Thanks for the reviewing guys! I'm a little stuck here for what to do with this story. I'm sure I'll think of something but in the mean time, its killing me that I don't know what I'm going to do with this story DX but, by all means, enjoy chapter 11!

When I stirred in the morning, Daddy was gone. An imprint was left on the mattress where his body had been. I slowly placed my hand on the imprint and heat was being generated from it - Daddy must've left not too long ago. Light shone in from the balcony's glass door and lit up the room. It looked so different in the light. Looking down, I was reminded that I had gone to bed in my clothes and slowly pulled off the covers and set my feet down on the carpeted floor. I was met with a question.

What now?

I had no idea as to what I was supposed to do. Gingerly unlocking and opening the door to my room, I took socked foot steps out into the hall, examining its interior. I couldn't believe I was here.

As I descended from the room, I was met face to face with a man. The man. I had seen him in court. He was the man who had dragged me from town hall and held onto me in the car. He was the man who had showed me to my room last night. And now he was standing in front of me, just looking at me. His hair was jet black and was cut respectively. His eyes seemed beady, yet they held power; they were coffee coloured with specks of dark green in them. He was a relatively large man, as I had mentioned before. He conveyed control for sure but something about him made him appear uncertain.

After several moments of gawking and awkward silence, he clumsily extended a hand towards me.

"I'm Joseph Kelowna. I'm,…uh, married to your mother." he introduced himself. Cautiously, I shook his hand briefly.

"I'm Rosie Curtis." Was I a Curtis? If I wasn't, then I had no idea what to call myself. I surprised myself at how calm I was after being dragged from my life into a nightmare.

Joseph grunted awkwardly and pulled his hand away. "Your mother wants you downstairs for breakfast." he told me. I caught his gaze slipping past my face and into the room I had slept in. Was he suspicious? Saying nothing, I simply nodded my head and continued down the hall way.

"Yes, sir." There were three more doors as I went down the hallway and I soon found the winding staircase. Mama sure had hit the jackpot. It made me wonder what Joseph did that made him so wealthy.

"How did you sleep?" Mama's voice seeped out from the kitchen once I had entered. She was seated at the table, wrapped in a night robe with a tea in her hand. Her golden blonde hair ran down her back and her china blue eyes were focused on me. It was chilling how much we looked alike.

Not answering her, I felt a rush of anger flush through me. I had been so calm and I thought I'd be able to control myself but I didn't last more than a minute in Mama's presence before I got flustered. I stayed standing at the doorway of the kitchen, just staring. "Well? Don't be shy, take a seat." I found myself slightly trembling as I took the seat opposite her. Why was I afraid? The worst had already happened. Hadn't it?

"Why'd you do it?" I asked abruptly, leaning back in my chair. Mama seemed slightly taken off-guard but she soon regained her nonchalant posture.

"Many reasons. Many, many reasons, you wouldn't understand."

"Well you must've taken me away for a pretty good reason, I want to know what it is!"

"I didn't take you away, I won custody."

"Does it look like I want to be here?"

"Rosie, you should be grateful to me. Look at the house I gave you! I can give you opportunities that your father would never of been able to offer you. Besides, wouldn't you much rather live with family?"

"Daddy is family."

"I mean real family, dear."

Another question that I had mixed feelings about, boiled up in my head as I balled my fists together. Part of me wanted to know the answer but the other part was screaming to get away from it. Still, the question remained. Who was my father? Mama was going to be of no help. I could see that already from the way she carried on.

"Good morning, love." Joseph's voice sounded from behind me as he brushed a quick kiss against Mama's cheek. I didn't want to see it. I didn't want to see Mama happy with another man. I knew her and Daddy could not, and never would, be together again but Daddy hadn't moved on - Mama had.

"I take it you've met my husband?" Mama gestured towards Joseph. I nodded.

"Yes, me and Rosie met in the hall," Joseph said, handing me an apple from the fruit basket. I hesitated before I took it from his hands. Could I ever learn to be comfortable here?

No! I was not going to live here! I was going to return to Daddy, and Ponyboy and Uncle Darry. No matter how nice Mama made things for me here, I'd never stay. I just had to figure out a scheme to get myself out.

Slowly, I rose from my chair and stalked out of the kitchen.

"Where are you going?" Mama called after me. I simply turned to face her. She was most likely worried that I was going to run back home. But where else did she expect me do go? "Why don't you read, I have a stack of books for you in your room."

"Yes, Mama."

Ha, how ignorant can a person get? I made my way to the stairway, which was right near the front door, and stopped at the first step. Mama couldn't be looking. And I didn't really need any of the stuff I'd brought with me, I had more clothes at home. I could've make a run for it, I could've.

C'mon, Rosie! Run!

Instead, I dragged myself up the winding staircase. I had to think of a better plan than that. I spent the rest of my day in my room, thinking. I did start reading one of the books Mama had left for me. I'd never heard of them before. At around noon, a knock came upon my door and Joseph answered.

"Here, I brought you some lunch." he said, handing me a plate with a sandwich on it. "Just don't tell your mother. She wanted you to eat downstairs." Thanking him, I took the plate. The thing about Joseph was, he seemed odd around me, I could tell he didn't feel comfortable around children but he seemed nice enough, like someone I wouldn't mind confiding in. While his awkwardness made me feel more powerful over him, he seemed honest and gentle, despite the fact that he had dragged me by my arms the other night.

"How do you like it here?" he asked me, awkwardly standing next to the dresser.

"To be honest, sir, I'd much rather be at home." I told him.

"I know,…I know." he sighed, nodding his head sympathetically. He seemed to be compassionate for me, almost as if he didn't back up his wife's decisions.

"Do you know why my mama took me away?" I don't know why I asked. I suppose I was just desperate for an explanation for all this. But Joseph looked like he didn't know any more than I did. He simply shrugged.

"I'm sure she had her reasons."

"Sure."

"You know, Rosie, if you want…" Joseph's voice trailed, leaving his unfinished sentence hanging in the air.

"Yes?"

"Uh,…never mind."

I laid in bed that night, curled up in the sheets, wishing I could fall asleep. I don't know what it was, I just couldn't fall asleep knowing my daddy wasn't beside me. I tried everything. I clenched my eyes hard together and tried to sleep, I laid in different positions, I even tried lying at the opposite end of the bed but nothing worked, and I ended up chucking my pillow at the wall in frustration. Why was this so damn hard? ! The night was growing late and I still hadn't fallen asleep. I was half expecting Daddy to knock at the glass door but I had to face it - Daddy wasn't coming tonight.

Finally, I laid in my first position and did the only thing I could think of. After Mama had left, Daddy would sit in the living room and let a certain song play over and over as tears collected in his eyes. Skeeter Davis' End Of The World. Almost silently, I sung the words.

"Why does the sun go on shining? Why does the sea rush to shore? Don't they know it's the end of the world? 'Cause you don't love me anymore. Why do the birds go on singing? Why do the stars glow above? Don't they know it's the end of the world? It ended when I lost your love."

Seemingly timed, a light tap came upon the balcony's glass door. I couldn't tell if the sound was my imagination, or in fact, reality. Either way, I stayed curled up on the bed. Following the tap, I heard the glass door open and close and a weight came down beside me on the bed. Hoping I wasn't imagining all this, I turned in my bed to face Daddy. I reached my hand out and it gently brushed his face. I felt so relieved he was real. He smiled at me and kissed my hand.

"I thought you weren't going to come tonight, Daddy." I told him. Looking right into my eyes, he nodded.

"I know. But I had to make sure you were ok. I tried sleeping but the thought of you alone here, was killing me."