𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕 - 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍

05

𝚠𝚎𝚒𝚛𝚍 𝚕𝚊𝚍𝚢 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚖𝚜 𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝

∴━━━✿━━━∴

"YAAAAYYYYY!!!" Phil yells as he runs towards the tree. "We finally get to play with Emma!" But then his smile quickly drops, seeing that Emma wasn't there.

"She's not here. . . . it's you guys." He said, disappointed by the outcome. Rosemary smiles a little bit but pretends to be sad. "It sounds like you don't want me to be here, Phil."

Phil jumped and hugged Rosemary tight, "That's not true Rosie! I'm happy, really happy you're here!" He exclaimed. Rosemary giggles and carries Phil, then spinning him around and around making him laugh.

"But, I wonder where those three are always running off to." Rosemary murmurs as she sets Phil on the ground.

Isabella had called Gilda, Emma, and Rosemary to take care of the nine children who were around two to three years old. Gilda and Rosemary were talking casually, but Emma was rather focused on something.

Or rather, someone.

"Emma, do you need help?" Ro asks her politely, but Emma didn't respond. She looked at Gilda who had a worried expression on her face. "Emma?"

'She must be looking for the trackers.'  Rosemary thought. Although, she already knew where it is and decided to help her. "Hm, what's this?" Rosemary asks as she softly folds Carol's ear, revealing a needle mark.

"What's that? A bug bite?" Gilda asks. Emma gave a big smile, "no, it's a needle mark." Emma looked at Rosemary and gave a small smile as if thanking her.

"Playtime!" Emma yells as she runs. Mama stops her for a moment before tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear as she fixes her collar.

Rosemary watches as Norman, Emma, and Ray walk to the forest. She was starting to feel lonely. 'They seem so busy. No matter how many times I try to approach them, they just. . . .'

Rosemary went to the direction the three went at. She quietly walked to them, hearing them discussing again. "-- How to use their brains!" Is what she heard.

Rosemary showed herself to them with a frown on her face. "Ro! What are you doing here?" Emma asks nervously.

"I - I'm sorry for following you three out here. You guys probably didn't want to be disturbed." She says as she looks at her feet. "B - but, if something is bothering you guys, please tell me!"

The three looked at her surprised, did she hear what they said?

"If something is wrong with me, if I did something to upset you three, I want to know! I know I'm not as amazing as you guys, I'm always one step behind you three. But, we used to be so close despite that. But now, we don't talk as much as we do. If it's a secret you can't tell then, I understand. But please, at least just tell me you don't want to be my friend. I'm fine with not being your friend as long as I know what's wrong with me."

Rosemary can feel the tears swelling up to her eyes. "I'm sorry! I - I'm so sorry for wasting your time." She quickly wiped get tears and walked away, feeling their stares behind her.

"Ro. . ." Emma sadly whispered. "I never thought she felt that way." She says as she hugs herself.

"We never did. We were so immersed in trying to save everyone that we never thought how our actions would affect them." Norman says, guilt filling up his stomach.

Ray looked off to the direction to where Rosemary ran at, he never saw her like that. So. . . vulnerable. There were times that she'd panic, or when she would cry. But never once did he see her insult herself in such way.

"We'll apologize to her," Norman tells them, walking before Ray grabbed his wrist, stopping him. "We'll also tell her the truth." He says.

Norman just smiles, not telling Ray the answer he wants.

ღ¸.✻´'✻.¸¸ღ

"Oh, " Mama says, "You're reading by yourself all alone again?" She asks Ray who was sitting in his usual spot under the tree.

Norman, Emma, and Ray already apologized to Rosemary, telling her that nothing was wrong with her but them. They all cried and hugged each other. But they still haven't told the truth. "We promise to tell you the truth when we're ready!" Emma told her.

Isabella looks up at the tree to see Rosemary sitting in one of the branches, sketching in her notebook.

"Where are the others?" She asks as she looks at the plain grass field. "Who knows. Probably playing tag in the woods." He answers her question.

A few of the kids went back after being caught, Rosemary was impressed by the improvement. Usually, it would be quicker for Norman to catch them. 'Training them with tag, huh.'

Rosemary looked at the children, noticing someone was missing. 'Sister Krone.'

She jumps off the tree and runs to the woods, startling Ray as her sketch pad and pencil fell to the ground. Ray picked it up and flushed at the drawing.

It was him, reading the book in her point of view from up the tree. 'But why did she runoff. .' he thought as he watched her back, fading on the woods.

"Looks like you're all having fun! Care to let me join?" Sister Krone asked with the usual creepy smile on her face.