Garden of Roses ✔️

Prologue

          18 years ago

The late April sun tingled Zara's face while she dangled her little legs back and forth, sitting on a big wooden chair that was too high for her to reach the ground. She turned her head directly towards the sun that was slowly setting, keeping her eyes closed and her lips in a big smile.

What made her smile was the warm and comforting feeling that sunlight left on her skin. She could feel the warmth getting through her skin and relaxing her tense and tired muscles.

Zara had spent the perfect spring afternoon exploring her mother's garden and playing with her friend Dante. He was just two years older than Zara but was already much taller.

She was excited to show her friend the magnificent garden that her mother was so proud of. She had been working on it for years, every year expanding it a little bit further by adding a new flower bush or planting a new young tree to grow together with Zara. This year, the garden managed to reach almost the entire perimeter around the big family villa. It stretched through three of the four sides of the house, leaving just the backside clear, the ground covered only with soft light green grass.

Zara's favorite part of the garden was the one with numerous rose bushes. There grew countless roses in various colors. White, light pink, dark pink, red, yellow, and yellow with red edges. The most beautiful ones were the red ones. The red rose bush was also the biggest. It was so big that it climbed the walls of the house, almost reaching the villa's top windows. One of those top windows belonged to Zara's bedroom. Every morning, she would try to reach the rose through the window, although she never succeeded. It was so close and yet so far at the same time.

As she still dangled her little legs, sitting on a big wooden chair, she opened her eyes and looked around. It was quiet for a spring afternoon. Usually, there were some gardeners, guards, or maids running around. Now, she couldn't see or hear anyone except her nanny Sofia, who was sitting beside her, drinking orange juice.

"Where is everybody?" Zara asked in confusion.

"Oh, don't worry about it, dear. They're just in town getting some errands done. They'll be back soon."

Although Sofia didn't sound very convincing, Zara decided to let it go and not ask any more questions. Now the sun had almost completely set. Zara began shivering slightly from the lack of warmth which was caused by the disappearing sunlight.

"Zara, dear, go back inside. It's getting cold out here." Sofia smiled at her kindly while standing up and taking two empty glasses from the wooden table. Zara listened to her. While walking towards the back entrance of the house, she glanced at the neighbor hill where a massive white mansion stood tall, looking more like a castle than a regular house.

"Why did Dante have to leave so soon? We were having so much fun in the garden today." Zara sounded curious as her face turned into a pouting grimace.

"Because his father called him. Now get inside, change your clothes and wash up. Dinner will be ready soon."

"Will Mother and Father get home before dinner?"

"Oh, child. You ask too many questions. Just go, get ready." Sofia's voice was a bit harsher than she intended it to be. Seeing Zara still pouting, her face softened as she came closer to the little girl and lowered her upper body to be on the same level with the child.

"Look, I don't know if your parents will be able to make it to dinner, but if they do, wouldn't you like to look clean and nice for them? Wouldn't that be nice?" Zara's grimace turned into a big smile as she nodded and then turned around and ran upstairs to do what Sofia told her.