Gargoyles- The Heart of Everything (Book 1)

~Chapter Two~ Dark Secrets

~Chapter Two~

Dark Secrets

"Are you paying any attention to me? Rose?... ROSE!"

Rose blinked a few times, knowing that she had let her mind wander, yet again. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, sorry, Emily. I'm still listening."

Emily Hansen and Rose Connelly were Paramedics, as well as best friends, and were sitting in their ambulance waiting for any emergency calls to come through their dispatch radio.

For the past ten minutes, she had been listening to her friend ramble on about her husband, Chris, and two-year-old daughter, Katie. Rose dearly loved Emily and her family, but her heart was full of sorrow, and dark kept secrets. Secrets that she didn't dare utter aloud to anyone. Not even her best friend.

Emily looked over at her, her bright blue eyes wide with concern. "Rose... what's wrong?"

Emily could tell that something was eating at her best friend for a while now, but she never wanted to push her to tell her anything she didn't want to discuss. However, with Rose becoming more withdrawn and unlike her kind and bubbly self, she felt that she needed to get down to the core of Rose's problems.

Rose blinked a few more times and then smiled gently. "Nothing's wrong, Em. I'm sorry. I'm just tired. We've been working a lot, and it's starting to get to me a little bit."

Emily, however, looked unconvinced. "Uh-huh. Sure. That's the primary school's answer. You have been my best friend long before we became medic partners, and you seem to forget that I know you. For the past six months, you have become more and more withdrawn and unlike yourself. Come on, please! Talk to me!"

Rose looked at Emily, with clamped lips still in a slight smile, almost as though she was masking annoyance. Rose smiled sweetly and said, "Em, I promise. I..."

But Emily wasn't having it.

"No, Rose. Stop. You are like a sister to me, and I won't let you avoid me anymore. I've given you time to keep to yourself, but something is seriously wrong. I can just... feel it."

Rose exhaled sharply, and Rose's smile and fake facade fell. She looked away from Emily and needed to get out of this tightly confined cab space all of a sudden. She was starting to feel claustrophobic and panicked, but she didn't dare head back to the fire station.

Suddenly, Rose felt a soft hand on hers.

Looking over at Emily, her bright blue eyes piercing her vibrant hazel-green ones, and watched her best friend look her over and knew what she was seeing. She had very light tan skin, and great bone structure was also very skinny but had more feminine curves than Emily did. However, unlike Emily's short blonde hair, hers was waist-long, auburn-red hair that was tied back in a single braid, which cascaded all the way down her back.

Though Rose was insanely beautiful, Emily could see dark shapes starting to form under her eyes, and her smooth, tan skin was almost pale and colorless. It troubled her, and she was not the Rose she knew.

"Rose," Emily finally pleaded. "Please... tell me what's wrong. You're starting to scare me. Are... are you sick?"

Rose shook her head, still not looking at her friend. She was focusing on almost everything else. She saw a hot dog vendor down the street and decided to stare and focus on him.

"No, Emily, I'm not sick," she replied quietly.

Emily huffed a breath out in impatience. "Okay... fine. Don't talk to me. I just thought that being best friends means that you can trust and confide in me. I guess that's all over now, isn't it?"