A Rose and A Phantom (Descendants of Classics Book 1)

Chapter 19: Comfort and Absorption

Chapter 19:
Comfort and Absorption

Rosabella had gone to visit her father the next day. She sat at his bedside trying to urge him to wake up from his coma. It had been discovered that someone had tried to drown him, and his body and mind sent him into a coma from the oxygen deprivation. This fact shook her to the core; how could someone try to kill her father? He had never done anything wrong, nor did he bring anyone harm. Why would someone do this to her and her father? It's so unjust. If only Derik could be sitting with her right now; she wished to have him there beside her so he could comfort her and make her smile. Her thoughts then brought a smile to her face as she began to think about how he had broached the subject yesterday. 

She wouldn't be able to repay him in full for all that he had done for her. Derik had stayed with her all night while she slept and had been there when she woke this morning. He made sure she was safe and brought her comfort enough to fall asleep. This was a kindness that she would treasure forever. How could she be the only one who received his kindness that was not employed by him? This thought disturbed her. She shook her head of those thoughts and returned her mind to the present. Rosabella grasped her father's hand as he lay on the hospital bed in a coma. She smiled weakly at him and rested her head on the bed beside his. 

"Papa, I miss you so much already; please come back to me," she whispered to him. "I have a friend that I would like you to meet, the one that had taught me how to sing. He is a really nice man and is so thoughtful; he tends to put my needs before his own. He has rescued me from the baron twice now. Please come back to us so you may know my best friend."

This last line was heard by an unknown onlooker. She seethed in anger at the girl. How dare she disrespect Madeline by claiming another as her best friend?! This would not go unpunished, she would see it through herself. 

Rosabella stood up shortly after her one-sided conversation with her father. She left the room after saying goodbye and proceeded to leave the building. She got into the awaiting car and they traveled back to the theatre. Frau Garrett had accompanied the girl to the hospital and waited in the car, so she would have some privacy with her father. The ride back was silent as the two held a mutually comfortable silence. They understood one another well enough to know that silence would be best at this moment in time. 

The ride back to the theatre was short and soon Rosabella was rushing up the stairs to the attic. Derik heard the rushing of footsteps on the stairs and knew that his Rose had returned. He went to the door and opened it just in time for Rosabella to come tumbling into him. They collapsed to the floor and she clutched the chest of his shirt. Tears began streaming down her face as she sobbed into his shirt. He wrapped his arm around her as he used his other to move them into a sitting position. He repositioned her to where she was sitting in his lap before snaking his free arm under her legs. He slowly lifted them from the floor and carried her towards his bed. He sat down on the bed and rested her in his lap. They stayed like that for minutes, silence included. It soon turned into hours that they stayed like that. The only indication of the time was when Frau Garrett brought them supper. 

The two moved to a table that had been placed in the room, and Derik pulled out the chair for her. He pushed the chair in as she sat down and then sat in his own chair. Frau Garrett then placed the dinner trays on the table. She left shortly after and the two began eating. They were served chicken alla milanese. Rosabella enjoyed it thoroughly while Derik ate his slowly so as to savor every bite. He rather enjoyed the meals he ate with Rose as they were filled with conversations and just her overall presence. He felt great joy overcome him as they sat across from one another. His heart swelled with both happiness and despair for their current circumstances. Rosabella glanced up at him as she ate her piece of chicken. Her heart was almost consumed by her despair for her father. Her thoughts raced rapidly through her head as she tried to focus on her food and Derik. 

One thought kept repeating itself in her head and began to drive her mad. She closed her eyes tightly as tears began to pool in them. That one thought wouldn't leave her mind, and she was beginning to despair further. She curled her hand into a fist and slammed it onto the table as a sob broke through her composure. Derik looked up at her in shock as he heard her sob. He quickly got up from his seat and walked around the table to her. He squatted down beside her as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She turned in his arms to face him as she pressed herself closer to him for comfort. 

"What if he dies?" Rosabella sobbed out the thought.

"He won't die, meine Rose, he can't when he knows that he has you to whom to return," Derik consoled her.

"Why did this have to happen to us?" Her eyes were like dams that had been cracked just for the water to break down the rest of the barrier.

"I don't know but they will pay for what they've done," Derik reassured her.

She remained quiet, with the exception of her sobs, as he held her close to him. He rubbed circles into her back and her sobs soon lessened. They lessened slowly into silence as she found true comfort in his arms.

The following days were filled with darkness. The clouds blocked out the sun and they took on a gray color as opposed to their normal white. If Rosabella thought the sky reflected her despair from being separated from Derik, then she was wrong. The sky had never reflected her emotions so accurately before now. Each day it rained and fog covered the concrete of the pavement. It was an altogether depressing state for everyone, most of all Rosabella. She spent her days in emotional numbness, only showing emotions during her performances in the musical. She tried desperately to achieve some form of normalcy to no avail.

Derik watched her sink deeper and deeper into her depression with each passing day that her father remained in his coma. The anguish of seeing his beautiful Rose in such a state was slowly eating at his conscious and his heart. He felt helpless for not being able to bring her out of her state of mind. He tried getting her to dance with him one night just for her to collapse into tears. He loved how much she loved her family but hated that the current circumstances caused that love to turn to such emotional pain. It was unnerving to him. He was rendered a mere onlooker as he slowly watched Rose's descent into the darkness that was her depression.

Jeanette also watched on as Rosabella fell deeper into her emotions. She felt a strong sense of failure at seeing her daughter, in spirit and mind only, crash and fall at the hands of her own emotions. This troubled her ever so much to see. Her heart was slowly breaking with each day she saw the girl in such a way. The same went for her feelings for poor Rory. She felt a strong sense of friendship towards the man. The knowledge of his coma came as a tragedy to her. Gretchen was more of the person to console others during this time. She was less emotionally tied to the man that had been the subject of such a tragedy. Rory was more of an acquaintance to her so it was understandable as to why she didn't show as much despair as the rest.

On one particular day, Rosabella found herself locked in her room with a book in her hands. She sat on her bed with her legs crossed beneath her. She was attempting to distract herself from the rest of the world by reading one of her favorite books. She was reading "Dracula" by Bram Stoker. The classic vampire novel was truly something that could distract her as vampires couldn't be real. There was something about the historical paranormal novel that just complete absorbed all of her attention. Rosabella was currently reading the chapter where Lucy Westenra had been turned into a vampire. She found that she felt sorry for Lucy as the poor girl had no choice but to become a creature of the night; she had been too weak willed to even attempt to fight off Dracula's pursuits.

Lucy reminded her a bit of herself and how she couldn't fight off the baron by herself. This thought saddened her and she shook her head. She couldn't let herself get sad over a book right now. She focussed her attention back on the chapter she was reading and put her entire energy into remaining focused on the book. The story continued to unfold in Rosabella's mind and she found parts of herself in Mina Harker (formerly Murray). She saw how Mina was headstrong enough to know what she wanted and how she was true to her husband. These aspects were inspiring to Rosabella and helped her to gain confidence in herself again.

Rosabella decided to use this inspiration help her stay focussed on her schoolwork and performances. She began a spiral into cutting herself off from everyone, including Derik.