Edaedien

Chapter VI

Rosemary.

"Rose! Rosemary! Wake up!"

I'm drawn out of sleep by a cacophony of giggles and whispers outside my bedroom window. Someone leans through the window over me, forming a dark silhouette against the morning sunlight.

"You really shouldn't leave your window open like this, Rose," says the girl above me, "Come on, now; we're all waiting for you outside!"

"All?" I croak, my voice coarse from sleep, "How many of you are there?"

"It's Lola and me," the girl, who I now recognize as Savannah, says. Another voice pipes up from behind her, shouting a muffled protest, which implores her to add, "Oh, and Julia."

I roll over in bed, pulling my quilt up over my head. "Can't you all wait a bit longer? I'm still sleeping."

"Not on my watch, you aren't!" Savannah laughs, jerking my blanket clean off me.

I groan in protest, curling up in myself to take advantage of what little warmth my body can produce. "Go awaaaay."

"If your window were closed, perhaps I would," Savannah huffs as she clambers through the aforementioned window. Her foot catches on the windowsill at the last second, and she tumbles over my bed and onto the floor.

An echo of surprised laughter drifts closer to the window, and a second, smaller girl pokes her head through the space Savannah just abandoned.

"You klutz," says the second girl, whose melodic voice allows me to recognize her as Julia, "I'll have to come in and help now."

"No, no, I can handle this just fine," replies Savannah, righting herself and dusting off her skirts. I tuck my head under my pillow, wrapping one arm tightly over the top of it as Savannah advances on me.

Savannah takes my pillow from me with little struggle, hitting me with it for good measure. "Up, up, Rosemary! The sun is shining!"

"The sun doesn't need me to shine!" I reply indignantly, rolling over towards the wall on my left. Savannah attacks me again with the pillow; then, I hear a soft whump as she tosses it aside. Her cold fingers grasp my ankles, and she begins quite literally to drag me from the bed.

"Well, the sun doesn't need anyone to shine, does it? But we all get up to bask in its brilliance anyway, and you, madam, are not about to miss out on it!"

"Whyever shouldn't I?" I retort, barely holding on to the edge of my bed nearest the wall as Savannah pulls me, "What could you all possibly want from me this much?"

"We're going to have a picnic in the woods!" chirps a third voice, and I see Lola's fluffy head pop up beside Julia's from the corner of my eye, "We found a lovely clearing where there's just enough shade to keep cool, but just enough sun to even it out. You simply must come to see it!"

"Besides," adds Julia, "how would we have a proper picnic without you to bring the bread?"

I finally lose my purchase on the edge of my bed and nearly hit my head as Savannah yanks me entirely from the comfort of my mattress. She releases my ankles and moves up to my head to help me to my feet.

"We'll all be waiting just outside for you to get dressed," Savannah says, shoving Lola and Julia's heads back as she returns to the window to climb outside, "Don't be too long, or I'll come right back in-with backup next time!"

* * *

"It's not far now!" Lola smiles up at me, her thick, curly hair bouncing around her face as she half-runs to keep up with everyone else.