Dimitri
It's been two days. Two says since I was able to get to her and get her out of Tony's grasp. Two day's since Abe saved our lives. Two days since her surgery. Two days since her surgery. Two days since her coma. Two days since she closed her beautiful brown eyes and not opened them again.
I was allowed to be send home yesterday. I wasn't hurt badly, just had a cut on my head, dehydration and a lack of nutrition. Mama made sure I stayed in bed, I was only allowed to leave to shower and go to the bathroom, I wasn't allowed to go down stairs, eat dinner with my family, but the way Viktoria was acting, I didn't want to be in the same room as her anyway.
She tried knocking on my door when I first came come, tried to talk to me, sit with me but I refused. When she wouldn't leave, I forced Mama to get her away, asked Sonja, asked Karolina even Paul and Grandmama to keep her away. I knew I was hurting her, but she has no right to talk about Roza like that. I don't know what's gotten into her but I really was not in the mood to deal with it right now.
I was wondering about what had changed my sister, turning her into a spiteful little girl when I heard her voice squealing down the hall in a high-pitched fake laugh. Tasha. I tried to fall asleep but I couldn't until she left, asking mama to tell Tasha to leave so I could sleep. Tasha stormed into my room not long after.
"Why did you do that? She's my friend! You know mama has a soft spot for you because you're her only boy!" I flinched at her loud voice screaming through my room as the door was swung open and banged against the wall.
"Stop yelling!" I hissed. "She's not a friend, she's just using you to get to me-"
"I can make and keep my own friends without your help you know!" She yelled pacing the floor at the end of my bed. "She's nice and she likes me-"
"How many times has she asked you to come over after she asked if I was going to be home?"
"Don't even try it. She's nice! And she told me all about Rose and what an awful person-"
"If you actually spent the time to try and get to know Rose, you would know she's not an awful person."
"Oh, she is. Do you know the only reason Tony kidnapped her is because Rose agreed to have sex with him and then said she was going to tell the police?"
"That's nothing even close to the truth-"
"Oh, it is. Tasha said that Rose had to go to the hospital once because she tried to have an abortion-"
"Viktoria, Tony used to abuse Rose." I cut her off. "Punch her, kick her, slap her-" I cut myself off not wanting to remember what Tony had done to Rose in the past. "That's why she came here."
"Tasha said she came her because-"
"And how do you think Tasha knows anything?" I shot back. "She doesn't even know her!" Viktoria stood there.
"But it was her fault – she's the one Tony wanted and they took you-"
"If you want to blame anyone for my getting kidnapped it's my fault! If I just stayed out of the way, Rose would have been the only one to get taken."
"But Tasha said only Rose was going to be taken and then I'll get you back-"
"What did you say?" I asked her. "How did Tasha- When did she tell you this?"
"Before I saw you being dragged into a van-"
"And you were just okay with that? Would you have said anything? Ever?" I snapped back, rolling over onto my side and picking up the card for the detective that spoke to be yesterday. I told him everything Viktoria told me and he said he'll look into it.
Mama came up to my room then telling me we would be going to the hospital soon. It was Rose's birthday; she was now eighteen. Eighteen, in a coma and oh so beautiful. I nodded to my mother, got out of bed and slammed my bathroom door closed.
It wasn't long until we were loaded in cars and driving to the hospital. The car ride was silent. Viktoria as sitting in the car, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked out the window. I was staring out my window too, watching the buildings fade away in the familiar direction of the hospital.
We got there after Mason and Adrian. Abe and Janine have not left Rose's bedside since she was admitted into the ICU, sending Pavel or Mikhail back to the house for a change of clothes and food. Rose's room was filled with balloons and cards, the flowers were sent back to the house, the hospital staff not allowing them into the room because of allergies.
Rose lay there, moved in a slightly different position by the nurses. The breathing tube inserted in her mouth allowing her chest to rise and fall in steady patterns. Her eyes were closed, her long eyelashes falling on her cheeks. When we got there, the nurse was wetting her lips with a damp sponge before giving us a small smile and walking away.
"Happy birthday baby." Janine whispered, clenching Rose's hand as she stroked the soft skin with her thumb. "I finally stayed for a birthday huh?" Janine was in her own world as she watched Rose. I looked over at Rose, Abe was standing on the other side of Janine as he sat in another chair beside her. Mason and Adrian where on the other side of the bed, leaning back in their chairs with their arms crossed over their chests.
Abe looked over at us, a small smile on his face, a sad smile. Janine didn't acknowledge we were there; she just kept her eyes on Rose.
"I guess we have to cancel that road trip of a lifetime, huh?" Mason said dryly, pushing Adrian's arm.
"We were just waiting for her to be eighteen." He agreed looking at Rose. "We we're going to move away together, live together-" Adrian cut off.
