Little Rose – Chapter 10 – Questions about Rose’s Identity

I do not know where I was. I was twisting, turning, tossing and crying in my dream. After fighting with my demons, I suddenly heard father’s gentle voice in my head. He was trying to wake me up. “Daffodil, my child. Come to your senses. Your father is here. I will not let anyone to hurt you my child. Barry is also waiting for you at the foot of your bed.” Father sounded desperate and worried. Far in the background, I could hear a dog whining and licking my feet. I tried to open my eyes but my fear was pulling me back. I don’t want to die again. I lifted my arms again to fight against my assailants. I call for Keith’s but no one came to my rescue. One moment I was violently sobbing and next moment asking for Sister Cathy and Mother Superior. I was back again in the orphanage and in the small cottage that belongs to Sister Cathy, hugging my angelic mother and crying out for help.

Both Keith and Bob left the room with the door ajar after quickly dressing me with an old bathrobe and covering me with lots of thick blankets to stop my shivering. They were at lost on how to help me and had bewildered look on their faces. They were desperately waiting for father to arrive. Keith sat on the sofa, burying his face in his hands, crying. His shoulders were gently shaking. Bob walked over and sat next to Keith, soothing Keith’s back. Finally Keith asked, “Bob, what going in there (pointing to the room where I was laid)? She is my Rose. I recognized that alphabet ‘K’. I drew it on a piece of paper in my manuscript handwriting and threw it away. Rose found it and had insisted on having that tattooed on her upper left chest. My heart recognised her but I was such a fool that I did not recognise my Rose. Angela and myself found something strange in Daffodil. We were both right. It was her eyes, voice and gentle mannerism that reminded us of Rose when in fact she was our Rose. But both of us refused to acknowledge what our heart was trying to tell us. Bob, I need to know what happened to my Rose after she was battered and buried alive in the unknown grave. I need to know where she had been for the past six years. I need answers, brother.” Keith started crying again with anguished pain in his heart.

After Keith had quiet down, Bob looked at Keith and said, “Look brother. Only Rose and her father can provide us with the answers. Let us wait for the Professor Watsons to come and when the time is right, we will ask him. Okay. Be patient, my brother. You have finally found your lover after six years. We didn’t know that our church mouse was your “Little Rose”. Both Keith and Bob waited anxiously for father and took turn to come and check on me while I lay unconscious and delirious. When the doorbell rang, Bob quickly ran and opened the wooden door. Father walked in, accompanied by Barry and Mrs. Smith. Mrs. Smith was holding a bag in her hands, which contained my personal belongings. The last person to enter was Mr. Brown, who looked very sternly at Bob.

On seeing father, Keith introduced himself and quickly brought father and Mrs. Smith into the bedroom. There was an anxious and a worried look on father. Father seeing me looking pale and restless on the bed quickly rushed to my bedside and started giving instructions to Mrs. Smith. Father wiped my face and gently called my name. “Daffodil, my child. Look at me my child. I am your father. I would not let anyone harm you. Can you hear me, my child? Open your eyes, my child. I was delirious. I could hear father’s voice in the far background but was afraid to open my eyes and to see my imminent death. Father turned to Keith and demanded angrily, “What have you done to my daughter and why is she in such a state?” Keith was lost for words. It was Bob who answered father’s question. “Professor Watsons, I think we should attend to Rose first. After we have settled Rose, we shall answer your questions as we too have questions for you.” Father threw dagger eyes at Bob and Keith and said, “If I lose my daughter this time, I will make sure your family pay the price for destroying my daughter.”

Both Keith and Bob left my room, leaving father and Mrs. Smith with me. Mr. Brown stood near the fireplace, looking worriedly at the door. Poor Barry was circling around my bed, waiting for instruction to jump on the bed. Keith and Bob introduced themselves to Mr. Brown and Keith gently requested Mr. Brown to sit on the sofa. Bob gave Keith a look over Mr. Brown’s head and mouthed the word “Eccentric. Whole family is eccentric.” Keith shook his head angrily at Bob and mouthed the word, “Shut up”. After father had settled me by giving me a tranquilizer injection, he left Mrs. Smith and Barry with me. Looking worriedly at me over his shoulder, he opened the door and walked into the drawing room where the three gentlemen were sitting quietly on the sofa.

On seeing father, all three gentlemen stood up and Mr. Brown asked Father in his usual serious tone, “How is Miss Daffodil, Sir?” Father looked at Mr. Brown and shook his head and said, “Let us pray, Brown. I am afraid to lose her again. My poor child is suffering and battling with her own inner battles right now.” Gesturing father to sit down, Bob asked father and Mr. Brown if he could get any drinks for them. Both of them shook their head and finally father asked Keith if there was another room where they could talk privately.

Keith nodded his head and asked if Bob could join in too and walked father to a very private study and a conference room. When father had sat down on the big brown single couch, father gestured Keith and Bob to sit opposite him. He gave both of them a weak smile and said, “I am sorry. I am behaving in a rude manner. Right now my daughter is my only concern and priority. She is God sent to me. I am trying to save my daughter and it kills my heart whenever she gets her nightmares on heavily raining days with thunder and lightening. She is very traumatized by what she had gone through.”

There were tears in Keith eyes. He was trembling and unable to say anything. He looked very dejected and shattered. Father was looking at them, waiting for them to speak and to say something. Finally Bob said, “Professor Watsons, everything was going well at the Christmas party when all of a sudden, Keith noticed Miss Watson distressed state. She was frantically looking around for something with terrified eyes. Suddenly she bolted from the reception hall. Keith ran after, realizing that something must have bothered or upset her. She was running wildly and crossing the streets in her delirious state of mind. When Keith caught up with her, she begged him for her life, asking Keith not to kill her and the next Keith knew, she fainted on the road. We did not know what to do.”

Bob continued and said, “No one is aware that Rose is with us. We decided to bring her to our guesthouse and that’s when Keith noticed the scarring on her left shoulder, arm and the distorted tattooed of the alphabet ‘K’ on her upper left chest. Keith drew that alphabet ‘K’ in his manuscript handwriting and Rose had insisted on having it tattooed on her upper left chest. There is more to our unfortunate story but we need answers to our questions too. That girl lying in that room is our Little Rose but she had the face of a stranger. Keith went through hell too, after hearing about Rose’s death. Keith was hospitalized, comatose and was locked up in the Mental Institute. I tried searching for Rose and for her unknown grave. I even confronted father’s henchmen but they told me that Rose was barely alive when they buried her in the wilderness. Bob could no longer continue and stopped. By now, both Keith and Bob were shedding tears openly.

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