Chapter 27: reflection

Derek p.o.v

Shit. Shit. Shit. 

How did it come to this? 

I just stood there, flabbergasted. I saw the little girl I took in, I cared so much for, running away from me. I could not believe it was actually happening. 

I couldn't move from shock. 

It was Olivia that brought me back to reality. She held my hand and said everything was going to be alright and that I should sit down. 

"No. It's not alright." I finally said. 

Right then it all clicked to me. It was my greed and selfish actions that drove Rose away. And the worst thing of it all was that she had no one, absolutely no one, to fall back to. 

I felt horrible. I wanted to have it all. I wanted a girlfriend and to be a Daddy. I was greedy. A greedy bastard. 

All my past actions and interactions with Rose flashed through my mind and it was only now that I noticed my wrongdoings. The way I treated Rose was incredibly toxic. I only had eyes for Olivia that I couldn't even see and reflected on my bad behavior towards Rose. 

The past couple of weeks I had pushed Rose away, not showed her any affection, and there wasn't any aftercare after I gave her punishments. Punishments that weren't even justifiable. 

When the shock left my body I felt myself moving forward, running outside after my little girl. When I was finally at the end of the driveway, out of breath, I could not see her. 

Shit. 

Where was she? 

I did not want her to end up in the streets again. She had no idea where exactly I lived or Ellis and Nathan for that matter. Where was she going to go? 

Anxiety was kicking in. I grabbed my hair in frustration. 

If something happened to her I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, ever. I was responsible for this mess. I had to fix this. 

But how? 

I ran back to the house in the hopes I would come up with some type of plan for finding Rose. 

I stormed into the house in a frantic mode to find my phone. Where the hell was my phone now I need it the most? I always have it on me. 

"Babe, what are you doing?" I heard Olivia from afar. 

I didn't respond as I lifted every paper from my desk, finding my phone was more important. I walked out of my office and made my way to the bedroom. 

"Derek, what are you doing?" Olivia asked, now more sternly. 

I stopped for a second and sighed. "I am looking for my phone." 

"Oh, I think I saw it on the coffee table in the living room." I immediately turned on my heel and walked downstairs. As I did I brushed Olivia's shoulder. 

She tried to grab my wrist and stop me, but I shrugged her hand off. 

"Honey, what is going on? Why are you like this?" I ignored her. I need to get my hands on my phone first. 

I was finally downstairs and saw indeed my phone on the coffee table. 

"Derek, she is going to be fine. She is just throwing a fit. Rose will be back. Relax, please honey." I shook my head at her words. Olivia might have been Rose her teacher but she clearly did not know a thing about her. 

I searched first for Nathan's number. I dialed and waited for him to pick up. Once again Olivia said I had to calm down. It was irritating me. 

I put up my hand and said, "You don't know her. She doesn't know the way back. Now, shut up!" I whispered yelled. 

Right then Nathan picked up the phone. "Hey, what's up?" 

"Nathan, I need your help." 

"Why? What happened?" 

"Rose ran away." 


Rose p.o.v

Tears were constantly streaming down my face. They didn't stop falling down. I felt scared and lonely all over again. 

After running for ten minutes I finally started to slow down. I was so out of breath I needed to sit down. I had found this park and was able to find a bench. 

There I cried my heart out. 

I felt so betrayed. I only felt this one time before and that was when my mom left. I couldn't remember much of it, only my dad screaming and the front door slamming shut. 

Time went by and the sun went down. 

I knew I had to move further to find a decent place to sleep but I was exhausted. After a couple of minutes, I mustered up the courage to start walking again. 

Slowly I walked forward in the direction of the city center. It was close to midnight when I finally walked through the busy city streets that came alive with the openings of clubs and pubs. 

It was then I noticed how hungry I was. I had forgotten all about the hungry sensation when I lived on the streets. 

After a long period of strolling around, I found an alley behind a fast-food place that had a few dumpsters in them. I knew for sure I would find some good food in there. 

