Rose woke up the next morning and McGee was laying on his back beside her in the same spot he'd been in when she fell asleep. She was comfortable and felt safe when he was in the same room. Nothing tried to suck her into the closet, under the bed, and she didn't have dreams.
They both sat up at the same time and stood. "I need a shower." She says.
"Do I need to go with you?" McGee asks.
"I think I can manage on my own. But stay close just I'm case." She says.
"Okay, if you need me at all, just say my name. I'm going to pester Johnny. It's quite entertaining, he gets so freaked out." He chuckles and she smiles.
She leaves her bedroom and walks to the bathroom and turns on the water.
-
Rose lets the water run over here face and she sighs. Her music played softly through her speaker and she didn't have a care or thought in the world.
She didn't worry about the fact that she was going to be late for school, and she didn't worry about the shadow of a girl behind her curtain. She didn't notice as it got closer and closer.
"Rose?" She hears and her eyes fly open and she gasps. She turns and see her standing there.
"McG-" She starts to yell his name as the girl flies at her through the curtain, wailing loudly.
Rose falls backwards and the shower curtain and the rod go with her. The curtain, the shower rod, and water all hit her face at the same time. Rose is stunned as she chokes on water and tries to fight the girl on her. Rose can't breath as the plastic of the curtain and the pressure of Rosaline's hands suffocate her.
"M-mom! McGee!" She screams loudly as she tries to pull it away but she can't.
"Stop fighting!" Rosaline says in low tone and Rose screams as loud as she possibly can with her face being covered. Her wet hands struggle to pull the curtain away but they keep slipping and she becomes lightheaded.
"McGee! Help!" She screams and the door burst open, but the pressure is still there until the curtain is pulled away and she takes a deep breathe.
"Oh, baby, are you okay?" Her mother asks. Maggie pulls a towel down to civer her daughter and then another down to press to her bloodied face.
Rose burst into tears and Maggie hugs her to her body. McGee had gotten the dead girl away from Rose but the damage was already done and he felt guilty.
"I think you need stitches." Maggies says and wipes the blood and tears away from Rose's eyes.
-
Rose didn't go to school that day. She was in no mood to be near the living after having a needle threaded through her face.
Or to be around the dead for that matter.
After Maggie brought her home, she goes to walk to her room, but her mom stops her.
"Rose, are you sure you are fine, honey? Have you been sleeping enough?" Maggie asks and Rose stops at the base of the staircase with her hand tightly in the railing, her back to her mom.
"No, it's not that, mom." Rose says and sighs.
"Are you staying up late and talking to your friends?" Maggie asks, silently begging that it was something normal for once. Maggie was concerned about how her daughter was acting. Rose was always secretive and moody, but Maggie was new to this with Rose.
Maggie could almost swear the name Rose shouted this morning wasn't Maggie or mom, but she didn't press it. Maggie knew Rose was too distraught. Whoever her daughter was yelling for definitely wasn't someone she knew of.
"I'm fine." Rose says and the house seems to dim as Rose angrily stares at the worn wood of the steps.
"Rose, you're scaring me a little bit." Maggie says nervously.
"It's not me you should be scared of, it's them." Rose says and faces her mother. "I was attacked up there and you're worried that I didn't get enough sleep? I could have died, mom!" Rose yells and the lights flicker and Maggie backs away from her daughter.
"Rose, stop yelling." McGee says from behind her. Rose doesn't even acknowledge him.
"Rose, stop it. Ghosts aren't real. Stop it." Maggie begs her and Rose shakes her head.
"Why?" She asks.
"Rose, calm down please." McGee pleads and puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Who could have attacked you? You were alone." Maggie says.
"No I wasn't!" Rose yells again and she feels McGee put his other hand on her.
"Don't let her do this to you, you aren't feeling this, Rose. She is manipulating you." McGee says to her and Rose walks towards her mother. Maggie flinches as the baggy eyed girl steps up to her. Rose wraps her arms around her mom and buries her face in her shoulder, avoiding touching the bandage above her eye.
