Chapter 2

Rose

"Aaaah!" I jolted out of the bed. Wait, a bed?

I grabbed the blankets and the pillows. My fingers brushed upon the soft white mattress, feeling the cushioned comfort of the bed

They're real?

Even the room is familiar. Light pink walls with posters about fashion. A white, plush carpet in the middle of the floor and a table is situated near my bed with papers. I picked it up and found designs for clothes and some drawings.

Wait, this was my room, my room when I was a child.

I looked around paying attention to details in the room, trying to come up with plausible explanations but my mind remained blank.

What the hell's happening. My last memory was jumping off a building and I...I should've died. It was a hundred-foot drop to the ground and it's impossible to survive that.

I checked my limbs and my body, but everything's intact, no injuries or signs of harm and it's all normal.

It's all too normal for my own comfort.

I dawdled around trying to piece everything out. I even slapped myself thinking I'm just dreaming but I felt pain.

"Hahaha, Maybe I'm in heaven?" blurted out. But things were not as it was rumored to be and why in my room-

"Agh" I tripped over a book and accidentally looked at myself in the mirror.

"What the hell!" I exclaimed, startled with my own reflection.

I caressed my face feeling the soft skin underneath my palm. There are no wrinkles around my eyes and my forehead. The creases have softened and were smooth-

I looked younger. I stared down at my figure and indeed I looked like a child. My adult appearance was now gone.

What is happening? How am I back here? How am I still alive?

I stared at the walls trying to process what's happening until I heard some knocking.

"Rose, are you awake? I heard a loud thump inside your room." I abruptly turned my head towards the door, utterly shocked hearing that voice. It took me a couple of minutes to regain my composure.

"Rose? Rose?"

"Ah...ah yes. Everything's fine" I was almost stumbling as I quickly unlocked the door leaving me dumbfounded.

"Rose are you sure everything's ok?"

It took me minutes to snap back in reality as it was all too sudden for me.

"Yes n...nanny? Uum please come in," I don't know what I'm doing and saying but I urged her to come inside and sit.

She threw me a confused look as I sat on my bed and she hesitantly sat on a chair parallel to mine. I stared at her not believing everything.

Sena, my nanny should've died years ago. She was the one who raised me and treated me like her own child and out of habit I have been calling her nanny, ever since. Sena was also the nanny of my father and she continued to work for us even though father and I were getting old.

"Rose, you're acting weird. Are you sick?" She tried to reach out her hands to check my temperature.

"I'm okay Nanny. There's just something bothering me...wait what's the date today?" She gently withdrew her hands and threw me a confused look.

"It's the 22nd of March"

"Um, the year?" Her face looks distorted as I proceeded to ask her weird questions but I couldn't care less, I needed some answers, some validations.

"2010, Rose are you sure you're fine?"

2010? What is going on right now? I'm sure this year should be 2023. I looked around trying to internalize everything, acting like a child lost in oblivion.

It's like I'm back in the past when everything wasn't going downhill when everything was in their right places.

"Nanny, my head hurts. Can you leave me alone for a while? Please."

"Are you sure? Should I bring some painkillers? Or food? Or what?" I smiled, she's still the same as ever.

I felt tears forming around my eyes, begging to roll down and the urge to hug her was overwhelming but I fought back thinking she would worry more.

"No, it's okay. It's just a normal headache" She looked at me with a worried look and after some contemplations, she went outside.

I closed the door and curled, knees tucked toward my chest and arms coiled around it, like how I always am when I'm scared.

I still can't believe everything that happened. I...I should've died that time.

Did I come back in time? Or was it all just a bad dream? But if it's only a dream then why does it feel so real, the pain and everything. It felt so tangible, it couldn't be a dream.