The Foretold 《EDITING》

1K special: Rosa pov

After they had left, Rosa stood on the steps and watched for a while. Her neighbors started to wake up and complete their daily chores, only then did Rosa go back into the house.

Rosa walked into the kitchen and headed towards their small oak table. Every breakfast, lunch and dinner had happened here. It would be the first time she would eat alone, without Alice and Gart fighting over who got the last dinner roll.

Her hand trailed over the back of Alice's chair. The amount of times she leaned too far back and fell backwards was too much to count, but each time they had cracked up with laughter.

Rosa sighed. She would miss those times. Worry clawed at her. Had she sent the twins to their death? Would they come back to her after?

She had made this decision too fast. Her only thought at the time had been for the people she had abandoned.

Rosa shook her head and walked into their family room. The twins would be okay, she was sure of it. But the doubt still lingered.

Her gaze landed on their tiny bookshelf, which was buried under tons of books. She had gotten it when Alice and Gart had started learning to read. She wanted a place to put all of them. Eventually they had learnt to read and although Alice wasn't a fan of it, Gart was. He could never put a book down until he was done. Rosa often found him curled up with a book in this room.

She walked over to their couch and picked up his current read. The Grimm Brothers fairy tales. Would Gart ever get the chance to finish the book?

Rosa dropped the book and let out a gasp. How could she have sent them away?

She rushed out of the room and up to her bedroom. She tried not to look at the end of the bed, but she failed. The memories from yesterday rushed back to her, slapping her in the face. She had made a huge decision with no thought at all. She'd flipped the twins lives and hadn't even given them time to process it all. What was wrong with her?

Rosa cupped her mouth to try to keep the gasps inside. Tears ran down her cheeks, wetting her hands.

She rushed to the side of her bed and dropped to her knees. It was like when she first left the kingdom all those years ago. She'd wanted to drop to her knees then but couldn't and now she did.

She reached under the bed and pulled out a book. It's corners were smashed in and the lid didn't fit all that well, but it worked, and that's what mattered.

She carefully lifted the lid and pulled out the photo that sat on top.

It was a photo of her late husband, King Rockshade. It was taken in his early years as a new king. So young but wise. The people loved him. Rosa had always found it odd that the people betrayed him, she'd hope to find out why, eventually.

She brought the picture up to her lips and kissed it. She placed the photo down beside the box and picked up the envelope. It was sealed with the official crest. On the front in his neat handwriting were the words;

For my wife.

Rosa hesitated. Was now the right time to open it? Something in her told her it was, the memory of her husband telling her to open it when the twins were sent away.

Rosa took a deep breath and opened the letter.

My dear Rosa,

If you are reading this it means you've sent the twins away. I cannot imagine the pain you are going through, and I wish I was there with you.

But remember, the prophet told us that the twins must do this without our help. That if you were there with them, they would face a worse fate than they already will.

I hope this brings you comfort my dear.

I love you

Rosa gripped the letter tighter. Tears now stained it.

She was staying back to keep the twins safe, she knew this and yet... something still clawed at her, telling her it was wrong.

For the rest of the day Rosa stayed up in her room. She wasn't ready to face the town, wasn't ready for the questions of; who was that man? Where are your children? Are you okay?

This town and it's people had become important to her, and she didn't want the judgement, not yet.

So she read the letter again and again, until it felt like the rushed decision wasn't quite so wrong.

She didn't leave her house until the next day, and even when she went out, she was a shell of herself. Friends asked how she was doing. The twins' teachers asked where they were, and if they needed their homework. Rosa plastered on a smile, said she was doing fine, said she would gladly take their homework.

But at the end of the day, she wasn't okay. She wasn't even sure if the twins would be alive to do their homework.

One night she stared up at the starless sky. "I wish," she paused. What did she wish for? For everyone to make it out alive. To regain her kingdom, her home. To speak with her husband one more time. For the guilt to go away.

"I wish to see my babies again."