Wow, another chapter already! Someone give me a cookie. Kidding...kidding, but the next one might not be up till the weekend, though I'll try to start it today, and finish it tomorrow...no promises though.
Also, someone very nice who goes by the name A dream and a wish has kindly invited me to their forum, which is all about us Batman fans chatting about whatever suits our fancy (obviously, they conversations have got to be about Batman, duh). The forum is named In the Silence of the Night, and we'd love for all of you to come, take a look and join! I will seriously love you forever if you do, not that I don't already...but yeah.
On with the story!
Rose hated hospitals, of any kind. It was the smell, and the too clean corridors, the noise from the dying and their mourning families- it all made her feel sick.
But they weren't going to a normal hospital, they were heading towards Arkham Asylum, home to the most mentally ill there is. Rose hated being there more than anywhere else in the world.
As the got out the car, Rose thought back to the first time they had to visit the asylum. It was when she had just turned 9 and Lily 16.
"Rose? Rose come on! I now it looks scary from the outside but Mama is in there! You want to see Mama, don't you?" Adam yelled to his daughter from the entrance.
Rose was still standing by the car door, just staring up at the building with wide eyes. She didn't think she wanted to see Mama, not after what she did at home.
"Rose, hold my hand, nothing is going to hurt you," Lily whispered.
Rose nodded and gripped Lily's hand tightly.
The three of them walked in and the smell of medicine and anti-bacteria spray hit her nose sharply and she wrinkled it up in discomfort.
"We're here to see Katrina Jacobs, she was put here about 5 hours ago," their father told the lady at the reception.
"Alright, she's at the back of the building, close to Intensive Care, room 567."
Adam nodded in thanks and he held out his hand for Rose's.
"Both of you stay close to me."
Rose looked up at Lily and saw that she was frightened, which made Rose frightened and she stopped walking.
"Daddy," she said quietly.
He bent down to her level and stroked her cheek.
"Why do we have to be here?"
"For Mama, that's why honey. One day, you'll understand, but for now Mama needs us, now, I'll pick you up and you can hide your face in my jacket and close your eyes, and whenever you get scared, you only have to pinch me lightly and I'll be right there, alright?"
Rose giggled as he playfully pinched her cheek and nodded.
"That's my girl."
He picked her up in his strong arms and she closed her eyes against his shoulder, feeling safer.
Even though she couldn't see anything, she could still hear the screams and crying that came from each side of her now and again, and the rattling of cages, and the pleads to be set free. Little Rose clenched her fist on her fathers jacket and he held her tighter.
"We're here now, look, there's Mama," Lily said softly to Rose.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and blinked at how bright the room was. Katrina Jacobs was lying on a bed in the middle of a huge room which had bars on the outside of it. To Rose it felt like a cage.
Her mother was staring up at the ceiling with blank eyes; she seemed bored, no not bored: empty. Adam quickly put Rose down and ran to his wife's side, kissing her forehead.
She seemed to finally notice her family in the room and kept her eyes on Adam. They seemed to have been sending messages with their eyes because suddenly he started to cry and hid his head in her neck, letting her hold him.
Rose frowned: she had never seen a boy cry, so seeing her father cry was a bit confusing.
Why was he crying? There wasn't anything to be crying about, was there? Mother was safe and alive, right?
Lily picked up Rose again and held her close as they watched their parents hold each other.
Rose didn't know what was happening, so, as any other nine year old would do, she asked her mother.
"Mama, why is Daddy crying?"
Katrina stopped stroking her husbands back and fixed her gaze on her children. Lily's eyes widened and she scolded Rose but Rose didn't know what she did wrong.
"Child, do not call me that."
Rose frowned and looked up at Lily.
"Do not call you what, Mama?"
"DO NO NOT CALL ME 'MAMA!'" She yelled so loud Adam jumped too.
Rose was shocked, she had never heard her mother scream that loud and she felt scared again and started to sob.
"Lily, why not?" she cried. Lily was crying to, but silently.
Lily turned her gaze towards her and shook her head.
"Because she is not our Mama, petal."
"But she is! She is! She is! She is!" Rose cried and wriggled out of Lily's arms and stomped her foot on the ground.
"Daddy, why is she saying that?"
"Do not call him Daddy! You are not real! Neither of you are! You are not my children and I do not want to see either of you! Now get out of my sight!"
Lily grabbed Rose's hand and dragged her out of the cage.
"Lily, Lily I want old Mama back, I want her," Rose said, whimpering.
"Me too, petal, me too."
It was on the next day that a doctor told the girls what had happened to Katrina. She had something called schizophrenia (Rose had no idea how to say that word) and to her this whole world was just a dream, and she needed to kill herself and her husband so they could leave this world and see their real children.
"But of course my darlings, you are her real children, you're both real."
Rose looked away from the lady to the cage again. Her father was now sitting on a chair talking to Katrina.
Rose didn't believe her; Rose didn't think she was real anymore.
...
"Rose? Hello? Anyone in there?"
Rose was brought out of her daydream by Lily knocking her knuckles on her forehead, laughing.
"Good, you're back on earth."
She laughed again and Lily rolled her eyes.
