scary horror tales

rose hill place

Rose Hill Place

April 11th

Rose Hill Place was a rather indefinable place, all things considered. Nothing about it made it stand out to passersby, nothing in its halls to make it appeal to those who came and visited. It was exactly what it appeared to be: a single-floor complex with over a hundred rooms and three dining halls, enough to fit all who lived there and the occasional guest.

Four of Rose Hill's inhabitants sat around the TV set, taking time out of their afternoon to simply relax amongst themselves. On the couch sat Ruth and Donna; Carey rested his leg up on the foot of the stool, grunting in satisfaction as the pain melted away from his knee. Lawrence wasn't paying much attention to Days of Our Lives, as he was more eager to see the sight of one of Rose Hill's staffers coming his way. He had been expecting family to come and visit since the morning had begun, and he was beginning to wonder if they would ever show. They HAD promised him, though, so they must have meant it.

Donna gave a petite little sigh of sadness as she watched the soap opera, gazing dreamily as a young couple joined in a passionate embrace on the screen. Whenever there was even a hint of romanticism, the poor woman would often melt away into memories.

"Thinking of Gary, Donna?" asked Lawrence, noticing his friend's sudden melancholy.

"I always do," Donna replied simply, taking a sip of tea from her glass that sat on the coffee table. "It's hard not to think of such a good man when I watch my soaps."

"Why do you always watch this show, if it makes you so sad?" he continued.

"Why, they aren't always sad memories, Lawrence," she replied. "I like to remember the good things, too. I don't just remember that he's gone."

"I remember when Patrick and I were together," remarked Rose suddenly. "He and I would go out to the drive-in theater, we'd pay for our tickets and just enjoy our time together. I can hardly remember a single movie we truly watched!" she added with a laugh.

The sound of a Thump! on the carpet intruded into their conversation and out from his room came Rourke, his three legs hobbling him over to the group of residents. "I hope I'm not intruding," he said politely, slowly taking a seat on a chair beside Rose and Donna.

"Of course not, Rourke," Donna replied kindly. "Goodness, you're out and about rather late today, aren't you?"

Rourke gave a wheezing chuckle. "I must apologize. I finally figured out how to work that confounded contraption Jeremy gave me, and I managed to talk to him for a while. He and his father were more than glad to see me, and I must have lost track of time while Jeremy was showing me his stuffed animal collection."

"And how is Jeremy?" Rose inquired. "And Clark and Sloane?"

"Jeremy's wonderful, as usual," Rourke answered brightly, ignoring the throbbing pain in his leg as his rheumatism started to kick in. "He's all excited now that spring is here, because he wants to try out for his local baseball team. Sloane's being her anxious self over it, but Clark might be even more excited than Jeremy! You know he never made it out of college ball, and he'd like to see Jeremy go farther than he did."

"That's wonderful," Donna responded warmly, "Do you think they'll be able to visit soon?"

"I hope so, it's been a while. It's the first I've heard from anyone in a while," Rourke answered.

A pleasant young woman in flower-patterned scrubs came walking down the hall, her white smile aimed directly at them. "Mr. Carver, your family's here to see you, and they have a surprise for you," she said. "They'd like you to come to them, if that's alright."