All Will Fade to Black [Closed]

No.... No.... No! Brown eyes with tears starting to well up in them stared down a piece of paper that sat in shaky hands. A single word was uttered out breaking the silence that sat in the dorm. "No.." Rose's fear stricken eyes continued to stare at the crinkled paper, with sloppily written words on it, but she could read it because she knew this hand writing. She knew she shouldn't have opened the letter, but she did... and now she was regretting it.

Her whole small form was trembling. She couldn't move, she was frozen in place as her mind continued to run the words through her mind. 'I found you..' and 'Things can go back to the way they used to be.' Stuck out the most to her, and they scared her. Tears dripped onto the sheet of paper with a soft pap. She let the paper fall from her hands, and she uttered out a small "No.." once again. She stepped back from the piece of paper, keeping her terrified eyes trained on it. She kept backing away like the piece of paper was cursed.

She kept moving back until she hit a wall, to which she slowly slid down until her knees were at her chest, and her hands were placed on the side of her head. Tears were streaming down her face as memories came flooding back. Terrible, pain filled memories. "No... no no no no no no no no..." She repeated as she tried in vain to calm herself down. "It's no longer safe here... it's not safe... wanna go home..." Her mouth was pressed close to her knees, and muffled the sounds she was making. Her, now, dull brown eyes were still wide as they stared at the stained, crinkled piece of paper sitting on the floor a good many feet in front of her.

Edward felt that it was time to check on Rose. It had been awhile and it had been bugging him. He was concerned for the girl. He approached her dorm room in the Spring dormitories and knocked. "Rose? You in there?" he said through the wood of the door. Hopefully, she would answer and not one of her roommates. He had not had the pleasure of meeting them yet, but he didn't exactly want to either. But if one of them did answer, at least he could ask where Rose was.

Rose's eyes went to the door as soon as she heard the knock, and then heard Ed's voice, but it didn't exactly get through. Her mind was stuck in a loop of bad experiences and memories. She knew help was just behind that door, but her mind also told her that danger could be behind that door, and to not answer it. It was just another guy coming to use her. She let out a small whimper at the memory, and then tucked her head down so she couldn't see anything. She didn't need to see anything, she didn't want to see anything. She didn't want to hear anything. She wanted to be left alone, she wanted to be safe, and safe wasn't here. Safe didn't seem to be anywhere to the girl anymore. She choked back sobs to keep herself from making a noise. She didn't want to attract any attention or dangerous attention.

The Winter waited for an answer. When he didn't get one, he tested the knob. Thankfully it was unlocked, so he went in. He looked around and found a crumpled piece of paper. He picked it up and looked around more. He found Rose against the wall nearest to the door. "Rose? What's wrong?" he asked, not caring about the letter at this point.

Rose didn't even acknowledge that Edward came in. She just continued to sit huddled up against the wall. She knew that someone came in, and that some one was talking to her, but she didn't want to see who it was. She didn't want to deal with whoever it was.. She just uttered out in a soft tone.. "No... no.. don't want to deal... want to be safe... not safe here.." It was honestly surprising that her gift wasn't acting up at this point. They must have been doing something right at the school. She continued to let out sobs, and whimpers. Her arms wrapped themselves around her knees, and she curled herself up even more.

Edward sat next to the girl, scooting his way down the wall. He couldn't quite hear what the girl was saying. "Rose? What is it? What's wrong?" he asked her, concerned. He opened the letter and had a hard time reading what it wrote. What was in this letter that caused her to break down like this?

Rose felt the presence of someone next to her, and it scared she didn't like it. She didn't know the person was trying to help her. So in reaction she scooted away from him slightly, though it seemed more like a reflex. Her sobs continued to escape, and various forms of the word no escaped her in constant mutters, and mentions of being unsafe. Her hands returned to the side of her head, and her eyes were still wide with fear, and terror. Tears were still streaming down her face.

Edward noticed that she moved away from her. "Rose it's me. It's Edward." he said, putting his hand on her shoulder. He shook her slightly to get her attention. The Winter listened to her sobbing and noticed that she was saying no over and over again. What was she saying no to? What had happened? What was in that letter?

