𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄 [18+]

70: Insect of the Bloom

Play the saddest music in your playlist for this chapter.

"An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind."

— Mahatma Gandhi

Rose's POV:

The silent, insouciant caligo of the dark night shed itself into an even darker carapace as the hoots of solemn owls and the howls of street dogs gnawed through the marrow of the seraphic yet tainted acronychal murk. It only added to the twisted charm of the night, just like sunshine and warm breeze added to the charm of the day.

I let out another yawn as my hands hovered over the keyboard of the MacBook Air in front of me as I stared at the screen blankly, my heart thrumming in a steady rate.

Before me, a page of some clinical website was opened. A page that I had been going through for past couple of minutes. The title read 'Paranoid Personality Disorder: Causes, Symptoms, Medications, Treatments.'

For the last couple of hours, I had been going through the frightening disorders Marienne possessed. The more I knew, the more terrifying and pitiful it became.

We had arrived at the manor at probably six. Traffic was pretty bad today so it took us longer than we had anticipated- throughout our ride and the rest of our time together before we had retired to bed, there remained a peaceful atmosphere between us.

It was almost like we had come to an understanding, like mature adults- putting our demons aside for a couple of while.

When the doctor blatantly said today that Marienne had a liking towards me, I remember being flabbergasted and then feeling shy. I felt like this schoolgirl who got an extremely handsome boy to like her. Though I didn't ask Marienne whether it was true or not, I could tell it wasn't entirely false.

I mean he wasn't even trying to hide it.

A blush crept up my cheeks, but I quickly concealed the warm, blossoming feeling with a shrug- even though no one was around to see it. I was probably afraid of being too transparent.

If the circumstances were different, I would probably have a liking towards him too. Currently, I was pretty unaware of my feelings- that was the sole reason why I refused to acknowledge any and every feelings that Marienne might have to offer me.

However, I have been procrastinating ever since we had come to our agreement. Once in the car whilst our ride back, he had let me know of his desire to get to know me better. He said and I quote, "The only thing I currently wish is to get to know every bit of you."

I was in a dilemma, whether I was to be petrified by his statement considering what he had inflicted upon Madeline or whether I was to feel oddly special- I didn't know. I was in a constant battle with myself.

That still didn't refrain me from feeling like a schoolgirl.

The mature and the well-developed part of my brain told me that I, too, should get to know him better. My knowledge regarding Paranoia and Schizophrenia only went as far- so I thought it would probably be for the betterment that I got to understand him as well.

I wanted to know the beast more clearly.

The idea had struck upon me when we were having dinner. Although I did have a phone, I didn't use it as much, quite contrary to Calissa who was always on her phone. Call me old-fashioned, but staring at the screen for a long time made me feel weird.

The mansion had a fantastic internet access. I have known it since my arrival- I even tried to take advantage of it but my old iPhone 3 couldn't handle it as it didn't have a super charged ram.