The Promise

This is a fictional story about a girl, named rose, who is being tortured and forced to kill her family. It's a short story of this girl and one of her brothers. It was meant to be sad for readers.

I caught myself on the ledge of the window. One of my hands on the wall, the other resting on the windowsill, but my legs could not hold my body up. I rested there, and I heard Vincent slam the door. Again I was in this horrible room, with another person in my family who was slowly dying. The seconds I sat perched on my knees, clinging onto the window seemed to grow longer. I knew that soon I would be forced to stop the suffering of my brother. I could hear Aiden's breathing, it seemed almost forced. I could tell each breath was getting harder for him. My hand still lay flat on the wall, and I slowly lowered it, till I it rested in on my lap. Blood was stained against my palm and I looked up to see my print now etched onto the wall. Then with a slight shift in my eyes, I realized that I was face to face with someone.
Through the window there was a girl. She looked horrible, run down, and almost lost, as she couldn't find the person she once was. Her hair, was tangled and dried blood covered her face and arm. I could only wonder if that blood was hers, or someone she loved. Maybe it was neither. Maybe she was like Vincent, killing innocent people, torturing every person who had family. You couldn't tell who she was, especially since her eyes seemed so....Dead. Then almost in an instant, a wave of shame and sadness came over me. The worst part was not that I was sitting here looking at a window, not knowing if I was going to live through the rest of the day, no that was nothing compared to what I had just realized. That girl was me, and I couldn't even tell. This person is my reflection. If I had any hope I had a second ago for my future, it was now gone. I had not realized how much I had changed, how dead I looked for being a walking live human. Before I could continue my thoughts, I heard Aiden behind me, willing his way to speak. Turning towards him, I half crawled half drug myself in his direction. He smiled when he saw I was there, and I gently picked up his head and sat with him. The wound on his stomach was more than still gushing blood, it barely even looked like part of the human body. I immediately started to rip a piece of my shirt to try to clean it, or wrap it, or anything to just try to help him hold on a tiny bit longer. My hands were shaking and I repeated the same thing over. Out loud and in my head I said, "do not worry, i am here. Everything happens for a reason." But I stopped fiddling with the cloth when Aiden just kept resisting it. "Please, Aiden! I need to help you. This is my fault, and I am the only one here who is going to be able to do anything to help you!" I kept my voice from shaking and I put the urgency I felt into every syllable. Still Aiden did not let me continue. "No, please Rose. Do not continue to try and tend to my wounds. It will not work, you know I have the virus." Every word he spoke seemed to be a struggle, but I knew everything he said was true. Yet there was still parts of my old self inside of me somewhere because instead of agreeing and just awaiting his death, I continued to try to and help him. "No, Aiden, I have lost everyone. You should never give up hope, because I told you, everything happens for a reason. You heard me say that!" Tears were now streaming down my face and I thought about every possible thing to try, but every scenario had the same outcome for Aiden. How could everything happen for a reason if people are dying every minute. There should never be death. I couldn't even believe my own words, I looked up from the gash in his stomach, ready to give him more encouragement to try and keep going, but his eyes were closed. Every time I heard him breathe I thought it could not get worse, and yet now it was. "He is not dead yet," I tell myself. Ever so gently I shake him and his eyes again peel open. My tears were continuing to fall and he tried to wipe them from my cheeks. I looked into his eyes, knowing it might be the last time I ever see them. "I have not lost hope Rose. You give everyone hope and none of this is your fault. Someday you will see the reason for this. I know you will make it in this world. You are very strong and nothing should rob you of your spirit." He managed a smile into his words, so I tried my best to give him a pretty smile back. He is not going to see another thing outside this room, and I want him to think that I believe that I could make it. "Please,Aiden, do not leave me! Please, I need you!" He was crying as well, but he almost forced himself to stop. I knew he was trying to calm me, he tried to show me that it seemed bad, but he was not scared. His voice was barely a whisper now, he probably couldn't manage much more. "I need to have you promise me something Rose, please." He held out his pinky knowing that i would never break a pinky promise. Before he continued I had a feeling about what he was about to ask of me. I could not keep this promise for one single purpose, but still I let him ask. If any part of me was left, I knew that giving him hope for myself gave hope to him. "Rose, look at me," I held his hand tight and again forced a smile towards him, "promise me this, you will not let him break you?" My heart dropped, I knew that was going to have to be my promise. I locked my pinky in his and shook it slightly. "I promise you Aiden." He smiled one last time and before he could say another word, his eyes closed for the final time. His pinky slipped from mine but I grabbed his hand and held it as tight as I could. He was gone, the only thing I could hear was my own sobs, getting louder each second. His blood now freshly covered my arms and legs. I pushed a piece of hair from my face and felt the warmth of blood on my cheek. "I love you Aiden" my voice was barely loud enough for my own ears to pick up, my emotions inside my head seemed to be screaming. Laying his head down gently, I kissed his forehead and then made my way back to the window.
I laid there for several minutes, unable to control the horrid stream of tears that never seemed to run out. "My promise!" I thought. He made me promise to not let Vincent, and probably the world itself, break me. I let his last words tumble through my mind, but the more I thought about it, the worse I felt. Finally I gazed back at Aiden's body, the promise rolling off my lips one last time. Then I turned back to the window and stared at myself. He wants me to promise not to let anything break me. Looking at the person in the window I had the real response to his promise. "Too late!" I whispered.

Author's Note

This was part of the wilting rose book I am writing which I know I haven't updated in a long time. Eventually in that story, Rose was going to get to this part of her life. This was just one struggle out of many but it was also the point when her spirit was tested. What do you think? How did it make you feel? It was meant to be an extremely sad moment in the book, and after reading to this point you would know the characters well which would add to the emotion.