His Flower

Chapter 8

It was early in the morning when Rose decided to get up. As she quietly made her way down the stairs to the kitchen, she had noticed that no one else was up. To her knowledge, it was only herself that was awake that morning. And for once, she felt comfortable. She was still on edge from the previous events with Jerome. Rose wasn't sure if she wanted to be in a room alone with him at all anymore.

"You're up early." Rose clutched to the hand railing for dear life as she was startled by Tabitha's voice. "I would've thought you would be up a little later."

Rose wasn't sure of what to tell Tabitha. Jerome had spent the night in her room, and Rose could barely sleep that night. She was paranoid that Jerome would choke her out in the middle of the night, or that he would stab or slit her throat while she slept. To say the least, that was the first and, in Rose's mind, the last time Jerome spent the night in her room.

"I couldn't really sleep." She told Tabitha as she went to prepare herself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. She didn't want to tell her aunt about what Jerome did last night, or how the two have been going against the rules she and Theo set for all the inmates.

When she looked to Tabitha's face, she saw the her aunt was waiting for Rose to tell her something. Like Rose had some deep dark secret to get off her chest. Which she did. She just feared what would happen to her and Jerome.

"Morning ladies," Theo came down the stairs smiling at his sister and his niece. He sat down at their small table with his sister. He looked between Tabitha and Rose, before resting his gaze on Rose. "Everything alright my Rose?"

Feeling the need to get all the attention off of her, Rose nodded her head. "So what do you have plan for today?"

This made her uncle happy as he dove into what he would be having his minions do for him. However, Tabitha didn't buy into that. She felt an off feeling about her Rosie. Like she was hiding something.

Theo excused himself for a minute before going to wake up his Maniax group. This left Rose alone with Tabitha again.

"I don't know what's going on," Tabitha told Rose as she got to her feet. "But I'm going to find out. You can't hide anything forever." She walked away from Rose, most likely to find Barbra.

It was that moment when Rose missed school the most. At the moment, she would almost be done getting ready so she could catch a taxi to school. She would be out of the penthouse for about eight hours. Majority of her day would be at her safe haven, and it most likely was safer than the penthouse. People at school cared about her safety, where at the penthouse Rose wondered if anyone cared for her well being. She wanted to know if someone genuinely cared, not just concern because it was obvious.

"Morning my beautiful flower," Rose tensed up when she felt Jerome touch a bare part of her shoulders.

"Morning," Rose mumbled as her gripped tighten around her spoon. She wanted the interaction to be over with, and possibly take refuge in her room. Would that even help though? Jerome would just find a way in there.

Something came to her head though. "Do you know what my uncle has planned for you guys?" She looked to Jerome, who was now rummaging through the refrigerator.

"Nope," He said before slamming the doors shut and turning to Rose with a smile. "Thought you could get rid of me that easily?"

Rose didn't know how to answer that question. She couldn't tell whether or not if he was joking, and she certainly didn't want to guess which one it was. She didn't need to though, because Jerome started cackling before sitting on a counter top.

"We can have the whole day to ourselves my flower," Rose had a weak smile on her face. She didn't know what she wanted to do seeing as Jerome would be by her side the entire day. Instead, the girl only nodded before carefully placing her dishes in the sink and heading back up the stairs to get dress for the day. It could possibly be the only solitude she gets from Jerome throughout the entire day.

***

"And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted-nevermore." Rose closed the book she was reading to Jerome, staring down at his ginger hair and pale face that rested in her lap. "The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe." She recited before laying the book down next to her on her bed.

"That old guy," Jerome stared up at Rose's ceiling as he thought for a minute. "He wrote a lot of dark stuff right?"

Rose nodded her head before carefully running her fingers through his hair. "He was known for writing disturbing poems." She had a weak smile when Jerome said that he was his kind of guy. She leaned her head against the wall, staring at a flower painting that was in her face on the opposite wall.

Seeing the painting made her wonder about her parents. Why did they name her Rose? Where would they be if they were still alive? Would they be proud of her? Are they proud of her? Rose certainly wasn't proud of her choice for a romantic relationship.

"Whatca thinking about?" Rose looked back down to Jerome, who was staring right up at her. "You seemed...deep in thought. So what were you thinking about?"

"Just my parents." She mumbled before she allowed Jerome to grab her hand with one of his own.

"Parents are worthless." Of course Jerome would say that. He killed his own mother and didn't have a care to who his real father was. That didn't seem to help Rose though, with his choice of words. She wanted something more optimistic or something that was sentimental. Or even a question about why she was thinking of her parents.

She wondered if she should tell Jerome the truth. That what they have between them isn't working out; that she just doesn't have the same feelings for him anymore. Though, there was the voice in her head screaming at her not to do that. Telling Jerome the truth could be a one way ticket to a meeting with Death himself. Rose was too young to die. She still wanted to finish high school, go to college, get married, have kids, grow old, see her grandchildren and die peacefully. She'd rather not be brutally murdered all because a teenage boy couldn't handle rejection.

And so, as a response to Jerome's statement, Rose only nodded to agree with him. She didn't believe it though. The fear of Jerome held her back from speaking the truth. Fear that he would do whatever he wanted to her, because she knew fear would prevent her from fighting back.