The Bloody Rose By: Bella Roosa

Trigger Warning: Violence and Gore

The Bloody Rose

“STOP NO” 

I fall back, feeling the warm blood soak into the skin on my face, covering my eyes. Stumbling, making it to the bathroom. I cling onto everything in my way for balance, feeling for the right path. Finally, when reaching the doorway, I slowly but cautiously walkthrough. My hand’s grip into the counter for dear life, as my knees shake in fear and frustration.

As I wash the blood out of my eyes, I feel nothing but burning and stinging—causing my vision to be blurred—I see nothing but darkness. My vision blurs but slowly adjusts to the darkness, blinking, and washing. I hear a loud noise break the silence...

"Boo"

My eyes shoot open suddenly, causing me to lurch backward, hitting my head on the bathroom wall behind me. From the overwhelming impact of the fall, I hear it crack open, sounding like that crack of a broken egg. All I feel is the warm blood seeping from the midst of it. In a panic, my hand reaches back to grab the back of my head to compose the hole starting to form. 

Barely conscious, I look up at the reflection in the mirror and scream, seeing the petrifying image looking back at me. It’s her, the bullet shot through her head, dripping throughout her face like a waterfall of red. I break down, as I see the tears turn black in overwhelming and unbearable pain. I watch as the socket where my eyes should be is slowly fading to black nothingness as she seems to disappear. She reaches out in desperation as if trying to tell me something...

"Save me"

Beep Beep 

My alarm buzzes as I shoot up out of fear, gasping for air. It was only a nightmare, I reassured myself, grabbing my heart in distress. I slam off my alarm and sit up, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Coming to my senses, I pull back my sheets and glance over at my alarm clock marking the time: 7:55am.

“OH NO,”

I scream out loud to no one. Then coming to the realization that I’m going to be late once again, I shoot up out of bed, scrambling to grab a piece of clothing in the filthiness of my hamper. I throw my scattered schoolwork in my bag. Tasting the warm breath on my face from the heavy breathing, I feel sweat start to form in droplets in the back of my neck and throughout my body.

Making my way to the kitchen, I grab a bagel from inside the counter. Stuffing my face, I sprint out the door as fast as humanly possible, speeding at the speed of light. Additionally, I start on my fast walk to school.

On my way to school, I came to a halting stop. I fall to my knees holding my head in pain. My heart starts pounding out of my chest, exactly like the book The Tell-Tale Heart. All of a sudden, I get this flash of the same nightmare. I hear this overwhelming ringing sensation until I feel it. I see her again. As I watch the bullet hole in her head, she says once again, “Save me, SAVE ME, SAVEE MEEE”

“AHHH” I howl in pain. 

Abruptly, the illusion disappears and the pain goes away in a snap. I stand back up and hold my head as I continue on my path, questioning the strange occurrence once again. 

As I make it into the classrooms, I watch kids' heads turn deliberately, as if they were curious meerkats. The teacher giving the lecture stops talking, while I try to sneak to the back of the classroom. She peers at me through her tiny glasses and I realize I’m caught red-handed.

“Well you see...there was this train”

“Hold your breath and take a seat young lady, I don’t want to hear any more excuses from you.”

“Yes ma'am”

The whole class is now staring right at me, some out of pity, others out of amusement for my embarrassment. My face burns and I take my seat, keeping my pride down in anguishment. 

The class goes by slowly and I struggle to keep my eyelids open. 

“So today we’re learning about the troubles that the Romans…….Show that…... Therefore, the greeks.”

I zone in and out of class, trying to pay attention but failing inadequately. Pen in hand, I feel myself drift, making myself shoot up to stay awake. After a while, I let sleep win and I feel myself sink away as I doze off…

I see dark colors, but a bright canvas in my dream. This time, thankfully, I don’t see the girl or any sign of her.  However, I find myself walking in a rose garden, which leaves me even more lost.

I breathe in the fresh air of the garden, as I spin and twirl and I look up at the light blue sky. The sky looks is an ocean—the clouds tossing and turning—replicating the waves of white and grey. My curiosity gets the best of me, and I approach the roses, but soon realize they do not smell like flowers, but rather like death. I picked one up but soon regretted my decision. The rose melts in my hand and turns to wet blood.  I look closely at the reflection, and I see a gun being pointed. That’s when I hear a loud

BANG

` “NOOO'' I shriek, screaming at the top of my lungs as I look around panicked. I breathe like a horse who just did a race, tired and filled with sweat. I notice eyes staring at me in concern and confusion. Realizing I am still in class, I slowly turn my head to the teacher, seeing the rage filling her eyes.

“I-I’m sorry. I thought I saw a...bug”

“Office. NOW.” She yells and I hear gasps from my fellow classmates. I put my head down again and pack up my things as I make my way to hell that awaits me.

“Hi, Mr. Lundle. I was sent here-”

“I know why you’re here, take a seat please.” He motions for the seats in front of him and I choose one and nervously, but cautiously sit.

“You have detention on Friday”

“But-”

“Uh-uh, nope” He shakes his head and dismisses me.

“Yes..sir..” I say monotonous. He turns around and starts typing something, probably writing up the detention form. 

A chilling breeze makes its way into the room, and chills go down my spine. As this occurs, I also feel the presence of someone sitting right next to me.

In my peripheral vision, I see the girl once again. Her dead eyes looking forward, slowly creaking her head to look at me. She stands up and makes her way over to me, but my eyes stare straight ahead, not wanting to look at her again. When she’s close enough to my face, I feel her cold breath as she whispers,

“You are running out of time, I guess my blood is on your hands now.” 

