Stain My Rose With Scarlet Tears

I looked at Bill, my eyes wide with shock. I took his hand in mine, placing it in my lap for a brief moment in an attempt to calm him down, but he was just tensing up. His phone was laying on the bed, still opened, the dial tone playing through the room quietly.

“Wh- why? What happened?” I stuttered slightly. He looked up at him, his brow furrowed. He shook his head helplessly and got up from the bed.

“I- I don’t know... I called my mom, and she was hysterical. She just kept on apologizing, she was crying... And Gordon took the phone, telling me that we needed to get home...” He said in slight hysteria. I followed him out of the room, trying to understand what he was saying. It might have been easier if they had explained it more; it wouldn’t have worried Bill that much then.

I ran to catch up with Bill. I put my hand on his shoulder to stop him; he turned around to face me. His face had turned completely white with worry, and now had a green tint to it. His mother must have sounded really distraught to make Bill appear that stressed.

“Maybe you should call them again?” I suggested, “Before we freak out about nothing.”

“I’ve tried, the line was busy.” He replied in a shaky voice, glancing towards the white door behind him, “I- I need to tell Tom.”

I followed him worriedly, glancing back at my daughter. Bill walked to Tom and Bianca’s room, while I stopped to close the door behind me, hoping Lucy stayed inside. Bill waited in front of their hotel room, taking my hand in his, knocking with his free one. I bit my lip nervously while we waited for them to answer the door, it seemed to take forever, and in moments like these, it seemed to be even longer. I sighed impatiently, chucking when I heard an identical sigh coming from Bill.

My laughter faded quickly, as the door swung open. Tom stood facing us, his expression mimicked Bill’s exactly. His eyes widened, showing a sign of relief when he saw Bill and I standing in front of him. Bianca stood directly behind Tom, her eyes tinted red, her daughter on her hip, holding on to her with all her strength. Wordlessly, Tom stepped aside to let us enter.

Bill let go of my hand as we entered, allowing me to walk over to my best friend. She sent me a faint smile and took my hand. We looked away from one another, back at the twins who were staring at each other intensely, waiting for the other to break the silence.

“We need to go home.”

To my surprise, it was Tom who spoke up first. My eyes widened, but Bill seemed to accept the news. Bianca stepped closer to her boyfriend, making me follow her.

“You know?” I questioned, just as Bill opened his mouth to say something. He turned to me, raising an eyebrow, nodding. He sent me a confused look, but shrugged it off seconds later, turning back to his brother for a moment, then back to me.

“So she called you too?” He asked me.

I nodded. “She didn’t say much though... She spoke to Bill. Did Simone tell you what happened?”

He shook his head once again, his frown returning slowly as he thought. Tom opened his arms slightly, while Bianca and Charlie fit into them perfectly. Bianca was thinking too, she always had a specific look on her face like moments like these. “No, but I know my mother doesn’t get hysterical like that a lot. Whatever happened there, it has to be serious.”

I nodded in agreement, slightly disappointed that we had to cut our vacation short; it was the first one in a while. I laughed a bitter, humorless smile, rolling my eyes. I should have known better than to think that our perfect vacation was going to last.

Bill walked up to the white wall, picking up the phone that hung against it.

“I’m going to see if I can book us a flight. We need to get there as soon as possible.” He said, dialing the familiar number quickly. I nodded, not caring that no one noticed. I stumbled away from my friends.

“I’m going to pack.” I mumbled, leaving the room.

I reached out and slammed the door, only noticing when I heard the echo down the hall. I ignored it and continued my way to our room. I paused in front of the door, struggling to get out the key. I managed to extract it from my jeans pocket, opening the door quickly. I threw a quick glance over at my daughter, seeing that she hadn’t moved since

I rushed into my room, slamming the door again, trying not to be as loud. I leaned against the door as soon as it clicked shut, closing my eyes, taking a deep breath to calm myself down. As soon as I left the room, I started feeling so different. Right now, I just felt so angry, and I didn’t know why. I tried the traditional trick of counting to ten, trying to let go of my sudden urge of hatred, but it didn’t work. I opened my eyes and pushed myself away from the wall.

I walked to the closet slowly, taking out the suitcases we packed our clothes in just a week before. I carelessly threw them on the ground, kicking them open. I opened the closet doors and started tossing our clothes into the bag, not caring that it looked like.

The closet emptied much quicker than the day I’d first packed them, but I honestly wasn't even aware of what I was doing most of the time.

