When two worlds collide

the downfall

Rose abruptly woke up. She looked at her alarm clock and saw it was only 6:55 a.m. She groans and closes her eyes again. Before she could fall asleep, her alarm started beeping. With another groan, she turned the alarm of. It took her a little moment before she realizes, that today was the first day of a new school year. Just like every morning she turned on her radio. She always turns it on loud. Rose went to the bathroom for a quick shower. When she was half way finished, she heard beating on the door and her mother yell. 'Damnit! How many times do we need to tell you to keep to volume down, you brainless human, people are trying to sleep!' 'Sorry mom!' Rose yelled back. 'One more time and you're grounded for the rest of your life! Now hurry up!' Her mother really changed after she started dating this new man. Rose never really liked him. This new man, Pablo, is very possessively and strict. Nothing could be done or said without his permission. Her mother and he have been dating now for three or four weeks. After a week Pablo already moved in. Her mother didn't want it at first, but he promised her many things she liked. After Pablo moved in, things changed drastically. Rose's mother, Patricia, has always been very cheerful and Rose was allowed to do whatever she wanted. Every morning they had a little dance battle while they were getting ready for the day. Her mother loved to show off her beautiful singing voice, so she sung a lot. All of Rose's friends loved to be at her place. But since Pablo came, her mother didn't sing or dance any more. She kept quiet. Suddenly, all the things Rose was allowed to do, were forbidden. No more loud music, no more friends over, she had to be home at 7 p.m. She wasn't allowed to have a sleep over at a friend's house. Pablo even put a time limit on her laptop and as soon as she got home she only had an hour before her phone was taken from her. Pablo only yelled at the both of them and even her mother only yelled at Rose. Rose suspects he even hit her mother. She doesn't have prove, but she noticed he gets really angry and aggressive fast, when you say something wrong in his eye's, which is quite easy. He did threaten too beat Rose if she ever was a minute too late home. At the start of the week Pablo told her, that after school, she has to come home straight away. He kept repeating that the entire week. Normally she would send an message to her friends, but she found out that he reads everything. E-mail, text, whatsapp, every single way to contact her friends. It wasn't that her friends didn't know what was going on, or at least her very close friends. Rose was always very popular, partly because of her mom. But that would also change soon, since she wasn't allowed to go to the start of the school year party. This party has been a tradition for many years. Rose already went there when she was a freshmen.  The party defines who is cool and who not. Since she wasn't allowed to go this year, it would mean a lot to her social status. She asked her mother for permission when Pablo was away for a half hour. He never left much longer than that. She asked if she please could go for an hour or a bit longer. But her mother just told her to ask Pablo. Rose got angry and started yelling that she had nothing to do with him, that he wasn't her father. Right on that moment Pablo stepped in the kitchen, he came home earlier. Rose has never seen him so angry. He started throwing things. He called her and her mother awful things. After what seems like years, he told her to go to her room and that she wasn't allowed to be on her phone, laptop or do anything fun for at least a week. So when her mother yelled to turn down the music, Rose hurried to dry herself, run to her room and turned it off. It was better not to wake Pablo. She didn't want more trouble. 

Once she was finished getting ready for school, she couldn't wait to leave. She left early so she could walk to school. Everything to be away from home.  All of her friends were disappointed that Rose couldn't come to the party. They kept telling her to come anyway. They didn't seem to understand why there was no way she wasn't able to come. By the time it was lunchtime, the entire school knew that , Rose, the most popular senior, wasn't going to the start of school year party. It was the biggest topic of the day. Everywhere Rose went, people were whispering with each other and staring to her. She never felt so uncomfortable. When she went to a group of people she hang out with sometimes, they abruptly stopped talking. Classes were taking forever. All the teachers seemed to think it is important to have a long speech on how important this year is. This speech took like half the class every time. After school, Rose went straight back to home. She opened the door, showed her face and went upstairs to do her homework, since that was the only thing allowed. She only went downstairs for dinner. 

The next morning, when Rose arrived at school everyone was talking about the party. No one was looking at her. When she saw her friends, she waved at them, but they just walked away. It wasn't till after the third period she met her best friend, Amber, in the bathroom. 'Amber, why is no one talking to me?' Rose said. Amber reacted with checking if the bathroom was empty. than she answered ' You were the only one not on the party. Literally the only one. You're a no one now. Nobody can be seen or heard talking to you. at least, not if they wanna stay cool.' With that she left the bathroom, leaving Rose all alone. She entered one of the stalls and set down on the toilet. She set there the entire day. Her life was over. She had no friends, no mother, no one. When she got home, all she did was cry. Her mother heard her and came to check on her, when Pablo was away. They talked for a little moment. For a few minutes, she was the mother she always was.