The girl had always been quiet, but this silence seemed strange even for her. Either Rosa would talk until she ran out of words to say, or she would mostly keep to herself. Still, Mr. Greggs didn't like seeing her curled up in a seat, looking out the window almost as if she was expecting someone to come to her.

"Rosa," Mr. Greggs started to say (although he did not know yet what he wanted to say to her, only that he wanted to get some sort of response out of her).

"What is it, Mr. Greggs?" Rosa asked in response, her voice nearly monotone.

"Well, I was wondering if you're planning to do anything today."

"I plan to do what I have done for the past several days," she replied. "I plan to think through what I desire to do now that I am given the opportunity to do such."

"But you've just been sitting around, not doing anything. I don't think that's very...er...it doesn't seem very healthy to me. A teenager like you should be up and about."

"A teenager like me should be in school. But that is not what is occurring. No, I am here. And I will stay here."

"I just...I just don't like seeing you like this."

"Trust me, Mr. Greggs, I am not pleased over the circumstances either. It's just...I just don't know what to do. And it's not...it's not coming through the way I want to. I know I can figure these matters out, it's just that I have not yet."

"Do I need to make things more comfortable here? More enjoyable? Do you need to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner? Wait, what did you last eat - you can eat the meal after that..."

"Do not fret," Rosa replied.

"I just want you to enjoy your time here, use it to relax and...er...rejuvenate yourself," Mr. Greggs said, cracking his knuckles.

"But I do enjoy my time here," Rosa began. "Perhaps I should stay here. Perhaps it would be better for me to remain here, far enough from Cloisterham Academy that I have very little reason to worry. I cannot see anything wrong with that."

"Don't say that, Rosa."

"Why not? I want to stay here. I do not see why that would make such a difference in your life. You take care of me over the summer all the time, remember? And if you are not around, as you so often are not, then I know how to take of myself."

"It's not my life I'm worried about," Mr. Greggs said, releasing a sigh. "I don't want to see you...I don't want to see you drop out of school or anything of the sort. You have a lot going for you, Rosa, and it could all fall apart if you just run away from it-"

"-I've already run away from it, Mr. Greggs!" Rosa exclaimed. "I ran away from Cloisterham with intentions to leave my life as Rosa Burgos behind and now here I am. Perhaps I will not be entirely rebooting myself and my life, but...but I still intend to follow through with it."

Mr. Greggs stared over at the girl, wondering how he was supposed to handle this matter. She didn't want to listen to any sort of reason. She had made up her mind, or so it seemed. But, then again, she had changed her mind several times about various matters upon arriving at this particular home.

"Why are so sure you can't go back?" he finally asked.

"Mr. Jasper," Rosa said, knowing the one name would be more than enough to explain her inner thoughts.

"Rosa..." Mr. Greggs said, looking down to crack his knuckles.

"I am terrified of him," Rosa exclaimed. "More terrified than anyone or anything I have ever encountered in my life. I do not wish to return to Cloisterham Academy as long as he remains there."

"Rosa, there's something...something I, er, I need to tell you," Mr. Greggs said, unable to keep himself from stumbling over. "It's about...it's about Mr. Jasper."

"Oh, my God," Rosa breathed out. "God. Do not tell me that he's here, or that he's coming here, that he discovered where I scurried off to, that's he coming for me..."

"No, no, no, nothing like that. But...you're not going to like it."

Rosa took a deep breath, unsure if she wanted to hear this particular news or not. Mr. Greggs seemed rather guilty for whatever reason. Knowing that it involved Mr. Jasper was enough to make her feel on edge through and through. After all, how could she not feel such terror when Mr. Greggs was confessing to something?

"What did you tell him?" Rosa asked, putting all her effort into keeping her voice steady.

"I told Mr. Jasper that you seemed like you were going to go off your own way, that you might break up with Elliot. I didn't see anything particularly wrong with it at the time, but just now...recently I have realized why that could be very bad."

"Why did you tell him?" Rosa immediately burst out, her voice cracking. "Why would you tell him that?"

"Well, Rosa, I...I didn't know!" Mr. Greggs exclaimed. "I didn't realize how much of an effect it might have had on him."

"He knew the whole duration of it all," Rosa said, taking in a deep breath. "But then, why..."

