Hidden Within

Chapter One - Noise

Chapter One

Noise

Rosalie tilted her head to the side, eyebrows furrowed and a mix of anger and confusion lay in her emerald eyes. The ever-present dimple, missing from her slightly chubby cheeks, indicating the anger bubbling inside her. Twisted around a lock of her jet-black hair was her right hand as she stared at her parents. Shifting uncomfortably in the wooden dining chair, she waited quietly for them to continue.

"Rosie, sweetie. Look you're 8 years old already, don't you think it's time you stopped being friends with Bash?" Her father said, gently.

"It's Sebastian! Only I get to call him Bash, and why can't I be friends with him? He's my best friend?" Rosalie snapped through gritted teeth.

"Rosie, You know Sebastian is only -" Her mother began carefully.

"Ruth! Don't!" Her father looked at her mother horrified.

"No! I hate you both!" Rosalie jumped up out of her seat and run down the hall to her room. She grabbed the door with her with both hands and slammed it with every ounce of energy she had. She spun on her heel to look straight into a pair of pained filled blue eyes. Rosalie ran straight into Sebastian's waiting arms.

"Shh, it's okay Rose. Look, adults don't get it okay." Sebastian whispered calmly.

Rosalie looked up. " No, they don't you are my best friend, they can't take you away from me."

"Don't worry, Rose." Sebastian pulled her closer. "They won't."

Rosalie pulled away from Sebastian when she heard raised voices coming from down the hall. Glancing at the door, her eyes flickered back to Sebastian. Tiptoeing over and pressing her face against the door to try and catch what her parents were arguing about. Lips pursed and with quiet determination in her eyes, Rosalie inched open her door.

Whispering to herself, "Don't squeak, please don't squeak." Snippets of the argument between her parents began to filter into the room. Feeling Sebastian's hand go on her shoulder, knowing it was a silent plea to not eavesdrop, Rosalie brushed it off.

"Ruth, I just can't believe you were going to say that to her." Her fathers voiced boomed.

"It's the truth, Shawn." Her mother snapped back.

"It doesn't matter whether it is the truth or not, it isn't your place to say anything to her."

"She is already eight years old, she shouldn't have..."

Rosalie missed the rest of her mothers' sentence when she felt a weight against her, the door handle slip from beneath her hand and the resounding squeak from the old hinges. Flinching, the silence resounded throughout the house. Fingernails digging into the soft skin of her hands, Rosalie spun on the spot to glare at Sebastian, who stood with his hands in his pockets and a chagrined look on his face.

"Now look what you did" Rosalie grumbled, "Mum stopped talking, now how am I meant to know what she was gonna tell me before."

"Some things, you are better off not knowing. Trust me." Sebastian mumbled sadly.

Rosalie huffed and walked back over to her bed, arms crossed over her chest and teeth nibbling away on her bottom lip.

"Rose, please. I am sorry it was an accident."

" 'S okay."

"Rosie, will you come out and say goodbye before we go out?" Rosalie's head popped up and confusion spread across her face, before defiance set in. Head held high, with lips clamped shut Rosalie sat. The thud of footsteps echoed down the hallway. The evidence of the fight, Rosalie could see was plastered all over her father's face which appeared older more ragged. His normally cheery disposition missing, his neat and tidy black hair now mussed.