Rose Red With Black Thorn
Check me out, I'm uploading another chapter, but don't get your hopes up. This one is very short. I wasn't going to keep it because I thought it was a boring chapter, but my sister convinced me to keep it. So, here you go. Enjoy.
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Killian's P.O.V
"Killian, are you sure you don't want to attend the service?"
I ignored Mik and instead turned the speaker up, hoping that the music would drown him out, but I had no such luck.
"If you're not going to come at least, let Rose attend."
I continue to ignore him. My daughter stopped what she was doing and looked between the two of us. I smiled at her, kneeling so that I could be eye level with her.
"Focus, Rose Red. Never take your eyes off the target."
"Killian!" Mik yelled, irritated.
I grab the remote to the speakers and turned the music down.
"Why the f**k are you interrupting me?"
"Your wife..." he paused, then glanced at Rose, "Her mother is being buried today and you're not going to be there?"
I narrowed my eyes, "I already said that we are not going and that's final." I was tired of his constant nagging. I just wanted to go back to teaching my daughter how to fight.
Being in my training room and working my anger off was the only thing that kept me from exploding. I haven't taken a day off from training since the last day I saw my baby alive.
Rose saw me one morning and decided to follow me. She watched me from the door as I trained then slowly edged her way into the room and sat on the floor until I finished. I remembered asking her if she wanted to learn and her face lighting up as she nodded. Since then, she's been in the training room with me, learning.
"Daddy." A little voice called, breaking into my thoughts.
Mik's son with Jessy walked into the room. A bright innocent smile on his face. He stopped when he saw me and whatever expression he saw on my face made him frown. He looked between me and Mik then his eyes narrowed, but it looked like he was squinting. I almost laughed.
"Are you bullying my dad? Mum says that you always bully dad to do bad things."
I laughed. A genuine laugh. I haven't laughed since witnessing my wife's death, and I didn't think I'd ever be able to again, but as the saying goes 'kids say the darndest things.'
I gave him an amused look, "Is that what your mum says?"
He nodded his head with confidence, "Yep. I don't think mum likes you very much. She says Aunt Lilly would still be alive if—.
"Okay, I think you've said way too much, buddy." Mik put his hand over Jasper's mouth to stop him from finishing that sentence, but I didn't need him to because I've been thinking the same thing lately.
Red would still be alive if she hadn't met me and if I'd continue watching and protecting her from the shadows.
Her image started to flood my head, but I quickly banished them, refusing to let myself go there. I didn't need or want the pain that came with it. I'd much rather live with the numbness that I was feeling.
"We're not going, Mik and that's final."
"Aren't you going to let her say goodbye to her mother?"
My anger rose. I clenched my fist and locked my jaw to stop myself from punching him, then Jessy would really have a reason to call me a bully.
"How is watching her mother be put in the ground and covered with cold dirt saying goodbye? I'm not going to let that be the last memory my daughter has of her mother."
"Wouldn't it be better than the memory of watching her mother get killed?" he challenged.
"No. I want her to keep that memory because it is what is going to shape her personality. It is going to make her stronger."
She might not fully understand what she saw and what really happened to her mother, but when she does, I want her to channel the anger and the pain and use it to protect herself and destroy her enemies.
"You mean, it will make her dangerous, deadly." He sighed, "She's a kid Killian, a kid who just lost her mother. Let her grieve in her own way, let her express herself the way a kid would, not the way you would. All you're doing is turning her into you, and you don't even like you."
If it meant keeping her safe, then I'd turn her into the devil himself. Mik might have a point, but I wasn't willing to risk it. She's all I have left of Lilly and I'd be damn if I lost her too.
I was about to tell him that he didn't get a say in how I raise my daughter, but I never got the chance because Jasper interrupted.
"Wow, I want it, dad."
Both Mik and I looked at him curiously.
"Want what?" Mik asked.
He lifted his hand and pointed his finger. I turned to see what he was pointing at, but all I saw was my daughter trying and failing to make the punching bag move.
"Her, I want her. Can I have her?"
My eyes shot back to the little shit, who was looking at my daughter like she was a shiny new video game that he wouldn't mind playing.
Mik chuckled and I gave him an irritated look, letting him know that I didn't find his son amusing in the least.
"Not going to happen. Never."
That wiped the smile off his face.
"What? My son not good enough for your daughter?" he asked in an offended tone.
I rested my hand on his shoulder, "Mik, you're like a brother to me. The closest thing to family that I have right now. I hope that our children can grow to have the same relationship that we have.
He grinned, "Aw man, you're going to make me cry." He wiped away at his imaginary tears.
"Dumbass." I snorted.
"But, seriously Killian, you should attend the service."
"I'll think about it."
That was all I could offer him. However, I still didn't think I could watch them put my baby into the ground where she would be cold and alone, and I didn't want my daughter to see that either.
He nodded his head. "Come on Jasper, your mum is going to skin us if we're late."
Jasper was still watching my daughter and didn't look too happy at being dragged away from his eye candy.
"But I don't want to leave yet. I wanna stay and play with her." He protested.
"Next time, buddy. Right now, we have to leave before your mother come to find us and we don't want that, do we?"
He scrunched his face up and shook his head. "Mummy turns pink when she's mad and her head looks like it's going to explode."
Mik chuckled, "We can't have mummy exploding. I like having her in one piece too much."
"Me too." He agreed.
They left the room and I turned back to my daughter who was so focused on trying to hit the punching bag hard enough to make it move. Her determination reminded me of her mother.
"She's more like you than me."
I spun around, searching the room, but no one else was there but me and my daughter.
"F**k," I swore. I'm going even more f**king crazy. I'm starting to hear her voice in my head.
"Daddy?"
I looked down at my daughter. Her eyes were half-closed and her shoulders were slumped.
"I tried, but I still can't get it to move."
"Don't worry, Rose Red, one day you will. You will not only get it to move but you will knock it right out of the ceiling."
Her face lit up, "Really?"
"Yes, really."
I promise you will become someone that nightmares are scared of.
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