Angry tears ran down my cheeks as I kicked the side of the bed hard, feeling slightly less angry then. More tears fell when I bent down and zipped up our bags, sighing impatiently, knowing that my daughter’s bags still had to get packed. I shuddered at the thought of telling her we were leaving now, she loved this place, like me, she said she didn’t want to leave.

I tilted my head slightly when the door opened slightly, but looked down when the footsteps came closer to me. I didn’t move when the pair of arms wrapped around me, pulling me closer.

“I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to be.” I said quietly, wiping away the tear threatening to fall on Bill’s arm. He placed a hand on my back, playing with the tips of my hair underneath his hat. He kissed my back softly, causing me to smile despite my anger; he had that control over me.

“Why are you crying?” He mumbled.

He pulled me into his lap, making it easier for me to look at him. He was looking much less serious now, pouting as he waited for an answer. I laughed, rubbing my eyes. I looked back at him, shaking my head then.

“I don’t know, I just don’t want to go home... Am I being selfish? I mean, I am worried about Simone and Gordon, but once we get home... I don’t know.” I rambled on pointlessly. Bill looked at me; I knew I was very amusing to him at that moment. I shot him a glare when he started snickering. I honestly didn’t know what was that funny.

“You’re not being selfish. I don’t want to leave either, but it’s just something we have to do.”

“I know...” I mumbled sheepishly, a blush rising to my cheeks.

I stood up, taking Bill’s hands off of me.

“When do we leave?”

He stood up too, picking up the suitcases I pushed aside minutes before. He held one in each hand, but still managed to look down at the watch on his arms. His eyebrows rose, once again, in amusement. He cleared his throat. “We have to be at the airport in half an hour.” He answered.

I nodded, pushing the door open, waiting for Bill to walk out with our bags, and then followed sadly, wiping my eyes once again. I told Bill that it was his job to tell Lucy why we had to go home sooner than planned, he could always calm her down. I walked into Lucy’s bedroom, opening her closest. I smirked; amused at the fact that Lucy unpacked half of her suitcase. She was just as lazy as her father and uncle, but for once in my life, I was happy she was.

I extracted Lucy’s suitcase from under her bed and opened it, finding half of her clothes thrown into it in a messy way. Just like I did with my and Bill’s clothes, without even looking at them, I threw them into the bag.

Our daughter didn’t have as much clothes packed, it took me only ten minutes to get her clothes packed and zipped up. I handed her bags to Bill and Tom, who were just getting ready to pack all of the suitcases in the Cadillac which we now had to return as soon as we got to the airport. I looked down at Lucy, who stood behind Bill, glaring him.

I chuckled and kneeled down behind her, kissing her neck, taking her by surprise. She turned around, her frown turning into a wide smile and kissed my lips. One thing I absolutely loved about my daughter was that she could never really stay mad for long.

She stretched out her arms in front of her, something she’s been doing since she was six months old, silently wanting me to pick her up.

Lucy didn’t like to walk on her own. Her daily life existed of either me holding her hand, her resting on my hip or sitting on her father’s neck. She was spoiled in that way, we loved her way too much. I sighed, stretching my arms out to grasp her underneath hers, wrapping my arms around her neck and waist, standing up, and lifting her up along with me. She squealed in delight when I swirled her around in a circle once, then placed her on my hip. I wondered what she would do when she was too big to sit on my hip.

Once Tom grabbed the last of our things, we all walked down to the car, Tom and Bill taking the elevator, Bianca taking the stairs with me. Surprisingly, we got down to the ground floor before them, making it our task to check out of the hotel. Honestly, I knew I was going to miss this place, I felt more at home here than anywhere else, I loved feeling so relaxed, and safe.

When the elevator’s door opened, Bill was busy texting on his phone; my guess was that he was letting his parents know that we were going home, while Tom hurried to the car, which was parked in front of the hotel.

We strapped the kids in and waited for the guys to get in. Just before I did, I turned to the hotel, reading the name over so that I could never forget them. I turned around and looked at the beach and the blue ocean. I would miss the sound of the waves every night.

“I’m going to miss this place.” I whispered, shaking my head. I got into the car, sitting in the middle between my daughter and my best friend. Tom glanced back at Bianca and me and nodded, a serious look taking over his features again, and started the car.

I turned around and sat on my knees as the hotel got smaller and smaller, while we were driving away from it. I was feeling a bit miserable, but I accepted it as part of humanity, I knew most people would feel that way. I tried to think of anything except us leaving at that moment, I would start to miss it too soon. I lay back and rested my head on Bianca’s shoulder, closing my eyes for a brief moment to clear my head.

It didn’t help though; all I could think about was the nineteen hour flight that lay ahead of us, I didn’t think anyone was going to survive the anxiety.