TW
CHAPTER 31 - A BEAUTIFUL, UNREALISTIC DREAM -
ROSELYN.
My breathing was uncontrolled and the pain in my body enormous.
But all of that suddenly felt secondary.
"Hey-hey, Rose."
A familiar, warm and rough voice suddenly appeared right next to me.
I couldn't open my eyes.
Since, I was still in uncertainty, I cringed fearfully.
"It's okay-It's me. Erling."
That voice said again and carefully placed his hands on my upper arms.
"E-Erling?" I asked confused.
I managed to open my eyes, slightly, but I was only able to see blur.
"Yeah, it's me." He reassured me. "I'm here, now."
Am I dreaming? Was this a dream?
Where was Brody and how did Erling get in here?
I must be dreaming.
A beautiful, unrealistic dream.
Suddenly I felt all my weight being taken off me.
I was gently lifted from the bed.
I was able to see outlines.
One thing I saw was a man laying on the floor in my bedroom.
He didn't seem to be moving.
He seemed to be dirty-or was it blood?
I didn't know.
I didn't know anything right now.
There wasn't much for me to see after, since my eyes got even heavier and I started to feel numbness.
All I saw was black and then I passed out.
Ouch.
My head.
With a lot of effort, I blinked and opened my eyes.
Immediately, I stared at the ceiling above me.
It wasn't mine, I could tell.
This one looked whiter, more modern and a lot higher than mine.
My eyes wandered to my right, where I winced for a second.
At the end of the bed, Erling sat with his feet firmly planted in the ground, his hands hung down over his lap and his gaze was on the floor.
He seemed to have noticed, my movement, because he turned his head to me and I immediately saw the relief flaking down from his shoulders.
He slid cautiously closer to me and gently grabbed my hand.
"Hey." He softly, whispered.
Erling held my hand in both of his and carefully ran his thumb over the back of my hand.
"Hey." Still confused and sleepy, I looked into his face.
In his face, I recognized concern, relief and wonder in one.
"How are you?"
"I-I'm okay." I swallowed. My eyes went down my body. A big blanket was on top of me, keeping me warm.
"W-what-"
With my empty hand, I inquired my face and felt a bandit.
Erling gently grabbed my hand, so I wouldn't destroy anything. "Careful."
He said and put my hand back down.
I grabbed the blanket and lightly lifted it, only to find me laying in Erling's bed with no pants on.
Panic spread through me.
"What-what...-"
"Hey-hey-hey." He took my hand again and held it softly.
"I didn't take off your pants. My mom did."
His words slowly calmed me down.
I took in the information he gave me.
His mom took off my pants, not Erling.
"What happened?" I asked in a tiny voice.
Did I really want to know?
Erling swallowed before taking both of his hands and running them through his open hair.
———————————
ERLING.
I regretted how I left things with Rose.
She didn't deserve the way I treated her.
I shouldn't have pushed her to talk to me, although, she clearly wasn't ready to.
What I wanted most, was to find out what's been going on with her and help her.
But there's no way I'd be able to help her if I put pressure on her.
After I finished detention, I immediately grabbed my sports jacket and put in on while speeding out the classroom and afterwards out school.
I turned the engine of my motorcycle on and drove off.
I wanted to see her and talk to her.
Tell her that, even though, she wouldn't talk to me about it, I'm still gonna be around and be there for her.
She needed to know that.
The pain in her eyes was too much for me.
I could tell, she was hurting and that our fight was making her feel unwell.
I never want to be the reason for her sadness.
Never.
Meanwhile, I passed by all of her bus stops until I reached her house after 10 minutes.
I made my way to the front door, only to find it stand open.
Confused and already expecting the worst scenarios, I speed inside the house and checked the area.
No one was to be seen on the main floor.
Everything was quiet.
Except for one small noise coming from upstairs, I guessed.
Immediately, I went upstairs and stopped to eavesdrop.
When I suddenly heard something that sounded like silenced crying, I became lucid.
I speed in the direction of where the crying came from, until I noticed that it came out of Rose's room.
I ripped the door open, only to find an unknown man fixating Rose on the bed, with his hands all over her body while kissing her exposed belly.
Without even thinking for a second, I speeded to the bed and grabbed the man by his shoulders and threw him against the wall across from the bed.
The unknown man on the floor suddenly didn't seem to be so unknown to me, anymore.
I knew him.
I met him.
He was Rose's dad.
My eyes gazed to rose, who laid on the bed, crying, barely awake and looking more hurt than ever.
Next to her, there was a belt.
Suddenly, all I felt was anger.
Pure anger.
I took a few steps in the man's direction before I roughly forced him to his feet, only to give him several fists in the face right after that, which caused him to fall back down.
Although his face was already bloody and he was weakened, I did not stop beating him.
I hated how selfish, I was at that moment.
I satisfied the anger I felt towards him instead of being there for Rose.
But it couldn't help it. When I saw how he touched her, hurt her - fuck - I wanna kill this bastard.
But right now, Rose needs me more.
Instantly, I let go of the man and rushed to Rose.
