LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 12: My New Sisters?
What happened?
"One, what will we do? She's covered in blood!"
I had a strange dream.
"Sister Rose isn't moving! Is she dead?"
There was a flower and Alan was some kind of angel.
"We need to get help! SOMEONE HELP US PLEASE!"
I do not know if that was real or a hallucination.
"How we are in the middle of a forest!"
Suddenly, the memories of what happened came back, it was all true, and most of all, I died.
"WWWAAAAHHH!"
"HELP!"
"SISTER ROSE, PLEASE DON'T DIE!"
However, if I died, how am I thinking right now? Another question, where am I exactly? In addition, who the hell was crying? It is annoying!
"WWWAAAHHH!"
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, getting up abruptly.
However, to my surprise, I came face-to-face with five little girls who looked at me with widened red eyes. The little girls stared at me for a few seconds before all of them, except for one, ran toward me and hugged me.
"SISTER ROSE!" The little girls screamed happily.
Sister? I do not have sisters! Who are these children? Moreover, what are they doing here in the middle of the forest?
"Sister Rose, we thought you were dead!" The girl with the brown hair tied in twin tails said.
"You were covered in blood and not moving!" The blue-haired girl spoke right after.
"For a moment I thought you were going to leave us!" The girl with long purple hair said.
"I can't imagine what would become of us without you!" The girl with blonde hair spoke this time.
However, I did not pay much attention to the girls since the world around me spun to the point of becoming a blur, and I felt like I would fall backward. I think I got up too fast.
"Sister Rose." The last little girl, the one who had not hugged, spoke hesitantly, catching my attention.
She had light blonde hair, and red eyes and approached me slowly. The others stopped hugging me and gave space for the red-eyed girl to approach.
The girl stopped in front of me and stared me intensely in the eye while I returned the gaze, suddenly, tears formed in the corner of her eyes and she hugged me.
"I am glad that you are fine, Sister Rose." The red-eyed girl said between sobs.
I didn't hug her back, there were a lot of wrong things here, I don't have sisters, I don't know where I am and I don't know who these girls are. I need to know what is going on! Therefore, I stepped back, out of the red-eyed girl's embrace.
"Sister Rose, is something wrong?" The red-eyed girl asked confused as she approached me while I stepped back again.
"Don't approach me!" I yelled, making her flinch in her path.
"Sister Rose, what happened? Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry for hugging you without your permission!" The red-eyed girl said worriedly as she tried to get closer.
"Stop, just stop calling me sister! I don't have sisters!" I said, raising my hand to shut her up. Fuck, my head is killing me! I need time to think!
"Sister Rose, are you okay? Did you hit your head? We are your sisters remember? I am One the second eldest, one of your sisters." One said politely, pointing at herself.
"I am Two the third eldest!" The blue-haired girl, now known as Two, exclaimed while bouncing around me happily.
"I am Three, the fourth eldest." The purple-haired one spoke, Three then yawned loudly before falling asleep on the floor.
"I am Four the fifth eldest." The twin tails girl said, Four then stopped in front of me next to One.
"And I am Five, the youngest of us all." The blonde-haired girl said, striking a pose before her stomach rumbled audibly.
"You wouldn't have any food, would you?" Five asked, looking away with her face burning red in shame.
"Five, please behave yourself! Can't you see Sister Rose is not feeling well?" Four said angrily, reprising Five.
"I'm just asking! It's been a while since I ate something." Five replied in the same tone while crossing her arms.
"Hey, Sister Rose, look, look, look!" Two yelled, trying to get my attention as she jumped around me.
"Sister Rose, I think you should wash up the blood off your body and find something to wear." One said blushing while averting her gaze.
I looked at myself and saw that this girl was right; walking around covered in blood would only get me into trouble. There must be a river here somewhere; I hope to find it before the blood dries up.
