Rose woke up to her door being opened. She was a light sleeper and easily scared, so when she heard the door open the girl jumped into a sitting position on her bed.
"Get dress." Was all Tabitha told Rose before closing the bedroom door. "And then come downstairs."
"Morning to you too." Rose muttered quietly, trying to catch her breath from her mini heart attack. Rose got out of bed and got dress in a simple dark red long sleeve shirt and a black skirt before cleaning herself off a bit and heading downstairs like Tabitha told her too.
"Ah, Rose, so nice of you to join us." Theo smiled at the sight of Rose coming down the stairs. The girl was confused what he meant by "us" until she saw what he meant. Six inmates, she recognized from the asylum, strapped to hand trucks.
"What a surprise!" Jerome called out startling Rose into fear. "Our lovely volunteer lives here!" He started to laugh.
"My day just got better." Rose slowly went to the safety of Tabitha. She didn't want to meet the hungry eyes of Greenwood, having known everything about his crimes from his files. She didn't understand why Theo wants the inmates, but now at least had a theory as to why her uncle was looking through the files.
Why inmates? What's so useful about them? Rose thought to herself. She kept her eyes down and stayed near Tabitha as Theo talked to the inmates.
"Miss. Kean will be coming with me." Rose looked up to see Richard Sionis walking towards the exit.
"Oh, she doesn't want to go where your going." Theo stated. And like it was on cue, Tabitha's whip went flying. Latching itself around Sionis's throat Tabitha pulled on it, bringing the man down before marching over to him and straddling him. She pulled a knife out and repeatedly stabbed the inmate, going a little overboard with the kill.
Rose, not liking the sight, looked away and covered her mouth. She felt like she was going to throw up at the sight of blood splattering on Greenwood and Tabitha's face. Without saying anything to anyone, the girl hurried up the stairs before locking herself in her bedroom.
***
"Rose," the door opened without a response from the teenage girl. Tabitha looked in to see the petrified girl sitting on her bed. She closed the door behind her before leaning against it. "Your going to have to toughen up."
'Thank you for saying that.' The girl thought to herself. "That's not me though." Rose quietly pointed out to her mother figure. "I gag at the sight of blood, the littlest things scare me, and I even get anxiety when Theo tells me he wants to talk later." She looked up to Tabitha with frightened eyes. "I'm the lamb living with lions, waiting for them to turn on me."
Tabitha gave the girl an emotionless stare before immediately going through her clothes. "Your going on a little trip. I'll be there, but you won't see me. Nothing too bad will happen to you."
Rose only watched Tabitha in confusion before flinching when she got hit in the face by a black sweatshirt.
"Just don't get caught."
Not getting caught was an easy thing for Rose.
"What do we do with the spare?" The shaky Dobkins came out. Rose finally opened her eyes and stared at the poor innocent man who was nearing his death. She only watched as Jerome walked over to the man, and spray painted an exclamation point.
"Aaron." Jerome smiled as he tossed away the spray paint and smiled.
The largest man of the whole group carried the last person and threw him over the edge of the building, killing the man to make a statement.
Rose pushed harder on her ears, covering them so she wouldn't hear the sound of the man's body meeting the ground. She squeezed her eyes as well as she kept herself huddled into a ball, staying out of view from the ground.
"Now that's a head liner!" Jerome laughed before looking down and smiling at the terrified girl. "Today marks a new day Rose!"
***
Rose locked herself up in her room as she got her little art station situated so she could start painting. It was that, and to avoid Theo with his minions as they planned for their next "adventure".
With calming music playing in the background, an array of brushes and paint colors laid on her desk, Rose smiled down at the blank canvas staring up at her ready for a mere imagination to come to life.
"Ladies and gentlemen, good evening." Jerome barged into Rose's room, startling the girl with his entrance and voice ranging in all sorts of octaves.
"I guess you weren't taught any manners." Rose muttered as she rubbed her knee that had banged her desk from being started. She was annoyed with the Maniax member, and the image that was once in her head was drifting away from her.
"Don't you have an better music?" Jerome went to seek out the girl's music source, so he could possibly change to something he preferred.
"I was going to paint, but now I can't." Rose started to clean up her station deciding it would be best to go over the recent drawings from Arkham.
"Oh, don't mind me." Jerome had a large smile on his face as he laid down on Rose's bed. He moved around a bit, trying to get comfortable, with a frown on his face. "Why is your bed more comfortable?"
Rose only shrugged as she placed the brushes in an empty mug. "I'm his niece, so I should be comfortable here. I don't know." She quickly turned to see the deranged inmate in her bed. "Why are you even here? In my room?"
Jerome didn't answer her and instead looked around her room, staring at the drawings and paintings on the walls. "Why flowers?" He asked see that majority of the art were of flowers.
"I like them." The artist answered sitting down in her chair. "I think my parents might've too since they named me Rose." She unintentionally started to play with a small silver rose ring on her middle finger.
"Your my flower now." Jerome smiled at Rose before jumping off of her bed and leaving the calming room. Though, he would never admit that he felt calm in that room. "My very own personal flower."
***
Rose took a deep breath as she gathered her things for school. She carefully placed her Arkham files in her bag before placing the strap of her bag on her shoulder and walking out of her room.
Rose tried her best to ignore the whistles coming from the inmates (mainly Greenwood) as she walked past them towards the main door.
"Calm yourself Greenwood," Jerome said as Rose stopped at the door. He watched her as the girl waited for either Tabitha or Theo, one of them so she could be taken to school. "She's off limits." His voice deepened as he glared at the older man.
"Ahh my Rose," Theo smiled as he approached his niece, him being the one to accompany the girl to school. "We have much to talk about."
Rose was confused by what he meant, but she only nodded before walking with him to the elevators. She stared at her black flats as they went down in the elevator, waiting for Theo to say something.
"A time will come one day, and I'll want you to be the face of the Galavan family." Theo spoke to his niece. "An intelligent, beautiful young girl to take charge. A little timid, but nothing we can't fix."
"As much as I appreciate it uncle," Rose spoke quietly. "My view towards all the violence that has happened so far, it doesn't match with yours or Tabitha's." She looked over to her uncle.
"But you see Rose," Theo walked out of the elevator into the lobby with Rose on his heels. "There are things in life that you'll have to take. Sometimes the use of violence can't be avoided." He hailed a cab for the girl before giving the driver her school address and the money. "Have a nice day at school sweetie."
The smile he gave Rose, it scared her a bit and the fact that he said sweetie. Rose looked up at the balcony of the penthouse to see nothing. She could've sworn she thought that someone was watching her. Either that or her uncomfortable feeling came from Theo.
Rose thanked her uncle and bid him goodbye before getting into the cab, so she wouldn't be late for school. She had a small conversation with the cab driver, before thanking him for her ride to school and bidding him a good day.
As she walked into the school building, the uncomfortable feeling Rose had grew stronger. It started to make her worry as she looked over her shoulder, seeing no one following her only familiar sadden faces as other high school students made their way into the school.
"Its nothing." Rose muttered to herself before dismissing the feeling and walking into the school.