Lucas worried that Deanna had already caught up with him despite all the times he had changed his number and credit cards. The police let him go for now as Rosie's statement about them being liars seemed to affect them. Yet that didn't cease his worries, what if that was just the beginning of something bigger?
"Daddy, why do they not listen to you?" Rosie asked.
"Because not everyone likes me little flower." He responded. Rosie looked hurt by his words and hugged him tight. The expression on her face was the same one he always saw whenever an animal was hurt.
"Everyone should like you Daddy there's no reason they shouldn't because of no reason." She argued.
There was no way she would ever understand and he didn't want to scare her.
"You are so sweet Rosie but there are things that I can't tell you here..." He starts but Rosie scoffs.
"Please don't say that you'll tell me when I'm older I don't like it when you say." She said. He held her tight as she lay in his lap and it comforted him.
"Well, you see before you were born I was with someone, Jesse." He admitted. Rosie blinked and saw no problem with his words.
"So you had a girlfriend that's not something people should dislike you for," Rosie argued logically. Lucas laughed a bit and stroked her hair at her innocence.
"Oh, it wasn't a girl honey." He responded. This made Rosie gasp as she put the pieces together in her young mind.
"Oh...." She trails off. Before Lucas could feel hurt by her rejection she hugged him tightly.
"Rosie?" He asked. She only hugged him tighter.
"I still love you Daddy I don't care about who you are with, you are the best Daddy." She declared. He smiled at her support and returned her embrace. This gave him courage and he looked back at the officer with a strong look.
"Lucas..." The officer began but was cut off.
"Still think I'm a bad parent? Might wanna consult an expert before you assume anything." He said. Rosie giggled as the officer's mouth dropped in shock.
"How dare you speak to an officer that way." He argued crossing his arms. Lucas then sees the fake badge which reveals that the guy is not even a real police officer. He takes the fake badge and shows everyone the gold paint.
"Oh look officer your badge is painted," Lucas said. This made the hospital staff gasp and they called security which threw the fake officer out.
"I am sorry about all of that, I will make sure no charges are placed against you." The security guard said. With the situation dropped Lucas decided to turn his attention to the girl Lilly. However, she had vanished somehow and no one except Rosie seemed to remember her.
"Rosie, where did Lilly go?" He asked.
"I don't know she just said she would repay us then walked out and sang one note to walk out," Rosie explained. It sounded a bit sketchy but Lucas did recall hearing a bit of singing.
"And no one remembers her being here?" Lucas asked. He picked her up and she nodded and told him she missed her new friend.
"Yeah and I miss her she was my friend, I thought I could give her my email like I do with my friends at school when I have to move." She responded. Lucas just smiled at her and took her home so they could recover from the day. In the back of his mind, he was still concerned about that bite on Rosie's arms.
"I'm sure you will see her again honey, for now let's get you home and cleaned up." He said.
***
Later Lucas does the dishes while Rosie played in the tide pool. She had been thirsty recently and figured some water would do her good. After drinking two full glasses of water in a few gulps she skipped outside.
"Come on Peach." She said to her stuffed starfish. Without a second thought, she went inside the tide pool and collected a bunch of things. Her blue skirt got all wet but the girl didn't mind as she loved the cool feeling against her skin. However, the longer she played the more a strange new feeling in her body. At first, she thought she was hot and itchy, but it was something else. She looked down at her hands to scratch them only to see a strange blue substance on them.
After many unsuccessful attempts to wash them off in the water. As the water seemed to only create more, she began to panic.
"Rosie what are you..." Lucas came out of the house before she could think for too long and ran to him.
"Daddy there's something wrong with my hands they have blue flakes!" Rosie exclaimed. She felt that they had to mean something or she was just crazy. Lucas looked down at the blue flakes and touched them gently. Rosie looked at him in worry when his expression changed.
"Did you get some fish scales stuck on you?" He asked.
"No Daddy I didn't catch the fish, I was just playing I pinky promise." She responded.
"I believe you honey let's get you inside," Lucas said. Rosie wrapped her arms around his neck when he picked her up. The new scales vanished when Lucas dried her off for over half an hour. Rosie gulped every time she thought about where they came from.
"Daddy I'm scared how could I have scales?" She asked.
"I don't know honey but remember no matter what happens you will always be my little girl and Daddy will keep you safe." He responded. This made Rosie smile and she hugged him again. She placed her toy starfish on his shoulder.
"Peach and I say thank you." She giggled.
"Oh is that so?" Lucas asked. Without warning he tickled her and laughter filled up the room breaking the tension.
"Daddy no I don't like being tickled." She laughed. Lucas just carried on as he wanted to keep her spirits up.
"Sorry didn't catch that I think I may need a hearing aid." He responded in an old man's voice. When she began to claim she would cover the cough in tears he decided to stop.
"Daddy you are so silly you can't keep pretending to be old," Rosie said. She panted to catch her breath and went to get some more water.
"Rosie careful don't drink so fast." Lucas cautioned. Rosie still kept on drinking more water.
"But daddy I'm so thirsty." She argued.
Lucas felt her forehead but there was no fever or signs of sickness. She just seemed a bit overheated but that didn't explain the scales.
"Do you feel alright?" He asked. Rosie shrugged a bit.
"Yeah but something feels different Daddy, I can't explain it." She responded. Lucas had no idea what she meant as there was no scientific reason for why she would have scales.
"Have you noticed anything else besides the thirst, heat, and scales?" He asked. The ten-year-old shook her head.
"No Daddy I promise." She said. The blue gleam of her eyes and the warmth from her red hair ceased his worries.
"Alright why don't you go rest honey, I've got some more dishes to clean." He responded.
Rosie nodded and went up but stopped when she overheard someone over the phone.
"Lucas I can't believe you tried to hang up I need to know where you are!" The voice screamed. It sounded like an angry lady and Rosie knew it was that Deanna her dad talked about.
"I don't have anything to hide maybe you should give up. No of course I am not with another girl I wouldn't cheat." Lucas argued through the phone.
"Well because you kept blocking I'm going to come over there and teach you a lesson!" Deanna screamed. Rosie tightened her hands on the stairs when she saw her dad sweat with fear. There was a crack in his voice when he found the words to respond.
"Yes well, we will see." He answered.
"Daddy, what is she doing to you?" Rosie whispered. She gasped and covered her mouth every time she saw her Dad flinch from all the yelling. Her scales itched but she paid little attention to them as her only concern was this Deanna. She took a gamble that night and got onto her Dad's old laptop. It didn't do much except play music or white noise. Yet she managed to find some old pictures of a woman in the trash can on it. The so-called Deanna looked very beautiful but something was off with her gray eyes. 'What a witch.' Rosie thought to herself and looked through more deleted pictures. All of them were pictures of Deanna, but she was always in a different place. Sometimes she was alone in a field while in others she was with a group of people at a party. Yet there was only one picture of the woman with her dad, it was their wedding but their smiles were fake. She found a few articles as well about some other men that Deanna had known. Unsure what it meant but knowing it wasn't good, she made a mental note of it. She imagined that this Deanna was doing something bad to her daddy but she didn't know what yet.