Rose woke up staring at a different ceiling and having the sensation of blankets around her and a pillow under her head. She relaxed completely lifting her hands after a moment. Her right arm had been immobilized, a stiff board strapped to it with bandages to keep her bones in place. 'It hadn't been a dream then.' She closed her eyes once more and rubbed her face with her left hand. Her head was pounding, pulsing with each breath she took and beat of her heart. Slowly she worked up enough courage to open her eyes again and finish looking around her room. In the bedroom on the right side there was a small nightstand, a dressing table, and a tall wardrobe. On the left was a window covered by lacy curtains and a man sleeping in a high back chair, hunched over her bed. He must have been there all through the night keeping an eye on her. The human face was gone and his muzzle had returned so she hesitantly reached out with her good hand to gently touch his hair. A scream made her snap her hand back to her chest as she looked around fearfully. It sounded like someone in pain. Just like before.
The man in the mask looked up startled, and started to get up, "W-wait! Don't go!" He just blinked at her confused, used to hearing people scream at him to get away, "My brothers… they were with me. Do you know where they are..?" He gave her a terse nod. "My name's Rose, but you can call me Rosie." He reached out and gently pet her head before trying to get her to lay more comfortably in the bed. Like he already knew her name. "Please… are my brothers okay?"
The man fidgeted uncomfortably, playing with her blanket. He had to know where they were and that was why he was stalling. "Can't you say anything?" He shook his head, "Ah… sorry… I didn't mean it like that... " He patted her leg before he left, "Wait! My brothers!" Panic started to settle over her. Were they dead? Both of them? Tears filled her eyes as she carefully curled into a ball, clutching at her chest with her free hand.
The man returned shortly with a tray of food, setting it down at the foot of her bed before gently trying to help sit her up. He was treating her delicately, like she was a broken porcelain doll that could shatter further with one false movement. "Please… where are my brothers? Are they even alive?" She pleaded with him, gripping his shoulder tightly with her unbroken hand. The man shook his head, petting her face with a massive paw. The skin felt calloused and rough but he was trying to comfort her. At least there was that. "Sam… Sam looks just like me. Please. An-and Max is blonde, big beefy boy. Are they here too? Are they alive?" He nodded slightly pointing down the hall, then made a gesture to the basement. "So one… one is okay… the other… isn't?" She remembered her time in that wet place and he nodded again, firmer this time, to confirm her assumption.
Her chest seized in pain. One of her brothers was dead. She started to cry, covering her eyes with her hand and wrist. "It's… it's all my fault…" She sobbed brokenly, the massive man cradled her to his chest, "Can I see my brother? I need to see him.. I just need to know he's okay..." The man hesitated before nodding yes. He pushed himself off the bed first then carefully and tenderly scooped her up. Rose was grateful for the extra care, her stomach felt so sore and tender she doubted she would have been able to hobble to wherever her brother was being kept. She gazed slowly around the area outside of her room, a decaying hallway, paint curling off the walls and the floor seemed to have a permanent layer of dirt on it. Two doors away from her room was where they were keeping her brother. Her heart jumped into her throat as she waited anxiously to see which of her brothers had survived. She gave a cry of relief seeing her twin, "Sam!" The man in the bed opened his eyes slightly, a grin slowly spreading over his face.
"Rosie… I didn't think you or Max made it… I'm so glad." She reached for him from the massive man's arms. "But Max didn't make it did he… that's why he's not here, isn't it." She nodded, tears dripping down her face as she hung her head.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… it's all my fault that this happened." She whispered, beating herself up. The man settled her down next to her twin so that she could hug him and hold him close.
"No. Rose it wasn't your fault. No one could have seen this coming." He paused, squinting past her at the man that had brought her to his side. Confusion flooded his face. "Thomas?" The masked man looked at him with thick, raised brows, seemingly shocked as he nodded slowly.
"Sam, do you know him?" Sam stiffened hearing the question, holding his sister closer, but it made her wince in pain.
"Yeah," he paused looking at her cautiously, "Do you remember the car crash that took your memory?" He waited for her to give him a confirmation, "Well, when we were born we lived in Travis County, Texas. That was nearly 15 years ago now, Mom and Dad died and you lost your memory. See.. after we were adopted and moved so far away we thought it'd be better that you just… forgot it all."
She pulled back from him, "So for a decade and a half, you just… let me live without knowing our parents at all? Even though you knew I hated myself for it? You just let me live without knowing about my friends here and the people we knew and met along the way and all the experiences that we'd had as kids because it was 'better'? How was that better?" She held her head in her hands. It wasn't like she could get any of those memories back now. They were gone. "I tried so hard for years to figure out our lives before the crash. I made up so many stories about where we lived and what our school was like and the people we went to school with where like… How did I even get this scar on my forehead? It wasn't in the crash, that's for sure."
Sam looked distressed and that caused Rose to try and calm herself down, "Sorry.. I'm sorry… This isn't something we should argue about, is it?" She sight softly, hanging her head. She felt so tired. "I'm… going to go back to my room. It's two doors down from here so… I'm not far." Her twin nodded slowly. The big man gently picked her up once more and carried her back to her room.
Her head was killing her. She knew for years that he didn't like talking about before, but she always thought it made him sad, but… these people, even if they were crazy, they might have known them. Especially from how Sam had acted to the man. What was his name? Thomas? "Hey… did I uh… did I used to know you? When I was a kid?" He nodded, settling her back into her bed and pulling the covers around her before offering her some food. "I'm sorry… I don't remember you…" she rubbed her forehead, slowly starting to eat her food. Thomas gently pet her head. She didn't really know what he was thinking, but maybe he was just happy that she was back. "I wish… I wish I could remember. But. Part of me doesn't want to. I think… for years I was scared to. I'm still scared to." She tried to explain, picking at the meat on her plate. "I don't know what is making me so scared. Maybe it was the crash..? Can you… tell me about our childhood? Were we friends? Did we go to the same class?"
Thomas hesitated, unlacing his mask to try and talk to her without it in the way, but he was embarrassed, both by his face, and his broken speech. She took his hand gently, "Hey… you don't… I don't want to force you to do that… I mean, you wear your mask-thing for a reason, right? You don't have to be uncomfortable for my sake."
He let out a breath of relief, quickly hiding back behind his mask before he pulled her into a gentle hug. Rose felt that they had to have been closer than just friends with how easy he found it to touch her and be touched by her. Unless he just didn't have boundaries at all. In that moment though she really didn't mind. It was a welcomed thing, to be held. She put her head on his chest, clinging to him. He smelled like rust and sweat, but she didn't mind.
Sam had managed to hobble to her room, knocking on the door gently. She didn't speak, but the door opened anyway, "Rose… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. You have to believe that, none of us wanted you to remember the crash. But… it was wrong to keep everything else away from you." He sat down on the other side of the bed, Thomas slowly let go of her and pet her cheek before he stood up to leave.
She gripped his arm tightly, "Please… don't leave." Rose looked over at her brother, "Sam, I have a right to know, can you tell me all of your memories of me, of our home, our parents, everything. I want… no I need, to remember. Please, tell me. Start from the beginning." The man sat back down and cradled her to his chest once again.
Sam nodded slowly, taking a deep breath and letting it out gently, "The earliest thing I can remember was when we were three…"