The March of the Black Queen (book III)

25.) It Can Happen to Anyone

A/N:
Look at me.
Two updates in one day?
Hell hath frozen-
I mean.

Enjoy!
X💖

Update:

So, I originally posted this last night.
And I CRINGED!!! 😬😬😬😪

But, yah know....
It does go with the last two chapters
So,
I guess it stays.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*

"What is it?,"

Freddie walks in to see me sitting on his bed, Cherie's head in my lap as I continue to stroke her hair with a feathering touch, being careful not to wake her.

"What's happened?," I look up to see him watching us, his face drops when he sees Cherie's body begin to shake and shiver beneath the covers.

"Rose...," he stammers as he walks closer to the bed, stopping just near the end of the bed frame.

I start to get choked up, trying to find the words to describe the way I found Cherie. The image of her terrified, trance-like state is fresh behind my eyelids.

Every time I blink I see her there, mumbling incoherently, rocking back and forth, sloshing water over the rim of the overflowing bath tub.

"I found her in the bath. Freddie I don't know if anyone was here, but- but she was frozen to the spot! She couldn't hear me calling for her. She couldn't see me in front of her, with her eyes as wide as they could go. She was crying without blinking, staring off like she'd witnessed something horrible and I just-,"

"I'm sorry- please don't hurt them- I'm sorry- take me- leave them alone...," Cherie's whimpering mumbles lay out the outline of her nightmare as she twists and turns, profusely streaming beads of sweat from her forehead.

Gently laying her head off of my lap and on to a pillow, I motion for Freddie to follow me out of the room. He lingers there for a moment, probably unsure if he should leave her like this. She seems so helpless, so traumatized. It's heartbreaking to witness.

He closes the door as quietly as possible before we both descend the stairs into the kitchen. I almost miss the last step, making me lean again the banister for support, but Freddie's reflexes are quick and in an instant his arms are around me.

"Okay, Rosie?," His timid tone makes me relive every single time he's every asked me that exact same question throughout every hellish circumstance I've had to face.

I nod my head with a weak smile as his eyes bore into mine, searching for the lie. He gives one quick stiff nod, offering me his hand as he leads us to the kitchen table.

He pulls out a chair for me to sit and turns to busy himself with setting up a pot of tea. "So...you were saying?," he asks without looking at me, fiddling with the height of the flame from the stove top.

"Well, I don't know, Fred. Maybe someone was here? Maybe someone scared her..,"

He shakes his head, before turning to face my direction. He leans his back on the counter, letting out a huff.

"No- no ones been here. I've got the cameras alert setting on my phone now. I can check the video, but I'm sure that's not what's happened...,"

Pulling out his phone from his back pocket, he comes to sit beside me. The screen shows the notifications tab, but there's no intrusion alerts and the only video from today is Freddie leaving and me entering.