1: Mental

~~Rose~~

I quietly pulled the sleeves of my shirt over my arms a little tighter as I stepped past Angel. Inside, I was crying for her to notice, but I knew she wouldn't see the ever growing number of scars along my arms, nor would she see the plea hidden beneath my ever fading eyes.

Every day was getting worse for me since I woke up. He invaded my mind. My senses.

My freedom.

He ripped me apart from the inside out. I'm dirty. Used. Unwanted.

A single tear found its way out of my eye once I made it past Angel. Not long after, yelling began down the hall in Lizzie's room. Week and her had been fighting nonstop for weeks now, and that was just as long as I had been conscious to hear it.

"Rose is literally down the hall now, Xaphan! She's awake and yet you act like nothing other than a fool and an immature child!" I paused beside the cracked open door and looked in. Week's back faced the door while Lizzie faced me. Neither of them noticed my presence, either that or they didn't acknowledge it.

"There's something wrong with her, and yet no one in this house believes me when I say she's off, Mara!" I could feel his rage coming off him in waves.

"If something was truly wrong with her, she would have told us!"

"Would she now, or did you abusing her for years and her keeping silent about it not bring that to anyone's minds?!" A vase broke across the room, books began to fly off the library shelves around them.

"You know nothing about her, Xaphan-"

"And you do? Sorry, I'll let you lead us wrong some more, oh righteous leader!"

The vase hit the wall right next to the door I was standing at. I squeaked a bit before controlling the fear that began to invade my being.

"Do not test my temper."

Looking at her made that fear so much worse. In all of the time I had known her, she had never gotten this out of control before. Her eyes, once green, now glowed a bright crimson and her cheeks below her eyes had cracks running down them. She looked like a possessed porcelain doll.

Fear coursed through my being as more books began to fall. The library was being destroyed and neither of them made any move to stop it. Another vase hit the door and shattered. A piece of it flew up and made a thin cut along my cheek, and that was all the fear needed to overtake me again.

I screamed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Week~~

I woke up from my power fever dream at the sound of Rose screaming. I turned to see her at the door, her arms over her head, her knees pulled up to her chest, and vases shattered right next to her.

I ran to her as the memory hit me. Lizzie would throw vases at her.

"Rose, it's me, can you hear me?" I asked and got another scream. I turned to Lizzie, but she was already running for Grace. She let me pull her into my arms and I ran my fingers through her hair. Slowly the screaming subsided into sobs, which turned into hiccups.

I looked down at the small girl and wiped her tears off her cheeks and noticed the cut along her left cheek. That was what freaked her out, it had cut her.

"I came to calm her down, yet you're slowly learning what to do, Xaphan," I heard and turned to Grace. She was sitting in a wheelchair and Lizzie was no where to be seen.

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry about that."

"No need to apologize for that. She's just going to be kind of sensitive to anything right now. We just need to take care of her."

Grace's smile was full of pain. She had told me something happened to Rose that caused her to be this way, but she can never say. It was the one curse of her premonitions, she could never tell us what happened in them, but she could lead us towards the path.

"I wish they would listen to me. I can tell she's off. Her whole demeanor and how she carries herself is off. Her eyes are off. No one but us can tell that we're slowly losing her," I said, picking her up carefully and turning down the hall towards her door.

"One more thing, Week!" I paused and turned back towards Grace as she smiled at me. "Tell Levi to come see me in the infirmary, please."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~Levi~~

I entered the darkness to see Rose in fetal position crying. I knew better than to confirm what I already knew, so I did what I always did.

I sat down next to her and rubbed her back and pulled down her sleeves to see how bad it was.

It was horrible.

"How many times will he do this to me?" she asked between sobs.

"As many as it takes until you're so broken that you die again so you can be reborn."

"I hate them."

"So do I, Rose."

"Is there anyway to kill them both for real this time?"

"Not from what I've seen so far."

"He isn't the cause this time." I looked, my eyes wide as she looked up at me before resting her head on my shoulder and looking off into the distance.

"What happened, Rosie?" She smiled fondly at the nickname, something that no one has called her for a while.

"Lizzie and Week had a bad fight today. I was eavesdropping. Lizzie threw a vase and it shattered. Cut me along my cheek."

I sighed. "I swear I may just skin them alive when I get home. What over this time?"

"I don't know, but I heard them mention me."

I felt the tug at my consciousness again. I couldn't stay long now, they were expecting me again.

"Keep your head up, okay?" I said, feeling myself fading away.

"I know, I'm sorry for calling you here like this."

"You call me anytime, anywhere. Do you understand, Rose?"

"Yes."

"I mean it. I don't care what time it is or where I am, I will always come to you. Okay?"

"Okay."

"I'll be back tonight, Rosie," I patted her head one last time as the world faded from me. Her last words rang into my head as I left.

"I will stay strong until you get here."