I walked among the trees, tripping on every root and rock in my path with every wave of dizziness that attacked my head.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps behind me. Looking back, I saw all the little girls following me in a line, starting with One and ending with Five.
"What are you all doing?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"We will go with you." Two said, pointing at me.
"We can't let our sister walk through the woods alone." Four spoke, looking around worriedly.
"What if you get attacked by someone?" Five asked.
"Frankly, we are lost and have no idea where to go." Three shrugged.
"Where are your parents? Why not go back home? They must be worried." I asked. I just wanted to rid myself of these kids and find out what happened to me.
"Sister Rose, our parents are long gone, Five was just a baby back then. You cared for us ever since." One said worriedly.
Parents, I have no idea who my father is and my mother barely bothered to take care of me, let alone five other girls! If this is a joke, then it is not funny!
"Seriously, you said you were the second eldest, right?!? Then who is your older sister?!?" I asked, crouching down to One's height.
"What a strange question sister Rose, you are." One replied, pointing at me while smiling.
I wanted to laugh at this situation, this must be some kind of bad joke, and it is the only possibility. These five girls should have been playing in the forest and are pranking me after seeing me lying unconscious on the ground.
"Okay, I have another question. What do our parents look like?" Let us see what their answer will be this time.
"Sister Rose, are you okay? You are asking many weird questions, our parents look like… like… like… ARGH!" Suddenly, One grabbed her head in pain before finishing her answer.
"I can't… I cannot remember what our parents looked like. Two, Three, Four, Five, do any of you remember what our parents looked like?" One asked her sisters.
"Of course, One, our mother looked… her eyes were… ARGH!" Four grabbed her head as well.
"If I remember correctly, our mother had red colored… and she liked… AAHH!" Two got the same result.
"Our dad worked at… he had… and a voice… AH!" Three had the same reaction.
"What's going on with you guys? Our dad… he liked… ARGH!" Five had a similar reaction.
"Can anyone remember what our parents looked like?" One asked worriedly.
They all nodded negatively, sharing the same scared look as One.
"Sister Rose, what's going on, why can't we remember our parents?!?" One screamed, approaching me with quick steps.
"Are we going to forget about other things too?!?" Three asked too.
"I don't want to forget about you!" Two screamed.
"What if we forget about each other?!?" Four asked as she approached too.
"Sister Rose, what shall we do?!?" Five asked me.
Soon, all the girls surrounded me while asking question after question simultaneously. I could not take it anymore I needed silence to think!
"SHUT UP!" I screamed, slamming my hand against a tree. I expected to get hurt, but to my surprise, the tree snapped in two.
The girls moved away and stared at me in alarm when I looked back at them. Then I heard a noise.
SNIF!
No…
SNIF!
Please do not…
"WWWAAAHHH!"
Suddenly, they all cried. What situation did I get myself into? I am naked, covered in blood, in the middle of a forest, and with five girls crying in front of me!
If anyone shows up here, I doubt I can explain it. What should I do? What would Alan do? Yes, Rose, what would Alan do? He had a way with those things.
Slowly, I approached my supposed sisters, crouched down until I stood at their height, and smiled gently at them.
"I'm sorry for yelling, I'm confused and a lot happened recently. So how about we calm down and try to figure out what is going on? Firstly, let me wash off this blood and find something to wear, and then we can stop at a town or village to see if anyone knows your parents."
This seemed to work, as all five girls stopped crying, wiped their tears, and smiled back.
"Thank you, Sister Rose!" All of them shouted simultaneously.
"Great, then let's go! There must be a river somewhere."
Crisis averted, but now I have to stop somewhere to ask about the parents of these brats. They lined up behind me again and accompanied me with smiles on their faces.
As I walked, I looked at my hands while opening and closed them. What I did before was not normal. What happened to me?
-XXXXXX-
Finally, I found a river and felt relaxed when entering the water. I leaned against the bank and stayed there with my eyes closed for a few seconds, enjoying the sensation of the water on my body.