They were now in the sitting room waiting for the doctor to tell them they could see their mother. Rose never talked or made eye contact with any of the patients at the asylum, she had never felt comfortable there, always feeling nervous before going in to her mother's room. She thought she was prepared and ready for the screaming and yelling, the cursing and rattling of the cage their mother does to get the sisters away from her.
She sighed and jiggled her legs up and down, a habit she does whenever she's scared or bored. Her father patted her knee, which her made her stop for a second but started once he had let go of it, making him sigh, giving her a confused look. She shrugged and grinned widely, which made him laugh.
Rose loved her father very much, they were close, as close as a daughter and her father could be, and she would do anything for him, she trusted him with her life, Rose adored him.
"Mr Jacobs? You and your family may see your wife now," a young looking doctor walked in and smiled over at them.
They stood up and followed the doctor to the back of the building, and opened a metal door with the numbers 567 carved into one of the bars.
Rose lingered outside, not wanting to go in, but after the look Lily gave her she shuffled in quickly, keeping her eyes on the ground.
"How are you feeling, love?" Rose heard the soft voice of her father, he was probably sitting by her side, kissing her hand or stroking her cheek, Rose didn't have to look to be sure.
"Fine."
Rose rolled her eyes. Sometimes, she thought her mother didn't really see how much her father loved her, she just waved off and took his love for granted, well, Rose knew that when the day came her father would stop loving her, she would see.
The two sisters sat on chairs behind their father, and waited for the dreaded moment that she noticed them. Rose hated being here, and was upset her father was still making them come, when he knew what was going to happen, and has stopped trying to stop it.
Rose's head perked up when she realised her parents had stopped talking to each other and bit her lip.
"Adam, who are they?"
"They are you're children, Kat."
"No they aren't. Why is she wearing Rose's uniform?"
Because I am Rose!
"Adam, what have you done? Where did you get these imposters from? They are nothing like our real children! They are not beautiful!" By now she had sat up and was glaring at Rose and Lily so fiercely Rose expected laser rays to pop out of them.
Lily sucked in a large amount of breath, and looked downwards; Rose knew she was trying to calm herself from shouting back.
"Get these ugly beings out of my sight! Go away! LEAVE US! Don't you dare touch my husband! How dare you pretend to be My Rose, My Lily! Adam, Adam let us go, leave this world with me! We'll be with your real Rose, your real beautiful Rose."
Katrina held onto Adam's hands and tears were forming in each other's eyes.
"I'm sorry, Katrina, I am not leaving our children."
"THEY ARE NOT OUR CHILDREN!" Katrina screamed, crying hysterically now.
Rose and Lily watched from behind the bars. She hugged her sister's waist and hid her head there, not wanting to see them be like this.
"Katrina...Kat, please, listen to me. This isn't a dream, if we end each other's lives, we won't wake up, our two little girls will have to watch us be put into a coffin, do you really want that for them?"
"I'll repeat myself, they are not my children. I do not care for them at all."
Rose felt Lily cry and she held onto her sister tighter.
"You don't mean that."
"Oh but I do. How can you let that girl go to My Lily's college, and that other piece of rubbish attend My Rose's school? You let them sleep in their rooms, eat on our table, if you had the right sense of mind you'd kick them out!"
"No! I am the owner of the house, and I decide what goes in and out of it!"
"So listen to me and make them go out of it," she pointed to the girls with a finger and glowered at them.
There was a silence, and then a loud scream that came from inside the cage which went through Rose's tiny body in waves, she shivered and sobbed.
Footsteps got closer to the door, and the screaming became ridged, hoarse and wouldn't stop.
"Come on girls, let's go."
Rose moved her head from where it was hidden and nodded at her father, surprised they were leaving so early.
Suddenly, Katrina managed to get off the bed and onto the floor next to them, rattling the bars and screaming through it.
"This is your fault, you filthy animals! Your fault!"
She screamed and yelled and shrieked and cried till a doctor came and calmed her down. Whilst they were walking away, they heard her yell.
"Adam, you will leave with my one day, don't worry, I'll make sure of it."
...
There was silence in the car, Adam was driving slowly, but he clenched the wheel with so much force Rose was worried it would break.
"Rose, if you aren't too tired in the morning you may go to school, just explain yourself to the office when you get there."
Rose nodded and leaned back on the seat, closing her eyes.
After about 5 minutes, Adam spoke in a hushed tone.
"Lily, is she asleep?"
Rose closed her eyes properly and listened.
"Yeah, what is it, Dad?"
"Honey, your mother is...she's getting less stable everyday and more...dangerous too. The doctors said they don't want her at home that often anymore, in fear of what she might do."
"What she might do?"
"You remember what happened over the summer with the...knives."
There was a short silence then he continued talking.
"And you heard what she said, she's more determined than ever to make sure we die together, so there's not guessing what she might do to me during the night, whilst I'm asleep."
"So what you're saying is..."
"Yes, exactly, your mother might murder me."
Rose widened her eyes, with them still closed, and she suddenly felt a strong hatred to the woman they just visited; Rose vowed to never let her touch her father then and there.
...
You know the drill. Review please! :D
- Zara xo