"I'm going outside for a while. I'm sorry. I just got scared." Rose says and McGee follows her as she goes out the door. She walks around the house with McGee close to her side and she sees the garden.
Rose sets on a bench and crosses her arms. "I'm sorry about that, that wasn't very grown up of me." She says to McGee, who sits beside her.
She felt childish for getting mad at her mother, even if it wasn't really Rose who was controlling her own emotions.
"Do not apologize. You are still a child. Like you said, you are still young. Rosaline took advantage of you." McGee says. Rose looks around at the flowers in the garden.
"How old are you?" She asks him and he shrugs. "You don't know your own age or your name. That has to be the saddest thing I've ever heard." She says and they both laugh. A tear escapes her eye and she looks away to wipe it off her cheek.
"Do not be afraid, I'm sorry you got hurt. I should have stayed, I kmew I should have." McGee says and wipes away another tear with his cold hand. He stands and walks to a rose bush. Rose watches as he reaches down and easily breaks the stem of the flower and walks back to her.
"A rose for my Rose. Please accept this as an apology for what has happened." McGee says an bows as he holds it out to her.
"Thank you." She sayd an offwrs him a smile in return.
"Rose?" She hears and her hand quickly grabs the rose and she looks over and sees Cameron standing at the edge of the garden with wide eyes.
"Oh, uh, hi." She says quickly.
"That flower was floating." He says with a look of shock and she shakes her head.
"No it wasn't. I was looking at it in the sunlight." Rose says and she knows he doesn't believe her.
"This may be a problem." McGee says and she silently agrees.
"I saw it! You said thank you. Were you saying that to yourself?" Cameron ask her and crosses his arms.
"You are just imagining things." Rose says and her voice rises and octave as she lies to him. She wasn't expecting him to be there, she wasn't expecting anyone out there. She didn't know how to get out of this situation.
"I am not completely stupid, Rose," Cameron says. "What the hell is going on?"
"How do I explain it?" She mainly asks McGee and Cameron answers her.
"Preferably without lying. That would be nice." Cameron says.
"Just tell him the truth. He has to promise to keep it a secret or next time he comes back he'll join his brother." McGee says and Rose gasps.
"Don't ever say that again," She says to him and then turns to Cameron. "Sit down and act natural if my mother comes out." She says and Cameron does as he is told.
Rose explains to him the situation with McGee and searching for clues to finding his body and every little detail in between.
Cameron sits still beside her with a troubled look after she finishes speaking. "Please say something, Cameron." She begs him and he sighs.
"I mean, I saw the flower, but I'm having trouble believing it." He says and Rose and McGee sigh.
"The living are fretful creatures. He is a little spooked, he believs you but he doesn't want to." McGee tells her and she sighs, looking out to the darkened trees.
"Can I see him?" Cameron asks and McGee stands up and stands in front of him.
"Close your eyes, Rose." McGee says.
"Please don't be angry, McGee." She says to him.
"I'm not angry, I'm just slightly... miffed," He says. "Close them." He says and points his finger at her.
"Don't scare him too badly." she says and covers her eyes with her hand and faces away. Seconds pass and she hears a gasp from beside her
"Holy shit! Never mind, I don't wanna look at him anymore!" Cameron says and Rose tries not to giggle at his reaction, she knows it's probably more scary than she thinks.
"Okay, open them." McGee says and he is sitting beside her looking normal.
"What the hell, do you have to see him like that? All gross and... and rotting?" Cameron asks her with a look of pure disgust.
"No, he is a little angry. He thinks you will mess everything up." Rose says.
"I also think he swears to much in front of a lady." McGee says and Rose ignores him.
Cameron satnds and takes a feeling steps back, a fearful look still on his face. "I won't say anything, but I have to go. Please be careful with what you play with, Rose. This is a dangerous game." Cameron says and leaves the garden.