2

ROSE

Classes dragged like punishment today, and I hadted every bit of it. Usually, I paid attention to all of my classes like my life depended on it, because in a way, it actually did, but today, no matter how hard I tried, it still felt like I was playing a losing game.

Every lecture blurred into the next, words going in one ear and coming out of the other while my mind replayed last night on a cruel loop. I wished it hadn't happened, I wished I didn't have to go through all of that, but apparently, wishes were a luxury I couldn't afford right now.

We'd had another fight that ended in another nothing is going on, delivered too smoothly to be believable.

I was tired and infuriated, but I just couldn't shake it off. I had seen him talking to his ex, and from the position they both were in, it didn't look like nothing. Hell, it looked like they were the ones in a relationship and not Levi and me

He insisted it meant nothing, that I was overreacting, that I always did this, but rumors had a way of growing teeth, and this one had already sunk into me.

I tried to shut them out, I wanted to believe Levi's words so badly, but classes only made it worse. Everywhere I turned, I heard voices, and they didn't exactly have the best things to say.

“Did you hear?” Someone had whispered when I passed by them on the way to the cafeteria. “I think Levi's doing it again.”

“A little birdie had told me that he's getting back with his ex.” Someone else had whispered on my way to the library.

“Poor, Rose.” A girl I didn't recognize sighed on my way out of class and her last words only gutted me the more. “i wonder how she's feeling . She doesn't deserve any of this.”

Their words broke something in me, but I myself I wouldn't let it affect me. I also avoided Cathy all day.

Not because she was wrong, but because she was right, and she would enjoy telling me so.

“I told you so, Rose.” I could already imagine her voice in my head, and the stern look she was going to throw me. “But you never listen to me when it comes to Levi.”

 That was Cathy, she’d never liked Levi, and she never tried to hide it. She called him an asshole from the start, and said men like him didn’t change, they just learned how to lie better. And maybe she was right, maybe he was an asshole, but I still liked him. A lot and that was the worst part.

A small sigh slid past my lips as I pulled out my phone and checked it for what had to be the millionth time.

Nothing.

I had apologized, swallowed my pride and sent the message first, but all I’d gotten in return was silence, and that silence screamed louder than any fight ever could.

“If this is the game he wants to play.” I muttered as I shoved the phone back into my purse. “Then fine.”

When I got home, the first thing I noticed was the car in the driveway. It wasn't ours and I should have taken that as the first red flag.

My steps slowed as I headed towards the front door.  My eyes moved to the men getting into the car, with their dark clothes, sharp movements, and the kind of presence that made the air feel tight, you just had to know they represented nothing but trouble. I could feel their eyes on me and my stomach coiled in dread, but still I stared at the license plate, forcing myself to memorize it.

No one ever came to our house, and when they did, it was never for anything good. I waited till they'd driven out of sight before I pushed the door open.

“Dad?” My voice shook as I called out. “I’m home.”

I didn't get an answer. Instead, the house felt wrong. It was too quiet, heavy, and I hated that I couldn't exactly put a finger to what was wrong, at least not yet. My unease simmered deep inside me, and then I saw his office door.

Open.

My heart slammed into my ribs as I rushed forward. The room was a disaster, papers everywhere, drawers pulled out, a chair overturned, and my father….

He was on the floor.

“Dad!” I dropped beside him, my hands shaking as I touched his shoulder. His breathing was shallow and uneven, and for a second, I actually feared the worst had happened. His face was pale, slick with sweat, and it took everything in me to not break into a sob immediately.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice cracking. I shook him gently, hoping that would help, but it only made things worse. “Talk to me.”

He clutched his chest suddenly, a sharp sound tearing out of him before his body went limp.

“No, no, no. This can’t be happening.” I shook him harder. “Dad, wake up. Please.”

Nothing. I cursed underneath my breath as I reached for my phone. The phone slipped from my hand, clattering to the floor. I cursed, snatched it up, and dialed with fingers that barely worked.

The six minutes it took for the ambulance to arrive felt like six years.

At the hospital, everything moved fast and slow at the same time. Doctors and machines were in every corner I turned, and the words like stress and shock and triggered floated around me, landing too heavily in my chest.

“He was already under significant stress,” the doctor said gently. “The shock likely caused the cardiac arrest.”

Shock.

My mind went straight back to the car, the men, and the mess in his office. They did this. They must have had something to do with this.

When they finally let me see him, he looked smaller in the hospital bed, and almost fragile in a way I had never seen before.

“Dad,” I said softly, pulling a chair closer. “What happened back there?”

“My baby girl...” He gave me a weak smile. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Nothing to worry about? The medics literally had to revive you, Dad. You can’t tell me not to worry about it.”  I said. “They said you went into shock. And you and I know that’s not a good.”

“You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing, Rose.” His eyes sharpened just a little. “I’m getting old, and it's just work stress. So let’s drop it, shall we?”

I didn’t believe him, but I didn’t push any further. Over the next few days, I watched him like a hawk. Every cough, every pause, and every wince felt like a disaster waiting to happen, but this time, I made sure I was around him. Levi faded into the background, and the fight didn’t even matter anymore.

Just when I was this close to really getting over it, he finally texted.

Can we talk? Talk my ass.

I ignored it, partly because I was petty, but mostly because my father needed me. I had promised my mother I’d take care of him, and I wasn’t about to break that, especially not for Levi.

Things seemed to be going well, until after a couple of days. He made me leave the house one morning, saying I couldn’t keep missing school.

“I’ll be fine, Rose.” he said firmly. “If it makes you feel better, you can come straight home after your classes.”

So I did, or I planned to. Between classes, my last one, and on my way to grab something to eat quickly, I saw the car I'd seen in our driveway a couple of days back. It was the same one I'd spotted the day Dad had the heart attack.

It was parked like it belonged there, and my body went cold. Father’s pale face flashed in my mind immediately, and at the back of my mind I saw the office, the hospital, and the way he’d lied to me.

I don’t know what came over me.

I was always the good girl, the careful one, the one who thought things through, but something inside me snapped.

The stone was in my hand before I fully realized what I was doing.

The sound of glass shattering exploded through the air, sharp and violent. The window cracked, spider webbing before collapsing inward.

Silence followed, but only for a little while. My breath hitched as I stared at the damage, my hand trembled and I'd never wished for the power to turn back time more than I did right now. All around me, students were turning, someone gasped and I realized too late that the sound had come from me.

Carefully, I dropped the stone, but it couldn't undo what had just been about.

“Shit?” I cursed. “What did I just do?”