Little Rose – Chapter 2 – Keith

Rose!!!!! Keith screamed in agony and opened his eyes. It was total darkness in the room. The antiseptic smell in the room was so nauseating. He tossed and turned in his bed, trying to rise up from the bed but his body was not listening to his command. He was also experiencing terrible pounding headache. “Where am I, he asked?” but no answer came to him. Where were Rose and Bob? He also remembered Bob losing consciousness and he Keith being hit on his head while he was trying to protect Rose from being hit by his father’s henchmen. Memory of Rose being bitten came rushing to his mind. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. He could not even rise up his arm and his back was aching. God knows for how long he has been in bed. Gathering up all his courage, he screamed Rose and Bob’s name on top of his lungs many times. Immediately there were noises outside his room and the nurses came rushing in to calm him down but Keith refused to obey. He kept calling for Rose and Bob and tried to pull his arm, which was hooked up with an IV cannula and with the intravenous pump. Things went flying in the room. Soon more steps could be heard outside his room. The nurses and doctors quickly pinned him down and Keith felt a needle pricking sensation on his inner elbow.

When he awoke the next day, Bob was slouching in the armchair in the room. Keith called Bob’s name very softly. Upon hearing his name, Bob quickly sprung up the chair and rushed to Keith’s side and clasped his hands. There were tears in Bob’s eyes. He gave a frail smile to Keith and hugged Keith closed to him. “Keith, Bob said. I glad you are alive and awake after being in coma for three months”. Keith’s eyes were tearing and the next word glued Bob to the spot. “Rose. Keith asked. Where is Rose Bob, where is she? Did you manage to save her from Mad Dog?” “Listen to me Keith, Bob said. We will talk about this later when you are well, okay? Not now. You have passed the critical stage, my friend. There will be plenty of time to talk and I promise you. We will have a heart to heart talk about Rose. I promise you, my friend. I need you to be healthy and Oh! God, we almost lost you. I need you strong and healthy for both mine and Rose’s sake. Okay, brother?”

Keith was dosing off again but continue to hold Bob’s hands very tightly in his clasp. Bob stood next to Keith’s bedside, watching his friend going into the slumber land again. “Keith, I am going to buy coffee and I will be back soon.” With these words, Bob left the ward and walked down the ward’s aisle to the café. His heat was breaking and was in so much pain. Poor Rose. How to tell Keith that she was badly battered by Mad Dog and Grey Wolf and they had buried her dead body in an unknown grave upon instruction from Keith’s father. No one dares to offend that crazy old man who thinks he world operates on his command. After three months of searching for Rose’s unknown grave with no clue, it was Grey Wolf who told Bob that when they had buried her, she was barely alive and her grave was not covered and it was pouring cats and dogs. “She would have been eaten by the wild wolves now”, said Grey Wolf. Bob hit Grey Wolf with so much force that he stumbled onto the floor. Looking at Bob, Grey Wolf said, “You can’t do anything now. She is dead and she should know her place before hitting on the Boss’s son.” That was the last Bob had heard from Grey Wolf.

Bob walked back to Keith room and he could hear angry noises coming from inside. He rushed and opened Keith’s door. Things were thrown everywhere. The armchair was turned over, the bed sheet was on the floor, the glass window panel was smashed and pieces of shattered glass were all over the carpet. “What is going on here?” Bob demanded. Keith on seeing Bob presence in the room calmed down and told everyone to get the hell out of the room.  Bob was so puzzle. This was a new side of Keith. Where did all the aggression come about? A few days later, the attending physician told Bob that Keith had slight damage to his frontal lobe that leads him to behave in an aggressive and uncontrolled manner and this uncontrolled anger could bring more harm to Keith. He also informed Bob that Keith’s father had been told about Keith’s condition and Keith needed intense cognitive therapy and psychotropic medication regimen. He further relates that arrangement had been done to send Keith to France for this treatment. Upon hearing this, Bob heart sank. He can’t afford to lose his brother and best friend now. He had seen Keith in so much of pain while Keith was growing up and had always been by Keith’s side. Bob decided to talk to his uncle (Keith’s father), so that he could accompany Keith to France.

Keith was discharged from the hospital after five months. Bob tried to avoid the subject on Rose as much he can due he did not want to aggregate Keith’s condition. The physician had told Keith that if he (Keith) continued with his current behaviour, he could find himself locked up in the mental health institute. Bob tried to encourage Keith as much as he could. He told Keith to have Rose in his mind and walk on the path to recovery first. With the mentioned of Rose name, Keith was much calmer. He would always look at his rose tattooed on his right chest with so much of yearning in his eyes that it made Bob very guilty for lying to Keith about Rose.

