Key:
Kassy
Sandy
Selina
Oscar
Vivian
Stella
It was the strangest thing I ever heard. And it was the last thing my uncle said
before he died . . .
As he lay on his death bed, his eyes fluttered open. With his last breath, he exhaled and breathed out the single, lonely word.
"Rosebud."
Then he was gone. The blood drained from his pale, sickly face, and his wrinkly hand fell, limp by his side. At that exact moment, I felt a tremor creep up my spine. I shuddered. A chill had entered the room. It was as if Death himself had entered the dirty, dim hospital room in which our entire family had been crammed in.
My uncle was a nice guy when he was young. He was a police officer. The year he turned 50 years old, he got a mental problem, so he went to the hospital. Everyone in our family really liked him. One day there was a guy who called my uncle and they were talking and my uncle's face turned terrible, scary and as white as a ghost. Then he shouted loudly at the old cellphone, "DON'T COME TO ME!"
Then the next week, there was the news on TV that there was a person who killed three people in one night. The police found out that the murderer left a note in the mouth of all three victims. On each note, there was the word "Rosebud". It was written in the blood of the victim and all the victims were cut into nice, neat pieces. The news anchor said there was a same case in 1989. And in 1989, the murderer was called Shadow. Then my uncle shouted anxiously at the TV in the hospital, "HE'S BACK."
So I asked him, "Who is back?" Then my uncle was silent. his face had turned in the same color when he was talking on the phone. I felt interested in all the things that just happened that my uncle was so scared about. Maybe that was the thing that my uncle did at work because he never talked about it before. So I decided to ask him...
"Uncle, who exactly is Rosebud?", nothing came out of his pale, white mouth. I stared at him for a few seconds, and he slightly opened his mouth. He whispered, "Rosebud...Rosebud, she's back!" My body started shivering, he continued whispering in a nervous, and soft voice "She was the woman I loved, but I saw it with my own eyes. She died in front of me, killed by the murderer who had blue shining eyes. Rosebud got killed by an arrow, and she fell straight into my strong, tight arms. I was falling apart, tears strolled down my dark eyes." All I could hear was the sound of my heart kicking against my ribs. What was happening? Why is Rosebud alive? What's wrong with my uncle? Thump, thump....I was dizzy, my head felt like exploding, everything felt wrong. Then a sharp, high scream ended my pain...I felt unconscious, my hand gripped strongly on my uncle's bed. Slowly, every sound that's heard grew fainter, and fainter, farther, and farther away from me until I collapsed onto the cold, freezing ground.
I slightly opened my bright blue eyes, and saw myself staring at a smooth, black concrete floor. This certainly wasn't the yellow-tinged tiles inside the hospital that I had fainted on. I quickly gathered myself together and looked around bewilderedly to find myself in a dark warehouse filled with all sorts of ....
Pictures of a beautiful, elegant, and young woman. Who is she? Then I walked slowly around the room, and I couldn't help approaching a huge, crumpled map. There were tons of blue pins sticking all around the map with different faces, each had a name written. One of the pictures had a name written Rosebud, and I realize that all the other pictures around the room was Rosebud too! On the map, was another man named "Carl" I knew him by looking at the blue straight hair he had. But he was dead, and I thought what possibly can this map be. I looked again and again, then I saw my Uncle's picture up on there. He had a bright smile, and he looked healthy. My heart started to speed, suddenly the door creaked open.....
I felt cold, slowly my body become stiff, and my heart was beating, po!po!popo! my clothes became wet, drop by drop of sweat fell on the ground.
Then I heard the sound of someone walking toward to me. Suddenly I turned back so fast and my heart was jumping so fast because I saw a pair of shoes in front of me. they were dark brown, made by leather. I recognized the shoes right away. I quickly turned my head up and saw......my uncle. "Anything wrong?" asked my uncle. Then he looked at me with a strange smile. "Nothing," I said in a normal voice but I felt a little scared. "Uncle, is this you?" I pointed at a photo on the wall and asked. "No, that is just the killer I was chasing," he said. "Then what about this guy?" I asked. My uncle didn't talk. Then I saw a picture on the wall that said "ROSEBUD". I remembered that it was the word the murderer put in the mouth of the victims on the TV. "What is this? Is this yours uncle?" I said, pointing to the Rosebud poster on the wall. "STOP!!"my uncle shouted in a loud voice. I got scared, because my uncle changed attitude so much. So I chose silence. "Time to go," my uncle said, and grabbed my hand tightly and walked out silently with no expression on his face.