When was the last time I bathed myself? I lifted my arm, sniffed my armpit and my face contorted in disgust, looks like it was a long time ago.
I was going to get some water in my hands to wash my hair, but when I tried to do that, I saw my reflection in the water and almost screamed at what I saw.
There was a flower sticking out of my eye, a pink five-petal flower stood in the place of my right eye.
I saw the same flower on the execution platform. What was it doing here? Was it the flower that brought me back to life?
Slowly, I brought my hand toward the flower, but I had a bad feeling when I touched it, the feeling that I touched something disgusting, bad, and evil, I quickly removed my hand from the flower.
I will worry about that later, focus on relaxing Rose. I leaned against the bank again and closed my remaining eye.
"CANNON BALL!" A childish voice screamed.
Wait, what?!?
Something threw itself into the water in front of me, splashing water in my face. The thing revealed itself to be Two, wearing her clothes and everything while laughing at me.
"HAHAHA! I got you, Sister Rose!" Two exclaimed, slamming both hands into the water and splashing even more at me.
"Stop it you brat! What are you doing?!?" I screamed, shielding my face with my hands.
"I'm playing with you!" Two replied as she continued splashing water.
"And where are your sisters?"
"Three is right there!" Two pointed to something floating in the river.
Three had her face inside the water as she floated without moving, she looked like a corpse. I also saw bubbles coming out rhythmically from under the water next to her. Was she sleeping?
"Aren't you supposed to help your sister?" I asked raising an eyebrow; I do not want someone to see me next to a drowned child's corpse.
"Don't worry, Three does this all the time, she can sleep anywhere. Remember that time she fell asleep on top of the stairs at our house and you ended up tripping over her and falling down the stairs?" Two asked happily.
"No, I don't" I replied drily.
Once again they insist I am their sister and talk about things that never happened.
"Oh, no problem, this happened a long time ago, let's keep playing!" Two answered, returning to splashing water on me.
"You brat!" I screamed as I hit the water, splashing water on Two.
"HAHAHA!" Two laughed, shielding her face.
"I see you are having fun." A person spoke beside me.
Looking to my side, I saw Five sitting on the bank of the river.
"Unfortunately I will not participate; I don't want to get my hair wet." Five said, smoothing her hair.
Sadly, Five did not notice Four approaching her from behind with a devious smile on her face, and then Four pushed Five inside the river.
SPLASH!
"AAAHHH!" Five screamed as she fell into the water.
"HAHAHA!" Four laughed as she pointed at Five.
However, Four did not notice Five jumping out of the river, grabbing her leg, and dragging her into the water too.
SPLASH!
"AAAHHH!" Four screamed as she fell this time.
Then Four and Five fought in the river, one trying to sink the other under the water.
Now there was only one sister left. Where is she? Looking around, I saw One hiding behind a tree as she watched us.
"Hey, you come here!" I called her.
One jumped in surprise and tried to hide better, but I already saw her.
"There's no point in hiding, I saw you. Come here please." I said calmly.
One came out from behind the tree, approached me with shy steps, and sat down beside me on the bank of the river.
"How can I help you, sister Rose?" One asked politely with her head low, without looking at me.
I still do not believe they are my sisters, but I do not have the energy to argue about that right now.
"Why aren't you playing with your sisters?" I asked, pointing to the girls in question.
"I can't, as the second oldest sister; it's my responsibility to take care of them. What if something happens when I'm distracted?" One answered, raising her head and giving me a determined gaze.
"I see... You have a great sense of responsibility." I replied, closing my eyes and nodding in recognition.
"Of course I have! You taught me that the older sister must take care of the younger ones!" One said with a smile.
I never said that just as I never had sisters before.
"But nothing will happen now, so why don't you have some fun?" I said again, smiling from ear to ear.
"Sister Rose that isn't… AAHH!"
SPLASH!
