A Rose for You

Prologue

I remember the first time I saw her, in my class in second grade, as a shy girl with green-brown eyes and wavy brown hair. Lily. We weren't really close that time but we did talk occasionally. Her nice, friendly nature made talking to her effortless. We drifted away through the years and it was only in fifth grade that we realized how much in common we had. We shared the same birthday; we were born near each other, shared similar tastes and even had the same views on everything. We were perfect friends, it was like she was my sister and I always treated her like one.

Through the years we shared so much time together it became impossible to separate us. Kiara and Lily, inseparable. It was as though we were always meant to meet. Once, while we were walking to lunch, we recognized that both of our right shoe-laces were untied. We noticed the most ridiculous of things and always linked it in the most absurdist way that we were the same. She was a part of my heart and I cherished each and every moment with her.

We used to firmly believe that studies were, "bad for health". Eventually, anything we didn't like became, "bad for health". We even conspired against our sisters making up clubs such as MUSVEM which consisted of our initials. We made plans for our future and laughed at ourselves for it but did it anyways.

Then, in seventh grade, we met Larisa. We both immediately loved this sweet, sincere and smart girl and the three of us bonded through the following years. Larisa was full of humour and we could relate to her in so many ways. The three of had wonderful times, smacking each other with books, singing "What A Wonderful World", at the top of our lungs and laughing at my spice tolerance levels.

All these thoughts passed through the eighth grade me as Larisa and I glanced at each other as we watched Lily and her sister deep in a whispered conversation. This wasn't normal because Lily usually avoided her sister as much as she could. I wouldn't have really thought much about this if it hadn't been for the tests. Lily had been going to the reception for two days in a row now saying that, "she needed to write some tests". She would continuously clear Math doubts in the bus with us. As Larisa and my eyes met, I knew that she was thinking along the same lines as I was. Lily was shifting schools.

Larisa broached the subject during class that morning with me and we both felt each other's bitter disappointment. It was as if our heart had been shredded into pieces, we weren't complete without her and all of our memories together came tumbling into our as we recalled them with tears in our eyes. We thought of her laugh, smile, her annoyed look and the way she regarded us as "brain dead". All those times we had annoyed her trying fervently to convince her that we both were the most awesome people in this entire universe, and laughed at her annoyance. We never realized that the day would come when there was no one to convince, no one to laugh with and at us and no one to be there for us when we were nervous and stressed.

I looked at ridiculous poems we wrote during the exams venting about how "bad for health", they were that evening and renewed tears dripped onto them. She was leaving me alone to live with only memories of her, on paper. I couldn't bear it and I lay back, crying my eyes out. What had I ever done to deserve this? My one true friend snatched away from me. It didn't even seem real.

One lane behind me, Larisa was feeling the same remorse as she sat bent over the scraps of paper on which they had doodled so much, her vision blurred with tears.

One lane in front of me, Lily stood in front of her mirror looking at herself and remembering the days when she had been younger and the childish things the three of us had done together.

None of us slept with dry eyes that night. Larisa and I still had an inkling of hope that Lily might not be going considering that she hadn't told us anything. We both tried to believe it but deep inside we knew that wasn't true. When we had asked Lily and her sister, Lily had sat silently while her sister had gotten very defensive asking us why we would even think such a thing and that it made no sense. It just made it more obvious.