Cold Case » Luke Patterson ¹ ✓

2│This is Not the End

"Willow?" Rosalie called out for her dog. The dog barked and began to growl at her.

It was as if the dog did not recognize Rosalie and jumped up on the fence and growled at her as she walked closer. She walked over slowly with her hand out, hoping that her dog would know that it was her. Instead, Willow snarled at her and tried to bite her hand once it was close enough.

That alone was enough to make Rosalie wonder what had happened. She thought maybe her dog had gotten rabies, or maybe she was just sick. The thought that she might be dead never once crossed her mind.

The back door opened, and Mara stepped out, "Willow, what is it?" She asked the dog. Rosalie stared up at her mother and wondered why she hadn't spoken to her. Then she thought maybe she couldn't see her at this angle.

Rosalie closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, and then headed towards the front door. It was time to face her mom and receive whatever punishment her mother gave her. She figured she would be grounded for a couple of weeks, or maybe even a month.

She reached her hand out to grab a hold of the door handle, but to her surprise, her hand went straight through it. She stared at the door and then her hand for a moment, trying to come up with a logical explanation, but she never did. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried again but with the same result. Deciding on a different approach, she called out for her mom.

She waited outside the door for a few moments before she realized that something was wrong. Her mother couldn't hear her. Immediately her mind began to think the worst. She thought maybe her mother had fallen and knocked herself out, or maybe she had somehow died. Once again, her fragile mind couldn't seem to wrap around the idea that she was the one that was dead.

She raised her hand up to push the doorbell, hoping that it would work, when the door opened. Rosalie smiled at the sight of her mother, answering the door. "Oh, good." She said. "Something weird is going on, but I promise I'm okay, mom." She tried to reassure her mother before she could even speak.

But instead of looking at Rosalie, her mother seemed to look through her. Rosalie stood there confused, and then she turned around to see what her mother was looking at. The mailman walked up to her and gave her a package. As he did, his hands went through Rosalie's body. She let out a loud gasp and quickly moved out of the way.

Her mind started spinning, trying to think of what could have caused this, but she came up short. Taking the opportunity, she walked through the open door while her mother signed for the package. She wondered what her mother could have ordered, but then she remembered that it was her birthday next week. November 5th, she would be turning seventeen, only she didn't know that she would never reach that age.

Once her mother made it back inside the house, Rosalie stepped towards her. "Mom, I'm sorry for staying out all night." She said quickly as her mom set the package down on the kitchen table. "I don't know what happened."

She waited a moment for her mother to speak. But as the seconds passed into minutes, worry began to creep up on her as she watched her mother take a seat on the couch and stare at the front door. "Mom, can you at least speak to me?" She asked as she took a seat down beside her.

Soon the front door opened and her mother perked up but some she saw that it was her husband. "I put the posters up all around town." He spoke and then placed the last one down on the coffee table. Rosalie sat up straighter to get a look at the paper. When she saw the big red word missing with her picture beside it, she felt a sick feeling in her stomach.

Her breathing began to pick up as she looked between her parents. "Mom, Dad, I'm right here. Why can't you see me?"

At that moment, Mara felt the sense that her daughter was close, but she couldn't tell where. She left her husband in the living room as she went down the hall to Rosalie's bedroom as she carried the poster. Rosalie followed her down the hall, wondering what had happened.