What happened?
"One! What will we do?! She's covered in blood!"
I had a strange dream.
"Sister Rose isn't moving! She is dead?!"
There was a flower and Alan was some kind of angel.
"We need to get help! HELP!"
I don't know if that was real or a hallucination.
"But where? We are in the middle of a forest!"
Suddenly the memories of what happened came back, it was all true, and most of all, I was dead.
"WWWAAAAHHH!"
"HELP!"
"SISTER ROSE, PLEASE DON'T DIE!"
But if I died, how am I thinking right now? Another question. Where am I exactly? And who was making that annoying cry?
"WWWAAAHHH!"
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, getting up abruptly, but to my surprise, I was face to face with five little girls who looked at me with wide and red eyes.
The little girls stared at me for a few seconds before all of them except for one ran towards me and hugged me.
"SISTER ROSE!" The little girls squealed.
Sister? I don't have sisters! Who are these children? And what are they doing here in the middle of the forest?
"Sister Rose, we thought you were dead!" The girl with the brown hair tied in twin tails said.
"You were covered in blood and not moving!" The blue haired girl spoke right after..
"For a moment I thought you were going to leave us!" The girl with long purple hair said.
"I can't imagine what would become of us without you!" This time it was a girl with blonde hair.
"Sister Rose." The last little girl spoke, she was the one who hadn't hugged me yet, she had light blonde hair and red eyes.
The girl approached me slowly, while the others stopped hugging me and gave space for the red-eyed girl to approach.
The girl stopped in front of me, suddenly tears formed in her eyes and she hugged me.
"I am glad to see that you are well, Sister Rose." The red-eyed girl said as she hugged me.
I didn't hug her back, that was wrong, there was something wrong, I don't have sisters, I don't know where I am and I don't know who these girls are. I need to know what's going on. I took a step back out of the red-eyed girl's embrace.
"Sister Rose? Is something wrong?" The little red-eyed girl asked as she approached me, I took a few more steps back.
"Don't approach me!" I yelled at the red-eyed girl and she flinched at my scream.
"Sister Rose, what happened? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry for hugging you without your permission!" The little red-eyed girl said as she tried to get closer.
"Stop! Just stop calling me sister! I have no sisters!" I said to the little girls.
"Sister Rose, are you okay? Did you hit your head? We are your sisters. Remember? I am One the second eldest, one of your sisters." One said as she pointed at herself.
"I am Two the third eldest!" The blue haired girl now known as Two said as she bounced around me.
"I am Three, the fourth eldest." The purple-haired girl identified herself as Three, and then she let out a long yawn and fell asleep on the floor.
"I am Four the fifth eldest sister." The twin tails girl said, Four then stopped in front of me next to One.
"And I am Five, the youngest of us all." The blonde haired girl said, I suddenly heard a stomach rumble, it was coming from Five.
"You wouldn't have any food, would you?" Five asked me.
"Five, please behave yourself! Can't you see Sister Rose is confused?" Four said to Five.
"I'm just asking, it's been a while since I ate something." Five replied.
"Hey Rose! Rose! Rose!" Two yelled trying to get my attention as she jumped around me.
"Sister Rose, I think you should wash up, get the blood out of your body, and find something to wear." One said as she averted her gaze from me.
I looked at myself, I saw that I was covered in blood, this girl was right, walking around covered in blood is only going to get me into trouble, there must be a river here somewhere.
I hope to find a river before this blood dries up. As I walked among the trees I heard footsteps behind me. When I looked back I saw all the little girls following me in a line, starting with One and ending with Five.
"What are you doing?" I asked them.
"We will go with you." Two said.
"We can't let our sister walk through the woods alone." Four spoke.
"What if you get attacked by someone?" This time it was Five.
"And frankly, we are lost; we have no idea where to go." Three said as she shrugged.
"Where are your parents? Why don't you go back home? They must be worried." I told them, I just want to get rid of these kids and find out what happened to me.
"Sister Rose, our parents are long gone, Five was just a baby back then, you have been taking care of us ever since." One said.
What?! Parents?! I have no idea who my father is and my mother barely bothered to take care of me, let alone five other girls. If this is a joke, then it's not funny.
"Seriously?! You said you were the second eldest, right? Then who is your older sister?" I asked One.
"What a strange question sister Rose, you are the eldest." One said as she pointed at me.
