Chapter 11 - Haunted By Her Nightmares
She was used to being alone ever since she was in the orphanage and being alone here was not hard but it made it obvious. After her rebirth, she spent more time with people in the orphanage and moving into a large house with everyone busy with their work was a very sudden change.
Mara spent some time with her. Her tutors were nice people and she was not totally alone but she felt lonely. Perhaps because she missed her mother and her nightmares were getting more serious. She wished her mother would come to her at night and hum that same tone to make her sleep.
"Miss Rose, are you okay?" her tutor's voice asked when Rose sighed for the tenth time in ten minutes.
"I am okay. Sorry," she apologized and tried to focus on the textbook in front of her.
"It's okay. Solve the problem below," her tutor said..
She sighed again and pressed her pencil lightly on her notebook and began solved. 'Ughh. I hate mathematics," she grumbled to herself. It was the only subject that forced her to study hard even when she did not want to.
In her past life, she was a very diligent student because she needed a scholarship. Mathematics was the only stumbling block she faced and she had to study it well. She always ended up with a B after all her efforts and it made her hate mathematics more although she still studied it hard.
This was her second life and everything she learnt before was what she used to understand what she was taught in this life. She pushed her book to her tutor and he nodded his head impressed after checking it out.
She felt tired of the home schooling and all. She was tired but she had to keep going because she just started her journey. "Hmmm," she had to sigh again.
***
"She is just a simple girl. I have monitored her for days now and I am sure that she is normal. She has not called anyone since she came here. She searched things about school, your brand and the family," Mara narrated to Valerie.
"Stop monitoring her now. She should be well taken care of," Valerie ordered and walked into the elevator. After monitoring Rose for a while now, she found nothing unusual about the girl. Her phone was clean and there was nothing suspicious about the girl.
The door of the elevator opened and Rose was standing waiting with her head bowed and she wore a sad, sickling expression on her face. Valerie, as a mother and as Rose's new mother, she felt her chest tighten at the sight of the girl. It was not the girl's fault that she was brought into their family during the period she was brought but she was obviously suffering for it.
Rose had dark circles around her eyes and her skin was fairer than it was when she first came. It looked pale. Valerie decided to be nice to the girl as she watched the girl's sorry state.
"Rose," she called out and watched as Rose raised her head very slowly and looked at her. The sight before her was not very good; Rose's face looked almost as pale as Anna's face although the latter has been in coma for months now.
"Good afternoon, ma'am," Rose tried to answer as loud as she could as another wave of dizziness hit her. She had being feeling so dizzy after lunch that she had to tell her physics tutor to stop for the day. She was craving her bed badly and she could not sleep well.
More than half of the time, she falls asleep around four in the morning because she just could not sleep well due to her nightmares. By six in the morning, she wakes up and goes downstairs for breakfast and her lessons by seven.
Sleeping was as stressful as running when awake because she keeps dying in her dreams. It was affecting her too much and even after trying hard to hide it for the past weeks, her skin which got fairer did a very good job of exposing the dark circle around her eyes.
She wondered what made it get worse. She had nightmares in the orphanage but she could still sleep for four hours at night with breaks in between. She remembered the cool music that made her sleep well for the first time after her rebirth.
She had not seen Mr. Whitfred since the day they had lunch together and she could not ask him for the name of the composer. She tried to wear a smile as she greeted Mrs. Whitfred but she could not maintain it as another wave of dizziness hit her and her vision became blurry.
Mrs. Whitfred watched as Rose took very slow staggering steps towards her to get into the elevator and she was felt so guilty that she could not find her voice to ask Rose if she was alright.
"Rose . . ." she began with a lot of effort but could not continue when the girl's hazel eyes met hers looking so sad and lost in her eye sockets.
"Yes, ma'am," Rose answered, this time she prayed Mrs. Whitfred would do her a favor by keeping quiet. The head ache that was a little insignificant became more painful and unbearable with every word Mrs. Whitfred uttered.
"I . . . I wanted to show you . . ." Mrs. Whitfred continued with the conversation as she indirectly continued punishing Rose unknown to her.
Rose's whole being could not take it any longer as the nightmare of her bones getting broken one after the other began when her eyes closed. She simply passed out and dropped to floor after dropping her books to the floor with a thud.
"Rose! Wake up." Valerie literally felt her heart fly out of her chest when she saw Rose pass out. She lifted Rose's head and shoulder as she knelt beside her. "Wake up!" Valerie found it hard to hold back her tears as they fell freely on Rose's face and chest. She was literally losing her mind.
Why was she a bad luck for kids? Her baby girl died in her arms, Anna was still unconscious and Rose was not in a good shape either. She had had enough of these traumatizing occurrences. Why were all these happening to her?
She lifted Rose and carried Rose out of the elevator into Anna's room where a nurse was watching Anna. She was completely oblivious to Rose's weight as the only thing she could think of was saving Rose as she blamed herself just like every other child.
The nurse ran to her after pressing a button beside Anna's bed to alert the doctor. The nurse helped Mrs. Whitfred carry Rose to the couch and gently placed her on the couch.
While Mrs. Whitfred stood away to give the doctor and nurse space to check on Rose with tears continuously flowing down her cheeks, Rose was dying once again in that cold warehouse. She was getting beaten up so mercilessly again just like in all her nightmares.
Her tears and struggles in her dream showed in her physical movement on the couch. She was crying and struggling to leave with the pain making her grit her teeth and tears running down her cheeks.
At the end of it all, the doctor found out she was only sleeping. They witnessed her cry and struggle in her sleep and it was so painful that the nurse had to turn away and mopped a tear that escaped her eyes down her cheeks. What could a young girl suffer so much that she was crying with much agony.
Valerie held Rose's hand trying to give her a little support but Rose struggled out of the grip and held the end of her shirt tightly pulling down till the quality fabric tore. Rose's nightmares were crueler than her death in her past life because she got no embrace in that warm powerful chest and it was as though the pain was amplified a dozen times more than it really felt.
No matter how hard she tried to escape that horror, she could not leave. The pain further amplified with every trial she made to leave. It was worse than hell. Was this a punishment for seeking vengeance for her and her mother's death?
"Why isn't she waking up?" Valerie had to ask as she could not keep watching such painful scene.
"She has been sleep deprived for a while. She is catching up on the sleep she has lost. She will wake up natural there is nothing wrong with her except for some deeply imprinted psychological pain and trauma. I suggest that you get her a therapist," the doctor explained to Valerie feeling sincere pity towards the young girl.
***
Rose finally woke up after nine hours of torture in her nightmare. She felt exhausted and very relieved that it was finally over. It felt like being dragged into a game she does not want to play and she always tried to fight back or run away and each time she was still caught and beaten up. Should she simply go to the palace and stab the queen to death to end all these?