He grabbed my shirt as we left the house, walking toward the blue, cracky van with its engine already running. He was waiting for me. He threw me hard into the backseat as he went to the trunk and took out a brown, old painting. "You were such a young, beautiful girl. And that is why, I can't keep you." My heartbeat jumped as his words came out. "Ashley, check this out." He passed the dusty painting to me. It was a young, blond girl with a delightful smile. "Does this person seem familiar?" Uncle grinned showing his cigarette stained teeth as he gave me a mirror. My body froze, my legs were trembling. "SMASH!" The mirror dropped and broke into pieces. I screamed in horror. He was grinning with a look I've never seen on his face before. He looked like a demon. I wasn't sure what I saw but all I remembered was that I took one of the broken mirror shards and stabbed him at the chest. He screamed as the blood oozed out and stained the mirror scarlet. "I...I...I..." I was mumbling. That was not me. My uncle stared at me with his blue, huge eyes. The van door was open, so I ran and ran as long as I could until I fell at the front door of the hospital. I heard the footsteps as my heart nearly jumped out from my chest. There, was the same pair of dark brown leather shoes standing in front of me. My jaw dropped. Then it began. My heart thumped in my chest, a rapid rhythm that was echoed in my temples. A high-pitch ringing started in my ears, and my vision blurred. It couldn't be. I blinked the tears away from my eyes and checked the shoes again, and sure enough, in front of me were the shoes that I had stepped on countless times as a child as my uncle, holding my hands, swung me around the garden, teaching me how to waltz. I felt a wave of nausea come over me. I gulped. I was defeated, sitting in a heap on the grey concrete floor in front of the hospital. Trying to hide my despair, I mustered up what little energy I had left and whispered the words that I now feared, "...Uncle?"
"Ashley, what happened?" a familiar sound echoed through my ears. I looked up and saw a huge dark shadow, I wished I was dreaming but uncle was standing right in front of me. He bent down on his knees, and I could see that mirror stabbed right in his chest droplets of blood dripped slowly down towards my face. Uncle whispered softly, "Ashley you all right, let me help you." I screamed and said, "What's wrong with you, your voice.....are you even my Uncle?" "Ashley stop worrying, come on let's go inside." I was breathing heavily, and looked at Uncle as he helped me out, chills were going through my body I felt horrified. Uncle stared back at me, but is he still the person that wanted to kill me? We slowly walked in, and a nurse hurried over terrified looking at Uncle's chest. She said, "Mr. Wickham, lets get you to the emergency room and get that hell of a piece of glass out of your chest." Uncle replied, "Oh sure, I had no idea what the hell happened to me." I stared at him again, is he crazy? I stabbed him, and now he's acting all weird, and cool. Then Uncle, and the nurse walked slowly in the emergency room. As they walked towards the room, Uncle turned back and gave me an evil smile. Then he walked away.
For the next few week I am staying at my house. I think about what happened last week. "How can my uncle change so fast in one moment?" and how the things that happened in these few weeks are so related to my uncle. Maybe my uncle really has some secrets. That night uncle called me and said "I want to go to another place tomorrow. Do you want to go with me?" "Uh............okay uncle," I said, because I want to find out what is going on even if I am really scared. But it is time for me to find out. The next morning I went to the hospital. I walked upstairs to my uncle's room. "Morning Uncle," I said. "Good morning my dear," he said with a weird smile, "We are going to the place where I was born."
So we went in the car and drove to the place where they aren't many houses or people. We walked through a small door into an old wooden house with many tombstones around it. I looked around. There were many paintings on the wall and there was a TV in the living room. I turned on the TV. The news anchor said there was a murder yesterday in ........... I stopped listening and suddenly felt cold. "Uncle? " I said, "Can we go now?" But no one answered me. Now I am scared. I walked to the door we came through but the door was locked. I ran to the second floor. There were so many rooms and I ran to one of the doors and rattled the doorknob. The door was locked too. I ran to another and another until I ran into a room that is unlocked. I looked around. There are many words written by red ink on the wall. I looked carefully. It said "Rosebud" over and over again. I was shocked. I am sweating and I felt cold again. I stood back and walked toward the door. Suddenly my feet touched something soft. It wasn't as soft as a pillow. It felt like there were bones inside. And then when I put my foot down harder, I heard it crack. Then I turned back and my face turned white because I saw a dead body. I bit my hand so I didn't scream out loud. My legs turned weak. I couldn't believe my eyes. And then I heard a sound...
