Two dead roses.

The Stars.

"Hey! Psst..." there was a noise outside my window. I knew who it was.

"Rose, I swear you scare me every time. What are you doing outside my window at this hour?" I said looking at the clock beside my table. It was 2:17 a.m.

"I can't sleep," she said.

"So you thought you could wake me up too?'

"I'm sorry, were you really asleep?" she looked kind of hurt.

"No, c'mon in. It's freezing outside." I invited her in through the window. Even though Rose and I were best friends, I couldn't risk opening the door for her at this hour.

"Oh no, no, no. I didn't come all this way only to escape the boredom of my room and then get into yours. I have a plan." Her eyes were shining.

"What plan? It's 2 in the morning. And it's very, very, very cold outside." I asked her

"That's the whole point, you see. Now put your jacket on, and hop on outside. We have somewhere to go. Oh and please get a jacket for me too. I'm shivering", Rose knew how to command me around.

I got up from my bed hesitantly, walked up to my closet, shuffled a few clothes here and there and picked out a white jacket for me and a black one for Rose. She has woken me up from bed a couple of times but never to sneak out to an unknown destination. I was very curious. What could she possibly want to show me at this hour?

"Hurry up, will you. If I don't get a jacket in another two seconds, I'll be frozen before you make it out of that window." I could hear her teeth clattering.

"Almost done," I say closing my closet doors behind me. "Step away from the window so I don't knock your head off while jumping out." I heard a giggle from outside. I wiggle my way out of the window and land right beside Rose. Sure enough, she looked as if she'd freeze if I waited another second before handing her the jacket.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"You'll see."

We walked towards the road. Once on the road, we started heading downhill. I ran my mind through all the places that I knew of downhill, but none seemed out of the place or extraordinary enough to be visiting at 2. I wanted to ask Rose again about our destination, but I already knew that my question would be in vain. Rose seemed to stare right ahead. I looked at her, now warm in the jacket. She had put the hood on and had stuffed her hands into the pockets. If I wasn't walking beside her right now, she would've looked mysterious enough to belong to the streets after the daylight.

I had known Rose long enough to know that she wasn't joking around right now. Wherever we were going, we were going for a purpose. I tried to remember anything that gave me the faintest hint of what she might have been thinking when she planned this little escapade for us. Not a hint. We just kept walking in the silence. It was almost as if she purposely refused to speak until we had reached our destination. Curiosity was really getting to me.

Suddenly, Rose stopped walking. I almost crashed into her because I wasn't expecting a halt this soon. We were still not very far from the neighbourhood. This was the area I grew up in. I had expected our destination to be something that I hadn't seen before.

"We have reached. Let's go in." Rose started walking towards the community park of our neighbourhood.

"Why are we here? Is this some sort of a shortcut that leads to a new place?" I asked.

"Hush, just keep walking."

And so I did.

After taking a few steps, we were standing right in the center of the park. There were swings and rides all around us. I remembered this park from when I was little. I had stopped coming a few years back because now it was just shrieking children and boring mums talking about their families.

Before I knew it, Rose started to sit down. In the center of the park. I was amused and kind of angry at Rose for making me walk all this way only to sit down in the center of the park.

"What are we doing here?? I thought we were going someplace new and much less ordinary" I asked her.

"This is new. Sit down Ross, and you'll see."

And so I sat down. Beside her. I looked around to see the signs of anything merely exciting or new. Rose must have noticed my lack of interest and decided to talk for once.

"Appreciate it." Rose looked at me from the corner of her eye.

"Appreciate what? There's nothing here." Literally, it was just the two of us. Not a single soul on the roads or inside the park.

"Appreciate this," she said, pointing towards nothing. It was just the park and us. "Tell me Ross, how many times have you been to this park?"

"A gazillion, I think. Why are we talking about this park?"

"Because I like the quiet here. We've all been to this park a lot of times. But have you really seen it before? Silence is a great catalyst for thoughts, Ross. I want you to look around and see what you've never noticed before. Hear what you've never heard before. I want you to stop worrying about that test of yours tomorrow and just look around you for once. And you'll see."

And so I did. I looked around at the swings and rides, noticing how they had worn out over the years. I looked at the empty roads that had been busy most of the times that I had seen them. I looked at Rose. I looked at how fascinated she seemed by everything that was around us. And then I understood why we were here.

I lay down on my back on the cool grass and Rose followed. We lay gazing at the stars for a little while. I had to give it to Rose, she made life a lot more beautiful. 

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