Remember Us

The Girl

Roseau(Rose-Oh) looked at her shattered window. It was rimmed in gold and seemed to produce a mini rainbow when kissed by the sun. Small little shards of glittering glass lay sprawled out on the grassy floor. A small smile made its way to her porcelain face, seeming to etch itself into her skin. A bony finger tapped her shoulder with great force. Roseau turned her head slightly, still not ready to face her punishment that was bound to come. Her hand instinctively dropped the rock she had not yet thrown at her window and stuffed the slingshot she had used to catapult the last rock at the window into her pocket.
      The person who tapped her walked over to face her. Roseau looked at her shoes, trying with all her might to ignore the person that was staring her down. Another tap could be felt on Roseau's shoulder, this time it was more gentle. Her eyes lifted up and she saw a different person standing in front of her. This person was more kind looking, she had chocolate colored hair and bright blue eyes. She was overweight yet still looked like she did eat healthy. She smiled and her flashy, bright, white teeth were showcased in front of Roseau. The other lady that had tapped Roseau first looked even more angry.
      The kind Chocolate haired lady held her hand out and carefully tapped her palm with her finger. She seemed to be saying something, Roseau couldn't hear it though. She never could, everyone had always looked down on her because of this. The first lady whacked the kind woman on the back and shook her head. Roseau could read people's lips though, this was just another one of her senses that had strengthened due to her disabilities. "She cannot hear you, stupid woman, you will make her feel bad. Leave now, or else I will report you to the King myself, stupid maids!" Roseau looked at the woman with a newfound sorrow. She was not offended or sad at all, the maid simply hadn't known. A new emotion began climbing up her, starting from the pit of her stomach. It made her feel saddened, she had caused this woman to lose her job. There was nothing she could do now except watch as the maid leaves.
      The maid turned to Roseau and mouthed sorry, the other woman grabbed Roseau's hand quite fiercely and stalked away. The feeling began climbing up Roseau faster and faster, until it reached her heart. Her hand began to get sweaty and she began to look back at the retreating made more frequently. The woman looked at Roseau with concern and stopped walking suddenly. She held her hands up and began using sign language with her. "Are you sick?"she said with her hands. The woman brought her hand to Roseau's forehead and frowned. Nothing indicated a sickness of some sort, everything seemed fine except for her emotions. Roseau turned her head so she was looking at the maid shutting the door. "I'm hiring her again," said Roseau with her hands and smiled slightly. The lady gasped and tried to grasp Roseau, however Roseau had already scampered away.
       Her heart was pounding and her little eight year old legs were pumping up and down. Roseau imagined herself listening to her heavy heart pounding in her ears and her heavy breathing echo throughout the walls of her mind. It was like God had cursed her. That he had wanted to make her feel pain and sorrow. As if being deaf wasn't enough, he even took away her ability to speak. Roseau knew it wasn't God who had given this to her it was the bacterial meningitis she had contracted when she was six. The doctors had predicted she would get her hearing and speech back in a day. Oh how they were wrong. The following years after the doctors had said those words they were exiled off the island and labeled as the stupidest doctors. Roseau's hearing and speech had worsened, she never regained them. Her other senses had flourished though. Her smell was as keen as a canines and her sight was the most clear it could be.
         She still felt weak though, as if she were a bird that had broken both its wings. It was afraid to try to fly, afraid of falling, afraid of trying to overcome. Roseau turned her head slightly risking a glance at the woman running after her. She was still far behind Roseau and would most likely not catch her. Roseau turned her attention back to the door in front of her and quickly opened it. She slammed it shut, so loud that all the women in the room burst up standing. Roseau looked at them puzzled. They all seemed surprised. She had tried to shut the door as gently as she could and she had thought that the vibrations from the door were soft.
         A puzzled expression found its way to her face and plastered itself to it. A woman standing to her far left looked at her and curtsied. "Your highness you accidentally slammed the door, may we help you?" she spelled out very slowly in sign language. Several mistakes flagged the woman's work, nearly making every word a failure. Roseau smiled, at least someone had tried to learn sign language for her. "You said that you like Chickens," Roseau said in Sign language back to the girl. Roseau was met with a crimson faced maid, she quickly bowed and said a quick apology before excusing herself. The other maids looked at each other curious as to what just went on between the maid and the princess. No one was brave enough to ask though, so it remained a secret between the two.
          Roseau looked to her left and right, the maid was nowhere to be found. It was like she had disappeared, never even existed. The thought made her shiver, to be erased off this world, to never have existed. As much as Roseau repented life, she truly loved and cherished it. No matter how many times life had thrown her down and spit in her face she got up and did a tiny dance, before continuing on her way.
        Roseau looked to her left and spotted a small figure curled up in a ball against the wall. She approached the figure and realized it was the maid crying. Roseau reaches her hand out but paused before contacting her. What if the maid hated her? Despised her? What would Roseau do then, would she do a dance and continue on her way. A small little image of her mother flashed before her eyes, her mother had died two years prior and had caused much grievance for the family. A small part of her kept telling her to comfort the crying girl, it's what your kind mother would have done. Roseau flipped her palm over and stared at it as if willing it to move. The door to the room swung open with as much force as Roseau and in stumbled the angry lady chasing her. She quickly tapped the lady on the shoulder and smiled. The woman turned to see a smiling Roseau and looked shocked. "You are hired again," Roseau mouthed to her and got up. The woman looked at Roseau and said "Me? I'm not fired?"
         Roseau nodded and walked back to the angry woman. "You are fired," she said in sign language and walked out of the room. Her hand immediately made it's way to her trouser pockets, her father had promised her they could go farming today. Yet, he got stuck at work so instead Roseau was gifted with a slingshot. She touched the slingshot tucked in her pocket and threw it to the ground, of course everyone deserted her. First her mom, then her brother, then her father. Roseau couldn't help but feel like everyone was leaving her, because she was too weak. A maid quickly scurried to Roseau and said "Dinner is served, please make your way to your room and change into more appropriate clothes." She nodded and then began making her way to her room. Inside her room it was bright and sunny. Pink covered everything, her walls, bed, vanity, closet, floor, clothes, ceiling, and toys. It was like a pink monster had came into her room and threw up everywhere.
       Pink was not even her favorite color, brown was. It was the color of dirt, rocks, her fathers hair and eyes, land, and skin of her favorite maid. Roseau had never quite understood why Martha wasn't allowed to enter the front door or why she wasn't allowed to use her same bathroom. It all frustrated Roseau, everyone was so cruel and separating of each other. A knock sounded on her door and a small hammer came door and hit the floor causing a vibration, knocking Roseau out of her thoughts about her segregated maid named Martha. This new type of door was designed so she could feel the vibrations caused by the hammer hitting the ground hard when someone knocked, alerting her. Roseau turned to the door and shook her head. Thoughts of unfairness kept bubbling up in her gut making her sick. She wanted to scream and let it all out on the person entering her room. She even prepared herself to scream, but when she tried no sound came out and her throat became enflamed. Roseau looked at her feet saddened, for the slightest moment she had thought she could speak.