Then I hear footsteps. For a sudden, I couldn't move. I held my breath. Just when I was going to turn back my head, my sight went black. I screamed. But all the sound was muffled by something over my lips. My lips were stuck together. Someone must've blindfolded me. I was grabbed roughly to a corner. I felt something was beside me. I used my hands to make sure, the answer made my hands start shivering. It was some liquid, and by the moment I realized, I smelled...blood. I kept kicking into the air as I heard footsteps getting closer. Just when the footsteps got even closer, I heard noises outside the room door, then "BAMMM" the wooden floor moved as something heavy fell down. I heard another footsteps coming by, closer, and closer...
Someone grabbed me and pushed me into a corner. I felt my body hit the wall. My teeth trembled, and my arm lost its consciousness. I heard the door smash and lock. The footsteps were becoming smaller and smaller, and I could hear nothing more than my breath. Again, it is silent. I started to feel pain in my arms. Even though I was blindfolded, I could still imagine that my body was covered with dark dried up blood. I laid on the floor lifelessly. Tiredness came over me, and soon, I closed my eyes and began my nightmare.
I don't know what time it was when I woke up. It felt like it had been a year already but I know it's not true. I tried to get the rope off my wrists but it is too tight. Suddenly I remembered that something fell down so I try to stand up and walk to where I heard the sound. "I got it" I said. It felt like some sharp broken glass I try to reach it "ouch" I shouted loudly in my brain it is a sharp pain coming right away in to my brain.I know I cut my finger and cut it really deep. But I can't give up so I try to reach it carefully again. before I can reach it there was a sound from the door. "oh s..." I thought it was uncle I was so scared that I nervously crawl back try to reach the same corner where I was. "Police, is anyone inside?" I am so happy to heard that sound that I try to scream as loud as I could but actually couldn't. so I kicked the wooden floor as hard as I could.
He grabbed my shirt as we left the house, walking toward the blue, cracky van with its engine already running. He was waiting for me. He threw me hard into the backseat as he went to the trunk and took out a brown, old painting. "You were such a young, beautiful girl. And that is why, I can't keep you." My heartbeat jumped as his words came out. "Ashley, check this out." He passed the dusty painting to me. It was a young, blond girl with a delightful smile. "Does this person seem familiar?" Uncle grinned showing his cigarette stained teeth as he gave me a mirror. My body froze, my legs were trembling. "SMASH!" The mirror dropped and broke into pieces. I screamed in horror. He was grinning with a look I've never seen on his face before. He looked like a demon. I wasn't sure what I saw but all I remembered was that I took one of the broken mirror shards and stabbed him at the chest. He screamed as the blood oozed out and stained the mirror scarlet. "I...I...I..." I was mumbling. That was not me. My uncle stared at me with his blue, huge eyes. The van door was open, so I ran and ran as long as I could until I fell at the front door of the hospital. I heard the footsteps as my heart nearly jumped out from my chest. There, was the same pair of dark brown leather shoes standing in front of me. My jaw dropped. Then it began. My heart thumped in my chest, a rapid rhythm that was echoed in my temples. A high-pitch ringing started in my ears, and my vision blurred. It couldn't be. I blinked the tears away from my eyes and checked the shoes again, and sure enough, in front of me were the shoes that I had stepped on countless times as a child as my uncle, holding my hands, swung me around the garden, teaching me how to waltz. I felt a wave of nausea come over me. I gulped. I was defeated, sitting in a heap on the grey concrete floor in front of the hospital. Trying to hide my despair, I mustered up what little energy I had left and whispered the words that I now feared, "...Uncle?"
