Red Rose

Prologue

People have always avoided me because my eyes are almost black. They said that I was a devil who would burn their souls in front of the church. I never said anything back, and eventually I believed them. The she came along.

Monika Altiaer was a year older than I was and in seventh grade. She had beautiful red hair that was almost brown, and a natural glow that enhanced her ordinary features. I was waiting at the bus station after school when she sat next to me and asked, "Would you like to meet a friend of mine?" Her skeletal fingers twirled a cigarette. I was more than confused, but accepted her offer nonetheless.

His name was Mali and he was in my grade. He broke my heart the moment I saw him. He had blonde hair--perfectly blonde hair--and azure eyes that would put the sky to shame. I was lost in his features as he spoke with Monika in her living room. The way he smiled around her made my heart sink a bit, but he never got too close, so my hope was still high.

We were all friends, then, eating with one another at lunch and even going around town together. For the first time in my life I was truly happy.

Monika left during her eighth grade year to live in Le'Aleroux, a very ritzy city that seemed to shimmer on its place on the map. It was then that I learned that she was the glue that kept us all together. I still spoke with her now and then, hearing about her experiences with her brother. She never asked about Mali, and I was glad because we barely spoke now.

Within one month I had lost both of my friends; I was alone again.

Life was quiet and boring, and by my senior year in high school I was skipping class left and right. I saw Mali every so often. He had a pretty serious girlfriend now, and whenever he would look at me in the halls I had a piece of my heart ripped from its seams.

I was sitting on the roof of the school one day, my usual place. From here I could see Mali in class. He had a girlfriend, but I still couldn't keep away. He looked at me, right in the eyes, and I held his gaze. Then he got up. I moved away from the edge of the building to the middle so I could smoke without being noticed. By the time I was lighting my third cigarette, Mali was looming over me. He looked exhausted--probably from walking up all those flights of stairs. I looked into his eyes and he averted my gaze.

"I saw you looking at me for the past couple days now." He always had a soft voice, like a lullaby. He noticed the smoke. "You shouldn't smoke. You have nice skin." That never won you over, though.

"Why are you up here?" It was harsher than I wanted it to be, but I kind of wanted it to be harsh as well. It pissed me off because we hadn't spoken in years and now he chose today to be friends again.

"How's Monika?" he continued. "I heard she was in L.A. That's a pretty flashy city." He paused then, but his mouth continued to move. Every person had a bad habit, and that was his. I ignored his rambling and closed my eyes to see the stars back at home. I had lived in a big city, but it was mandated that past ten the city go into blackout. My sister had brought in laundry from downstairs and was sorting it next to me. She was humming a song I had never heard, and asking me questions now and then, but I never responded, only listened. I hated her so much.

It wasn't until the minutes ticked by that I had actually listened to something that Mali had said. "I'm thinking of breaking up with my girlfriend." The words echoed in the back of my mind, like a pendulum, and then I met his gaze. He cracked a smile and took the cigarette from my lips. "I found somebody else." I scoffed. Who would want to date a guy that treated a relationship like a job? But somewhere in the back of my mind I longed for his recognition/ Mali took a step closer. My heart skipped a beat. Soon I could feel his breath--it smelled of coffee. With a dashing smile he placed the cigarette back between my lips and took his leave.

He knew.

After school I found him in the locker room. He was just sitting there, playing on his phone.

"Hey," he said. "I knew you'd be here." That's a stupid thing to say considering that I'm the one that found you. I turned around. Why do I care? Why was I even here? But I couldn't move, I just shook. Mali took my hand in his and held them both against his chest. His heart was beating quickly like mine, and I could feel myself start to perspire.

We stood like that for a few minutes.

"I broke up with my girlfriend," Mali whispered. He didn't sound sad, but somber. "I didn't feel anything for her any more. I did call you here for a favor though." For the second time that day my heart skipped a beat. I saw his lips move, but the sound didn't register. Time seemed to slow itself the longer I kept my eyes open.

"Do you like school?" What?

"What?" I repeated out loud. You've got to be kidding me.

"I just wanted to know. My parents want me to study abroad in Le'Aleroux. I figured since Monika lived there you would want to come too.

"Would we be living in the same house?"

"If it doesn't bother you, yeah." Mali looked sincere, and almost like a kicked puppy. I didn't think we were that close of friends, but I also wanted to be closer to him. I really wanted to see Monika, too. It had been almost five years.

I agreed to his offer, and later that night we sat together to plan it out. I managed to get Monika on the phone, and she told me her brother, Tom, had a pilot who could meet us at an airstrip whenever we decided to leave. Mali was such an impatient guy. He wanted to leave as soon as possible, but I managed to talk him in to letting us stay another week.

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Tom's pilot was a real crack. He didn't look like he could even ride a bicycle. His name was Patty and he had an Irish accent, although he looked more English than anything. Mali sat with him the entire way to L.A. They were talking about aviation or something. For the most part I ignored them because Monika had come along on the flight as well. We sat in the back and spoke, and apart from the four of us, there was no one else on the plane.

I missed Monika, more than I thought I had. She had grown her hair out and hung it in a ponytail. Her skin was tanner than when we were in middle school, but that was probably because L.A was a hot city. Monika spoke to me in Italian like she always had. It was refreshing to hear my native language because I went to school in Germany and Mali only spoke German with me; she spoke English with Mali though, and it made me uncomfortable because I couldn't understand it.

Surprisingly it only took us four hours to make it to L.A. Tom was waiting on the airstrip for us with his luxury car in the background. I'd never met him-I didn't even know Monika had a brother. Still, he was nice to us and dropped us off at the hotel Mali's parents had booked for us. Tom said it was really classy: Breakfast and lunch, a spa somewhere in the back, and a gym that were free for all the guests.

Apparently Mali's parents though that we'd need the penthouse on the eightieth floor, which was honestly bigger than any penthouse I'd ever seen. As soon as you walked in there was open space to the deck outside. There was a large kitchen to the left, a living room that took up more than half the main floor, and a loft that was built into the wall with a spiral staircase. In the back were the bedrooms: Mali took the one with the king-sized bed and I had the queen down the hall. We all have different chapters in our life, and I had finally finished the introduction.