I wanted to laugh at this situation, this must be some kind of bad joke, it's the only possibility, these five girls should be playing in the forest and decided to play a trick on me after seeing me lying unconscious on the ground.
"Okay, I have another question. What do our parents look like?" Let's see what the answer will be this time.
"Sister Rose, are you okay? You're asking a lot of weird questions, our parents look like… like… like… ARGH!" Suddenly, One grabbed her head in pain.
"I can't… I can't remember what our parents looked like. Two, Three, Four, Five, do any of you remember what our parents looked like?" One said to her sisters.
"Of course, One! Our mother was… her eyes were… ARGH!" Four grabbed her head as well.
"If I remember correctly, our mother had red colored… and she liked… AAHH!" The same result was repeated with Two.
"Our dad worked at… he had hair… and a voice… AH!" Three had the same reaction.
"What's going on with you guys? Of course our dad… he liked… ARGH!" Five had a similar reaction.
"Can anyone remember what our parents looked like?" One asked worriedly to her sisters. They all nodded negatively with worried looks on their faces.
"Sister Rose, what's going on?! Why can't we remember our parents?!" One asked as she approached me.
"Are we going to forget about other things too?!" Three asked.
"I don't want to forget about you!" Two screamed.
"What if we forget about each other?!" Four asked as she approached too.
"Sister Rose, what shall we do?" Five asked me.
Soon all the girls were surrounding me and asking questions simultaneously, until I couldn't take it anymore, I needed silence to think.
"SHUT UP!" I screamed as I slammed my hand against a tree. I expected to get hurt, but to my surprise the tree was snapped in two.
When I looked back at the girls, they moved away and were now staring at me in alarm.
And then I heard a noise.
SNIF!
No…
SNIF!
Please don't…
"WWWAAAHHH!"
Suddenly they all started crying. What situation did I get myself into? I'm naked, covered in blood, in the middle of a forest and with five girls crying in front of me. If anyone shows up here, I doubt I can explain it. What should I do? What would Alan do? Yes, Rose, what would Alan do? He had a way with those things.
Slowly I approached my supposed sisters; I crouched down until I was at their height and gave them a smile.
"I'm sorry for yelling, I'm confused, a lot happened in a short time. So how about we calm down? We can try to figure out what's going on. First let me wash off this blood, find something to wear, then we can stop at a town or village to see if anyone knows your parents."
This seemed to work, as all five girls stopped crying, wiped their tears and smiled at me.
"Thank you Sister Rose!" All of them said simultaneously.
"Great, then let's go! There must be a river somewhere." Crisis averted, but now I have to stop somewhere to ask about the parents of these brats. They lined up behind me and accompanied me with smiles on their faces.
As I walked, I kept looking at my hands as I opened and closed them. What I did before wasn't normal. What happened to me?
Finally I found a river. When I entered the water I finally relaxed; I leaned against the bank and stayed there with my eyes closed for a few seconds, enjoying the sensation of the water.
When was the last time I was able to take a shower? I lifted my arm and sniffed my armpit, my face contorted in disgust. Apparently a long time ago. I was going to get some water in my hands to wash my hair, but when I tried to do that, I ended up seeing the reflection of my face, and I almost screamed at what I saw.
There was a flower sticking out of my eye, a pink five-petal flower was in the place of my right eye, it was the same flower I saw on the execution platform. What was it doing here? Was this flower that brought me back to life?
Slowly I brought my hand to the flower, but when I touched it I had a bad feeling, the feeling that I was touching something disgusting, something bad, something evil. I quickly removed my hand from the flower; I'll worry about that later, focus on relaxing Rose.
I leaned against the bank again and closed my eye.
"CANNON BALL!"
Wait, what?!
Something threw itself into the water in front of me, splashing water in my face. The thing came out from under the water, it was Two, she jumped into the river with her clothes and everything, and she was laughing and smiling at me.
"HAHAHA! I got you sister Rose!" Two slammed both hands into the water, throwing even more water at me.
"Stop you brat! What are you doing?!" I said as I shielded my face with my hands.
"Playing with you!" Two replied as she continued throwing water.
"And where are your sisters?"
"Three is right there!" Two pointed to something that was floating in the river. It was Three.
She had a face inside the river and she was floating without moving. She looked like a corpse. I saw bubbles coming out rhythmically from under the water next to her. She was sleeping?
