Rock Prodigy

Chapter 28

“Rosemary,” Sarah said in a choked voice, making me flinch.

I just shook my head and took a few more steps away, moving past the band again, their gazes following me.

“Rose, please, talk to us,” Ben said more loudly as the distance between us increased. His words made me halt though and suddenly, it was all too much. Anger joined the confusion and sadness that had filled my heart and I latched onto it greedily, finally feeling like I was able to breathe normally again.

Swiftly, I spun around and faced everyone in front of me, my eyes narrowed on the adorable picture that Ben, Sarah, and Savannah made. I couldn’t help but think how out of place I would look with them. My skin was paler than any of theirs and my eyes were that strange golden colour. My hair was too dark and I towered over Sarah. “What does she know?” I asked, my voice low but it carried. I could hear the restraint in my words as I stared at the little girl who unconsciously stepped closer to her mother, obviously seeing something in my eyes that scared her.

“We never really told her about you,” Ben said quietly, making Savannah’s head whip towards him, her ponytails flying out as she moved.

“What are you talking about?” she asked, her forehead wrinkling into a frown.

“We’ll tell you later, honey,” Sarah said, wrapping her arm around her daughter’s shoulders and giving her a comforting squeeze.

“Why don’t we tell her now?” I asked, my voice dripping with acid as I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Now’s not a good time,” Sarah said, her tone containing a hint of warning and her green eyes flashing at me.

“It’s never going to be a good time!” I shouted, my loud voice making a few passersby glance over before they continued on their way. “If you haven’t found a way to tell her in the past nine years, then my guess would be that you weren’t planning on ever telling her. Which is totally fine,” I continued, my voice becoming low and quiet once more as I clenched my hands so hard at my sides that my fingernails were digging into my skin. “It’s all in the past now, I understand that.”

“Take Savannah to the car,” Ben said to Sarah who just nodded as her gaze connected with mine for a moment before I looked away. She let out a sigh before leading her daughter away from us. Savannah didn’t put up too much of a fight as she left with her mother, she just gave me a questioning glance over her shoulder before sending me a little wave and then she was out of sight. “Rose, there are some things that I’ve wanted to say to you over the years─”

“Then why didn’t you say it?” I asked, my eyes narrowed on him.

“What?”

I shrugged, giving him a little smile that felt foreign on my face. “You knew where I was. After all, you sent me there.”

“Rose please, just listen to me. I─”

“Like you listened to me?” I shouted, the sentence ending on a shrill note. “Do you want to explain to me why you just gave up on me? Why you didn’t even ask what happened that night that I got arrested? I listened to you guys tell me that I was part of your family for months and at the first sign that things might not be all sunflowers and rainbows, you gave up on me without even a fight!” My chest was rising and falling quickly and I could feel tears streaking down my cheeks, making my eyesight blurry as I shouted at Ben. I took a deep breath of air and closed my eyes, tilting my head back for a moment, trying to gain control of my emotions. When I looked at Ben again, his eyes were filled with guilt and pain and there were a few tear tracks down his cheeks too. “I’ll never listen to you again. Ever. So stay the fuck out of my life.” My heart lurched slightly as I spoke, the anger and contempt in my own voice catching me off guard as I spun around and took off again wishing I could erase the image of Ben’s stricken face from my mind. This time when I ran, I didn’t stop until I was past the parking lot and onto the street, my guitar bouncing lightly on my back, giving me an odd sense of comfort.