Page 3 of Their Dark Rose

The angry man roars. He’s mad. He wants to eat me alive.

Like a monster.

“Come over here.” His eyes lock on mine.

He may wear a snow-white sweater. May be in the same dark pants he always wears. But he doesn’t fool me.

This isn’t the Falk I remember. He’s the bad guy the fairytales I read warn us about.

And he has his wicked big, red-rimmed eyes set on me. “This instant, Briar Rose.”

The name he calls me falls on my ears, hurting my eardrums.

The sound of it means I’m in trouble.

Worse than trouble.

He won’t cool down.

He hates me.

They hate me. All three of them.

Their anger shows in their deep scowls. They’ve never been upset with me until today, and it’s strange. And painful.

I only know what anger looks like from Daddy. When he misses his medicine, he gets so mad.

Except…Mason, Falk, and Finn don’t take any medicine that I remember.

They’re just angry. With me.

If they won’t love me anymore, who will?

My heart aches. It slams against my ribs, hard enough to break them.

My grandparents died before I was born. My only aunt, Mommy’s sister, Mallie, hasn’t brought her stepson to play since the incident.

I’m an only child.

Mommy hugs me sometimes. Every few months or so.

Whatever I learned about love, I learned from these people right here.

They can’t hate me. They can’t.

I clutch the plaid blue tie of our uniform, plastering it to my achy heart. As if doing so would keep my little body from ripping in half with pain.

I’m so confused.

The white clock fixed at the front of the class ticks loudly as I stare blankly ahead.

The clock is patient.

Mason used to be patient, too. Mason is the one who carries me to the balcony of our Boston penthouse whenever Daddy’s sick and vomits on the floor. He reads to me until my tears stop raining down my cheeks.

He’s lost his patience today.

“Come.” He points his finger to the space next to him. His silver watch gleams beneath his dark gray suit jacket. “Here.”

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