The Wilting Rose

Chapter 2- Killer on the Loose

What is The Darkness? I typed into my computer. A webpage came up, and eagerly I clicked on it, but all it said was “The Darkness was a terrible tragedy. We value all our wounded soldiers. We are not allowed to speak of this event, under law 562. The laws concerning haladuician and jaminio will not be changed. Good day. ” I looked at the comments underneath the small bubble of text. There weren't many, but I did see one that was of some interest. It read, “Jamino is a valuable lesson to all of us. I shall not stop speaking it.” Underneath the post was an even smaller blurb that read THE PERSON THAT WROTE THE LAW DEFYING VOW TO NOT STOP SPEAKING HALIDUCIAN AND OR JAMINO WAS TAKEN TO REFORM AND IS CURRENTLY IN SUEDIE. THANK YOU. I was so confused. What was Suedie? I figured I might be able to get some answers to that at least.

        So now I knew. Suedie was a prison. But not just any old prison, according to the good old internet. A prison for housing elves, goblins, and other magical creatures. I was appalled at the seriousness of it all. Elves were real? And how about goblins, witches, and ghosts? Them too? I decided I would google Jamino and Haliducian to see if I could get any information on them, too.  But first, I would beg my mother to tell me.

        I stuck out my lower lip. I batted my eyelashes. So my mother leaned across the dinner table, making a menacing creaking noise and whispered. “Rosslyn Victoria, we do not speak of that when we are in polite company. At 8:00 tonight, meet me up on the 3rd floor terrace.” I blinked at her, and nodded, hoping I would finally get some answers. I ate my dinner in silence, though the chicken pot pie burned my mouth, and then went out to quickly groom Moon before the “chat” with my mother.

 I brushed him hard, and braided his mane, a wild grayish thing with golden ribbons. He looked stunning by the time I gave him a bale of hay, and fresh water for the night. While I was leaving I watched him nuzzle Sun, James’s horse. I sighed, knowing the two had been best friends as long as James and I, and hoping that tomorrow James would want to go for a ride. At long last, I turned the both of them loose in the paddock under the starry night sky, softly humming my old favorite song:  When all is still, then fate will lure, wandering fools, right to deaths door. Then, I shuttered, realizing for the first time how chilling the lyrics really were. And, I couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

It was 8:00, on the dot, as I rapped on my mothers’ closed door. “Hello?” I peeped timidly. The door swung open, but the face behind it was not my mothers. It was Maries. “Oh! I’m so sorry!” She cried, evidently startled to find me standing there, “Oh, oh, you’ll catch your death outside on a night like this! Come in, and we’ll get you some nice coca!” I smiled, but anybody could see it was fake. “Thanks, Marie, but, I just came to talk to my mother.” Her face immediately darkened, though she said in one last attempt to be cheery, “O’ course dear lass! After the night you been havin’! ” And I said, quite stoutly, “I went out to groom Moon because I wanted to.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “You don’t know?” I gritted my teeth with anticipation as I asked, “I don’t know what?” Marie hugged me tight. “James and Connor. Together.”

They died? They died. They died! How was that possible? Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen James in days! I was so stupid, thinking he’d just deserted me! I knew he wouldn’t desert me for the world and now, now it became clear why I thought he would. And Connor! What had happened? Had they gone out camping and never been able to find their way back? Had they been crossing the street to Choo Choo Candy and gotten plowed over? But none of that would explain why the bodies had never been recovered! Had they been kidnapped or shot? I cried myself to sleep that night, and then the next, and the next, and the next.      

I stopped talking to people. Stopped going to singing practice, ballet lessons, and tailoring sessions. I just couldn't interact with the world without James. The only place I felt like going was the stables. There I spent hours grooming, feeding and riding. But even though it was easier to escape reality on the back of a horse, I still didn’t feel like I was happy. Mostly, it felt like good times, but with a little bit missing. The missing was the knowing that when I got home, James wouldn’t be there to say “How was the ride Rosy?” or laugh at how messed up my hair was. It was like one part of me was missing in action. Missing in Action.