"Why, what?"

"Never mind why," Rosa said, hastily catching herself before she ended up spouting out something she was not meant to say. "I just...I hope that I never have to set my gaze upon Mr. Jasper for the rest of my days. I pray that I shall be able to prance through this new life of mine without the fear that he will pursue me."

"Rosa, if your words are true, then you know he'll try to follow you anywhere."

"Not if he believes I am dead," Rosa replied. "And part of the effect of disappearing which I have determined is that people may think I am dead. Elly was missing before they were proclaimed dead, and I don't see why people wouldn't come to the same conclusion. It is only natural in these circumstances!"

"They're going to confront me about it," Mr. Greggs said, wringing his hands for a moment. "I'm afraid I'll...I'll let something slip out, like I did with Mr. Jasper."

"Oh..." Rosa said, her voice rapidly decreasing in volume. She realized just how much damage she was dealing out to Mr. Greggs.

"I am certain you care about me," Rosa said, knowing she had to quickly heal what she had just inflicted on him. "I know you never would've intentionally given out such information if you knew how harmful it could be."

"No, of course not. I...I...I care about you too much to do anything of the sort."

"Thank you...now I must ask...you loved my mother, didn't you?" Rosa asked. "You were in love with her, and that's why-"

"And that's why I took you in, even though I didn't have the slightest idea of how to raise a daughter," Mr. Greggs said, completing her thought. "I always had feelings for Isabel, yes. But I was always good friends with your father as well, and so when he started dating her I knew I just had to stand back and watch. There was nothing I could do."

"But then there was something you could do."

"I was devestated when your mother died," he continued. "But I think it pained me more to see Eric's response. As my partner in the law firm, I always tended to spend time with him, and he...he was a different man after it all happened. I knew he had a daughter - you - back at home, but sometimes it seemed like he forgot."

"I know," Rosa said. "I cannot recall precise details but I do remember...he could hardly cease his drinking. It was dreadful. And it led to his demise, as well."

"I had to do something about it. The best I could do was taking you in, of course."

"You did it out of love?"

"I did it out of love for both of your parents, Rosa."

"Would you go so far to say that you did it out of love for me?' Rosa asked, a small smile pushing across her face. "You must care about me...I suppose you have to care for me at least somewhat if you were my guardian for over a decade."

"I think I would go so far to say that I did it out of love for you," Mr. Greggs quietly agreed.

Rosa allowed the hint of a smile to push across her lips.

"I am pleased to hear you say so," she said.

"I hoped that I was going to be your father before you were born or even a thought in Isabel's or Eric's mind. I didn't realize that I'd end up becoming your father about three years after you were born."

"You earned the title eventually, indeed!" Rosa exclaimed, beginning to raise her voice in excitement. "And you have...you have become my father even if it was not through direct genetics. Why should that matter?"

"Well, that is true - and I would not trade what I have now for anything else."

"I would not trade any of this for...for anything. I feel...I feel tranquil when I am so near to the coastline and to you. Somehow both allow me to feel serene, to feel safe...I should loathe the ocean after what happened to my mother, but..."

"As long as you don't loathe me, I won't question any of it," Mr. Greggs said.

"Oh, Mr. Greggs. I could never loathe you," she replied.

For several minutes, the two sat in peaceful silence.

"Mr. Greggs?"

"What is it?"

"I...I was wondering if I might be able to borrow the car from you and venture out to the coast," Rosa said, biting her lip. She wasn't used to this feeling of asking what she could and could not do, but somehow it felt wrong to leave without asking.

"Borrow the car?" Mr. Greggs echoed. "I guess you must be feeling rather stuffed up in this house, compared to the campus you're used to..."

"Oh, no! I'm not stifled at all, I can guarantee that!" Rosa replied. "I just...I just wished to spend a few moments by the beach. The waves crashing against the shore...I just need the serenity there. Take several moments to ponder over all that is occurring in my life."

"Yes, of course - it's no problem. The keys are in that drawer, over there," Mr. Greggs said, gesturing in a rather generalized motion. Rosa paused for a moment to make sure she was going to the correct drawer, but inevitably she ended up with the car keys in her hand.