Her eyes were closed, but I could tell, she was still conscious, just weakened.
"Hey-hey, Rose." Softly I spoke, when getting close to the bed. I tried everything not to scare her, since she couldn't see me right now.
Her reaction, tho, showed me that I failed.
She cringed fearfully away from me, which gave me a piercing stab in the heart.
Her being scared of me was one of the worst pain, I've ever felt.
"It's okay. It's me, Erling."
I tried again, but this time, I carefully placed my hands on her upper arms, trying to give her the comfort she desperately needed.
"E-Erling?" She seemed to be confused, but through her confusion, I sensed some kind of relief.
Suddenly, she blinked a few times and her eyes opened.
"Yeah, it's me." I tried reassuring her. "I'm here, now."
Rose didn't seem to be fully aware of the situation.
She seemed to be more than tired and exhausted.
I didn't think twice, but rather carefully picked her up, placing my arm around her back and the other one underneath her legs.
I turned around and walked straight to the door.
For a second I stopped when I saw him, again.
He was unconscious, bleeding nearly everywhere.
Not even for a second I thought about calling an ambulance or helping him.
I wouldn't mind if that piece of shit died right here, right now.
I walked past him with Rose in my arms.
I noticed, that she had become unconscious by now.
"Rose?" I tried to waken her with the volume of my voice.
It didn't work.
When I arrived outside of her house, I carefully crouched down and let her head rest on my knee while her legs were on the ground.
With my free hand, I quickly took my phone out and called my mom.
Not even 5 minutes later, her dark Mercedes parked in the driveway.
Quickly, I lifted Rose on my arms, again and carried her into the car.
I sat down in the back with Rose's head rested on my lap.
My mom started driving without asking any further questions.
Concerned, I gently ran my fingers over Rose's temples.
I put my ever-emerging anger aside and focused on only one thing: Rose.
I carried Rose into my bedroom and carefully placed her on my bed.
From time to time, she had opened her eyes a few times, but she was too weak to keep them open long enough for me to talk to her.
"Bring me my suitcase." My mom said, when she sat down on the side of the bed and placed the back of her hand on Rose's forehead.
Quickly, I went into my mom's office and took the stuff she needed to help Rose.
"Is she okay?"
I got more nervous each second went by of my mom not saying anything.
"She'll be." She answered calm, and I've never been so happy about my mom being a doctor.
She took care of Rose's bruises.
Especially, those on her face, which I've seen before and the ones she had gotten probably not even an hour ago.
By the thought of that, my fists clinched and my body
tensed.
How could someone do that to their own fuckin' daughter?
Fuck.
How did I miss all of this?
How did I not notice anything?
How did I not see she was in so much pain?
Her dad beating her and trying to rape-
I didn't even want to think about it.
One more thought of that Bastard would cause me to rush out of the house, drive to Rose's house and beat the living shit out of him, again.
And, I couldn't do that, now.
She needed me.
Rose needed me.
She had needed me before, I knew that now.
And, I had let her down.
"I think she's bleeding from her leg, too." My mom suddenly, said.
I swallowed and looked at the broken and hurt girl laying on my bed.
"There was a belt." My voice was rough, flooded with suppressed rage.
My mom looked at me.
I could see the shock written all over her face, but she tried to overplay it.
She turned back around to Rose.
"I'm gonna take off her pants."
That was my cue to turn around and look away.
Even though, she wasn't conscious right now, I know, she wouldn't want me to see her exposed like that.
I could hear my mom pulling down her pants and looking for things in her suitcase.
On the inside, I was hoping, she'd be alright.
"Okay, you can turn around again." She said.
Slowly, I turned around and looked to my bed.
Rose laid in there, covered with a blanket.
"When's she gonna wake up?"
"Hopefully soon. She's exhausted and weak, but no longer in danger."
I knew for a fact, she wasn't in danger.
Not ever, again.
I wouldn't let that happen.
"Thanks, mom."
I took a deep breath.
She walked up to me and looked up at me.
"I'm not going to ask you, to tell me everything, but a little background story here, would be very helpful, honey."
I ran my hands through my hair.
"I don't know anything, mom. That's how I found here in her room."
She sighed, looking back to Rose. "Poor thing."
She looked back at me. "Should I call her parents?"
"No."
I shot out of me like a pistol, which made her give me a confused look.
"I'll talk to her, when she wakes up, and then we'll see."
"Okay." She answered calm. "If you need me, I'm downstairs, okay?"
I nodded, looking at her, grateful.
Without her, I'd never been able to bring her here this quickly and get her being taking care of.
She softly kissed my cheek before leaving my room and shutting the door behind her.
I got close to the bed and then sat down on the side.
My eyes were fixated on her.
Her bleeding had stopped.
Bandits were on her face, which covered her scratches.
My heart broke piece by piece when I looked at her laying there like that.
She looked so shattered and fragile.
I closed my eyes for a brief second, to take a breath.
I couldn't focus on anything, but waiting for her to finally wake up and look at me, again with her beautiful, green eyes.