intent to stay for a while." The constable spoke.

  Hale looked between constable and Rose, his mind scrambled on what he should do. Saving her was his top priority, but he couldn't if he was caught, too. "Good. We don't need children roaming around, terrorizing our people. Find a place to keep her until we're able to figure out what to do with her." He spoke, managing to stop his voice from quivering. He may have seemed calm, but he was horrified, broken even. "Wait- what?! No! Please, I'm begging you, let me go!" Her traumatized screams broke his heart even more, but he just stood there, watching two people take his daughter away from his sight. "So sorry about the disturbance, constable Hale. I'd recommend you take tomorrow off, just to scan your home for any other children, or anything she could have planted to ruin your living condition." Constable Sawyer placed a hand on Hale's shoulder before leaving.

  Hale made his way into his house. As if the sight of his daughter being taken from him didn't ruin him enough, the sight of his house being torn up made it worse. There was a fight here, the house was clearly broken into. Rosemary fought for her life, but she's only so strong, so fast. "Sorry about the mess. Something smelt... off." The doctor shrugged, glaring down at the constable. The doctor left, leaving Hale alone.

  He couldn't believe it. His daughter was gone. He made it 13 years, he just needed 5 more. David Hale fell to his knees, looking at the destruction that remained in his home. What has he done..?