Amaranthine ~ Ben Hargreeves

Act I

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Amaranthine -
(adj.) undying, immortal; eternally beautiful
(adj.) a deep purple - red

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They just kept coming.

They wouldn't leave her alone. Not even for a second. Not even when she closed her eyes so tightly that she thought she would go blind. Not even when she clamped her hands over her ears as forcefully as she possibly could. The voices never stopped.

Deep down Rose knew she didn't have it half as bad as some of her siblings, especially Klaus. The ghosts that bothered him prevented him from doing normal, daily tasks that she could complete easily. So really, she felt guilty for being as terrified as she was as she sat cold and alone in that oh-so-dark room. But she couldn't help it, it really wasn't Rose's fault.

Slowly but surely, the small girl began to open her eyes, only to freeze at her familiar surroundings. As she carefully lifted her head from her lap, Rose was met with her own, frightened reflection. Her deep green eyes were glossy with tears and her cheeks and nose were red from all the crying. Her chestnut hair spilt onto her shoulders as she looked up into the mirrored wall in front of her.

It had been like this for as long as she could remember, Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays just after dinner, she'd be chucked in here for up to 7 hours at a time. Forced to stare into the ghosts' eyes as she sat, surrounded by mirrors.

Rose was lucky, she supposed. If she wanted to, she could just not look in a mirror and she wouldn't have to see the ghosts. But she could always hear them. They were always there. And she hated that her father ( if you could even call him that ) took advantage of this. Forcing her to sit in a room covered in mirrors, with only a small spot of concrete where she could fit so that she was forced to stare into their cold, dead eyes.

Usually, Rose would sit there and scream for hour after hour for help until she eventually passed out and her father came to collect her.

Waking up afterwards was always the best bit. Warm and safe in her bed with him sat next to her reading, and her twin brother Klaus stroking her hair.

But today was different...

Rose knew that she was never going to see him again, it was hard to stomach the thought but deep down she knew it. Ben and Klaus had been her whole life up until now and she loved Ben. She really did, with all of her heart. So seeing him die in front of her had scarred her for life. The ghosts seemed to pick up on this and they were really pestering her today. Or maybe they didn't know and it was just the grief. Either way, today was pushing her closer and closer to her breaking point.

Up until now, Rose had stuck to cradling her knees up to her chest, burying her head in them and silently crying. But now that she looked ahead into the glass she could see it all over again. She saw His body falling to the ground with an audible 'thud', heard herself cry his name in agony and felt his blood soak through her stupid uniform.

Designed by her stupid father - her anger begin to build up.

The same 'father' who had locked her in here- she clenched her fists in rage.

The man who had watched her mourn her lost love and couldn't have given less of a shit.

The same man who let him die.
It was his fault.

His fault.

His.

Unexpectedly, Rose was showered in millions of shards of glass as she let out a roar of anger and all 8 of the mirrors surrounding her exploded.

Even though she had let out her rage, the voices were growing louder still enclosing her in her mind, trapping her.

"Help us"

"Number 8!"

"Go away!"

"Rose"

"GO"

"Rose"

"I SAID GO!"

"ROSE!"

She woke up with a jolt and a large gasp of breath as she took in her surroundings.
"Hey hey hey, you're okay, your safe, you're with me."

She was enveloped in Klaus's arms and continued to breathe heavily until she regained her breath and slowly fell asleep on his shoulder, watching the moon outside the open window of her living room.

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