I did not let One finish as I put my hand on her back and pushed her into the river; One came out from under the water soon after and stared at me irritably.
Nevertheless, Two splashed water on her face before she said anything, and One returned the gesture in the same coin, and soon the two girls started playing.
Now that all the children were distracted, I could relax again.
-XXXXXX-
"Are you sure about this, Sister Rose?" Two asked hesitantly.
"Yes, I am." I replied, focusing my gaze in the distance.
"But stealing is wrong!" Four exclaimed, crossing her arms and fixing me.
"I don't know if you noticed, but I need clothes." I replied, looking down at her while opening my arms.
"Sister Rose is right; a real lady shouldn't walk around naked." Five said smugly, making Four blush and look away.
"There will be problems if one of us gets caught." Three muttered sleepily.
"That's why I want only one of you to go there." I replied.
"That's enough, I'll go Sister Rose, but I want you to promise that we won't steal again. We should get clothes with our money!" One demanded, stomping the ground and fixing me.
"Fine, I promise!" I sighed, rolling my eye.
"Thank you." One smiled before walking away,
The girls and I found a village on the outskirts of the forest after washing the blood in the river, the only problem is that I was naked and I had a flower in my eye, but there was a solution to that problem.
We hid among the trees, facing the back of a house with some clotheslines with clothes hanging on them. I just needed one of the girls to go there and get the clothes for me, and One volunteered to do it.
Moreover, she did it! One ran back to us with the clothes in her hands and there was no angry peasant after her.
"Here it is." One said as she handed me the clothes.
"Thank you." I replied as I walked behind a tree to get dressed.
-XXXXXX-
The girls and I stood in front of the village's entrance, judging by the distance between this place and the forest; these girls must have come from here.
Now I wore a white long-sleeved shirt, brown pants, brown boots, and a brown cloak with a hood, I put the hood over my head and turned to the girls.
"We are going to enter the village, stay close to me, and don't cause trouble, we will speak with the villagers to find out if any of them know your parents." I said to the sisters.
"Don't you mean our parents?" Four asked confused.
"No, I don't." I replied drily, making her look down sadly.
I took a deep breath, frustrated with the situation. Calm down Rose, remember that you are a wanted criminal, and let us not draw unnecessary attention.
"Listen, I'm trying to understand what's going on, I don't know who your parents are. In addition, you, for some reason, cannot remember anything about them. There's something wrong here, until then we won't assume anything, do you understand?" I asked.
"Yes, sister Rose!" They responded simultaneously while smiling.
I wanted to slap myself in the face. Did they not hear what I just said? Never mind! "Let's go!"
So we entered the village, it was a medium-sized village with streets made of dirt and stone, and wooden houses.
I saw small businesses here and there, a sewing shop, a bakery, a blacksmith, and a carpentry shop. I also noticed the villagers staring at us, probably because we were outsiders, or because I hid my face with five children accompanying me.
"Sister Rose, I don't like the way they are looking at us." Four said worriedly while averting her gaze.
"Just ignore it, if they try anything I'll make them swallow their teeth." I replied, keeping my head low.
"That wasn't nice to say, Sister Rose!" Two scolded me.
"Merely don't give attention, in the possible future they decide to take some aggressive action due to our presence; I will take action for them to consume their teeth. Is it better now?"
"Yes, it is." Three replied, laughing slightly.
"Three! Sister Rose, please do not take such aggressive actions, the people in this village are just suspicious. We will not harm them." One exclaimed.
"Fine, but be careful."
"Yes, Sister Rose!" One replied.
"Sister Rose, I am hungry." Five spoke, pulling my cloak while her stomach rumbled again.
"I don't have any money at the moment Five; you will have to wait a little bit."
"Okay." Five said, looking down while holding her stomach.
Great, another problem, I do not have a single penny on me! I know how to solve this, but not now. Let us see if we can find anything about the parents of these children.
