OVERLOOKED ㅤkotlc

049

HI IM BACK AND TYSM FOR 6.5K READS thats insane!! hopefully all of u are still here abshdbsh, if so, welcome back! <3

At some point in time (a few days after the fading incident), Skylar disappears.

I ask Ruy where she is, but he just says she's in "good hands." I ask if she's back in New York, and Alvar says no.

I'm not sure how worried I should be; she might be in a cell with Kenric, or something, or she might be... gone. Or she might've escaped, or her memory might've been Washed.

"Dex?"

I startle. "Yeah?" I say, reshuffling my thoughts.

Rosaleen sits on my bed, and I sit in the armchair. I know she's been thinking; she'd gone quiet, her eyes pensive. But I'm not sure what she's thinking about.

For as long as I've known her, it feels like she has no defenses—like she's an open book. But when I try to think of her personal life, I come up with nothing.

So, really, I just haven't breached her defenses at all; she opens up when she wants to, and not a second before.

Rosaleen leans back. "Do you remember when you told me stories about the Black Swan and stuff?" she asks.

I bite back a smile, because that feels so long ago, and tell her I do.

"I think," she says, with a mischievous smile, "it's my turn, isn't it?"

"Only if you want," I say, even though I'm curious. "You don't owe me anything, you know."

Rosaleen shrugs. "I want you to know," she says. "You deserve to know. Like, I don't tell you much, while I know a lot of things about you."

"Well, you don't have to," I say. But she's already made up her mind.

Rosaleen thinks for a while longer, then says, "My parents fought over the washing the dishes once."

I raise an eyebrow. "Why?"

"I dunno. Because they were mad about something else? I didn't really get it." She pauses. "Zo got it, though. I just thought they really liked washing the dishes."

"Did they?" I ask, then immediately wish I can take it back.

"What? Like washing the dishes?" Rosaleen laughs. "No, no one likes washing the dishes, dummy."

I smile, glad she didn't take my question the wrong way. "Fair enough," I say.

"Yeah," she says, then thinks for a moment. "Yeah. Um, but then they started fighting about every little thing, and—well—have you heard of divorce?"

"It... sounds familiar?"

She smiles. "It's fine, um... yeah, divorce is when a married couple—"

"Oh," I say, interrupting her. "It's when they separate, right? I remember now."

Rosaleen nods. "Yeah, my mom and dad got divorced a long time ago ago, when I was seven, or eight. I don't know why I'm telling you, but... you know. It's something you should know, I think."

"Fair enough." I'm not sure how to explain it, but I get what she means. For me, once I'm close with someone, there's always certain things I want them to know, no matter how random they are.

"And... well, you've heard of Ixora, haven't you?" Rosaleen laughs, and it's surprisingly light. "I mean, of course you have, I ramble about her all the time."

I smile, tentative. "Your sister, right?" I say.

She nods. "She started getting notes, and—well—" Rosaleen stops, a little frustrated with herself. "It's probably best to start from the top."