The Second Ballad- Black Rose

Yaya had tried calling Mary several times, but she never picked up. They didn't exactly live nearby, so she had to beg her parents in the middle of the night to take her to Mary's place. Her mother finally gave in, and Yaya reported to Sara that she was going to get Mary.

[Thank you Yaya, we're all very distressed here and the doctor has been talking to Dad for a long time so we can't get home.]

[I understand, we'll pick Mary up and bring her to the hospital with us]

Yaya tried calling Mary several times, but she still didn't pick up. She looked at her phone it was now 1 am. When they reached Mary's house, something fell off. It was too dark, and even the light in Mary's room seemed to be turned off.

"Agh, if I find out she was just sleeping away while the rest of us are worried as hell, I'm gonna smack her", Yaya informed her mother, who was also exhausted and wanted to go home and rest.

"Just hurry up and get her"

As she reached the door, she realized the door was already unlocked.

'Omg, what if it's a robber? Should I call the police?'

She started to panic, and suddenly heard footsteps walking towards the door. She quickly hid behind the entrance wall and her heart started pounding faster. It was a good thing her mother had parked the car in the back, there was barely any light with the lights turned off in the house.

Someone finally opened the door and stepped outside.

She held her breath.

They closed the door and were now walking in the opposite direction.

'I have to see who it is', yaya winced. She slowly moved her body so that she wouldn't make a sound and caught a quick glimpse.

A familiar face. It was Henson.

'Did they come home together? Did Mary let him inside with her alone? No, she wouldn't do that... and if so, she would've seen him out.

With Henson now out of sight, she once again stood in front of the door, but now she saw a few drops of blood spilled on the floor.

With her hands shaking, and fearing the worst she managed to step inside her friend's house.

She looked around at the dark house and tried to switch on the light, but the lights wouldn't switch on.

"That's so creepy. You know I hate these kinds of things" she whimpered.

From the flash of her phone, she silently went into Mary's room and to her relief found her lying on her bed.

"Mary!" She called out.

No response.

"Mary! Wake up you're scaring me!"

She checked to see if Mary was bleeding, but thankfully she seemed fine. Just in a very deep sleep.

Mary softly snored, and wouldn't wake up even after Yaya shook her.

"Are you seriously pranking me right now? We don't have time for this! Get up!"

It wasn't working.

Yaya felt someone stand behind her. It was dark and the presence of someone else made her scream out loud until they covered her mouth with their bloody hand.

.....

They say true love always finds its way, at least that's what it felt like when I saw Henson. He was sitting alone in the cafe we went to earlier. The entire cafe was empty, and it seemed that the windows were also shattered to pieces.

But when the moonlight lit his fair skin and his calm demeanor, it suddenly all felt so real. 'I could stare at him for years and that wouldn't be enough'.

He looked up and smiled, "You're here?"

'Can he see me or is he talking to someone else?' I looked behind me for confirmation, but there was no one else.

"Come and sit with me," he asked politely.

"Ah, okay" I replied. 'How deprived of love must I be to be seeing Henson here'

As I approached to sit in front of him, I noticed he was wearing a uniform, in the dim room it seemed that he had some smudges of blood on his uniform as well. He wore a bulletproof vest on top and it seemed that he had just come back from fighting a war.

"I have been waiting for you for a while now" he spoke.

"Waiting for me? Did we plan to meet here?"

"No, but I knew you would eventually make it here. I had something to tell you" he looked at me seriously, making my naive heartthrob.

'I wonder if my subconscious is really making this up. He feels so real and so...close.' I thought as I reached out my hand to touch his cheek.

Henson was surprised at my suddenly bold move. But as if he didn't have enough time he grabbed my hand and told me,"Mary, you are stuck in a coma right now. Your physical body isn't safe, you have to hurry and wake up now"

His remark suddenly surprised me. Something fell off about the situation. I looked at him puzzled by his words.

He stood up and said, "Whatever you do, don't trust the narrator. You have to hurry out of here the dream hunters have found your physical body...", he looked at my hand that he was still holding and said in a shy manner "let's talk later okay".

"Ah, okay?" I said, wondering what was going on.

He started exiting the cafe and again the voice of the narrator echoed. Ah, the second ballad.

'Don't trust the narrator? Why?'

["As the boy left the girl in the blue dress to continue fighting the war, I was left with an ache in her heart, a longing that hadn't been fulfilled."]

I rolled my eyes at the narrator's remark. 'Just get on with it'

"From dusk to dawn,

The fighting will go on.

A lost love or a lost soul,

Trust your given role.

Embrace the madness and be saved,

For there are decisions to be made"

Eerie laughter followed the voice of the narrator as if he was enjoying the whole thing.

I stood up and walked towards the door of the cafe and took a deep breath.

"Well, here goes everything", I said as I stepped out in the darkness once again.