9 VIII

Elizabeth began to hide while playing with one of her housemates. Her black hair was jumping into her eyes as she ran. She quickly hid behind the house and waited for the sound of someone approaching.

"Gotcha, my little Lizzie!" She heard as she was lifted up off the ground. She let out a tiny squeal and started giggling. She was placed down and looked up at her father.

He was a tall man with no hair. He towered over the small girl and his silver eyes mirrored her own. He quietly waved her inside, asking for her to follow him.

He quickly lead him into her office and looked at her brother in the corner of the room. He walked over to his sister and messed up her hair, standing silently next to her as they both looked at their father.

"Lizzie, as you know your brother's promised was taken from him a few years ago," the man said, looking over at her brother next to her. He started fidgeting as she nodded her head in one sharp movement.

"One day, Elizabeth, you need to bring her home to us, but you have to find her first. Meaning, it's time for you to begin training so you can easily assimilate into the human world," the man said, effectively snapping her gaze up to him.

"But, Daddy...." she started, but paused at the sound of a door being thrown open behind her. The woman who walked in had black hair, like hers, but her eyes were blood red like Week's. She shivered as her mother's gaze fell upon her.

"Orion, are you sure we can't just send Week out to find his promised? I don't want to risk my daughter like this," the woman started, only to cause Orion to jump up and slam his hands on the desk.

"Your daughter? She's the daughter of both of us, and she has no promised, remember? She's not risking anything or anyone in doing this!"

"Well, you just have to get hotheaded over everything! No wonder our children fear you, you're cruel to them both!"

Week silently placed a hand over Lizzie's eyes as a slap was heard through the room. Tears had already started on their path down her cheeks. He silently picked the girl up and walked out of the room, shutting out the yelling with the door.

"You're okay, Lizzie, I'm here. You need to look at me and breathe," he started, holding her face between his hands and facing her towards him. Her breathing had grown irregular and she was starting to lose consciousness.

"Hey, Lizzie, I'm right here, but you need to breathe with me okay?" Week started and lead his sister through her breathing exercises.

She whimpered, but had mostly calmed down and let him hug her close to him.

"I'm here, Lizzie, and nothing will drive us apart, okay?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up with a start, frightened for what just came in my sleep. It was like a memory, but I wasn't my own. I knew it was a dream, but it had felt real. Too real.

I then noticed the room around me. It wasn't the one I had woken up to, instead the room was a soft red with pinks thrown in. There were roses painted on the walls and stuffed animals in the crib that had been pushed into the corner. The bed had a white comforter with red and pink rose petals on it. There was a vanity on the left side of the bed next to the huge window, on it was a hairbrush that was gold and looked like metal and a few makeup pallets.

Across the room there was a door that had been propped open and inside I saw a bathroom with a walk-in closet attached to it. The bathtub was placed under a window and reminded me of a small swimming pool. The shower was next to the door of the closet and was glass and easy to walk into. There was another door over to the right farthest corner from me and I guessed it lead out into the house.

I threw open the curtains and saw how dark it was outside. I figured I had been asleep for a while. I walked over to the crib and picked up the big bear that was inside. I held it to my nose and inhaled its sweet scent. It smelled of lavender and roses, making me feel safe and relaxed. I heard a giggle from the other side of the room and dropped the bear, jumping to see who had entered.

"This was your room, Rose. The bear was a gift from Mom when you were born, I had it before that and it originally smelled like lavender, now there's roses added to it. It's truly comforting and I felt you needed to have a few pieces of Mom when you woke," Lavender said, entering the room and shutting the door behind her.

I nodded and smiled at her, picking it back up and setting it into the crib.

"She decorated this room for you, Rose. She knew that you were a girl long before we ever confirmed it. She would collect different red and pink things talking about her little baby rose needing something to match her name. This whole room was what she brought together," she added, stepping next to me as I noticed a picture on a shelf above the crib. It was a picture of a woman with silver hair and silver eyes looking down at a baby who matched her looks. The woman looked so sick and seemed to be struggling to stay awake as she looked at the small child. Next to her bed, a young boy sat with black hair and red eyes, staring at the baby in the woman's arms.

"That was Mom and Week with you only a few minutes after you were born. After the picture was taken, we lost Mom as she held you close to her heart," Lavender said giving me a side hug and leaning her head on my shoulder. Instinctively, I tensed, but willed myself to relax into her embrace as a few stray tears made their way down my cheeks. She looked up and wiped them away, and I wiped hers away.

We both laughed and walked over to the bed, talking about everything that had happened within the past twenty-four hours.

"Rose, I'm not sure what to do. We're all the family either of us has left, and I'm not sure how to be a good sister to you yet, so I'm learning here."

"Then we can learn together. I'm not used to having any knowledge I had any blood family left," I said, grabbing her hand with mine. Within all this time, I could barely imagine having family, let alone one that actually wanted me as much as my heart longed for them.

We smiled at each other. "I guess I should let you rest more, Rose. You gave us all quite the scare there. It reminded me of Lizzie," she said, giving me a sad smile.

"What do you mean Lizzie?"