"Aren't you supposed to help your sister?" I asked Two, I don't want to be seen next to a drowned child's corpse.
"Don't worry, Three does this all the time, she can sleep anywhere. Remember that time she fell asleep on top of the stairs at our house and you ended up tripping over her and falling down the stairs?" Two asked.
"No." Once again they insist I'm their sister and talk about things that never happened.
"Oh! No problem, this happened a long time ago. Let's keep playing!" Two said as she splashed water on me.
"You brat!" I screamed as I hit the water, splashing water on Two, it only made her laugh.
"HAHAHA!"
"I see you are having fun." Looking to my side I saw Five sitting on the bank of the river "Unfortunately I won't participate, I don't want to get my hair wet."
What Five didn't notice was Four approaching her from behind, then Four pushed Five inside the river.
"AAAHHH!" Five screamed as she fell into the water.
"HAHAHA!" Four chuckled as she pointed at Five, but Four didn't notice Five jumping out of the river, grabbing her leg, dragging her into the river.
"AAAHHH!" This time it was Four who screamed as she fell. Four and Five began to fight in the river, one trying to sink the other under the water.
Now there was only one sister left. Where is she? Looking back, I saw One hiding behind a tree as she watched us.
"Hey you!" I called One, she tried to hide better, but I already saw her.
"There's no point in hiding, I saw you. Come here."
Timidly One came out from behind the tree and approached me; sitting beside me outside the river.
"How can I help you sister Rose?" One asked.
I still don't believe they are my sisters, but I don't have the energy to argue about that right now.
"Why aren't you playing with your sisters?" I asked.
"I can't, as the second oldest sister; it's my responsibility to take care of them. What if something happens when I'm distracted?" One answered.
"I see... You have a great sense of responsibility."
"Of course! You taught me that the older sister must take care of the younger ones!" One said with a smile.
I never said that, just like I never had sisters.
"But nothing will happen now, so why don't you have some fun?"
"Sister Rose that isn't… AAHH!" I didn't let One finish as I put my hand on her back and pushed her into the river; One came out from under the water and stared at me irritably.
Before she could say anything, Two splashed water on her face, and One did the same to Two, soon the two girls started playing, now that all the children are distracted I can relax again.
-XXXXXX-
"Are you sure about this, Sister Rose?" Two asked me.
"Yes." I replied.
"But stealing is wrong!" Four said.
"I don't know if you noticed, but I need clothes." I said to Four.
"Sister Rose is right; a real lady shouldn't walk around naked." Five said to Four.
"There will be problems if one of us gets caught." Three said.
"That's why I want only one of you to go." I said to Three.
"That's enough, I'll go Sister Rose, but I want you to promise that we won't steal again, we should get clothes with our money." One said as she stared at me.
"Fine! I promise!" I responded.
"Thanks." One said as she walked away.
After washing the blood in the river, the girls and I found a village on the outskirts of the forest. The problem, I was naked and I had a flower in my eye, but there was a solution to that problem.
We were hidden among the trees looking at the back of a house, there were some clotheslines with clothes hanging on it, shirts, pants, and a cloak with a hood, and near the clothesline there was a pair of boots, everything I needed.
I just needed one of the girls to go there and get the clothes for me, and One volunteered to do it. And apparently she did it, One was running back with clothes in her hands and there was no angry peasant after her.
"Here." One said as she handed me the clothes.
"Thanks." I said as I went behind a tree to get dressed.
-XXXXXX-
The girls and I were standing in front of the entrance of a village, judging by the distance of this place and the forest, these girls must have come from here.
At the moment I was wearing a white long-sleeved shirt, brown pants, brown boots and a brown cloak with a hood, I put the hood over my head and turned to the girls.
"We are going to enter the village, stay close to me and don't cause trouble, we will speak with the villagers to find out if any of them know your parents." I said to the sisters in front of me.
"You don't mean our parents?" Four asked .
"No." I said to Four, and she looked down sadly.
I took a deep breath, calm down Rose, remember that you are a wanted criminal, let's not draw unnecessary attention.
"Listen, I'm trying to understand what's going on, I don't know who these parents are. And you, for some reason, can't remember anything about your parents. There's something wrong here, until then we won't assume anything, do you understand?" I asked the sisters.
"Yes sister Rose!" All of them responded simultaneously.
I wanted to slap myself in the face; didn't they hear what I just said? Never mind! "Let's go!"