-XXXXXX-
The result was not good. We spent the whole day walking around the village, but no one heard of these children and their parents. It did not help that the five sisters in front of me could not even remember their parents' names. What have I gotten myself into?
RUMBLE!
I heard a noise near me; looking to the side, I saw Five with her face red with embarrassment.
"Are you still hungry?" I asked.
"Yes." She nodded ashamed.
"Is anyone else here hungry?" I asked the sisters around me.
"I'm hungry." Two said.
"And I'm thirsty." Four spoke.
"I'm tired." Three told me right after.
"And you One?" I asked the girl who stood silent.
"You don't have to worry about me Sister Rose, I'm perfectly fine…"
RUMBLE!
The growl of her stomach interrupted her; One's face turned red with embarrassment while I laughed a little at that.
"Stay here, I'll be right back. One you will be responsible for taking care of your sisters."
"You can count on me, Sister Rose!" One said, straightening her posture and puffing out her chest.
"Good." I said as I walked away. It is time to get some money.
I walked through the village with the sun setting and its inhabitants returning to their homes after a long day at work. Perfect, they were so tired that they did not pay attention to me when I passed by their side.
Thanks to that, I took their coin bags unnoticed, bronze, silver, but no gold. After a few minutes, I had enough money to buy a meal; it was time to go back.
The sisters were in the same place where I left them, and they ran in my direction upon seeing me.
"Sister Rose!" They screamed and hugged me but I quickly got out of the hug.
"So who would like some food?" I said, tossing the bag of coins up and down.
"ME! ME! MEI!" They all screamed, jumping up and down.
-XXXXXX-
We entered a tavern and sat down at a corner table and it did not take long for the food we ordered to arrive.
The sisters ate in a hurry as if they were going to die of hunger. Pieces of food flew out of their plates and mouths as they chewed loudly with their mouths open.
The noise bothered me. Was this how Alan felt when we ate together?
"Eat slowly and with your mouth closed!" I scolded them.
"Yes, sister Rose!" They all said in unison and ate slowly with their mouths closed.
I ate my food too and sharpened my hearing, trying to understand the conversations around us; this is a great place to get interesting information. There seems to be a conversation going on right now.
"Did you hear the latest news?"
"No, I don't which news?"
"Much of Cathedral City was destroyed!"
"I don't believe that!"
"It's true, the Institute of Magic is gone, most of the soldiers are dead and there's a giant crater in the middle of the city!"
"How did this happen? That place is a fortress!"
"There are many strange stories, they say that the Institute of Magic was experimenting on an angel, but the angel managed to escape and unleashed his divine fury on the city, others say that a huge explosion happened out of nowhere and the explosion took the shape of a flower."
"Like one with the wings and the halo on the top of their heads?"
"I'm not sure, according to the survivors it looked more like an angel from hell."
"What about the flower-shaped explosion?"
"Probably a hallucination caused by panic."
"How did the Lords let this happen?"
"None of them were in town at the time, but one thing they assured, two of Midgard's biggest criminals died in the chaos."
"Which criminals are we talking about?"
"Rose, better known as the Pink Eyed Witch, and the magic user known as Alan, they did not find a single piece of them, probably reduced to ashes by the explosion."
"Hm… Well done, two less criminals to worry about."
I turned my attention back to my food. So does that mean they think I am dead? Good to know, it is less trouble for me. Moreover, Alan… He probably went back to heaven.
Who knew he was an angel? He was too weird to be a normal person. What is he doing now? Probably trying and failing to get some angel girls into his bed, damn virgin.
Wait a minute, can angels fuck? Does he even have what it needs? Well, that would explain why he never tried to get a girlfriend, poor guy.
"We are done!" The sisters said, smiling at me with their mouths full of crumbs.
"Great, then let's go." I paid for our food and we left the tavern, heading towards the village exit.
"Sister Rose, aren't we going to stay overnight?" One asked confused.
