Without further ado, let the chapter begin!
It was late at night, Rosie was the only one awake. She was at the guest room working on something at the small desk in the corner of the room.
There was two blank leather journals scatter on the desk with some other art supplies.
Rosie made sure to be quiet so she doesn't disturb anyone. For the past few days, Rosie has been trying to make something special for Ava and Aaron. It may not seem much but Rosie is putting a lot of thought to these gifts. Right now, Rosie wants to focus on Ava's gift for now.
She turned the front cover of the book over and stared at the blank page. After she grabbed a pen, Rosie began writing.
"Ava, life can change in a split second, you know from experience. You've dealt with things that kids your ages wouldn't imagine would happen. Even thought your life seems to be an endless battle, you would always emerge victorious. You're stronger than you think, I hope that your life is getting better now that you're away from Zane.
You're only a child while I'm writing this. In the future, you might go through some struggles. Who knows what else might happen. Maybe you might forgive your brother for his heinous crimes, maybe you won't. The choices are ultimately up to you. Always remember, listen to what your heart tells you. No matter how bad things get, you can always count on us to help you.
I hope that this journal does help you in the near future. Once its completed, I'll give it to you. Consider this as a diary that keeps track of your challenging moments and how you overcome them. I hope you like this. ~Rosie H."
Once Rosie finished writing the page, she grabbed two small pictures from a box.
The first picture revealed it was Ava. She appeared to be looking out of a window, her face was blank and emotionless. This was taken a day after Ava was rescued. The second picture was Ava with a huge smile on her face. Her face beamed brightly and there was nothing but pure joy.
Rosie taped the pictures at the bottom of the page but made sure they were separated. On top of each picture she put some captions.
A Day After Rescuing Ava. A Few Days Later.
Rosie snored quietly while she had her head against the desk. She spend so much time working on the journal that she accidentally fell asleep.
Rebecca knocked on the door and opened it, "Rosie? Sweetie, did you sleep while working on your homework again?"
"Huh?" Rosie yawned and lifted her head up.
She had a dog sticker on her cheek while a ribbon was wrapped around her head. Rebecca smiled and went to approached her while she carefully took the ribbon off her hair. Rosie rubbed her eyes tiredly and said, "Am I late for school?"
"No, its the weekend. But someone's here to see you." Rebecca said.
Rosie tilt her head, she wondered who could it possibly be. When her mother left the room, Rosie decides to get dressed. She walked out of the room and went downstairs. Rosie stopped and stared at Ryan while he stood by the front door.
Before Rosie was taken by Zane and Lucas, she and Ryan weren't on good terms. It was because of the date that Ryan set Rosie up with and how he blackmailed her. Even after Rosie was rescued, she send Ryan a few messages. Those messages were left on read. So Rosie guessed that they might have gotten to a fight.
"Hey Rosie." Ryan whispered.
Rosie felt awkward and replied, "Hi Ryan..."
They stayed quiet until Ryan sigh, "Can we talk? Why don't we go out?"
"I don't know...I'm still tired." Rosie admitted and fidget around slightly. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea to go. Ryan knew Rosie was probably upset about what happen, so he decides to hold up a Funko Pop Key chain.
It was the Infinity War Spider Man key chain.
"Tempting, but that won't change my decision." Rosie told him.
Ryan smiled and said, "Come on, let's just go riding our bikes around the neighborhood."
Riding their bikes does seem like a good idea right now. She looked at Ryan and said, "Meet me outside in a few minutes."
Ryan felt the familiar burning daggers at the back of his head. By now, Ryan was use to this kind of behavior by Six. However, something didn't feel right. Ryan still felt the burning dagger but eventually felt something cold. He looked back at the house and noticed Aaron at one of the windows.
Aaron was coldly looking at Ryan and narrowed his eyes at him.
'Great. Can this get any worse?' Ryan thought.
Rosie walked to him while she was on her bike. It was a light blue bike that had a white basket in the front. Inside the white basket was two water bottles with a few snacks.
"Ready to go?" Rosie asked.
Ryan gave a nod and got on his mountain bike. They began to pedal their bikes down the sidewalk of the neighborhood. Rosie felt more at ease when she rode her bike and felt the cool breeze flowing past her.
They were going through the woods that had a safe path for anyone to go through. This was a popular place for bicyclists, joggers and family to go to.
Ryan went ahead and stopped his bike at a certain spot at the woods. He set his bike against a tree and motioned for Rosie to follow him. Rosie set her bike besides Ryan's bike and started to follow him away from the trail.
They walked through the woods and stopped at a large boulder.
The two teens started to climb the boulder and slowly sat on top.
"Remember when we use to do this when we were kids?" Ryan smiled.
Rosie couldn't help but crack a smile too. She shook her head, "Yeah...we went through these woods to find Slender Man with a few of your friends. Things didn't go as planned."
Ryan chuckled, "Your parents had a lot of agents looking for us when we didn't return for hours. They were so mad."
"I was grounded for a whole month and had to go through intense training with my dad. It wasn't pleasant." Rosie softly said but looked at Ryan.
She added, "So how are you and Suzie?"
Ryan hesitated to answer and nervously said, "Well, she's too much at times. She always want to check my phone whenever we're together. Suzie said that we shouldn't be friends anymore. I tried to tell her that you matter to me but she eventually gave me an ultimatum."
What surprised Ryan was when Rosie quietly said, "Are you really considering not being my friend anymore?"