Rose stiffened immediately when she felt his hand. She didn't want to go through what was coming next. She had gone so long without it, she was finally getting better, but now it was back, and for once she was going to fight. Well sort of. She sucked in a breath, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" She basically said at a volume that people could have sworn she wouldn't have been able to reach before. Her gift flaring up as she backed away, but instead of giving the boy physical pain, it gave him all the emotional pain she was feeling at the moment. The fear of the letter and being found again. The years of physical and sexual abuse she went through. Once she was a safe distance away, she curled up again and sobbed again. "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.." She said over and over again in her soft voice, trying to avoid the pain she thought was coming. The punishment for acting out, though it wasn't going to happen.

Had it not been a surprise, Ed would have been prepared for the oncoming rush of emotions and memories. He felt scared, scared for the first time since he was 12. And along with that came the emotional pain that came with being abused, nothing he wasn't already accustomed to. But there was something more to it, something deeper. Like he had been violated. He felt disgusted by the feeling. That pain subsided as he came back into focus and noticed Rose had moved away from him and was now mumbling "I'm sorry" over and over again. "So that's what happened to you..." he said in a hushed voice. He looked again at the letter and focused. He could just barely tell what it said, and even then it was his best guess as to what it said. "You know what? I'd like to see them even attempt to get close to you. They won't be able to mutter "Rose" without my hands around their throats." he said, his eyes burning with an icy rage. Nobody was ever going to touch Rose again unless he was standing right there.

Rose's hands gripped tightly at the sides of her face. Her eyes were still wide with terror and fear, tears continuing down their path on her face. Her eyes clinched tightly together as her memories flashed in her mind. 'You worthless girl! You should know when to keep your mouth shut!' She pulled her head slightly closer, her fingers digging in even more. 'Stop stuttering! Speak clearly when I'm talking to you!' Why? "I'm sorry..." She uttered softly, still cowering into the wall, thinking she was trapped back there, back in that hell hole in Atlanta. 'This is a friend of mine, and you are going to do what ever he wants. Ya got me? Entertain him.'

She flinched back at the memory of what happened next it was unpleasant. She didn't like it one bit. It felt like it was happening even now. 'They won't be able to mutter "Rose" without my hands around their throats.'

Safe..

Those words, and that one thought broke through her mind. The memories began to recede, though it was a kind of a slow process, but she could think semi straight again. She blinked a few times, trying to clear the tears from her eyes but it only seemed to make more or just have them get in the way. "E-e........ e-Ed?" She could feel her gift draining on her so she quickly cut it off, or tried. She moved forward a tad, sort of crawling. "I-I.... I'm-m... s-sor-ry."

Edward didn't realize he had been holding his breath until Rose's power deactivated. The breath came out audibly as Rose moved closer to him. "You don't need to be sorry." he said, shaking his head. "Why would anyone do this to you?" he asked, half to himself.

She froze in her progress to him... so that's what her gift was doing. It was giving him her pain, her emotional pain that she has dealt with for the past few years. She finally began the recovery process, or sort of began it the past year, but she hadn't really gotten anywhere.. She sat back, and pulled her knees close to her chest. She never intended to tell anyone except for the people who needed to know.. "I....... I don't...... know..." She said slowly so she wouldn't stutter. "So..... you know...." She paused for a moment. "What.. happened..." Or at least he had a general idea.

Edward nodded grimly. He knew now. Pain is contained in memories, and her gift had transferred some of the pain, along with the memories, to him. "Yes, I know. I know you didn't want to tell anyone, but that was out of your control." he told her. The worst part was, there was a lot of that pain that was familiar to him. All the abuse, but none of the violation.

Even so he knew what happened, she could stutter all she wanted to, but still she refused. It was so drilled into her head that if she did, she would be yelled at, or hit or something. So many things scared her making her think back to those horrid five years. She shook her head. "No... no one was..... supposed to.... know..... aside..... from those who..... needed to know..." The only good thing about that whole time was that he kept her safe from being hurt by others, and getting diseases, that was about that it though.

"No one... likes a girl.... who has been.... raped.... and sexually abused...." She muttered. She was tucked into a tight little ball. "People wanted..... to blame me... say... it was my fault.... until.... Sarah.... my adoptive mom.... helped me.. and her husband... Kenny.." She glanced at Ed from the side of her eyes. "Sarah... is a police officer.... so she had influence..." The woman helped her, and took her in. Gave her a new home, and a chance at a new life. Something better. They had to send her to Beata, for her gift, but they still contacted her every chance they got.