"I don't, but you will." I replied without looking back.
"Sister Rose, what do you mean?" One asked worriedly.
We arrived at the village exit; I stood outside while the sisters stood in front of me side by side.
"Listen, I can't take you with me. Midgard is a dangerous place and I can't take care of you all."
The sisters widened their eyes with tears forming in the corners.
"Why you can't?" Five asked, stepping forward.
"Did we do something wrong?" Four asked hesitantly.
"You don't love us anymore?" Three spoke, breaking her bored expression and sowing more emotion than before.
"You're not going to leave us, are you? Two asked, looking away.
"Sister Rose, please explain to us! Why are you saying these mean things? Did we do something to anger you? Are you tired of us? We can change and behave better! If the issue is money, we can get a job to help you!" One spoke while the other sisters nodded in agreement.
"That's not the problem!" I answered.
"So what's the problem? Tell us, we can help!" One demanded while approaching me.
"I'm a bad person, okay! I stole and killed innocents because I thought my friend died! I killed hundreds of people for the stupidest of reasons! I should be dead! I deserved to be dead! I have no idea who you are or why you consider me your sister! However, I am the worst person to have as a sister! You deserve someone better!"
It is over. I said it! Now that they know the truth, they will leave me, it's better this way. Suddenly I felt something colliding with my body. It was One. What was she doing?
"This isn't true!" One screamed with tears in her eyes while all the other sisters hugged me.
"You were always the kindest person in the world." Four said.
"You told us stories!" Three spoke.
"You sang to us until we fell asleep!" Five continued.
"You always played with us!" Two responded.
"You cooked the most delicious food for us! You sewed the best clothes for us! You put together the best toys for us! You…" Moreover, the sisters continued, they spoke of how amazing I was.
Nevertheless, I knew that none of it was true, it was fake, a lie. The Rose these girls know and the real Rose could not be more different.
However, would it be so bad to act like the Rose they imagined, to pretend that I always had sisters? Maybe there is no harm in showing a little bit of kindness. A kindness someone showed me a long time ago.
"Fine, you can come with me." I sighed.
"Seriously?!?" One asked as she stopped hugging me.
I nodded in response.
"Thanks! Thanks! Thanks!" The sisters screamed repeatedly.
"Now wipe those tears, we have a place to go." I replied, turning around and walking away from the village with the sisters following me soon after.
"Where are we going, Sister Rose?" One asked.
"We are going to hunt for treasure."
"A treasure?!?" Two screamed and I nodded.
"It is a pirate's treasure?" Four asked.
"No, it's not." I replied.
"It is s treasure full of jewels and precious stones?" Five asked.
"No." I replied again.
"It is a cursed treasure?" Three asked.
You did not hear what I just said, did you?
"What kind of treasure are we talking about, Sister Rose?" One asked.
"It is a lot of coins." I hope it is still there under the apple tree.
This seemed to cheer the girls up.
"I'm going to buy lots of food and dresses!"
"I am going to buy several dolls!"
"I'm going to buy a sword!"
"I'm going to buy a ship!"
"And you One? What will you buy?" I asked the last girl.
"I'm going to buy a book." One replied embarrassed.
"It is a good choice One." I smiled.
We walked down the road for a while; suddenly I felt One pulling my shirt.
"What's it?"
"Sister Rose, can I hold your hand?" One asked with pleading eyes.
"Yes, you can." I sighed.
Slowly One held my hand with a small smile on her face.
"Thank you, Sister Rose." One replied happily.
Rose? I feel like this name does not suit me anymore. Rose died in Cathedral City; I am a new person now, but whom?
I looked at the sister who accompanied me, One, Two, Three, Four, and Five, each of them had a number on their forehead, I, II, III, IV, V, but I had none, 0, zero, Zero.
"One?"
"Yes, Sister Rose?"
"You can call me Zero."
END OF CHAPTER