I feel a sharp poke on my hands and look to see a rose appearing in my hand. The cut in my skin gets deep and starts gushing out aggressively, causing blood to bash throughout the chair and the rug. I stand up and start toppling as I back away, not moving my eyes from my hands. 

“Hello?! HELLO?!” The principal rushes to my side, putting a hand on my shoulder, concerned for the sudden panic in my voice. I look up at him with immense, terrified eyes.

“CALL THE POLICE, THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE. LOOK-” As I look, it’s suddenly gone, there’s no trace of blood or a rose or any type of evidence of the image I just saw. 

“But it was just….here..” Confused, my eyebrows curl up like caterpillars. 

“I-I d-what? It was just here!” enthusiastic IN state

The principal sent me to the police station due to my unstable condition and lack of sanity. As I walk the long halls of the school, I watch as the other kids clear the path and stare at me in awe. I put my hood on, in embarrassment. Friends turn to each other and whisper, while others just stand, open-mouthed, like a childish cartoon on TV. I can only imagine all the things they’re saying…

“Did you hear what happened?”

“No, did you?”

“I heard that she screamed at the teacher, disrespecting her right in her face”

“But she’s always so quiet and seems so nice”

“I guess some people just lose their touch on reality.”

“Hahahahaa, I know right. She went from a quiet girl to a crazy girl. Guess she should've just kept her mouth shut”

As I try to drown out the chaos and obvious gossiping around me, I get the same cold feeling once again. I feel her presence, always watching me, never leaving me alone. I look down and I see I am now walking on rose petals, knowing that they lead to something behind me. My blood goes cold as my head slowly creaks, not wanting to see but already knowing what to expect. Looking around, I see her narrowed eyes staring back at me from the hallway of the floor. She’s now crawling to me and leaving traces of blood like a road of evidence. Everyone around me seems to disappear as her surroundings go dim. Once again, I feel like I’m trapped in the bathroom. 

“WHY CANT YOU SAVE ME” she screams in pure agony, like a blood-chilling scream, like nails on a chalkboard.

“Are you there? ARE YOU OKAY?”

The police call out once again, and I plunge fast into reality

“Oh-I uh”

“What’s wrong with you? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost,” the policeman jokes, but suddenly stops when he sees my serious but wide-eyed face. He turns his head back around, continuing on his path.

As a response, I mumble under my breath, “That's because I have”

I continue on my way and drag my feet to his car. I feel the hard rocks beneath my feet and change my speed to avoid the mud that would soon start. The clouds start colliding together, causing the sky to fade to frown in discomfort. I agree.

As soon as we get to the police station, I am confronted with detectives about my current condition. Knowing that they wouldn’t believe me, I confess everything about what happened. I told them about the girl, about the gun, and how she wouldn’t stop haunting me. I was questioning why I didn’t see her in the police station, but I shrugged it off, glad that she left me alone.

“And so yeah, that’s pretty much everything. I know you won’t believe me, but I had to get it all off my chest.”

When I look up at their faces, I’m surprised to see their faces gone pale with worry.

“I’m sorry, did I say anything?”

“Can you please describe the girl to us?”

“I-uh, yeah sure. Blue eyes, black dark hair that stops at her shoulders.”

They exchange looks of pure fear as if I knew something I wasn’t supposed to. Wait, is this girl real?

“Look, you need to go home now. Don’t mention anything to anyone and never speak of this experience again. Be safe and make sure to don't do anything that would get anyone hurt"

“Okay, do you know her?”

“No we don’t, we just...are worried for you”

“Oh okay”

I quickly but surely get up from my seat and gather my belongings. I find it strange the sudden urgency in his voice. As I make my way to the stairs, I feel her again.

Go in there, go right

“But I’m not supposed to..”

I said GO

I make a right turn and walk into the room, closing the door quietly behind me. I fall on my knees, feeling the pain throbbing in my temples.

Don’t be afraid, let me show you something Bella

I see a sudden flashback and watch as she shows me what happened in the room. I see the girl get shot by the policemen. The rose dream, the mirror, it all happened.

No one seems to remember me, not even the man who killed me. I want revenge for what he did. Only YOU can stop this from happening.

“Why me though?”

Because I really need your help, and I know you can help

“I help people not…”

Ghosts, I know, I know. But I just don’t get why everyone forgot about me and I want YOU to solve this mystery. He killed me, he deserves the same fate I had.

“What is your name?”

My name is Marralyn, I died at age 12. In this very room, I was holding a rose. I died with the rose in my hand, and I was never seen again. The worst part was that no one could see my real face, only my reflection. No one knew, no one remembered and I don’t know why.

“I’m so sorry-”

An officer spots me from the window and storms in the office

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOUNG LADY?”

“I was just-uh-I”

Tell him you were bringing Officer hawklin the paperwork for Joanani

“I was bringing Officer Hawklin the paperwork for Joanna-I mean Joanani”

“Okay, sorry for intruding”

He leaves the room, with his head down, flustered, as if he wasn’t supposed to shout at me.

“Good work, how did you know that?”

I’m dead, I know and see everything, duh.

I spot a rose bush hidden in the corner of the room, probably evidence of her death, and take it off the vine.

Walking through the room, I spot a drawer that seems to be filled with work. I go through the paperwork and search for her name. In the year 2006, it says her date of birth but death, it seems to be today's date.

“Weird,” I emphasize out loud.

Why do you think so?

“It’s like you-”

Never existed.

Then I hear a loud,

BANG

and that’s when I realized, I was the girl. 

The reflection was my own...