Roses Are Red (HIATUS/SLOW UPDATES)

6: Scars

Rose awoke gasping. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and a scream threatened to crawl it's way out of her throat. She had never had a nightmare like that before. She had never thought of something as gruesome as that in her life. That was when she suddenly noticed the three people surrounding her. Jace, Alec, and Isabelle. She hadn't seen Jace since he had brought Clary to the institute, and she barely said three words to both Alec and Isabelle combined. Rose wanted to be embarrassed, on any other occasion she would have been, but fear had plunged it's arrow into her heart and that's all she felt. She quickly sat up, until her back was resting on the headboard of the bed she was lying on and she wrapped her arms around her knees in a protective way. She ignored the three people around her, focusing on steadying her breathing, and trying to forget what had happened. It wasn't working. No matter what she tried, she couldn't forget. So she did the next best thing. She wrote it down.

She grabbed her notebook, and flipped to an empty page. She started sketching, faintly aware of people trying to talk to her, but she didn't hear them. All she could hear were those words over and over again. She had started sketching the people first. All the faces she could remember, including the boy she had killed. Then she started sketching the creature. Finally, she had an outline of the dream, a very rough outline, but an outline none the less. Over the drawing, as her finishing touch, she added two words in horror font. Your fault. She had finally stopped scribbling and looked up at the three people surrounding her. If she didn't know better, she'd describe their looks as concerned, but she did know better. Alec looked concerned, but not for her, more like he thought she was going to have a breakdown and was scared for the consequences of it. Isabelle looked borderline bored and excited. It was like nothing she had ever seen before, but it wasn't that cool. Jace honestly had a mixture of both, plus confusion. She sighed and avoided all their eyes.

"It was just a nightmare," she mumbled. No one spoke, and she couldn't take the awkward silence, so Rose got to her feet and left. Not before hearing someone speak though.

"Must've been one hell of a nightmare," Jace said.

"Yeah it was," Rose whispered as she tried to rid herself of all the thoughts in her head.

Rose had been wandering around the institute for a good five minutes. She honestly just wanted to find a bathroom, but she also didn't want to accidentally intrude on someone. She had seen enough teenage dramas to know it would never end well. So she walked around the institute before spotting a familiar head of long black hair in front of her. Rose knew the conversation would be awkward, and she never dealt with awkward easily. Walking up the girl she gave herself a pep-talk in her head. C'mon Rose. You can do this, you're only about to have a conversation with an insanely beautiful girl that you can't help but feel inferior to. Her pep-talk wasn't helping.

"Hey, Isabelle." The said girl stopped and turned at the sound of her name being called.

"Hey Rosie." Rose grimaced at the nickname. Of course that would be what they called her, no one had actually mentioned her name except for Simon and he just happened to call her that stupid nickname.

"It's Rosalie, actually, or Rose. Whichever." Rose stopped and took a deep breath. How bad could this go? "I was actually wondering if you had a change of clothes. Preferably a baggy shirt, if possible. And a shower. A shower would be nice right about now." Isabelle let out a laugh and nodded, before telling Rose to follow her. Rose did as she was told, and soon the two were entering a room. It obviously belonged to a girl, seeing as there was a big vanity filled with makeup and jewelry, as well as an overflowing closet. The room also had a feminine touch to it, and Rose could hardly believe that either Alec or Jace would have a room like this, unless this is what all the rooms looked like. Isabelle then pushed her in, what Rose assumed, was the bathroom. Rose closed the door before turning on the shower. She waited for the water to be at least a little bit warm, before stripping off her clothes and stepping into the shower. Rose's tensed shoulders instantly relaxed as the warm water hit her, cascading down her body. It felt so good, so warm, so... safe. That was before the pain had settled in. In the past few days, she had completely forgotten about the cuts that littered her body. She grimaced, and resisted the urge to cry out. It hurt like a bitch. Nevertheless, she used Isabelle's soap to clean herself, and then used the girl's shampoo and conditioner too. Rose never thought she would love and hate a shower that much. She stood under the water for a couple more minutes, contemplating everything that had happened. It's surprising, really, that she hadn't had a breakdown yet. It should have happened by now. 'Maybe it already has' Rose thought as she remembered what happened back in the alleyway. Now that? That was embarrassing. With those stupid thoughts in her head, she turned the water off, rung out her hair, and stepped out of the shower. Drying herself off with a towel, Rose slipped on the clothes that Isabelle had left. The jeans went to her ankles, while the shirt was really long. She did ask for baggy though. As Rose walked out of the bathroom, she saw someone she really wasn't expecting. Jace sat on Isabelle's bed, and he looked up once the bathroom door shut behind Rosalie... She had decided that this encounter was already super awkward, so why not make it worse. She raised her hand in a little half wave and muttered a quick hi.