"She'll be alright – tough as old boots this one. She won't miss her eighteenth birthday." Mason said, cutting Adrian off. "Besides, she got advanced acceptance into that school she keeps banging on about. She wouldn't miss that."
"She was worried about getting that letter." I mumbled. Abe looked over without just looking back at Rose straight away.
"I don't want any trouble Viktoria."
"She won't cause any, Abe. I promise." My mother said shooting Viktoria a look just as Eric and his family walked in. Lissa clung to Christian as she looked at Rose. II watched Rose, willing her to wake up but it was useless.
"I love her." I whispered. "I really – I love her." Abe and Janine looked over at me. I closed my eyes as I thought I saw a toe wiggling under the blanket. My mother wrapped an arm around me.
"I think you are ever going to be the only boy I think I'll accept that from." I opened my eyes just as the machine started to beep increasingly louder and more erratic than steady. I looked up at Rose, her hands were moving straight for the breathing tube, her chest rising and falling rapidly. Janine and Abe stood frozen for a second before each taking her hands away from the tube.
Rose didn't calm down, her breathing became more rapid, more frantic. I looked at her She was trying to get to the tube, trying to take it out. Mason Grabbed her other hand to keep it away but she moved, thrashed around the bed until a nurse came in and put something directly into the IV attached to Rose's arm. She started to calm down slowly, until her eyes finally closed. The nurse worked quickly taking the breathing tube out, calling for a doctor.
I moved closer to the bed, to Rose. The nurse was frantically moving around, shoving people out of the way as she worked. The doctor came in, telling everyone to leave, Pushing Abe out of the door along with Janine and everyone else. We stood outside the window looking in, my heart was hammering in my chest as I watched them dance around Rose, calling in extra pairs of hands.
"She's fine. She'll be fine." I said to myself trying to calm me down. Janine looked up at me and then Abe, finally looking back to Rose.
"She will be." Janine agreed before the doctor came out.
"What happened?" Abe demanded to know as soon as the doctor closed the door.
"She's fine." The doctor started. "It happens sometimes. When someone wakes up from a coma, they become confused, frantic. The nurse gave her a sedative so she could relax and go back to sleep so we could take out the tube."
"So, she'll wake up then? She'll be alright?"
"No exactly. We have to wait until she wakes up. She might not be fully conscious when she wakes up. We're going to run some tests – usually people wake up gradually."
"What do you mean she might not be fully conscious – she just woke up!" Abe yelled, sounding frantic more than angry.
"She can be in vegetative state or minimally conscious state. Basically, she can be awake but not away or have limited awareness. I can't tell you for sure which can happen or which will if any – people come out of coma's in different ways."
"What can we do?"
"Just do what you're doing. The nurse gave her a slight sedative so she shouldn't be too long in come around from it. From the fight she put up in there though, I think she'll be fine." The doctor smiled as he walked away. The nurses came out after and allowed us back in the room.
"Wake up Rosemarie." Janine whispered. "Rosemarie, wake up." Abe looked over at her. "She hates being called Rosemarie."
"Oh, does she hate that? Remember the time you called her that Adrian? After you found out Rose wasn't her full name?"
"I was wearing the palm print for hours afterwards." Adrian laughed. "We should have tried donuts. That would get her up for anything."
"Like that time, we found her asleep on the books in the library?" Mason asked. "She was going to pass that test even without the last-minute cramming. I was able to pass listening to her recite questions and answers over and over again."
"Remember that lecture she gave us on frequencies and vibrations?"
"'Everything has a vibration – it's why soldiers are told to march out of step when crossing a bridge'." Adrian mimicked as he sat down in the chair beside Rose.
"Oh, if I hear about natural frequencies and vibrations one more time-" Mason laughed, Adrian laughed and together they shoved Rose's arm.
"She's very intelligent then?" Janine looked over at the boys, clearly missing out on her daughter's life was hurting her more. Does she know Rose is a straight A perfect GPA student? Does she know how quickly she can answer questions, how accurately she can do maths in her head and get it close to three decimal places?
"Oh boy is she." Mason agreed. "She can be funny too, sometimes."
"Mason had a crush on her for a while."
"So did you, Adrian."
"Tell us about her then, like what was she like before she came here." Lissa whispered sitting in a chair.
"Her favorite color is white-"
"Because it's peaceful and calm."
"She cried every time Mufasa dies in the Lion King-"
"Sniffles and all."
"She doesn't let many people in-"
"She's very selective in her friends."
"She's always wanted to be taller-"
"And she wants to have her hair the way it is but lighter so she doesn't break her neck every time she leaves the bath or shower."
"She likes to take baths more than showers but she prefers to have to showers because they always took less time."
"She wants to open a mental health gym-"
"So she can help others who suffer from panic attacks."
