Adopted by Dan Howell

16

  Rosalie kneeled on the floor next to her door, her ear pressed up against the cold wood as she listened intently to Dan and Phil talking to Henry in the lounge.

  "I...I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly?" She heard Dan's voice. "Rosalie's being bullied at school? Why didn't she tell us?"

  "Rosalie has had a long list of experiences with men she can't trust. It's been a few months since she's moved in, she's still adapting." Henry tried to explain. Honestly, he got it spot on.

"If I'm not mistaken, one of those men was your brother. How can we trust you? How can we know if you're not lying?" Dan snapped, she could tell that he was getting annoyed. She could just imagine the hate burning in his eyes.

"My brother..." Henry sighed. "I can say nothing to defend him. He was a terrible man, but I'm not my brother. I can't make you trust me, but I can definitely hope you will. I have no bad intentions of my niece."

  There was a moment of silence before Phil finally spoke up. "What happened to the boy? And the ones who hurt her? They're going to get punished right?"

"As far as I know, Jaiden has been suspended for over a month. Tiffany, she's been suspended for ten school days," Henry said. How did he know all this? He must have talked to the school.

"What about the man that you told us about? Robert?" Dan asked, he seemed angry.

   There was a pause, then a sigh. "Robert Slankard is Rosalie's English teacher. He's forty years old." Henry started to explain. "Robert hasn't done anything yet, but I think we should all be very aware and know where Rose is at all times. I don't like the way he looks at her."

Rosalie could almost feel the tension in the room. "Have you told anyone about this man?" Phil asked in a tight tone.

   "I thought that I'd leave that up to you." Henry said.

  Two silent minutes passed by. That was Rosalie's cue to go in. She stood up and shuffled her feet into the living room, peeking around the corner.

    "Are you guys done interrogating each other yet?" Rose asked as she looked at Henry then to Phil. The second her eyes laid on Dan, she couldn't look away. They stared into each other eyes deeply. It was Dan who looked away. She could see his eyes watering. He put his face in his hands and breathed deeply.

     Henry excused himself, gave Rosalie a long hug before he left her with Dan and Phil. Phil slowly stood up and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close for a long time. When he let go, Rose looked over at Dan who was watching numbly.

"Could you please show us, Rose?" Daniel asked slowly.

    Slowly, Rosalie lifted up her shirt just belie her bra. The large cut in her side and all the black and blue bruises were revealed to them. Shame washed over her suddenly. She wished that she would have told them earlier. She stared hard at the ground.

    Dan stood up eventually and walked over to her. He grabbed her hand that was holding the shirt up, making her drop her tank top. His eyes stared into hers for a solid minute, before she broke and fell into him, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm sorry," she whispered into his chest, "I'm so so sorry."

"You did nothing to cause any of this," Dan whispered to her. "You just need to tell us these things and get help when you need it."

"I'm sorry. I thought I could handle it myself," she whispered, "I didn't know that he'd-..." Rosalie's voice broke down into a sob, pain shot through her side. "I didn't want you guys worrying about me." She whispered through a sob.