"How was your shower?" Jace asked. This confused her. He didn't seem like the person to waste time with small talk, but despite her confusions she answered without thinking.

"Painful." Jace raised his eyebrows at that response, and Rose's own eyes widened. Damn the fact that she had no filter. She quickly tried to cover up her answer but it was no use. Jace had already risen from Isabelle's bed and closed the distance between them, until he was standing right in front of her.

"Why?" Rose wanted to make up some sort of excuse, but she knew Jace wouldn't believe whatever half-assed lie she came up with. She didn't want to tell him what had happened either, so she did the next best thing. She grabbed the hem of the black t-shirt she was wearing and lifted it up just enough so Jace could see the cuts and bruises all over her stomach. His eyes widened, and Rosalie sighed again before she turned around and let him see her scarred back that had more open cuts waiting to create more scars. Without saying a word, which really surprised Rosalie, Jace grabbed her wrist and pulled her to Isabelle's bed. He reached under said bed, and grabbed a little box, and she quickly realized it was a first aid kit. Didn't they have healing runes? Why would shadowhunters, at least that's what they called themselves, have a first aid kit. She decided not to ask her questions aloud, and let Jace tell her what to do. She slipped the t-shirt over her head, and let him clean her open cuts before bandaging them.

"Careful!" Rose scolded the boy when he pressed too hard on her back. "That hurts you know."

"What happened?" Jace asked, ignoring her previous comment. Rose had a split second where she decided to use the excuse she gave Clary.

"I got into a fight. Let my guard down and got thrown through a glass window." Rose turned and met Jace's eyes and could immediately tell he knew she was lying. She always had been a shitty liar, but Clary always believed her so that was enough. Jace pressed down a little too hard again, this time on one of the cuts on her stomach, and she hissed, trying to pull away, but his hand on her arm stopped her.

"Cuts like these don't come from glass. They come from a knife," Jace pointed out. Of course he would know something like that. In a desperate attempt to pull her story together. She gave a sigh of defeat (that was totally fake) and did a half shrug.

"I may have left out the fact I brought fists to a knife fight." Jace still didn't believe her and this got on her nerves. It's not like it's any of his business. "Why won't you just believe me?!"

"Why won't you stop lying?"

"I'm not!" Jace raised his eyebrows and Rose gave in after letting out a frustrated grunt.

"Fine! You want to know what happened so bad? The people I live with aren't... great... people. We get in fights a lot and this is usually the outcome." Rose whispered the last part, avoiding Jace's gaze. He had finished bandaging her up, so she quickly slipped back on the t-shirt, and stood up from her seat. She went to leave only to find Jace blocking her escape route. "Move."

"They abuse you?" He asked. His voice portrayed no horror, just slight curiosity. What is wrong with this boy?

"Way to put it lightly," Rose grumbled. Jace opened his mouth to ask another question, but she quickly cut him off. "No more questions, okay? No one else knows, not even Clary, and I would prefer it if you could keep it that way." With that Rose pushed past him and into the hallway deciding to try and find her way around this place. The t-shirt she was wearing was starting to bother her due to its bagginess (yes she knew she asked for it to be baggy) so she decided to rip it down and the middle, creating two separate strands of fabric, and tying them right below the hem of her jeans. That way, if her shirt rode up, her bandages wouldn't be visible. She had been walking for a while, and fixing her clothing, when she crossed paths with Isabelle.