So I entered the village with the sisters accompanying me. It was a medium-sized village, the streets were made of dirt and stones, the houses were made of wood.
I managed to see small businesses here and there, a sewing shop, a bakery, a forge, a carpentry shop, walking through the streets. I could see people's eyes staring at me, probably because we were outsiders, or because I was hiding my face and was accompanied by five children.
"Sister Rose, I don't like how they are looking at us." Four said to me.
"Just ignore it, if they try anything I'll make them swallow their own teeth." I said to Four.
"That wasn't nice to say, Sister Rose." Two said next to me.
"Merely don't give attention, in the possible future they decide to take some aggressive action due to our presence; I will take action for them to consume their own teeth. Better now?"
"Yes." Three replied.
"Three! Sister Rose, please don't take such aggressive actions, the people in this village are just suspicious, we won't harm them." One said to Three and me.
"Fine! But be careful."
"Yes Sister." One replied.
"Sister Rose, I am hungry." Five spoke.
"I don't have any money at the moment Five; you will have to wait a little bit."
"Right." Five said as she looked down and held her stomach.
Great! Another problem! I don't have a single penny on me, I know how to solve this, but not now. Let's see if we can find anything about the parents of these children.
-XXXXXX-
The result wasn't good. We spent the whole day walking around the village, but no one heard of these children and their parents. It didn't help that the five sisters in front of me couldn't even remember their parents' names. What have I gotten myself into?
RUMBLE!
I heard a noise near me; looking to the side I saw Five with her face red with embarrassment.
"Are you still hungry?" I asked.
"Yes." She replied while nodding.
"Is anyone else here hungry?" I asked the sisters around me.
"I'm hungry." Two said.
"And I'm thirsty." Four spoke.
"I'm tired." Three told me right after.
"And you One?" I asked the girl who had been silent.
"You don't have to worry about me sister Rose, I'm perfectly fine…"
RUMBLE!
One was interrupted by the growl of her stomach, her face turned red with embarrassment. I laughed a little at that.
"Stay here, I'll be right back, One you will be responsible for taking care of your sisters."
"You can count on me, Sister Rose!" One said as she straightened her posture and puffed out her chest.
"Good." I said as I walked away, time to get some money.
I walked through the village, the sun was setting, and its inhabitants were returning to their homes after a long day at work. Perfect! They were so tired that they didn't pay attention to me when I passed by their side.
Thanks to that I took their coin bags unnoticed, bronze, silver, but no gold. After a few minutes I had enough money to buy a meal. Time to go back.
The sisters were in the same place where I left them, seeing me they ran in my direction.
"Sister Rose!" They screamed and hugged me but I got out of the hug quickly.
"So who would like some food?" I said, tossing the bag of coins up and down in my hand.
"ME! ME! MEI!" They all screamed, jumping up and down.
-XXXXXX-
We were inside a tavern, at a corner table, each of us had a plate of food, the sisters were eating in a hurry as if they were going to die of hunger. Pieces of food flew out of their plates and mouths as they chewed with their mouths open.
The noise bothered me. Was this how Alan felt when we ate together?
"Eat slowly and with your mouth closed!" I said to the sisters.
"Yes sister Rose!" They all said and began to eat slowly and with their mouths closed.
I ate my food, while eating I sharpened my hearing to hear the conversations around us; this is a great place to get interesting information. There seems to be a conversation going on right now.
"Did you hear the latest news?"
"No, which ones?"
"Much of Cathedral City has been destroyed!"
"I don't believe that!"
"It's true, the Institute of Magic is gone, most of the soldiers are dead and there's a giant crater in the middle of the city!"
"How did this happen? That place is a fortress!"
"There are many strange stories, they say that the Institute of Magic was experimenting on an angel, but the angel managed to escape and unleashed his divine fury on the city, others say that a huge explosion happened out of nowhere and the explosion took the shape of a flower."
"An angel? The kind with the wings and the halo on top of the head?"
"I'm not sure, according to the survivors it looked more like an angel from hell."
"What about the flower-shaped explosion?"
"Probably a hallucination caused by panic."
"How did the Lords let this happen?"
"None of them were in town at the time, but one thing they assured, two of Midgard's biggest criminals were killed in the chaos."
"Which criminals?"
"Rose better known as the Pink Eyed Witch and the magic user known as Alan. Not a single piece of them was found, probably reduced to ashes by the explosion."
