When his whole body felt too tired to keep going, he fell asleep a while after he begged his subconscious mind to wake him up after an hour so he could visit Anna in the hospital.
He might have lost this round to an unknown new temporary teacher but he was not going to lose the next round if he wakes up early enough. "Brother, bye," he murmured as his eyes closed finally.
Liam who just walked in to hear his brother bid him farewell in his sleep sighed for the second time in months. He reached to his brother and rubbed his forehead and pats his hair gently. "I am sorry brother," Liam apologized before walking out of the room.
"Mum . . . Please do not leave us," a little Jace cried holding the hem of his mother's skirt. He looked out into the dark endless world that lay outside the car. It looked so scary.
The woman paid no heed to the little boys cry but kept pulling the boy her fingers digging into his soft skin.
Liam who saw his brother bled from the injury his own mother gave his little brother stopped her with a tight grip on her wrist. Looking up at her coldly despite the little light that was available from the car's headlamp and the big bright moon his eyes looked so cold he froze her.
"I will leave with him. Just let go," he told her as he kept encouraging himself to remain strong for his brother. He took Jace's hand and got down from the car.
"You are just like him," the woman said in disgust as she let go obediently masking up the scared look on her face with a wicked smile.
The man who they always called a called their father sat at the driver's seat nodding in agreement enjoying the whole show.
"Brother, we should not leave mother,' little Jace begged his brother holding Liam back from leaving.
"We don't need her, she does not love us," he made his little innocent brother see the truth of the life that lay ahead of them.
Jace was too young to understand but Liam was not good at expressing his emotions in the right way to coax his brother which led to Jace struggling to return to the car.
The woman closed the door and soon the car drove off leaving the two little boys on the road at night in the middle of nowhere. Jace cried beating his brother.
"Why? We should not have gone down."
"She sent us away. Do you want her to kill us? It was only right we left immediately. I will protect you."
"Brother, don't leave," Jace murmured in sleep. This plea was late because his brother was long gone and now tagged a traitor of his family.
***
Rose sat down beside her sister who kept complaining that she was tired of staying at the hospital. "It has only been a day," she reminded Anna who seemed to have forgotten that she was brought to the hospital less than twenty-four hours ago.
"Who cares, I just want to go back home. Staying in the here makes me feel like I have some serious mental illness because obviously, I am not physically ill," Anna said. She was willing to do almost anything to leave the hospital.
"You are not mentally ill but physically ill. You stopped breathing when you fainted. I thought you were going to die. Mum only went out for a few minutes you can tell her," Rose advised her when she saw that look of discomfort on her sister's face. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Did you see what was done to that girl?" Anna asked clinching her fist with her nails digging into the softness of her palm.
"No, but I smelt blood," Rose replied sincerely.
"The things they did to me, they did worse to her. The person was so inhuman to leave the poor girl naked. I had clothes on, right?" Anna asked as she hugged her knees.
"Yes, you even had a blanket wrapped around you," Rose replied from what she saw on the new only leaving out the fact that Anna was bleeding severely when she was found.
"That does not make me feel better. It only confirms that whoever did it was someone that knows me and cares for me in his own psychopathic way. It puts me in more danger because I don't know when the person will come for me. That is the reason I need to go back home. No one can hurt me at home, right?"
"Yes." Rose stood up and sat beside Anna as her thoughts wandered far. She thought of who Anna's kidnapper was and had a strong desire to get him and soon her train of thoughts drove her to her past life where she was brutally killed.
She made up her mind to put an end to the life of any person that hurts an innocent person for his own animalistic desire. She decided to make it her first mission when she becomes the queen to hunt down Anna's kidnapper with the massive communication network the royal family has.
"How is she?" Valerie asked when she stepped into the room.
Anna was sleeping after Rose persuaded her that nothing was going to hurt her in the hospital. "She wants to leave the hospital," Rose answered truthfully.
"I will talk to the doctor immediately. When she wakes up, we will leave this place," Valerie said sitting on the couch in the large VIP hospital room.
***
Anna was back from the hospital for weeks she refused to leave the house or see anyone else. The fact that the person behind it was someone she knew scared her. Even if the person was from her past, she could not easily continue to relate with her friends although she trusted them all but her subconscious mind made her scared.
"Anna, I am coming in," Rose said after knocking on the door to Anna's room for more than five minutes without getting an answer from inside.
The fashion show was only a few days away and she needed her model to be ready. She also wanted Anna to stop hiding. Since she knew the culprit was not after her life and rather helped her avenge against a girl who badmouth her.
"Stop trying to persuade me to leave. It is less scary in here," Anna said as soon as her sister opened the door and stepped into her room.
"I am not here to persuade you. I want to hire you. You are my model and I need your service soon. I won't force you to take the job but remember the payment," Rose told her sister on the couch in the living area while Anna stood outside in the balcony.
"What will the payment be?" Anna asked her black eyes shining with curiousity.
"More dresses. I will also take care of your casual outfit. I will be your personal stylist in college," Rose seriously wished this will work.
"I know more about my personal taste than you do," Anna answered not falling into her sister's trap to take her out of the house.
"It's okay then," Rose said standing up with a slight pout. "I don't need your help any longer. I will just ask Debby for help. Just lend me your birthday gift," Rose said truly giving up on asking her sister for help.
She wanted to bergain since that was the only way she could ask for help since her rebirth. She wanted to give her sister something in return but since her sister was not interested in what she had to offer, she could no longer bergain with her sister. She had no intention to beg and she was not offended since she knew her sister was going through a serious mental turmoil over the incident that took place weeks ago.
"I will get going. I will check you out later. I have something to do," Rose headed to the door without wasting any time.
"I won't lend my birthday gift to anyone," Anna told her with a serious frown on her face. "No one wears my cloth out before me."
"I will make a new dress for you," Rose replied calculating fast on what to use to bergain with Debby. Debby was just like Anna in many ways especially their choice of hairstyles, makeup and outfits. Other students were employing popular models to wear their clothes but she wanted Anna to wear the cloth since it was made specially for Anna.
"I don't want a new dress," Anna replied bent on acting spoilt with her sister.
"Ok then," Rose said immediately and without pausing to look at her sister, she opened the door and walked out. She had to just wait for her good-natured sister's guilty conscience to judge her well. When Anna gets beaten up by guilt, she will run coming to disturb her sister and try to ask for her forgiveness.
She went to her room planning to wait to ten minutes. If Anna does not come looking for her, then Anna was really serious about remaining indoor. She could only hope as she sat cross-legged on her bed glancing at the clock almost as frequently as her eyes blink.