"Thank you, Mr. Greggs," Rosa said before she moved to leave. "You truly are a guardian angel to me, whether you believe such a sentiment or not. I will back...well, I am not certain of when I will return, but I shall not be too long, I suppose."

"As long as you're back before 9:00 PM, then I don't mind how long it takes you," Mr. Greggs replied. He didn't have a response to any of her earlier words - he flushed far too deeply to make anything proper out of it. Indeed, he had raised this girl to an extent, he had been somewhat of a father to her...but knowing that he had made such an effect on her was too much for the man to bear at the moment.

But at the very least he had time to himself just as Rosa ventured off to spend her time beside the ocean. At least he could think of how, in some ways, they truly were family.

- - - - -

Rosa hugged her knees to her chest, releasing a sigh. She adored the way she could nestle her feet into the sand particles and how relaxed she felt, but with the near silence aside from the crashing waves she only had her thoughts to keep her company.

All she could think about was how much of her life had occurred - her mother died on this very beach, then her father died, then her nanny vanished when she was just seven and now Elly was dead as well. She couldn't hold on to anyone, no matter how hard she tried.

Those relationships she tried to forge at Cloisterham were now frayed. She had left behind Neville after she realized she couldn't help him in terms of Mr. Jasper. She had left behind Jasmine when she finally began to understand that nothing she did could truly ease Jasmine's fear and anguish. And she had left behind Helena after the fighting and the lies and the absence of truth.

She missed Helena most of all.

Rosa never lied when she claimed Helena was the one she could and did trust most of all out of everyone she knew. Helena never broke her trust regardless of the matter at hand. But Rosa hadn't told her all that she needed to know. Instead she had just ran.

Then again, Rosa didn't know if she should feel so furious at herself for leaving, not when everyone had left her. Elly left, her nanny left, and her parents left...or, rather, they were taken from her through the clasp of death.

She never knew her parents the way she wished she could. She would never know if they would have taught her Spanish - both were bilingual, that was all she knew. She wouldn't know if she was meant to have an extravagant quinceañera. She wouldn't know the way her parents would've adored one another and how they would've adored her, how pure and perfect their love would be...

A small sob escaped from Rosa's lips. She quickly pressed the back of her hand to her mouth to stem any further flow, but she couldn't prevent her shoulders from heaving or tears from leaping out of her eyes. She sat there on the beach, sobbing her eyes out.

"Are you okay?"

Rosa gasped in surprise before turning around to see through her tearstained vision that there was a woman standing behind her. The shock was enough to stop her deluge of tears at least for the moment, but the woman had already heard her sobs. Besides, her face had gained a red tinge and her eyes were puffy.

"I apologize, I should be heading back to my household sooner rather than later. In fact, I should be there now...I apologize," Rosa sputtered out, sniffling and desperately trying to wipe the tears away from her eyes.

"You don't have any reason to apologize. I was just wondering what you were doing sitting here on the beach all by yourself, and what was the matter."

"I...I have just been pondering all that has occurred to me, in the near and distant past alike. I have been through many ordeals, but I suppose you don't want to hear any of that...it's not relevant, of course..." Rosa said, her voice tapering off as tears rushed to her eyes.

"Rosa, oh...Rosa, tell me what's wrong?"

Rosa froze, the tears that formed in her eyes suddenly vanishing.

"How do you know who I am?" she said, blinking out the remants of her tears. "How do you know me?"

"Oh, Rosa. You don't remember your Princess Paula?"

Rosa's lips parted as she began to realize who she was looking back at. "You're...you're my nanny?"

"I was your nanny, but yes," she replied. "I wish I'd stayed that way. I wished I'd stayed with you longer, but things just didn't quite work out that way. I regretted leaving you behind as soon as I left."

"I..."

"I know," Paula sighed. "I know, Rosa. I never wanted to leave you, I swear that. But I truly thought I was in love, that I'd finally found someone who managed to make it all work out. I don't understand how I could've thought that now, but that's beside the point."

"You...you were in love?" Rosa said. "You were in love with..."

"I thought I was. I thought that I was old enough to know what love was, but it turned out to be little more than just infatuation. I wish that I hadn't gotten involved with him. I wish I hadn't let him use me in whatever way he wanted."