Ryan felt guilty and tried to come up with something to make her feel better. However nothing came out of his mouth.
"I guess that's why you came to visit me huh? Well...I guess Suzie might be right on this one." Rosie whispered.
"What? I thought you would put up a fight about our friendship." He frowned.
Rosie jumped off the boulder and landed without stumbling. She looked up at Ryan while her eyes became glossy.
"It's not that I want to argue with you. For the time being, we shouldn't see each other anymore. Van Kleiss is back and he might be planning something. Zane already went for an attack on Aaron's aunt and sister. Who knows if he might think about attacking you next. Or Emily. Or even any of us. Besides, Suzie will throw a fit if we tried to hang out like we use to...It just upsets me that you" Rosie sigh and shoved her hands in her jeans pocket.
Ryan stared at Rosie for a long time and turned his body around. He had his back against her and waved his hand around, "I guess this is it. See you around Rosalind."
Rosie looked hurt when he called her first name, instead of her nickname. She slowly turned around and started to walk away.
Rebecca knew that the second Rosie came home from her bike ride with Ryan, things didn't go well.
She made her way to the guest room and knocked on the door.
"Rosie?" Rebecca called out.
No response. Except she heard a faint sniffled and Rosie whispered, "Come in..."
Rebecca entered the room and saw Rosie sitting on the bed. She was hugging a large Stitch plush in her arms and kept her face covered.
"Do you want to tell me what happened?" Rebecca gently said while she sat down beside Rosie.
Rosie immediately went to lay down while she had her head on Rebecca's lap.
This was something would always do when she was little. Anytime Rosie was upset or sad about something, she would lay down and have her head on her mother's lap. Rebecca would comfort Rosie during that time, Six would try to help but he wasn't good at calming Rosie down at times.
"Mom, do you think we'll find Zane and Van Kleiss?" Rosie's voice was muffled since the Stitch toy was in front of her face.
Rebecca moved the toy from Rosie's face and said, "Your father and Uncle Rex have been trying to track them now. We think we're almost close to finding them. You don't need to worry about that."
Rosie tried to smile but couldn't. She felt tears forming in her eyes and covered her eyes quickly.
"Did you and Ryan have an argument?" Rebecca whispered.
Trying not to break down even more, Rosie faintly said, "I don't even know if we're friends anymore..."
Rebecca stared at Rosie sadly and helped her sit up. She pulled Rosie's hands away from her face and noticed Rosie was crying.
"Don't tell dad about this. I really don't want him to have a little talk with Ryan." Rosie sniffled and kept trying to wipe her tears. Rebecca hugged Rosie and promised, "I won't tell him this time, okay?"
Rosie whispered, "Thanks mommy."
In the Abysus, Zane was outside of the castle while working on his lightning technique.
Zane focused all his energy on his hands while he kept his eyes closed. His body was covered in tiny lightnings, most of them were exiting Zane's palms. Without hesitating, Zane used two fingers to release a large lighting bolt across the night sky.
He grinned devilishly and blew the smoke appearing from his fingers. Even Zane looked fine on the outside, the entire insides of his body was aching. The constant use of his electric powers seems to be taking a toll on Zane.
"Such a shame, you would have been an amazing hero with your powers." A familiar voice said from behind Zane.
There was a slight glimmer of light in Zane's eyes. However, it immediately went away when he turned around to give his mother a cold glare. "What the hell are you doing here? Out of all the times you could have visit me, now's the time you decided to show up?"
Stephanie stared at Zane sadly and calmly said, "I want you to stop this madness Zane. Why do you want to harm your sister? You use to your baby sister."
Zane chuckled darkly and crossed his arms.
"If I recall correctly, the parasite is the reason for your demise. That thing was never my sister, once she's gone then I'll live the rest of my life in peace."
Stephanie touched Zane's shoulder and whispered, "You don't mean that...you know it wasn't Ava's fault that I'm gone. She's happy with her new family, please don't take that away from her. Revenge isn't the way to solve your problems-"
"I DIDN'T HAVE A CHOICE! This is all I've ever known after your death. You can't change me now! I have this thirst to kill anytime I see the parasite. This won't leave my heart until the day that parasite dies." Zane muttered harshly.
Stephanie stared at her son with so much regret in her eyes, she closed her eyes sadness and Zane noticed she disappeared.
Zane shivered violently, he felt the agony coming back to his soul. It was getting too much now. He growled angrily and turned around to face the woods. Zane screamed loudly as he made a electric ball escaped his hand.
Most of the trees got taken down and burned them to a crisp. Zane breathe heavily and felt his head throbbing immensely. One of the downside to his powers is that if he uses it too much then he will fry his brain. That leads to hallucinations or going into a coma.
"Sorry father...but I need to do this." Zane harshly said as he was getting ready to pay a visit to Ava and her 'family'.
All I can say is that the next chapter might be going intense. Bwa ha ha, I'm evil ):D
Thank you for the review on the last chapter YellowAngela. Seeing your reviews always make my day :D Ava is still a child and there's bound to be some mistakes she'll make along the way. I know exactly how you feel. Whenever I'm watching a horror movie and I see someone about to walk to their doom, I keep yelling at them to not do it. It never works most of the time since its horror movie 101 XD
I'm going to see if I can try to finish Chapter 24 by the weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping for the best :) Until then, I'll see everyone in the next chapter. Stay safe out there and have a great night :)