The Tainted Rose

Chapter thirteen

Have you ever asked yourself what happened? How did I end up here?

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I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was the TV, the news were on, but I couldn't make out what the reporter was saying since part of my brain was still waking up. I rubbed my eyes and turned the volume of the TV up. As I was going to change the channel, I heard the reporter saying "Kathelyn Hardaway, wife of Rodger Hardaway."

"Hardaway," I murmured to myself. "Where have I heard that last name?"

"She's in critical state and many wonder if she's gonna make it. This have been your daily news, bringing you the latest."

"I think I got it. Damien Hardaway, how could I forget him. He's the one that makes my life a living hell. Could that be his mother?"

"Good morning Ashley. How are you feeling?" the nurse asked as she entered the room.

"Fine," I replied.

"Good, that's good. That means you can finally go home, but first I need to check you one last time before letting you leave. We don't want anything else happening to you," she took some blood and checked my blood pressure. After that she told me that I was clear to go, that they didn't find anything in the X-rays, but that I should take things slow anyway. My dad came by a while after the nurse gave the clear to take me home. When I got home I went straight to my room and sat by the window. Out on the street I saw two little girls running from side to side, their smiles as big as they come. I could see that they were really happy and I couldn't help but wonder; what happened to me? How did I end up where I am? I closed my eyes and started remembering.

I could see myself, thinner than I am today. Every boy in school was in love with me, including Damien. He was the worst out of all of them, he would be on me all day long trying to get my attention. But I would always ignore him because I knew the type of person he was. He would bully everyone and make them feel bad, he didn't care about how they would feel and that made me angry. Yoana, Rose, and Alex were with me and we would laugh together all the time. Suddenly my phone rang and I looked at the screen to see who was calling me. "Dad," read the screen.

"Weird, my dad doesn't call me when I'm in school," I said to no one in particular.

"You're not gonna answer that right?" Alex asked while reading the name.

"I think I should, my dad never calls me when I'm in school. This must be important for him to call me during school."

"You can't be serious right now, I mean we're with the hottest boys in school right now and you want to leave them to go talk to your dad? Come on you even have Damien who's all over you. He's looking at you right now, don't waste this opportunity," Alex said while crossing her arms.

"Come on Alex you're making a big deal out of this, they're just boys. I'll call my father and then I'll come back," I dialed my father and as soon as he picked up and started talking I knew something had befell. "Ashley, baby, there's something I need to tell you," his voice was shaky and I could also hear pain in his voice.

"Dad? What's going on? Why do you sound like that?" my heart started racing.

"Honey, your aunt Victoria had an accident on her way to work, the paramedics got there as soon as they could and took her to the hospital right away..." I could already feel my heart lowering to my feet and stop beating. "...but when they got to the hospital, Victoria had passed away. Honey I'm sorry, I know that you and her had a special bond and that you loved her a lot," he then burst into tears while saying, "We lost her Ashley, we lost her!"

I hung up and started walking out of the cafeteria, when Damien stopped me. "Heeey... where are you going? You're not leaving me right?"

"Damien please get out of my way and let me go." I told him with an attitude.

"Baby come on lets have a good time together," he put his hands on my waist and started kissing my neck.

"Damien please stop," tears running down my cheeks. "Damien, stop!" I cried out. "I don't want anything to do with you, you think you're the best in the school but the thing is that everyone is better than you. I would prefer to be with anyone else rather than you. You're a total jerk and everyone in here knows that you are who you are thanks to your father. You're a no one, you can't do anything." Damien was shocked with what I said and so was everyone in the cafeteria. They were all staring at me and it was then that I felt nervous and got out of there. As soon as I got out of there, I started crying again from the news that I received from my dad earlier....

Aunt Victoria was like a second mother to me. She would take me everywhere with her and we would have the best days together. She was the one to whom I confided everything. After my aunt died, I fell into depression and I rarely ate. Even though I didn't eat that much, I was gaining weight. My mom took me to the doctor and they told me that I was fine, but I was gaining weight due to my stress, low mood, and since I wasn't eating my metabolism was very slow. They couldn't do anything, I had to be at peace with my aunt's death and move forward. Something that I wasn't capable at the time. Since that day I have lost a lot of my so called "friends" and my life at school has been difficult.

I opened my eyes and the two little girls from earlier were still playing. I smiled and thought, "At least I got Aiden now." Speaking of him, I haven't heard from him since he left to talk to the director. I picked up my phone and messaged him.

"Hey... what are you up to?"

"Sorry Ashley, can't talk right now" he sent back.

Ok then, guess I'll do something else.

Then I recalled Damien's mother. I know that he has been making my life a living hell, but I could also recall how I felt after my aunt died and how I would have given anything to have someone there for me. Maybe his mother hasn't died, but it still has to hurt. I looked through my contacts until I stumbled upon Damien's name. For some reason I didn't remove his number from my contacts. I was hesitant to make the call, but ended up doing it.