"Hm! Well done, two less criminals to worry about."
I turned my attention back to my food. So does that mean I was presumed dead? Good to know, less trouble for me. And Alan… He probably went back to heaven.
Who knew he was an angel? He was too weird to be a normal person. What is he doing now? Probably trying and failing to get some angel girls into his bed. Damn virgin.
Wait a minute, can angels get laid? Does he even have what it needs? Well, that would explain why he never tried to get a girlfriend. Poor guy.
"We are done!" The sisters said to me,
"Great, then let's go." I paid for our food and we left the tavern, heading towards the village exit.
"Sister Rose, aren't we going to stay overnight?" One asked me.
"I don't, but you will." I said to One.
"Sister Rose, what do you mean?" One asked me worriedly.
We were at the village gate, I was outside and the sisters were in front of me side by side.
"Listen, I can't take you with me, Midgard is a dangerous place, and I can't take care of all of you."
The sisters widened their eyes; I could see the tears forming.
"Why not?" Five asked.
"Did we do something wrong?" Four said.
"You don't love us anymore?" Three spoke.
"You're not going to leave us, are you? Two asked hesitantly.
One then took a step forward, "Sister Rose, please explain! Why are you saying these mean things?! Did we do something to anger you?! Are you tired of us?! We can change! We can behave better! If the issue is money, we can get a job to help you!" As One spoke, the other sisters nodded in agreement.
"That's not the problem!" I answered.
"So what's the problem?! Tell us! We can help!" One said, approaching me.
"I'm a bad person, okay! I stole and killed innocents because I thought my friend was dead! I literally killed hundreds of people for the stupidest of reasons! I should be dead! I deserved to be dead! I have no idea who you are or why you consider me your sister! But I'm the worst person to have as a sister! You deserve someone better!"
Ok, I said it, now that they know the truth they will leave me, it's better this way. Suddenly I felt something colliding with my body. It was One. What was she doing?
"This isn't true!" One screamed with tears in her eyes and all the other sisters hugged me.
"You were always the kindest person in the world." Four said.
"You told us stories!" Three spoke.
"You sang to us until we fell asleep!" Five replied.
"You always played with us!" Two responded.
"You cooked the most delicious food for us! You sewed the best clothes for us! You put together the best toys for us! You…" And the sisters continued, they spoke of how amazing and wonderful I was.
But I knew that none of it was true, it was all fake, it was all lies. The Rose these girls know and the real Rose couldn't be more different.
But... But would it be so bad to act like the Rose they imagined? Pretend I always had sisters? Maybe there's no harm in showing a little kindness, a kindness I was shown a long time ago.
"Okay, you can come with me."
"Seriously?!" One asked as she stopped hugging me.
"Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!" The sisters said repeatedly.
"Now wipe those tears, we have a place to go." I said, turning around, walking away from the village. The sisters followed me soon after.
"Where are we going Sister Rose?" One asked.
"We are going to hunt for treasure."
"A treasure?!" Two screamed and I nodded.
"A pirate's treasure?" Four asked.
"No." I replied.
"A treasure full of jewels and precious stones?" Five asked.
"No." Replied again.
"A cursed treasure?" Three asked.
Didn't you hear what I just said?
"What kind of treasure are we talking about, Sister Rose?" One asked.
"Coins, lots of coins." I hope it's still there under the apple tree.
This seemed to cheer the girls up.
"I'm going to buy lots of food and dresses!"
"I am going to buy several dolls!"
"I'm going to buy a sword!"
"I'm going to buy a ship!"
"And you One? What will you buy?" I asked the last girl.
"A book." She replied embarrassed.
"A good choice One." Said with a smile.
We'd been walking down the road for a while, but suddenly I felt One pulling my shirt.
"What 's it?"
"Sister Rose? Can I hold your hand?" One asked with pleading eyes.
"Yes you can." I said while sighing, slowly One held my hand and a small smile formed on her face.
"Thank you Sister Rose." One replied happily.
Rose? I feel like this name doesn't suit me anymore. Rose died in Cathedral City; I'm a new person now, but who?
I looked at the sister who accompanied me, One, Two, Three, Four and Five, each of them had a number on their forehead, I, II, III, IV, V, but I had none, zero, Zero, 0.
"One?"
"Yes sister Rose?"
"Call me Zero."
END OF CHAPTER