Ch. 10: The Missing Journal Part 3

"Run, Rose!" 

Valentin exclaimed as he grabbed the man's arms full of force. Rosaline's knees froze, but as soon as she regained a grip on herself, she headed straight to the front door. It wasn't long until she heard him screaming. 

"Val...?" She stopped and turned around.

Through the open door, she could see him inside the living room, locking the man’s arms to stop him from going near or getting a single hair out of her, yet Valentin was only five feet tall back then, so paled in comparison with the man who had become an adult and fully broad shouldered. No doubt that the man could easily shove him, and yes, he did it. He did it twice. Valentin's body was thrown several feet until finally ... she saw him there.... lying helplessly on the floor. 

“Stop it!” Rosaline stepped onto the wooden floor. Tears welled up in her eyes. Before she could reach him, Valentin had managed to stop her from entering the house. 

"Don't! Don’t come near here, Rose! Stay out!”

With the energy he had left, and whilst he involuntary lied down on the wooden floor, Valentin held the man's left foot with his fullest force. "Run!" He ordered. He kept his grip, even though the man was shoving him away.  Valentin's body was being dragged above the floor as the man hobbled toward her until finally..."What do you think you're doing?!" The man's foot struck hard against Valentin's face.

“Stop it! Leave him alone!" 

Rosaline pounded her fist over the man's shoulders, trying to stop him from hurting Valentin. Her actions annoyed the man very much, though it was like swatting a fly as she flew outside and landed harshly on the wild grass in front of the door.

"Rose!"

Seeing her being thrown quite far, Valentin grabbed the man’s foot again.

Outside, touching her back from feeling a sore, Rosaline stood. 

"Run, Rose! I said run!"

The man stood a stone's throw apart from her. Rosaline knew Valentin could not hold the man for too long.

"Go!" He ordered.

“But...!" There's no way that she could.

"Go and find help! Hurry!" He yelled again, staring deep into her eyes.  "Believe  me!",  speaking  without words coming out of his mouth.

"I-I''ll come back!” 


Rosaline dashed away with tears.

From afar, she could hear him screaming. She closed her eyes, crying. His voice faded as she ran faster and faster.

Running as fast as she could,  the soles of her feet pressed against the sharp tip of gravels upon the dirty pavement. It was supposed to feel hurt, but she didn't feel anything on her  foot. She was sweating, breathing heavily. Her pace was quick as the fear inside her pushed her for one purpose: finding some help. And then…there it was! A light from a patrol car being parked in front of a house. Lights soon filled the house as the light from the car faded out.

"H-help…!"

She quickened her pace.

As she approached it, her eyes glanced sideways to the car to see that there was no one there inside. She rushed off in panic, but if the officer wasn't there, he or she was probably inside one of the houses, so she quickly ran into the nearest house and...

... she was right! As she passed the window of the house next to her left, her eyes noticed a police officer standing in the living room.

"Officer!" She shouted.

The officer turned around and looked bewildered to seeing a girl wearing a nightie and barefooted, standing at the front door, looking  pale and frightened, as though she was being chased by something. That night was Halloween night, and he had expected to see some surprises at every door of houses he entered. Still, this girl seemed overly convincing for whatever kind of tricks or treats she’s trying to make.

"Officer, you have to help him. Hurry…!" 

She shouted as he went near her. 

She was shrieking with a fast pace that the Officer couldn't hear her clearly or understand the situation she feared off.

"Whoa, slow down, little girl! Did your parents know you're here?" He reached out to her and looked at behind her to see that there was nothing out there on the street beside trees, lights, houses, and trail of dust. "Come on! Let's go inside and you can talk about it slowly." 

"But- but my brother is alone! You - you've got to help him! Quick!"

" Eh, don’t cry, little girl!"

"We’ll call your parents, okay?" The Officer held her  to console and calm her.

Rosaline pulled her hands away from him.

"You- you don’t believe me, Officer? You-you must hurry! He’s hurting him!”

***

“Hurry up, Officer!”  Rosaline took the Officer’s hand, half forcing him to follow her, but before she could make another step, a voice startled them both. 

"Good evening, Officer, it won't be necessary."


She held her breath. It was...

She sheered off, hiding behind the officer’s back. “It’s- It's him, Officer.  A- Arrest him!"

"Rosaline ..." the man feigned. "What are you saying? What are you doing here? You have woken up the entire neighbors here."

“Sorry, Officer." The man turned to the officer. "I'm glad you found her. Please mind her... She's been in a lot of depression lately ever since her parents died. Actually-" He tapped his finger against his temple several times. "Her aunt told me to watch over her, but I seemed to forget to give her the medicine her psychiatric has given to me. Again, I'm very sorry about this. I promise this  will only happen once."

“W-what? No..." Rosaline shook her head. She pulled her hands over her chin and made the shouting through her trembling thumbs.

"Monsieur..." the officer said.

"Brewson. Von Brewson."

"Eh... yes, Monsieur Brewson, I supposed that you're not from around here. Your name, your accents are very different. Are you visiting here?" 

"W-well, yes Officer." said the man, stuttered. "You're right. I'm not from around here." He chuckled.

"Actually, I came from Italy. It's where her aunt is now. She can't watch over her, so yeah here I am, replacing her for a while-- that is... until she has settled everything there." The man smiled, though the officer only stared at him in doubts. 

“What? You don't believe me, Officer? You can call her if you want to. Here-" The man dived into his pocket. It made the Officer to think that he's going to take his cell phone.