"Oh, my God," Rosa exclaimed, sinking back into a sitting position on the ground once again. "I never thought...I assumed you would never come back to me...

"Rosa?"

Rosa sat with her mouth shut, looking towards the sand on the beach. She was lost within her own mind, lost within the thoughts she had never expected to have. But after she had dwelled her thoughts for several moments, she spoke again.

"Tell me about love," Rosa said. "Tell me what...explain its intricaticies to me."

"I know you've been listening, Rosa, and that means that I...I don't know what to tell you. I can't explain such a matter, especially not after what happened. Love is something you'll have to figure out by yourself, piece by piece."

"Then how did you figure it out, Paula?" Rosa asked. "What occurred in your own life?"

"Are you sure you want to know what happened to me?" Paula asked. "It's not a pretty story, let me assure you of that first. You're not going to enjoy it, especially if you want to know something about love."

"There is no necessity of enjoyment in any story," Rosa said, beginning to stand up so that she could see nearly eye to eye with her nanny. "I have been desperate to know where my dear nanny disappeared since I was seven years old."

"Well...I'll try to keep it short and simple for both of our sakes, Rosebud. As I've said, I met a man and became infatuated with him. I thought, for the first time in my life, that he cared about me fully in return. We spent lots of time together, and I decided to follow him away from you. I quit my job as a nanny, thinking I would spend the rest of my life with this man."

"And then..." Rosa prompted, her voice soft.

"And then I stayed with him, yes, but he started drifting away. I thought I was in love, so I thought I should do whatever he said. Before I knew it he was taking advantage of me at every turn, and then he brought his friends into the mix...and then he left me without any way to support myself, except to sleep with whoever would pay. And then I lost my looks and had nothing."

"Oh!' Rosa exclaimed, tears leaping into her slate eyes.

"I was penniless, Rosebud. I managed to scrape by after that by getting a job as bartender, and through that job I earned more on the side by selling drugs. Never took any of them myself, but it toughened me up. That's how I've managed to make it after everything."

"Oh...oh!" Rosa cried. "How dreadful! How terribly dreadful! I cannot believe you were forced to go through such trials, such hell!"

"Ah, but it didn't seem so bad at first," Paula replied. "At first it just seemed like a garden path. It ended up being a garden path to hell."

Rosa could see only the beginnings of tears within her former nanny's eyes, something which she could not comprehend. Rosa shed tears in a deluge, unable to keep her emotions from bursting.

"I am so sorry! So very sorry," Rosa cried out. "I wish I...I wish I could have done something!"

"You did do something," Paula said. "Remembering you reminded me that I had done something good with my life. I knew that I had managed to step into something terrible when I remembered how wonderful you were."

"Oh, my god!" Rosa said, launching herself into an embrace with Paula. She continued to cry out time and time again, all while Paula helped to keep her upright.

"You've grown into such a beautiful young woman," Paula said, clutching the girl's head within her arms. "Beautiful and intelligent. Everything I ever hoped you would be. I can only hope that everything I did has something to do with it."

"Of course," Rosa sobbed out. "Of course it was because of you. You were my Princess Paula! You...you...you were just like..."

"You don't need to explain yourself," Paula replied, letting out a soft shush. "I know what you want to say, but right now you just need to breathe."

When Rosa's tears finally subsided, Paula broke away from her to speak once again.

"I've been in Cloisterham's area trying to keep an eye on you for a while, Rosebud. I wanted to investigate what was happening around Cloisterham because I was worried about you. I wanted to make sure that you would be safe, and so I tried to figure out whatever I could around the campus..."

"Oh, was that you?" Rosa asked. "I...I never paid much attention...we could have reunited far sooner..."

"We could've, maybe."

"I must admit, I was quite overwhelmed by many of the matters which surrounded me at Cloisterham, enough to distract me from matters such as you. I attempted to investigate Elly's disappearance while attempting to pursue friendships and balance it all upon my shoulders..."

"Can't say I blame you for it, Rosebud. At the very least we managed to get here together now, didn't we?"

"Indeed we did. Now I suppose I have no reason to have qualms with aspects of my life," Rosa said, releasing a sniffle. "Not when juxtaposed to what you've been through."

"Just because your problems 'aren't as bad' doesn't mean they aren't problems. Now tell me, Rosebud, what brought you here?"

