Black Rose

6

All the air in the room seemed to have vanished, like there was nothing left for my lungs to consume. Everything felt so surreal, this couldn't be a coincidence. I had done it. I had murdered someone. My breathing got more and more heavy till I just had to sit down but I lost my balance and fell, drawing the attention of Tedd and Emily.

" Rose! Are you okay?", Emily rushed to my side, panic evident in her voice. Words seemed to fail to escape my mouth, all it could do was open and close like a fish out of water. " I think she's having a panic attack Tedd we have to call 911 ".

Tedd rushes over to the telephone near the counter and begins to dial the number. I had to get a grip, ' breath Rose '. I close my eyes.

" Breath Rose, come on darling". My mother spoke in her usual soothing voice as the air in the brown paper back got hotter and thicker, eventually calming me down . " Don't worry honey he won't hurt you, will you Mike? ", She gives him a strong glare. " That's if she never bites me again, my arm is bleeding uncontrollably ". Mike puts his bat down as he tends to his bleeding arm. " You kept her without food for too long while I was away, she just got hungry. But she won't do it again I promise". She craddles a little me in her arms, probably about six or seven years old. " Fine. But we'll have to restrain her, keeping her locked up down here isn't enough. She's still very dangerous ". Mother contemplates the idea and finally hesitantly agrees.

I finally come through just as Tedd is giving his location over the phone to the paramedics. " Please hung up the phone, I'm alright. I just need some water ". Emily rushes to fetch me a cold glass of water from the dispenser in the kitchen. I could feel their eyes on me desperately waiting for me to say something as I emptied the glass.

" The terrible broadcast today of that poor man being killed like that made me feel shaky. I dislike the sight of blood ". There, that should do it. " Yes it was pretty terrifying, whoever did that to him must really be a monster with no conscience ". Emily's words made me pause for a minute. Monster she says, is that what I really am?

" Come on girls, it's time to open up shop again ". Tedd heads back into the kitchen as Emily takes her position at the counter and I dust off my apron with my hands.

Once again the bakery was full. I appreciated this as it would distract my thoughts for some time. But in just a few minutes I found myself thinking again. Nothing made sense to me, how could I have killed my own father in cold blood? Why didn't I remember any of it? Was the dream I had actually true? If so, then what exactly am I? So many questions were running through my mind that I didn't see him standing infront of me until it was too late.

" Oops...! no ", I watched the tray full of cinnamon buns fall to the ground. " Tedd will kill me, these were fresh out of the oven ". I heard a chuckle as I bent down to pick them up. " You need to look where you're going next time. Seem to have alot going on in that pretty little head of yours. Come on, let me help you ". I looked up to see a handsome looking guy, probably in his early twenties with Sandy blonde hair and light gray eyes.

The buns were back on the tray but I'd obviously have to throw them out. First the panic attack and now this, I was certain Tedd would soon kick me out. " I can buy those, since it was also kind of my fault too. Shouldn't have stood in your way ", he took out his wallet from the back pocket of his blue jeans and paid for the buns, taking the tray away from my hands.

" Thank you ", was all I was able to say. For some reason, he made me feel nervous and hot. Really hot. Something in my stomach was flattering so much, what was this feeling? " I'm Adam by the way ". I hesitated a little before speaking " Rose....". He simply nodded and walked away, I felt my heart ache a little. Somehow I expected a bit more from the conversation so I gathered up some confidence and called after him.

" Adam wait! ", he quickly turned around and walked towards me. What now? Hadn't thought it would actually work but I had to quickly think of something. " I need the tray back ", I mentally smacked my forehead, was that best you could do? " Oh, I'll unload the buns in my car and I'll bring it back to you ".

" You have a car? ", I had never seen one of those before in real life. Only from the story books my mother would sometimes read to me. " Yes I do, but it's a little old. Belonged to my grandfather but he gave it to me a few years ago ". I was so anxious to see one, and maybe even get inside and take a ride. But that would be too much to ask from a stranger.....Adam.

Adam heads out of the bakery and immediately Emily ambushes me with questions. " OMG did Adam Ross just talk to you? ", I couldn't understand her interest in me talking to this particular customer. " Uhh yes, he seems nice ". " Nice? No. Adam Ross is dzaaddy ", I got a little confused. " Isn't he too young to be your father? ".

" What...? No silly I mean he's smoking hot in all the right ways ", her response to my question just confused me even more but I decided to shrug it off. Moments later, Adam returned with the tray. It had a few numbers on the back with his name on top of them. " What are these? ", I asked curiously as I starred at each number closely.

Adam smirked at me, " okay so that's how you wanna play it huh? Wanna make me explain myself, alright Rose so that's my number and I wrote it back there with a marker so you could call me some time, when you're not too busy dropping cinnamon buns on the floor ". His sense of humour was a breathe of fresh air.

" I don't have a phone ", I admitted. " Well, when you get one call me okay ", I nodded and he left the bakery. The encounter with Adam made me forget all about the news. It was now almost closing time, Tedd and Emily were balancing the cash books as I cleaned the tables.

The front door of the bakery opened, revealing a tall and slender African-American man with a long black cane, dressed in a purple suite and a black and white top hat. I rushed over to him, " sorry sir we're closed ". Something about him made me feel strange and uncomfortable.

" I'm sure you have room for one more customer ", his voice sent shivers down my spine and not the good kind. I looked over at Tedd and he nodded at me, giving me the permission to serve the man anyway.

I offered him a table and took his order. " One swiss roll extra honey with black coffee, no sugar ". In a matter of minutes I was back with his order and sat behind the counter as I watched him carefully while he ate, something about him definitely wasn't right. I could feel it. " Easy there, or you're gonna send daggers flying in his direction with that look of yours ", Emma joked and I looked at her, giving her only a tight smile.

When I looked back at the man's table he was gone, I rushed over to were he was sitting hoping he had paid his bill. Luckily, there were a couple of dollars on the table. But that's not all there was, I noticed a beautiful black rose with so many thorns laying on the table and as I picked it up, one of them pricked my index finger. " Ouch...! ", I sucked on my finger to stop the bleeding. That's when I also noticed the initials " F.J " on a napkin that were clearly made using honey from the Swiss roll. There and then I knew this man's visit meant something more than meets the eye. But what could it be?

A/N Another cliffhanger, hope y'all enjoyed the chapter 🤗🤗