7 hours later
The day quickly passed by, soon turning into night. Stars filled the dark blue sky, and the moon was full and bright.
Marigold walked down the hallway to her room, hearing nothing but the sound of her creaking footsteps echoing throughout the hallway.
Tap, errr, tap, errr, tap, errr, tap, errr, tap
She stood in front of her bedroom door and looked to the side of her door where Beau sat. She saw a vision of Beau sitting next to the door. In her vision, Beau's knee was up, his arm rested on top of his knee, while his other knee was straight out. He slouched, looking at his phone, scrolling through it. She could only see the top of his head. Beau looked up at her with his silver eyes and smiled at her. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and she jumped. She turned around to see Carls standing there, and he said, "I'm sorry, Miss Marigold, but I've been calling you for 2 minutes now. Are you alright?" She looked back at where Beau normally sat and saw her vision of him gone. She looked back at Carls and said, "I'm sorry, I'm okay…" Carls said, "I didn't mean to scare you, Miss Marigold. I just wanted to make sure you would be okay for the night sleeping by yourself without me standing watch." She said, "Y-Yes, I will be fine." Carls said, "Just call me if you need me. I'll be here all night to make sure you are okay." She said, "But Carls, what about sleep? You need to rest too, besides I will be fine. I need to stop making you stand watch anyways." Carls said, "After what you've been through, I can understand why you want me to stand watch. I don't mind doing it, Miss Marigold. Master Beau has asked that I make sure you have the best care." She looked down at the ground, and Carls said, "But something troubles you?" She continued looking down saying, "No I'm fine…" Carls said, "You know it's alright if you miss Master Beau…" Her cheeks turned rosy red as she looked at Carls saying, "I don't miss him. I could never miss a man like that… Besides, he's probably not even thinking about me, so why would it even matter if I missed him or not?" Carls said, "How sure are you…" She interrupted him, saying, "Look, I don't miss Beau at all. He's just some random guy I don't even know, who's probably out there having fun and living life. I don't even want to think about Beau. He's a horrible person who doesn't care about me." She opened her door walking inside.
She stood in the doorway of her room, seeing herself sitting in a chair crying and Beau grabbing her arms. Carls said, "Miss Marigold, surely you don't think that way about Master Beau." Her vision ended. She turned around facing Carls and said, "I-I do think that about him. No matter what I hear, I can not forgive him for what he and his father did to me…" Carls said, "But it wasn't his doing Miss Marigold… He didn't know." She sighed and said, "But he still hasn't thrown out the marriage certificate and contract. He knows I hate him, and I hate it here, and yet he won't throw it away. Why?" Carls said, "Maybe it's because he really does care about you." She turned away from Carls, saying, "Trapping me in a house and forcing me to stay here is caring?" Carls said, "No… But what life did you have before here? Do not take what I'm saying wrong. What Master Nathaniel did to you is wrong and horrible. He should've never done it, but Master Beau… Master Beau knows about your past, and he knows what will happen if he throws out the contract and certificate. He knows what will happen between you and your father… He's trying his best to protect you. The only way he knows how in his mind is not throwing out the contract and certificate." She said, "Beau doesn't know anything about me.. He doesn't know what kind of relationship I have with my father." Carls said, "Will you not go back to your father who forced you to give up everything to support him? You gave up your hopes and dreams to support someone who sold you… You may not think that hurt Master Beau when he found out but it did… He doesn't want to see it happen again, he wants you to have everything he can give you in life… Everything that you deserve." She looked down, saying, "I wouldn't go back to my father. Not after what he did to me…" Carls said, "So where would you live? You think Beau will allow you to live on the streets without food and shelter?" She turned around to look at Carls and said, "Then why can't he give me money and love me from a distance?" Carls said, "Miss Marigold, you and I both know that despite what you say with your lips, you would go back to your father, and he would drain you of everything you were given. You would not only deal with your father but Beau's father. Master Nathaniel wouldn't rest until you were back here." She said, "Why, why does Nathaniel and Beau care?" Carls said, "Master Nathaniel hired someone to look into you before he even made the deal with your father… He knew about your background, he knew about what your father did to you, and he knew that your father would take the bait. The thing about Master Nathaniel is this… He tries to do the right thing the wrong way. Master Nathaniel would've never bought you if he knew you had a happy life, despite what he said… He would've never bought off your father if he knew you had a good life… He would've left you where you were and found someone else to marry Beau." Marigold said, "I find that hard to believe Carls. The way Nathaniel treated me… Hmph I don't understand him nor do I fully understand Beau…" Carls said, "Miss Marigold, I hope one day you can understand them and know this Master Beau doesn't care if you leave the home or stay. This home is not a prison. Go wherever you please… This place is your home Miss Marigold, it's your home." She said, "It doesn't feel like that with a wall surrounding the entire building and a gate keeping me in." Carls said, "You can leave whenever you want. The security and the wall is to keep intruders out, not to keep you in." Marigold said, "But Trad said they were there to force me to stay here." Carls said, "Excuse me for speaking improperly, but Trad is an idiot. Trad was only here to make sure you stayed safe because of what happened to Miss Angela and Master Beau, Master Nathaniel has been hypervigilant in making sure everyone stays safe. Trad was Miss Angela's bodyguard, but she barely leaves the home, so Master Nathaniel gave him the new assignment to take care of you. He was never supposed to hurt