"Never mind, Monsieur. It won’t be necessary, but… have a hard day? Your clothes... they are-"

The officer stared at the man's filthy clothes.

"Yeah..." The man chuckled. "I was fixing the washing machine, and a little accident happened back there. It's alright, Officer. I have everything covered."

"No..."  Rosaline whispered behind the officer's back, tugging closely at  his sleeves. "He's lying! He's  going to hurt him.”

The man laughed. "Heard that, Officer? This girl has lots of imaginations in her head. Better to get her home soon now because it's getting pretty late."

"I understand. You should take her home and get her to rest. I don't want to see any of these happen again.”

The man smirked. "Don't worry, Officer! She will be safe in no time." 

What?

"No!" Rosaline knelt down. "You- you shouldn't believe him, Officer!  You - you have to save my brother! Hurry!"

She held the Officer's hand, but the Officer didn't respond to her. Instead, he pulled his hand and shut the door behind him.

"Don't worry, Rosaline! I've already taken care of your brother." 

"What?" Rosaline snarled. She turned around and faced the man with anger. 

“Why are you doing this?We've never done you any harm. Why are you hurting him?!" 

The man tilted back, wasn't ready for that kind of response from her, but he pointed his forefinger to her face.

"In case you haven't known....that's life, little girl...

The strong one is the one who will survive. You'll learn that eventually. Then again, your father has done so many destruction more than I was, hasn't he?" 

"What? My- My father…?"

***

"Rose…?"

Valentin woke up, feeling his feet and arms were being tied to a plastic chair. He looked around and found that he was being held  in the same room where he and Rosaline were being locked before, though this time... his eyes couldn't find her everywhere.

"Ouch!" He groaned. The pain in his jaw was telling him that he had suffered few punches over his face. Full of pain, he tasted the blood on his gum and licked the skin underneath the corner of his lower lip. Blood was flowing out of his mouth. Angry and upset, he cursed the man, but something else worried him the most. 

"Are you okay, Rose? Did you make it?" 

He tried to free himself, but it only made the chair to move along with him. He got horrified by the fact that there's nothing else he could do for her, not when he was being tied up into a chair like that. "No!" He shouted in panick. He must get out of there and find her quickly.

Still, his erratic efforts ended up to nothing. He was still there, in a chair, and still all being tied up, not even getting his hands back. Panic wasn't going to help him out. He realized that he must be calmed in order to find a clever solution to this, so … he breathed and exhaled… slowly.

"I can do this!" He said to himself.

He wriggled his hands to loosen the knot. The rope was quite thick indeed, but the man seemed to have tied it improperly, probably because he was in a hurry to get Rosaline back. There was a bit of space there, and as soon as the muscles in his arms had found their way to relax, he was finally able to free his hands and loosened up the knot tying his feet altogether.

In split second --after getting himself free-- Valentin raced off to the door. He stopped as his eyes notice something. It was a splash of light coming from the library. He went inside the library and spotted a sack above the floor. It was the same sack which he saw earlier. The curiosity inside him pushed him to open it, and there it was ... a luminous crystal, glowing and spreading a beautiful sphere of green lights.

He dropped off the sack and held the Chrystal with his right hand.

Green colored air surrounded him within a second.

Entering his nose... 

...and into his lungs.

Getting dizzy, his eyes blurred.

"I must go, find her!" Before he could, his ears caught the  sounds of faint footsteps upstairs.

"Trying to pit your wits against me, eh?"

The man returned with Rosaline in his hands. By that time, Valentin had already returned to his seat, tide his feet back and pretended to have his hands being tied to a chair like before. 

"I must admit that both of you are really smart, but you should have learned from your father's experience that cleverness could kill a man."

 "What? How did -? Did you-?"

  "- kill your father? I'm too smart to do that, kid. Let’s say  your father was the one fully responsible for his own careless."

 "What? What do you mean?"

"Silence!"

The man grabbed a rope and pushed Rosaline into a chair.

"I'm going to take care of you later." He said, tying her like he had tied Valentin, although he hadn't noticed yet that Valentin had already loosened his knot.

"I wouldn't be bothered to seal your mouth, though. This room is already soundproof, isn't it? Your father is really smart. He might have had thought that this was going to help him."

The man went outside after he had locked the door and pressed a cupboard against it to avoid them from getting loose again. After a minute... they heard him yelling outside.

"What?! You don't want her now? I thought we had an agreement about this?" The man spoke to someone over the phone. His voice disappeared within a minute. Valentin  untied the knot around his feet,

and then untied the knot around her hands. Rosaline turned around to see him.

"How did you-?" 

"Sssh! We should hurry! He may come here in any time soon.”

"Val!"

 Rosaline ran into his arms. 

"I'm sorry. I've failed. He followed me there.

And you-"

"Val, you're hurt?" She lifted her hand and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"It’s okay." Valentin gazed at her closely. 

She pulled her hand down... but it brushed against the tip of his fingers. 

"We are going to make it, aren't we?" She whispered above his shoulder.

She was leaning on him, and he was  leaning forward,

... but he bent over further,

...and way passed her. He would have fallen if she had not held him in her arms.

"Val?"

"It's okay.  Everything is going to be okay, right?"

She let him rest on her lap while he was lying down on the floor. 

He was unconscious, but...

...he could hear her.... 
singing...

... his mom's song...

A lullaby...

A song that he will never forget

Strange! He knew that, but ever since that night he knew that she's the one...

Theme Song : Ache by James Carrington


To be Continued