"Fear. Stupidity. I ran away from Cloisterham Academy, praying I could vanish."

"And why would you want to run away from Cloisterham? What could possibly be there that would make you afraid?"

"Not what," Rosa correct. "Who."

"Then who is it that was making you afraid, Rosebud?" Paula asked.

"Mr. Jasper," Rosa said. "My chorus teacher, Mr. Jonathan Jasper. He...he pursues me endlessly, and he desires nothing but me. He has convinced himself that he is in a state of pure love towards me, when truly I know...I know he is blinded by overwhelming lust!"

"I knew it," Paula said, any hint of a smile that might have remained fading away. "I knew no good could come from that man. I should've kept a better eye on him whenever he was around."

"You...you are aware of Mr. Jasper?"

"I know that he came to my bar all too often," Paula replied. "I know that he always kept showing up, always asking for the strangest thing, always knowing I was the only one around who could supply it - opium."

"Opium?" Rosa exclaimed, releasing a gasp. "What do you mean, opium? I did not think that anyone in the twenty-first century would have anything to do with opium. It does not make sense...and to think, Mr. Jasper was smoking opium this entire time?"

"I can't be certain we're talking about the same person, but I have a good feeling we are."

"Goodness. I pegged him down for a variety of crimes but I never would've anticipated drugs, least of all opium!" Rosa exclaimed. "I never would have anticipated such a thing...not even from him."

"He would pay whatever he had to get that opium. Sometimes he'd go long stretches without it and he would always come back more desperate than the time before. But I've wondered to myself if he was more addicted to the drug itself or the dreams it brought on. Now that I'm talking to you I think it's the latter."

"Why do you say that?" Rosa asked, her eyes widening.

"I'm fairly certain I know what was going on in his dreams now. He always spoke of a pretty girl whenever he mumbled to himself about this or that. And it was always the same girl's name - it never changed, no matter what. Rosa, Rosa, Rosa. All he could say was Rosa."

"Oh, God," Rosa whimpered. "And...and you are...you are absolutely certain it was he who spoke such words?"

"Now, I can't be absolutely sure, can I?" Paula asked. "But I knew something was wrong, and I knew that if the Rosa he spoke of was my dear Rosebud then something had to be done. I knew that this man couldn't be up to any good, and so I followed him along. I should've known he would take it too far."

"Oh, my God...he did, Paula, he did take it too far..."

"Rosa, please tell me what he's done to you. I've told you my part of the story. You must share yours."

"Well, it's actually rather simplistic...Mr. Jasper is in love with me," Rosa confessed. "I've known for quite a long time but I did not wish to believe it. He was quite lustful towards me the entire time, but he managed to hide it from everyone except me. And I...he was Elly's uncle, his guardian...and since Elly and I dated...I thought perhaps he might have a place in Elly's disappearance..."

"Is that what's been hurting you so much, Rosebud?"

"No...he...one day, he asked me to speak with him privately, at the sundial...my favorite spot in the midst of Cloisterham's frenzy. I went because I thought he might confess to something about Elly, but he only confessed his love for me and I didn't know what to do and thus I pressed my lips to his and he-" Rosa took a sharp intake of breath as she reminded herself that she needed to breat. No matter how emotional it made her, she couldn't keep speaking until her lungs emptied.

"Say no more," Paula said.

"No, no, no...I am fine now. Any scarring I have is of the emotional sort - one cannot erase such memories easily, no matter how much one may wish them to vanish...I...I wish I could've protected myself in those moments...oh, dear!" Rosa exclaimed, bursting into a fit of tears.

"Well, clearly you're not fine now," Paula said, her voice hushed. "You're scared. I know you are. And you don't need to be ashamed of being scared."

"But I'm terrified!" Rosa gasped out. "I could not breathe when I was at Cloisterham, I never could...and I thought it would improve as soon as I left but I found it was only temporary, all too false..."

"I think you're scared, yes, but you're learning to deal with it. I know I had to. And I know you can do it too."

"What am I supposed to do, Paula?"

"Go back to Cloisterham, Rosebud," Paula said. "I'll come with you to make sure you're safe. But you have to go back. You'll regret it if you think you can run away and start over."

- - - - -

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