Remembering Rose

Chapter Seven- Empty Rooms

WARNING: this chapter is going to be a bit sad. I recommend either steeling yourself now or preparing accordingly. That is all--continue reading You Absolutely Stunning People!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Farley's POV:
I looked down at the tiny bundle of pink cradled in my arms and felt my heart crack. She was perfect, from her squished little baby face to her little murmurs of content. She had finally come into the world, blessing those of us who had been waiting for the last nine months with her presence, and in the moment she was put into my shaking hands I knew everything had changed. My eyes found Lilith's and my voice shook as I whispered, "Look at our girl."
"Our Lyra Elizabeth," she answered quietly. Her hazel eyes were brighter than I'd ever seen them, gleaming like sunlit leaves of a summer forest.
Suddenly, the door opened and four eager faces appeared. They pushed the nurses aside, stumbled over to me, and all began cooing and ooing at the little girl in my arms.
"She has Lil's eyes," Peony squealed as she peered down. I noticed the gashes peeking out of her shirt's neck had begun to heal. She leaned on Walker only slightly, which was also a good sign.
Walker right arm was looped around Peony's waist while his left was set in a bright neon orange cast (the color was my idea). He looked down at the child in my arms before his eyes glanced at Peony, "She looks like a potato."
I glared up at him (curse the ancient beings for my shortness) attempting to silently warn him of what would happen if he insulted my daughter again...but he didn't notice because Lilith had already thrown a bedpan at him.
My daughter, oh how I loved the feel of those words. They resonated with some deep workings of my soul, bringing out a gentleness for my little one and a viciousness for those who wished to harm her. She had only been in my world for about an hour, but that's all the time I needed to fall in love with her.
***
Suddenly I woke up.
It was always painful in those first few moments between dreaming and waking, in those seconds where reality and fantasy entangled all my senses.
The flat was quiet, as it had been for almost a year...well it was almost quiet. I sat up in the bed, my finely attuned ears hearing a soft sob from the room just down the hall. With a heavy heart I pushed away the blankets and walked towards the sound, the pads of my feet chilled by the cool hardwood floor.
I passed a collage of pictures hung on the hallway wall, all taken from times much happier, and stopped at the door. It was closed.
I opened it.
Sitting in the middle of an empty nursery was Lilith. Tears streamed down her beautiful face and she clutched a small elephant toy tightly in her white-knuckled hands. The rays from the setting moon lit her jet black hair, turning it into a shimmering obsidian, and illuminated a room that was full of ghosts.
I didn't say a word as I knelt beside her--we didn't need words to stop a hurt we only released in these wee hours--my arms wrapped around her and pulled her close instead.
Empty rooms are always the saddest. They are places someone left. A place they never returned to. They are the rooms where the memories lurk tempting, teasing, taunting.
We sat like that for a long while, mourning the precious light that had been taken from us. When Lilith's sobs quieted (and my legs became official unfeeling blocks of wood) I took her chin in my hands and tipped it so she'd look up into my eyes. "Feel better?"
"I miss my baby," she whispered.
I tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear and nodded, "Me too, Lily. I miss her so bloody much! But, I promise we'll get through this hurt."
Lilith knew I never broke a promise.
"Together?" She asked while looking deep into my brown eyes. The desperation in her voice tore my heart to ribbons. Lilith was not weak, she'd battled demons and darkness her whole life, but in these mornings of grief she always fought to keep herself from drowning in all her misery. I wanted to make her smile. I wanted to find whoever decided our fate and spit in their face. I wanted my family to be whole again.
So I kissed Lilith and tried to convey the depths of my promise. "Together."
***
I placed Lilith in the bed and tucked the blankets around her. My hand traced the edge of her face, brushing her beautiful constellation of freckles and lulling her deeper into sleep.
I myself was going to be up for hours, so I went and sat at the desk near our bedroom window, fully intent on checking on the Gang's recent dealings. However, movement from across the street caught my eye. I shifted the curtains, peeking out to view the flat across the street. It looked like Lilith and I were not the only ones having a bad night.
Rose sat in the open window of Lilith's previous room, her blonde hair blowing back in the breeze and her feet swinging absentmindedly. She was clutching her silver pendant tightly and staring up at the starry sky. In that moment I realized Rose had an empty room somewhere.
I briefly wondered what it might look like. Was it a big room, filled with golden trinkets and smelled of expensive perfumes? Was a room crowded with others, always filled with laughter and noise? Was it one over looking some sea-side cliff, a line of forgotten shells sitting on a scuffed white dresser?
I thought of Rose's shifting eyes, how some part of her hadn't shied away from pointing a gun a Phoenix, and thought maybe she came from a room that was never really filled, one that held only a bare bed and bad memories.
I wondered of she had parents who were sick with grief. Did they miss the daughter that had disappeared one spring night or had she faded easily from their lives'?
Rose's door opened, casting a warm golden light on her, and Walker peeked his head in. The girl turned from her perch then patted the sill beside her, her face lit with adoration. Walker did as she asked, but the worried look he gave her did not escape my notice.
They talked at there in the window until Rose began to yawn, it was then that Walker shooed her to bed. I watched as he pulled two blankets around her, checked the closet at her command, and turned off the lights.
As I studied the dark flat across the street a sudden thought interrupted my silent musings. It was a thought that made the corners of my mouth turn up slightly.
Empty rooms can be filled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Okay hello my lovely readers! So this was a chapter I struggled to write. Everyone in the gang has a complex and intricate back story, so I feel like I need to explore them carefully. If you have any questions just ask me, because things might start getting more confusing.
On another note, the pic above/to the side is Lilith! Alright, hope you liked it! Bye dears! :)
-agirlmadeofstars