you… He was never supposed to hit you… Trad was only supposed to protect you." Marigold said, "But he didn't, and he even mocked me in front of Nathaniel… I don't think I'll ever understand Mr.Bax Sr." Carls put his hand on her shoulder, saying, "I understand… "Please, Miss Marigold, get some rest." Carls left the room, closing the door behind him and Marigold stared at her bed thinking, 'Carls is so nice to me… I just wonder why, why is he willing to defend Beau and Nathaniel?' She walked over to her walk-in closet, flipped the light switch that sat next to the walk-in closet door frame, and it turned on the light (to her walk-in closet). She looked in her 100 Sq ft closet, seeing a stack of unopened presents from Beau. Her closet also had two walls full of white shelves that had clothing items (such as shoes, pants, shirts, etc…) on them, a wall to wall mirror that touched down to the floor and all the way up to the ceiling on another wall, a white dirty clothes hamper, and a wall to wall pole that had dresses hanging on it. The floors of the closet were light brown, and all the walls were white. She searched through the shelves until she found light purple pajamas. She changed into her pajamas, throwing her other clothes into the dirty clothes hamper, and left her closet, turning the light off behind her. She walked over to her bed, got under the covers, and laid down, looking up at the ceiling. She thought, 'As much as I hate to admit it, Carls is right… If Beau threw out that contract, I would go back to my old life… Why? Why can't I accept what my father has said about me? Why can't I just accept what happened and move on with my life? I fall for my father's words everytime… I try to make him love me, but he just doesn't… Not after what happened." She closed her eyes, drifting off in a deep sleep…
In her dream, she saw her 5 year old self, sitting on a plastic green chair that was bolted into the wall, at a hospital. The fluorescent lighting above her was dim, and the hospital was quiet. She heard the sounds of her father crying and turned her head seeing him and a doctor leaving a hospital room. The doctor closed the door behind them, and the doctor patted Mr.Kelp on the back, saying, "I'm sorry there was nothing left we could do." Mr.Kelp walked away from the doctor, over to Marigold. She looked up at her father, seeing him looking down on the ground covering his eyes. She said, "Where's mommy?" Mr.Kelp cried, "She's dead…" Tears filled her eyes, and she said, "Mommy's d-dead?" Mr.Kelp said, "Yes, she's dead." He looked at her with coldness and tears in his eyes, saying, "She's dead because of you." Her (Marigold's) eyes widened, and he continued saying, "Why, why couldn't you be more careful?! Because of your foolishness, your mother is dead!" Tears fell from her eyes as she cried, "D-Daddy, I want to see Mommy! She's still alive. I don't believe you!" He shouted, "Wake up Marigold she's dead, and it's your fault! All you had to do was be a good little girl and sit down, but you just couldn't! You had to go get in trouble, and now she's dead because of you, Marigold!" A female nurse, wearing all gray scrubs, black crocs, and having her blond hair tied up into a ponytail, walked over to them. The nurse said, "Please Mr.Kelp calm down." He shouted, "You shut up! I just lost my wife because of her! She's a nuisance and a killer." The nurse said, "She's a child. How could you talk to her that way?! She just lost her mother." He shouted, "I don't care! She killed her, she killed my wife." Marigold cried, "I-I want to see my Mommy right now." He shouted, "No, I don't want your filthy eyes to look at her! You murdered her. You did this to her." Male nurses who wore the same color scrubs as the female nurse ran over to Mr.Kelp, grabbing him and dragging him away. While he (Mr.Kelp) was being dragged away, he shouted, "You killed your mother, and now you'll have to live with the consequences of your actions for the rest of your life!" The female nurse hugged Marigold while she (Marigold) cried in her (the nurse's) chest.
Outside of her dreams, Marigold laid on her bed, tears falling out of her closed eyelids. She began shaking, breathing fast, and screaming, "Beau, Beau, Beau, Beau…" Carls heard Marigold scream and rushed into the room. He rushed to her bedside, grabbed her shoulders, and said, "Miss Marigold, wake up." Marigold continued to scream, "Beau, Beau, Beau, Beau…" Carls reached in his pocket, pulling out his cell phone and called Beau.
Buzz, Buzz, Buzz, Buzz
Beau's phone rang, and he answered it. "Carls, how is Marigold?" Carls said, "Master Beau, she's screaming in her sleep, and I can't calm her down." Beau said, "What? I knew I shouldn't have left! Hold her tightly, which helped her calm down last time." Carls said, "Master Beau, I don't think I can calm her down." Beau said, "Why not? She trusts you." Carls said, "Because she's screaming for you Master Beau. She's calling your name in her sleep." Beau felt his heart race while he thought, 'She's calling f-for m-me? Why is she calling for me?" Carls said, "Master Beau, you have to help your wife." Beau said, "Put me on speaker." Carls put Beau on speaker, and Beau heard her scream. She screamed, "Beau, Beau, Beau, Beau." Beau said, "Marigold, I'm here… Please… Please calm down." She began quieting down, saying, "B-Beau, Beau…" Beau said, "Marigold, it's okay… I'm here, please." Marigold calmed down and stopped speaking. She began to take slow breaths, completely calming down. Carls took the phone off of speaker, putting the phone up to his (Carls) ear, and said, "Well done Master Beau. She's no longer having a nightmare. You completely calmed her down." Beau said, "I'm going to cut this trip short and be on the next flight going back home tomorrow. If she screams again, call me. I don't care what time it is, I'll be up. Take care of her until I come back." Carls said, "I will Master Beau. Shall I inform her when she wakes up that you are coming home early?" Beau said, "That's alright, I don't know what time I'll be back tomorrow and I know how impatient I am when I have to wait for something I know is coming so… Let's just keep this between us for now. Just take great care of her until I come back." Carls said, "I will Master Beau," and Beau hung up the phone.
Beau booked the earliest flight he could and thought to himself, "My wife needs me, I have to make sure I'm there for her, no matter what.'