Treat You Better

Chapter Fourteen: Trapped in Red Roses

Chapter Fourteen: Trapped in Red Roses.

I'm dreaming.

I know I'm dreaming because I'm really happy.
There's no other explanation.

Oh, and I've seen all this before, this is two and a half years ago, I'm fifteen. This is a memory.

I'm walking down the school hallway with Annie and Susan laughing at a dumb joke we made.

It's spring, there's sunshine and blooming trees outside and we step into the fragranced air.

"Whoa, look!" Susan points and there he is; Hale and his cheeky grin, he's holding roses and they're bright red and vibrant unlike anything I've ever seen.

Before the entire school, he asks me to be his girlfriend and of course I open my mouth to say yes...but the words are stuck in my throat.
This isn't how the memory goes.

I try again but I still can't say yes. Hale's grin melts into a terrifying glare and suddenly I don't want to say the word.
"Say yes, Violet" Hale growls, his words spiking irrational fear in my heart.

I take a step back and suddenly my friends are gone, everyone is gone, the school is gone and I'm standing in emptiness. It's just Hale and me and the red, red roses. I'm terrified.

"Go away!" I scream when he takes a step closer. Thank God, my voice is working again.

"Speak up, Violet. I can't hear you" he replies but he's not using his voice, it's Franca's voice.

Suddenly I realize Hale's been a puppet the whole time, his strings attached to Franca's fingers. She's in the darkness somewhere, everywhere, controlling him.

"Have some flowers, Violet" Their voices cajole me as Hale holds up the red roses, blood dripping down them to the ground at his feet. "Be my girlfriend, I love you."

"No, please leave me alone!" I cry, I want to turn and run; I can't. I want my mother but I can't feel her.

The roses slip from Hale's wooden fingers and land at my feet with a wet sound, growing and spreading and bleeding and wrapping around me, trapping me, their wonderful perfume all I can smell...

"Violet!" Annie's urgent voice called as she shook me awake.
I jolted up so fast I nearly head-butted her. I could still smell roses, I didn't want to smell them anymore.

"What's wrong, are you okay?" Annie asked but I dizzily scrambled out of the bed to escape the fragrance.

"Hey come back, Violet!" My friend exclaimed but I was already out the door, breathing the fresh air from the window at the end of our corridor.

Once I felt better, I slumped to the floor and put my head in my hands. I'd like to say I didn't cry but the tears were pouring uncontrollably.

"What happened?" Susan asked in alarm and I heard the bathroom door close.

"Shhh!" Annie hissed.

I raised my head to look at them: Annie in pink pajamas that showed her bellybutton and Susan in her white towel stained green with hair dye, glasses fogged up from the shower. They both looked super concerned.

"What happened?" Susan asked again, whispering this time.

"I just had a bad dream, I'm fine" I explained in a croaky voice.

"Are you?" Annie asked, sitting on the floor near me and hugging my head to her. "You were telling someone to go away and leave you alone in your sleep."