Chapter 10

It was 1 30 in the morning, and the only light in town that was on was ours. Funny how now I call Dr. Isiah's home 'our' home now. It's only been a week since we found him, and we already are known as his family. The people in town thought we were his two nephews and their girlfriend, who got into an accident on the way here and had to stay with Isiah for the time being. We stuck to that story, which was partly true. If we got exposed, well...If we got exposed, it would be the end of us. Although the entire world will still keep turning, we'd be gone. Nobody would miss us, of course. Our families thought we were dead, died in the harsh winter as fugitives. 

Anyways, it was 1 30 in the morning, and I was leaning my head against my palm, about to fall asleep in the middle of our card game Benji asked for. "One more round! Just one!" He'd cry out, and every time one round ended, he'd repeat, "One more round! Just one!" And Charlie would roll his eyes and smile at him, and say, " Fine, just one more. But then we are going to bed, okay?" Benji would nod furiously and Isiah would deal out another hand.

"Looks like Rosaline's about to crash," Charlie said, smiling and bumping his knee on mine to jolt me out of semi consciousness. 

"Yeah. Can this be the last round?" I muttered in Benji's direction.

"Sure. But tommorow we're playing again, okay?" I admired his 10 year old innocence and hoped it wouldn't fade soon. 

"Okay, Benji. Whatever." The round started and everyone put their cards on the table. Isiah won with a king, jack, queen, and ace, stunning us all.

"How'd you get those?!" Benji cried. 

"It just happened," He replied, and stood up, stretching. " Alright, guys. Bed." He led Benji to the spare patient's room, where I heard Isiah give Benji sleeping herbs. He hasn't been sleeping much since he almost died, and we wondered if it might be trauma from being afraid of unconsciousness since he was in unconsciousness when he almost died. "You guys," Isiah said when he returned. " Don't make too much noise up there, okay? Be asleep by 2 at the latest...We have church in the morning."

"Okay, Doctor. Night!" Charlie called, bounding up the stairs with loud steps.

"Night, Isiah. Thanks for everything." I said, and turned to meet Charlie in our room.

"You know, you don't have to say that every night. It was no issue, really. I needed company anyways." He said, his thin lips turning into a smile.

"Night,"  I called over my shoulder as I walked up the stairs to my room.  I literally fell into bed next to Charlie, who, ever since our kiss at the window, pushed our beds together into one. I didn't even take my shoes off, I was so tired. Pulling the wool blanket over my head, I closed my eyes. 

"Hey, Rosaline." I murmered a hello and rolled over to face him. "You up?" 

"Mmhmm." I still had my eyes closed. He put two cold hands up to my eyes to make me open them, though. " What." I was already grumpy from lack of sleep.

"Do you think we'll ever see our families again?" He asked seriously, and now my grumpiness was gone, replaced with concern.

"I hope so." I thought of Haley, who made the promise to find me, no matter what. What did she think now? That I was dead? Well, if she did and gave up finding me, no doubt I would find her. 

"We have to, Rosaline. I miss my family. This was never supposed to happen. I was never supposed to get accused, go to jail, or even meet you. None of that was supposed to happen. " I suppress the hurt from my face, but it must've showed. "No, that's not what I meant. I love you, okay? You're the only good thing that's happened since the accusation."

"Thanks." I murmured, looking down. I don't know how to handle compliments, its just a pet peeve. I can't help it. "How are we going to find them, though?"

"We know where they live, right?" I nodded. "Then we'll bring up the subject to Doctor in the morning. Plan?" I nodded again, lost in thought. Seeing Haley.... That would be better than seeing Charlie. No offense, I love him and all...But Haley''s my little sister.

He grinned. "Good!" Hugging me sideways, he said, " I can't wait to see mum again. Who do you want to see again?"

"Just my little sister." I said, a hint of sadness in my voice. God, I missed her.

"How old is she?" 

"She turned nine, er... What day is it?" If I missed her 9th birthday, i'd have to get her a present.

"The 23." He said. "November, remember," He teased, smiling, checking if I still had all my marbles.

"Oh my god! Her birthday's tommorow!" I cried out, suddenly in panic. "I have to go- Now."

I scrambled out of bed and put my shoes on. 

" I'm coming with you, then." He got up and threw the first shirt he saw over his head.

"No,  you cant. You have to watch Benji! He'll think we abandoned him."  He shook his head.

" We'll leave a letter." He said, getting a pad of paper and a quill, handing it to me.

"Fine.." I muttered, and wrote:

Benji and Isiah,

We have gone to find my sister. Her ninth birthday is tommorow, and I must let her know i'm alive. Word has spread to my hometown i have been slaughtered, i'm sure. Don't worry, we'll be back. We just had to go, right now.

Thanks for everything,

Rosaline and Charlie.

We left then, quietly opening the door and thankful Isiah  installed a new, less creaky one. Silently we ran in our leather boots on the cobblestone streets, in complete darkness. "What town are we in?" I asked Charlie while we ran. 

"Doctor said Peabody." 

"And we need to get to Beverly." I said, wanting to scream aloud. How were we to get to Beverly in just one night without a horse!?

"We could call a cab," He said.

" Do you have money?"

"Well, no.." He muttered.

"Then we can't." 

"Wait!" He said, stopping in his tracks.