"She used to volunteer at a youth organization-"
"Teaching classes and playing games with you kids, they all loved her."
"She likes all types of food-"
"All types but her favorite food is donuts and pizza."
"Every Sunday we'd make 'Everything in the Kitchen Sunday'. We'd take everything we can from the kitchen and mix it with ice-cream."
"Rose always made the best one."
"She goes to the orphanage here and reads to the kids there-"
"She likes kids, as long as she can give them back in the end."
"She wants to have at least two."
"She also want's the two of you to shut up and let her sleep." My eyes snapped up to Rose as Adrian and Mason got told to stop talking. Rose lazily moved her hand up to her eyes and rubbed them, rolling over, pulling the sheets under her chin.
"Roza-"
"Sh, I need to sleep."
"No, you do not! You are going to wake up now!" Janine yelled, pulling the overs from her chin. Rose rolled onto her back, turning her head over to Janine. Rose gave her mother a small smile, barely opening her eyes.
"Bossy." Janine laughed, stroking the side on her face.
"Don't talk you your mother that way." Abe replied with a smile, his eyes filling with tears and he looked down at his daughter.
"You're not as bossy." Rose whispered, yawning. "Can I just take a nap?" She whispered.
"You can't sleep past your eighteenth birthday, can you?" Rose rolled her head in the direction of Mason who spoke.
"Watch me." She blindly grabbed the blanket and pulled it up to her chin again.
"Roza, maybe you can wake up for a few hours at least?" I tried, speaking softly. "You have been asleep for two days-"
"See, all you had to do was ask nicely and have a face like that." Rose mumbled, opening her eyes slowly, just a little but gave me a smile.
"I'm calling favoritism." Adrian mumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest but he was smiling. So was Mason.
"I'm still in the room." Abe grumbled.
"Can I get food?" Rose mumbled. "I like food. Did you know you can go three weeks without food?" She kept going on. "Snakes can last two years without food." She continued. "Just like crocodiles. It's must be a reptile thing. Are crocodiles reptiles?"
"Rose?"
"Did you know there are over one hundred species of roses? The oldest rose in the world is one thousand years old? In Germany somewhere." Rose smiled. "Did you know there is no such thing as a black rose? It's really just a deep red that looks black. It can grow into a fruit too – did you know that?" I looked at Mason and Adrian confused, then looked around the room, everyone was doing the same.
"She read up on botanists once." Mason explained. He and Adrian weren't shocked with the random facts coming out of her and I didn't know if I should be or not.
"Seventy thousand plant species are used for medicine." She continued on, her eyes dropping slowly. "Did you know Asclepius is the healer-god in ancient Greece? And Zeus, don't get me started on him. He can sleep with everyone, goddesses and humans but when Hera even thought about sleeping around, he goes crazy!"
"Alright, Rosie, maybe you should sleep through your eighteenth after all."
"Did you know in ancient Rome women would be betrothal to someone as early as twelve but they'd actually postpone the wedding until they thought the girl was mature enough to handle it? Like the men would generally marry when they were twenty-five? And you know when people get married and they veil? Did you know that was a Roman thing? Do you know what putting it up over the women's head meant?" Rose rolled over with a smile. "She was surrendering her virginity. Ancient Romans, huh?" Her breathing became shallow and even as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
"She reads a lot." Adrian laughed shaking his head.
"She read the Illiad and the Odyssey cover to cover three times."
"Janine was the same. She loved to read about Alexander the Great-"
"If I hear that he was just lucky one more time-"
"He was. He was able to defeat King' Porus army by the Hydaspes river-"
"Yeah, yeah, and it was raining and they couldn't hear Alexander's army moving up the river and they couldn't see them moving until they were already across the river." Adrian continued. "We've heard it all before."
"Rose never shuts up about it if he's mentioned in movies. That and the fact-"
"That he's gay?" Janine interrupted. "Well, allegedly. I think he was having a secret affair with his best friend Hephaestion." Janine leaned back in her chair, still holding Rose's hand. "And he had a deep respect for women-"
"Yes we know, when he defeated Darius and went back to his palace and was allowed to take Darius' wife or daughters he asked the Queen how she would like to be treat and she said as a queen and Alexander said she was going to be treated as a queen, blah blah."
"How do you remember half the things Rose mentions." Mason mumbled to Adrian.
"And when one of his men raped a woman from the village, which was allowed, Alexander had him tied to a tree until he was torn apart."
"Yep, Rose mentioned that too."
"And now maybe everyone should leave so we can take Rose for some tests." The nurse came in and shooed everyone out. We said our goodbyes to Abe and Janine who were going to stay.
"Dimika-"
"Not talking about it." I relied know she was going to mentioned what I said in there. She turned away with a smile on her face.
I rolled my eyes.