A week later, both Keith and Bob left for France for Keith treatment. While in France, Keith therapy sessions began, together with the aid of pharmacology treatment. Keith was much happier in France and he was glad that he had Bob with him. After the seventh therapy session, Bob told the attending physician about Rose and asked about how to break the news to Keith. Bob was told that revealing and exposing the truth to Keith about Rose was important in order to cure Keith for the fear of relapse of aggressive behaviour may occur again if the truth about Rose’s death is reveal in the later stage.

All hell breaks loose when Bob told Keith about Rose unfortunate death in the hand of Mad Dog. Keith was confined in solitary for more than four months in the mental health hospital. It broke Bob’s heart to see his friend going through so much hell and torment of loosing Rose. Keith blamed himself for not able to protect his Little Rose from his father’s anger and his henchmen. Keith was going mad and Bob was breaking up with anxiety and always crying. Bob told the attending psychiatrist that he could not lose Keith to madness. After nearly six to eight months of cognitive, exposure therapies and couples of electroconvulsive treatment, Keith was back to his normal self. By now, he had lost the luster in his beautiful eyes and was more withdrawn. He told Bob that he would not go back to America and would manage their branch office in France.

Keith wrote to his father and told him not to wait for his return. Bob decided to stay with Keith since both were major shareholders and partners of the France’s office. Keith immersed himself in the business. He rarely goes out with Bob or attends social functions. He always leaves it to Bob to handle all these. Bob would always update Keith about what has happening in the market and the latest news from home. Keith also took up a new hobby of sketching all kind of roses and practices his manuscript handwriting. He told Bob that Rose had liked it very much. One day, out of the blue, he asked Bob if Bob has a picture of Rose. Bob was taken back. He told Keith that he used to have pictures of themselves with Rose and Angela in his old mobile, which was destroyed when they tried to escape from that tragic day. Keith told Bob that he would retain the memory of Rose with him forever, and would never forgive his father for intervening in his life. Keith further promise that he would make sure the old man suffer the consequences for what he had done to Rose. These words were said with so much of bitterness and hatred.

This was another personality change that Bob saw in Keith besides being withdrawn, anti-social and being very aggressive if certain situation or circumstances triggers or aggravate him. Keith avoided all kind of contact from women as much as he can. He would often sit in darkness, look at the sketches of the roses he had done or slowly caressing the rose tattooed on his upper right chest. And on each occasion his eyes were always wet with tears, remembering Rose with so much of fondness.

One day Bob found Keith sitting in the darkness with is head in his hands, sobbing uncontrollably. It pained Bob to see Keith in this condition. He quickly went over to Keith and hugged him tightly. “Cry, my brother, cry. You need to cry your heart out. Cry for Rose and cry for yourself. She was a beautiful little girl and we all are going to miss her. You, my brother needs to get over your lost and embrace the future with positive attitude. Keep Rose alive in your heart my brother but at the same time you have to let her go. I know it’s easy for me to say but you have to try, brother. Please do it for Rose and for our friendship sake. I can’t lose you to the mad world again. You have been traumatized and had gone through hell. You have to survive, brother. Let’s keep Rose alive in our heart and let us find Angela again, who is the only link we have of our Little Rose. I’m sure she must be going through a lot too after losing Rose too. Maybe Angela may have pictures of Rose with her. We could get people to track Angela down. What say you my friend?” Both sat on the floor in silence, hugging, crying and consoling each other. When at last the tears had dried up, Keith thanks Bob for staying by his side during his difficult time in life. Bob on the other hand apologized to Keith for not being able to save Rose and for being a coward.

Seasons go by and months turned into years. Both Keith and Bob stayed in France for six years, visiting America once a year, only to see Angela and to see how she was fairing with the new café in New York. It also turned out that Angela has never thought of taking pictures with Rose. It was always Rose, who insisted on having pictures taken with Keith, Bob and Angela in her mobile phone, which could not be found.

As Bob was so much in love with Angela, he bought her the café but Angela being stubborn insisted on working as a waitress there. There was so much of disagreement with this two until Keith had to step in to settle their dispute over the café. Finally it was decided that Bob’s own the café and the management and running of the café was left to Angela. Bob also kept pestering Angela to marry him. She however kept turning him down by saying that she is fit to be his elder sister. As usual, Bob always had his last say by saying, “I will wait for you until I grow old and you get tired of hearing from me.”

Keith was nearly cured. Even though he rarely has his aggressive outburst of anger, he remains very much quiet and withdrawn. He insisted that his physician should not reveal his recovery to his father and everything should be strictly confidential. Keith even had Bob promise on this too. One day Keith told Bob that it was time for his old man to pay back. Keith was going to make the old man’s life miserable by throwing his aggressive behaviour as and when it suit Keith. He tapped Bob on his back and smiled a sly smile that did not reach his eyes. By now, Bob was very well accustomed to the personality changes in Keith and Keith ways of working.

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