Oliver’s POV:
“ROSEY!! ROSEY!! WHERE ARE YOU?” I shouted from the top of my lungs.
“ROSE!! ROSE!!” Mark shouted looking from side to side.
“Rose, come out you brat!” Mark added in annoyance.
“Can you stop being mean to her?” I asked in a frustrated tone.
“I am not being mean. I just know how she is!” Mark replied in frustration.
“Mark, it’s been two hours since she is missing. Do you really think she will keep up the act for 2 f**cking hours? I know her, she is not that irresponsible!” I replied in an angry tone.
“Yeah, but she has a habit of doing mischievous things. There is a first time for everything” Mark replied doubtful of his own words.
“When we reached the waterfall, I told you Rosey didn’t follow us but you said she must be acting again and she will come back the moment she smells the alcohol and chicken!” Oliver complained.
“Wasn’t I true the entire time? Did you not see how many attempts she made just to avoid coming with us? Can you really blame me? I thought it was one of her attempts. You also believed me!” Mark complained back with anger.
“Mark is right, Oliver. You are overreacting. Mark is her brother. He also cares for her just like all of us” Laina said in her signature honey-coated tone but I wasn’t buying it today.
“Oh shut up, Laina. I know how much you, of all people, care for her. For God’s sake be real for once” I replied, gritting my teeth.
I swear to God, if Laina was a guy, I would have punched her by now.
“Bro, what are you doing? It’s not Laina’s fault that Rose went missing” Olivia defended her instantly.
“Mind your own business, kiddo, and start searching for her again if you don’t want to see my bad side” I replied in an agitated tone.
My younger sister was smarter than others. She looked down and started searching for her all over again.
“ROSE! SISTER!” Olivia shouted while running ahead.
“ROSEY!!!” I shouted looking everywhere for a trace of her.
‘Please Rose! Please be safe! I shouldn’t have left you! I should have stayed with you despite your countless fake attempts to run away, I should have been at your side’ I thought as the guilt was engulfing me.
I promised her that I will protect her and then I left her just like that because honestly, I was also a bit annoyed by her childish behavior. I am such a fool!
I was brought back to reality by my sister’s frightened scream, “Ahhh!”
“What happened, Olivia?” I asked as all of us ran towards her.
“Bro, there is blood on this tree?” Olivia pointed towards the branch with a stain of blood.
“Shit! That’s Rose’s, she is hurt” I said as looked at the tree branch, taking a strong whiff.
“How can you be so sure that it’s Rose’s blood?” Mark asked now in full-on panic mode.
“Because I know” I replied agitatedly.
“This is the place where I left her and followed you, like a fool. I should have stayed. She was bleeding. Where did she go?” I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.
I am such a loser. I left her the same day that I promised I would be on her side and protect her, and I won’t let anyone hurt her. It’s like history is repeating itself. She is hurt again and I was still not there to protect her.
Just like how she was locked in the dark room, I left her alone in the dark forest. Anything could have happened. It’s all my fault!
“Mark, you shouldn’t have told me to leave her and come after you. Look what we have done!” I roared while grabbing Mark’s collar.
“It’s not like I was the only one who left her. You all were with me” Mark complained but shame and fear were evident in his eyes.
He didn’t fight back. I can feel he was guilty too. After all, he is her brother and he cares for her a lot.
I left his collar and sighed deeply.
“There is no time to fight, she is hurt. She must be nearby. We must search for her, brother. We will find her soon” Olivia comforted me taking my hand gently.
I nodded my head. I felt like an idiot. I couldn’t even protect the woman I love. I also became the reason for her to be hurt all over again.
I saw Eva and Nova coming from the left side with their faces sweating with terror like they had seen a ghost.
“What happened? Did you find her?” I asked in fear anticipating the worst news.
“No!” Eva shook her head.
Both Eva and Nova were shaking with fear.
“Why are you sweating like pigs then?” Laina asked with a serious tone.
“Why are you shivering?” Mark asked as he removed his jacket and placed it on Eva’s shoulder.
I removed mine and placed it on Nova’s shoulder before I asked while grabbing her shoulders,
“Tell me what happened. Do you want to give me a heart attack?” I asked again.
I was shaking Nova’s shoulder but instead, Eva spoke, “There was blood”
“There was a lot of blood!” Eva added shivering again.
I turned around to look at Mark and both of us stormed towards the direction from which Eva and Nova came back.
The rest of them followed us quickly.
We pointed our flashlights at the entire place and were stunned to see the ground flooded with blood.
There is also smoke signifying something was burnt there.
I fell on my knees and touched the blood. I observed the ground carefully.
“ROSE! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?” Mark screamed, he grabbed his hair and started pulling it.
Tears started to fall from his eyes.
“IT’S ALL MY FAULT! ITS ALL MY F*CKING FAULT!” Mark screamed yet again.
He started punching the nearby tree and his knuckles started bleeding.
I got up and grabbed him, moving him away from the tree to stop him from hurting himself.
“Mark! Mark! Stop! It’s not Rose’s blood!” I replied calmly.
“I killed her!” Mark shouted in fear.
“No! You didn’t! It’s not Rose’s blood!” I repeated shaking his shoulder and making him look straight in my eyes.
“How can you be so sure?” Mark asked in confusion and hope.
“Trust me. I know. It’s not hers. Something else happened here” I replied looking back at the place.
“I can’t believe this. The entire floor is flooded with blood. What if something happened to Rose? That tree also had blood” Mark asked panicking for his little sisters’ safety.
“It was Rose’s blood on the tree but not this” I reassured him while holding his shoulders again.
“How can you be so confident that it’s not Rose’s blood and the blood on the tree was?” Laina asked with a raised eyebrow.
My mind stopped working. I seriously just couldn’t come up with an excuse.
Ignoring her question completely, I turned towards Eva and Nova once again.
“Where is Theo?” I asked confusedly.
“Yeah, why only you two came back? Where is my brother?” Laina asked, now it was her turn to panic.
“Theo was drinking all the time. He was way too drunk so we asked him to stop drinking. He fought with us first and then suddenly, he was nowhere to be found” Nova replied still a bit shaken by the atmosphere.
“He left. He always does that” Eva added while nodding her head.
“How can you be so sure?” Laina asked again.
“They are right. Whenever Oliver asked him to babysit me in the past, I always ended up babysitting him” Olivia shook her head in disbelief.
“Do you know where he goes?” Laina asked in a worried tone.
“Where else? Home! He must be on his comfortable bed by now” Olivia replied with an eye roll.
‘That a*shole! I told him to protect them and he left! After all this, he has to go through my wrath!’
As I was deep in my train of thought, I heard a familiar voice,
“Oliver! Oliver!”
I turned towards him without wasting a microsecond of my life and saw a very drunk Theodore happily jumping and running towards me.
“You b*stard! How dare you leave my sisters alone like this? You drunkard! I will make sure you…” I shut my mouth instantly when I heard his next words,
“I found her! I found Rose!” He replied like a happy puppy.
“What? You found her? Where?” I asked in newfound hope.
“You found my sister? Where is she?” Mark asked coming next to him.
“She is home!” Theo replied nodding his head like a freaking noddy.
“Home?” Mark asked in confusion.
“I told you she played us again!” Laina instantly complained but was shut back by Theodore as he started shaking his head now in a horizontal direction in denial.
“No! no… no! Sissy… She was bleeding. She was bleeding a lot. There was a lot of blood coming out of her head… so much blood”