The horrible memories of the spoiled sandwich stopped me for a second but my hunger got the best of me and I continued my search. 

I remembered I had Belle then to support me. Only now, in my rush to get away from Derek, I had forgotten about my friends. Another tear slid down my cheek. 

I felt little me pushing forward in my mind but I had to hold her down. I needed to be big to survive at least the first couple of days as they were the hardest. 

The results were quite disappointing, just a few fries and a half-eaten burger that didn't taste very well.

I had decided I would stay there for the night as I was too tired to find another place to stay. So I situated myself in a corner where you couldn't see me from the street. 

I managed to get a few hours of sleep in. I missed my crib, my blankets, and stuffies. I missed the comfort of a warm bed. I had totally forgotten what it was like on the streets. 

Multiple times I had cried. It hurt that the person I missed most had also hurt me the most in every way possible. 

The next day was even worse than the night. I had literally no place to go which made me sad. It was also then in the morning I noticed how bad I smelled. 

Now I really could go for a bath. I hated them when I was living with Derek, but now. I sighed. Slowly I made my way to God knows where. 

After a couple of hours, I started to realize I recognized the neighborhood and walked further until I noticed where my legs had brought me to. 

Unconsciously my mind brought me to the part of the city where I lived with my father. Immediately when I noticed I turned around and started to walk away as fast as possible. 

I panicked.

The last thing I wanted was to walk into someone I knew, especially my father. 

It wasn't shortly after that thought that I felt a hard tuck on my hair. "I thought I saw you lurking around here. And look, I am right," I heard the sinister voice of my father whisper in my ear. 


Derek p.o.v

"What do you mean she ran away?" Nathan screamed at me. After I had called Nathan I called Ellis as well. The three of us had driven around the city in a hopeless attempt of a search to find Rose. 

When they couldn't stay up and drive any longer both of them promised to come to visit me today. 

I had sent Olivia away after a much-heated fight. She told me I was overreacting and that Rose was being a brat and seeking attention from me. 

I, on the other hand, knew that was far from the truth. 

Now I had two pissed-off friends standing in front of me. "I told you to balance your time more between Olivia and Rose. I told you things would go wrong. But you didn't listen to me!" Nathan again screamed in my face. 

I remained quiet for a while. I felt like I got a scolding, which I deserved of course. I knew I was in the wrong. 

"I should have pulled her out of here," Nathan muttered. 

"What do you mean?" I got slightly agitated after he said that. 

"What I mean is that she should have had come to my place for a while because your head was so far up in your ass you couldn't even see how much pain you gave that poor girl." 

I wanted to throw a remark at him when Ellis came between us. "Guys, this is not the time to fight. Let's just think about the things we can do instead of the things we couldn't do." 

Together we came up that going to the police was now our best option and after we filed her missing we would drive to the spot I had found her. 

Arriving at the police station we had to wait for twenty minutes before we were offered help. We explained our situation but we were disappointed when they said the police couldn't do anything. 

"Look, sir, the girl you are speaking of is officially an adult. Therefore we can't put her up as a runaway teenager. Besides that, you aren't her family so we can't offer you any further information." The police officer told us. 

"But she is out there all alone. Can't you just give us her former address or something? Just something we can use in our search for her." I begged. 

"I am sorry, sir. I am not allowed to give you unauthorized personal information." 

With my shoulders hung low and head down we made our way to the parking lot. Our last resort was driving around the area where I had found Rose. 

Sadly, we had not much success. 

That night was another sleepless night for me. I couldn't stop thinking of my little girl. 


A/N: Hey guys. I hope you like the story so far. Please let me know what you think? 

Does Derek deserve to have Rose back? 

What should happen to Olivia? 

What do you think will happen next? 

Next to that, which sad song do you all listen to when feeling down? 

Also, I have an Instagram and TikTok account where I recommend books and give writing tips so if you are interested in that here are my account names:

Insta: writer_reader4you

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I would love it if you would go follow me, I will follow you all back if you say you are a reader of my stories ;D

Thanks for reading! 


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