"Ashley, what happened?" a familiar sound echoed through my ears. I looked up and saw a huge dark shadow, I wished I was dreaming but uncle was standing right in front of me. He bent down on his knees, and I could see that mirror stabbed right in his chest droplets of blood dripped slowly down towards my face. Uncle whispered softly, "Ashley you all right, let me help you." I screamed and said, "What's wrong with you, your voice.....are you even my Uncle?" "Ashley stop worrying, come on let's go inside." I was breathing heavily, and looked at Uncle as he helped me out, chills were going through my body I felt horrified. Uncle stared back at me, but is he still the person that wanted to kill me? We slowly walked in, and a nurse hurried over terrified looking at Uncle's chest. She said, "Mr. Wickham, lets get you to the emergency room and get that hell of a piece of glass out of your chest." Uncle replied, "Oh sure, I had no idea what the hell happened to me." I stared at him again, is he crazy? I stabbed him, and now he's acting all weird, and cool. Then Uncle, and the nurse walked slowly in the emergency room. As they walked towards the room, Uncle turned back and gave me an evil smile. Then he walked away.
For the next few week I am staying at my house. I think about what happened last week. "How can my uncle change so fast in one moment?" and how the things that happened in these few weeks are so related to my uncle. Maybe my uncle really has some secrets. That night uncle called me and said "I want to go to another place tomorrow. Do you want to go with me?" "Uh............okay uncle," I said, because I want to find out what is going on even if I am really scared. But it is time for me to find out. The next morning I went to the hospital. I walked upstairs to my uncle's room. "Morning Uncle," I said. "Good morning my dear," he said with a weird smile, "We are going to the place where I was born."
So we went in the car and drove to the place where they aren't many houses or people. We walked through a small door into an old wooden house with many tombstones around it. I looked around. There were many paintings on the wall and there was a TV in the living room. I turned on the TV. The news anchor said there was a murder yesterday in ........... I stopped listening and suddenly felt cold. "Uncle? " I said, "Can we go now?" But no one answered me. Now I am scared. I walked to the door we came through but the door was locked. I ran to the second floor. There were so many rooms and I ran to one of the doors and rattled the doorknob. The door was locked too. I ran to another and another until I ran into a room that is unlocked. I looked around. There are many words written by red ink on the wall. I looked carefully. It said "Rosebud" over and over again. I was shocked. I am sweating and I felt cold again. I stood back and walked toward the door. Suddenly my feet touched something soft. It wasn't as soft as a pillow. It felt like there were bones inside. And then when I put my foot down harder, I heard it crack. Then I turned back and my face turned white because I saw a dead body. I bit my hand so I didn't scream out loud. My legs turned weak. I couldn't believe my eyes. And then I heard a sound...
Then I hear footsteps. For a sudden, I couldn't move. I held my breath. Just when I was going to turn back my head, my sight went black. I screamed. But all the sound was muffled by something over my lips. My lips were stuck together. Someone must've blindfolded me. I was grabbed roughly to a corner. I felt something was beside me. I used my hands to make sure, the answer made my hands start shivering. It was some liquid, and by the moment I realized, I smelled...blood. I kept kicking into the air as I heard footsteps getting closer. Just when the footsteps got even closer, I heard noises outside the room door, then "BAMMM" the wooden floor moved as something heavy fell down. I heard another footsteps coming by, closer, and closer...
Someone grabbed me and pushed me into a corner. I felt my body hit the wall. My teeth trembled, and my arm lost its consciousness. I heard the door smash and lock. The footsteps were becoming smaller and smaller, and I could hear nothing more than my breath. Again, it is silent. I started to feel pain in my arms. Even though I was blindfolded, I could still imagine that my body was covered with dark dried up blood. I laid on the floor lifelessly. Tiredness came over me, and soon, I closed my eyes and began my nightmare.
I don't know what time it was when I woke up. It felt like it had been a year already but I know it's not true. I tried to get the rope off my wrists but it is too tight. Suddenly I remembered that something fell down so I try to stand up and walk to where I heard the sound. "I got it" I said. It felt like some sharp broken glass I try to reach it "ouch" I shouted loudly in my brain it is a sharp pain coming right away in to my brain.I know I cut my finger and cut it really deep. But I can't give up so I try to reach it carefully again. before I can reach it there was a sound from the door. "oh s..." I thought it was uncle I was so scared that I nervously crawl back try to reach the same corner where I was. "Police, is anyone inside?" I am so happy to heard that sound that I try to scream as loud as I could but actually couldn't. so I kicked the wooden floor as hard as I could.
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