"There are cabs that don't ask for pay until the end of the ride. We could just jump out then, or make a scene on the cab so he doesn't ask for money." He said confidently.

"That actually might work. What scene could we make?" 

" I don't know. We'll figure it out on the ride there."  He said, grabbing my hand and walking in the main streets looking for a cab. When we finally found one, a thin, caucasian man opened the door for us.

"Where to?" He said in a gravelly voice.

"Peabody." I said.

"Now, aren't you a pretty one, dear?" He flirted, and i sat back in my seat, leaning into Charlie.

"Don't get any ideas." Charlie growled.

"Oh, now don't be silly," I said in a fake girly voice. " This guy's just my cousin, don't worry about him, sir." I kicked Charlie from under the chair. Our scene had already started to unravel.

When we were there there, I had gotten the driver to kiss my cheek, much to Charlie's jealousy, which  I noticed I kind of liked when he got protective of me. 

"So why are you going to Peabody at this time of night?" He asked, squeezing my knee. I was disgusted, but I hid it under my fake grin.

"Daddy's birthday." I said, and giggled. "His 3rd 34th birthday party."

"Oh, haha. Someone doesn't like to grow old, huh?" He chuckled and leaned in to me, beer on his breath.

I feigned an angry face. "Don't you ever say that about my father!" I abruptly stood up and walked out of the cart. "How dare you insult my father!" 

"I-I-" He stuttered. "I didn't mean to! You were just-" 

"No! Don't speak! Come on, Gerald, let's go. This man is being a real jerk to uncle Sam!" Charlie joined me outside and we stomped off in the direction of the village. The driver, shaking his head, sat back on his horse and rolled off back to Peabody. When he was out of sight, Charlie immediately started laughing so hard his eyes watered. 

"Good show, darling! Daddy would be proud!!" He sweeped me into a huge hug. "Just don't make me jealous next time, it's not a great feeling," He said, kissing me. "I'm not gunna be able to kiss that cheek though, until it's properly washed." 

"Thanks, Charlie." I said, kissing him back. "Now lets go, it's almost daylight, and I want to see Haley as soon as possible."

We ran off to the town, which was deserted, seeming it  was only four in the morning. The church stood as always, although it was covered with a  layer of snow. I found my old home really easily, since i had lived in there for 17 years of my life. It looked untended, with vines from the garden climbing the sides. What had happened here? The door had faded paint, and the roof was missing a panel. I cautiously knocked on the door, afraid of who would answer. 

Nobody answered. For a minute I thought the house had been abandoned, but then I heard a muffled sob. Haley's sob. "Haley!" I cried out, tugging on the door. It wouldn't open.

"Let me try." Charlie kicked it open with all his might, but it wouldn't open. "Let's do it together," He said, and we banged our bodies against the door until the door cracked and burst open.

Beer bottles lay on the ground, as well as wine and spiced rum. An ant lazily walked on the floor, and a fly buzzed around the couch. It smelled horribly of urine, old food, and beer. "Haley?" I cried out, stumbling over the glass bottles.

"Rosaline." A bottle smashed right next to my face. My grandfather stood there, drunk as ever with crazy eyes. "You're dead! They told us you were dead!" He picked up another bottle and threw it at Charlie, who had enough smarts to duck. "And who's this, you w***e? Your w***e boyfriend? How many of those do you got now, you s**t?"

My eyes filled with tears. How had he gotten to be like this? "Grandfather! What has gotten into you! What's wrong with you?!"

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you, you witch?!" He threw one more bottle at me.

"She's not a witch!!" A voice appeared behind him, and there stood my sister, blood running down her face from a head wound and bruises up her arms. 

"Oh my god!" I rushed over to her, not caring that Grandfather was standing right in front of her and i banged into him. "Haley!" I hugged her lightly, not wanting to hurt her any more than she already was. "What did he do to you?!" 

"Nothing. nothing. Nothing. " She repeated over and over.

"Yes, he did something! Did he tell you to say that if anyone asked?!" She nodded slowly, her brown hair in greasy knots.

" Oh, my god. Go see Charlie. It'll all be alright, okay? Just go see him." She rushed past Grandfather towards Charlie, who immediately hugged her to his stomach. 

"Will you be alright in here alone?" He asked as I stared down my now evil grandfather.

"Yeah, just take her outside and clean her up." I said, so afraid of what my grandfather had become.

"What happened to you?" 

"They told me you were a witch, just a filthy little w***e. I guess its true, since you came home with that man!" He pulled out a kitchen knife.

"No, grandfather! I'm not a witch, not a w***e, not a s**t! Can't you understand that?!" I shouted at him.

"No! The other priests were right! I should've cut off your food supply the first day you were in there!" He cut a line on his wrist. I took the knife away from him, seeing much more scars on his arms, much like Sarah's had.

"Do you see how much i've been through!? Do you not see what happened to me?! You're putting Haley through worse than I!" I screamed.

"She deserves all of it, that skank!" He screamed back, coming closer to me every step.

" You need to stop being abusive and drunk, grandfather! You aren't still pastor, right?!" 

"They fired me after you were accused. It's all of your fault this happened to Haley- It's all your fault this happened to me!" He  plunged a knife deep into my arm. I cried out in pain, and ran out the door, pulling the knife out. 

"I'm taking her with me!" I screamed, and, holding my wound, ran off to call a cab for my family.