𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕 - 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍

03

𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚝'𝚜 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚐

∴━━━✿━━━∴

"GOOOOODDDD MORNINGGGGGGG!!"  Phil shouts as runs around the tables. "Phil stop running!" Gilda scolds.

"Mark, please place the dishes," Mama instructs Mark who happily obliged.

"Good morning Emma." Norman greets with a smile. "Good morning, Norman!" Emma does the same.

"Can someone wake Ro early?" Mama requests. And of course, both boys went to argue again to who would wake the sleepy girl.

"Norman, you do it," Mama tells them. Ray huffs then went to his seat with his usual frown at his face.

Norman rushes up to the room and carefully opens the door. "Ro?" He quietly asks, peeking in the door. A smile went to his face as he caresses her cheek. "I swear Ro, I will get you out of here and keep you safe." He murmurs.

Rosemary wakes up by the sound of his soothing voice, opening her eyes slowly. "Nnn, ah Norman. Good morning." She greets him.

"Morning Ro, you seem to be in a good mood."

"I guess I am. Did you manage to return Little Bernie back to Conny?" Rosemary asks Norman, who slightly flinched by the question. "No, we didn't make it."

Rosemary frowned, not for Conny but she frowned because he had lied to her. Clearly his statement earlier meant that he had seen something, but why? Why didn't he just told the truth?

"Oh, that's a shame. Let's go eat some egg, shall we?" Rosemary gives a tight hug to Norman who relaxed under her touch. "Can. . . can we stay like this for a little longer?" He whispered at her ear, giving her shivers.

"A - ah, okay!" She hugged him tighter, assuring him in a gestured way that, it'll all be okay. He'll be okay.

The rest of the day went by the same way it has always been, with the exception of Emma and Norman who were acting like themselves but in the same way, they aren't.

Rosemary was carrying one of the babies in her arms, helping Isabella whilst she carries the other kid. Mama rings the bell while Gilda asks if everyone was complete.

Rosemary looks over to Norman and Emma, seeing them panting. 'They're so obvious'

"It seems like two of us are missing," Gilda says, recounting the children. "We're missing Nayla and --"

"MAMA!!! " Mark cried, tears spilling out of his eyes. Mama lends the baby to Rosemary, who was now holding two babies. "What do I do?! I got separated from Nayla at the forest, I looked all over the place but I couldn't find her!!"

"Ro, let me help," Ray says as he grabs one of the children from her arms. She gave him a shy smile, "Y - you don't have to." She told him. "I want to, let me." He insists.

Rosemary glanced over to Isabella, who was checking her pocket watch. Isabella stood up and comforted Mark, before walking off to find Nayla.

Isabella came back shortly with Nayla at her arms. Everyone cheered and raced over to mama. Mark was still crying and kept on apologizing.

Rosemary walked over to them with a small smile on her face. "Is she asleep?" She asked Isabella. "Yes, she is. Mind helping me, dear?"

Rosemary nods and hands over the baby to Gilda's arms. "Of course, Mama." Isabella walked to the infirmary and placed Nayla at the bed.

Rosemary treated her and checked if something had happened. "Rosemary, " Mama starts as she walks to her.

"Yes, mama?"

"Did someone went to the gate last night?" Mama asks, her voice kind but her eyes demanding. Ro knows that there's no point in lying. Cause if she does, it would make mama think that she was the one who went outside.

"Hm? Ah, yes. I think so." Rosemary answers her question. "Who was it?" Mama questions again. "I think it was either Norman, Gilda, Emma, or Ray." She answered, not giving a specific answer.

"B - but, please don't get mad at them! They just wanted to return little Bernie back to Conny!" She faked a panic. Mama smiled at her and tucked a strand of her behind her ear, squeezing it.

"I won't dear." She gave a smile. Rosemary nods and walks out of the infirmary. Wandering through the hallway, she spots Don looking at the clock at his room.

"What's wrong, Don?" She asks him. He looked at her with a grim face, "the clock seems to be broken, or something." Don answers. She nods and looks at the clock, studying it.

"I'm not that good with time, literally. So I'm afraid I can't help you here." She frowns as Don does the same. Don suddenly rushed out of the room, calling out to Norman for help.

Norman came a few seconds later, "Ro! What're you doing here?" He asked with his usual kind smile. "N - nothing much. Just wanted to help, but I - I'm not sure on what to do." She answers back.

"Was Emma with you?" She asks him while they inspect the clock. "Oh, yeah. I'll call her. By the way, the only problem is the batteries. It's the wrong one." He said to Don before going out to call Emma.

"W -well, you heard the genius." Rosemary shrugged. Don thanked her. "Rosie, can you carry me?" Jemima asks as she tugs her skirt. Rosemary gives a small smile to her, "sure!"

She carries Jemima and walks out of the room, at the same time, Ray rings the bell. "Phew, just in time!" Ro tells Jemima who giggled. She runs with the children, going down the stairs, carefully setting Jemima on the floor. "Thanks, Rosie!"

Rosemary smiles and waves her off. She passes by the stairs, seeing Ray watching something. She takes a peek at what he was looking at, seeing Emma at the floor with Norman comforting her.

"Emma?!" Rosemary panicked as she rushes over to them. "Wha -- is she okay?" She asks Norman. "She's alright," Norman reassures. "But she doesn't look fine --"

"She's fine! She'll be alright. Just don't. . . just mind your own business." He said. Rosemary was startled by the sudden outburst. She understands that he was stressed with the secrets of the house and all of that, but 'he didn't have to shout at me like that.'

Rosemary lowers her head, looking at her feet as she nods her head slowly. "A - alright." She says as she quickly runs out of their sight. "Ro!" She hears Norman shout.

She runs up the stairs, going to the room she slept at and just went to her bed. She touched her cheek and felt it wet, she was crying. "I'm such a crybaby. I can't seem to do anything well. Especially when I found out, I did nothing. And here those three are, planning to escape with everyone. I spent six years of my life, trying not to get shipped. I'm so selfish. " She whispers to herself.

"I'm just an insecure kid." She murmurs. Her eyes widen in realization. "So this is it. I've already decided my fate." Her eyes darken.

"This is my destiny. I will help them escape, however, I will --"