Authors: Tiffini Hunt
D
ays began to pass quickly; fewer and fewer people brought stuff by our castle to celebrate my parents’ life.
I continued to practice piano, spent time in the library studying, and still tilled the roses outside by the windows. Despite my efforts, the roses refused to be restored. But there were still eight roses that failed to let go of a few of their crispy brown petals.
Each night, I had more of these vivid dreams, not only about the Rose House, but also about a lot of other things. As the days passed, I saw less of Russel and Deleena. They seemed to disappear at times. Leala did too, but I saw more of her than the others. And they were not the only ones who disappeared; a good majority of our staff would go missing at the strangest times.
One time, when I went into the library to be homeschooled, Audric was not there. He was always sitting in his chair, with his feet propped up on the corner of the desk, reading books. He never left the library. But he was not there that day.
The gardener was nowhere to be found a few weeks later. The same thing happened to many of the people who worked at the castle. One second they were there, and the next they were gone.
I saw visions of the eight figures near a forest a few more times; the visions were so real and lifelike. When they came to me, I could hear the sounds of wherever I was; I could hear birds singing and leaves crunching under my feet. One time I even felt wind on my face and in my hair. But I would come back to the castle after each vision faded. I did not understand why I saw those images, but their frequency increased tremendously.
Ava came over from time to time, and her mother would bring me books to read. As time passed, I saw less of her also. Maybe she or her mother felt the eeriness of the atmosphere, as I did.
Or is it me? Am I pushing them away?
One night, I had another dream about the Rose House. It was winter this time. Snow was on the ground and the roof, and smoke was coming out of the chimney. As I walked closer to the house, I could hear footsteps on a wooden floor.
Although there was snow everywhere, the roses were still in full bloom. When I saw them, I bent down to smell them. They smelled amazing, almost like the roses in the vase on my nightstand. Their colors were as vibrant as ever. I was able to walk farther this time, almost up to the door, but I hit a wall yet again. My hand moved toward the roses, but I could not touch them; whatever prevented me from moving forward also stopped me from reaching the roses.
Before I knew it, my birthday was coming up again. Though the year had gone by faster than I had expected, the days still seemed to never end. It was hard to believe that my parents had been gone for almost a year. I missed them more each day. The castle seemed lonely without them, their laughs no longer echoing through the rooms, their voices no longer ringing through the castle.
As the day of my birthday approached, the visions started coming almost every day. When they had first started, they would come only once every few weeks.
One day in particular, when I shut my eyes to blink, I was transported back to where the eight figures were.
The sun was shining on a fall afternoon. I wanted to walk closer to the figures without them seeing me, so I scurried behind a bush to have a better look. As I did this, twigs snapped beneath my feet. Although I was still far away, I could see them better. The figures were clearer this time. I saw eight people on horses, carrying stuff behind them.
Again I heard their conversation.
“How much longer do we have, Papa?” one young lady said.
“I believe we just need to go through the Dark Forest,” the man responded.
“You know why it is called the Dark Forest, do you not?” the other young lady asked.
“And why is that?” the third young lady said.
“Well, you see,” one of the young ladies began, “there is an old legend that says …”
Then I was transported back to the castle.
Whenever I reached this point in the vision, it would stop; it would never go any further. I was dying to know what the old legend was and why I had not heard of it.
A few days before my birthday, we started planning the celebration. We were not going to do anything too big, because it was also the anniversary of my parents’ death. But I wanted to see Ava since I had not seen her in a long time—it had been three or four months. So we planned to have her family over for lunch. I could not wait!
Leala helped me make an invitation for them. Then she walked with me over to their house to give it to them.
As we walked, the forest was to our left; we walked down the dirt trail that separated the forest from some of the houses. At one point, we were surrounded by the forest while on the trail. Birds flew in the air, singing their songs, and bugs buzzed by our faces.
Ava’s house was not as big as our castle; it was bigger than most houses, though. It was a mostly white house, with a front door made of auburn wood. Their grass was always green and healthy, except during the winter.
When we arrived, I knocked on their door. We waited for a while, but there was no answer. I turned around to Leala.
“No one is answering. What do I do, Leala?” I asked.
“Leave the invitation on their doormat. I am sure they will get it. Do not worry, sweetie,” she explained.
“Okay.”
I set the invitation down and then walked down the steps.
At the second-to-last step, I jumped off. Once I hit the ground, I giggled and grabbed Leala’s hand. We walked back to the castle, which took maybe ten to fifteen minutes.
The day before my birthday was long. I woke up before the sun but could not fall back asleep. After breakfast, as usual, I put on my ratty clothes to take care of the roses. Even after all I had done over the last year, they still looked horrid, but those eight roses would not let go of those last petals. It still made no sense to me.
After lunch, I went to practice piano. My teacher was not there that day. She had not informed us that she was not coming, but I figured that maybe she had forgotten or thought that since my birthday was the next day, we did not need her that day. So I practiced for as long as I could before becoming completely antsy.
All day I was in a strange mood. I was not sure if I was nervous for my birthday, bothered by the anniversary of my parents’ death, or what. I was never like this. I usually loved learning and playing the piano, but that day I did not.
Finally it was dinnertime, but, yet again, Leala was the only one to eat with me. I did not want to ask where the others were, because I did not want her to think that I did not want just her there. Honestly, I really enjoyed spending as much time with her as I could. But it might have been partly because she looked so much like Mother used to.
That night, I went to bed early. Leala, Deleena, and Russel all came in and told me good night and gave me my water for the night. Of course Buttons was on my bed, next to my head. I kissed him good night before I attempted to fall asleep. But I could not fall asleep; I tossed and turned for a long time.
“Buttons! I cannot fall asleep!” I finally said as I sat up.
He perked up.
“Why cannot I sleep? I am so tired, and it has been such a long day! Ugh!”
I was frustrated.
Before I shut my eyes again, I looked at the roses. I took in a deep breath; I thought that the aroma would help me calm down and fall asleep. Unfortunately, it did not help right away. So I set my head back on my pillow and started singing “Little Rose.”
I woke up the next day; my birthday had come! I felt excited yet sad. It was going to be my first birthday without my parents. Part of me just wanted the day to be done and over with.
Buttons woke up as soon as he realized I was awake, and he began to lick my face. I gave him a huge hug and kissed his two-toned nose.
Before I left my room, I took off my pajamas and changed into nice clothes. Then I realized that I had not heard from Ava or her parents at all. I wondered if they had even seen the invitation.
The second I finished dressing, I ran down the stairs, heading to the dining room. When I arrived there, I saw four table settings, and I could smell something delicious. My mouth began to water.
I walked to the window to look at the roses. I had hoped that maybe, at least for my birthday, they would perk up. Sadly, my hopes were crushed when I saw them; my heart sank a little bit.
Then I heard the door between the kitchen and the dining room open; I turned to see who it was. Leala and Deleena were walking out with trays of food in their hands. Russel followed closely with drinks in hand.
“Happy birthday!” they said in unison.
“Thank you!” I said, smiling so big that all my teeth were showing.
It looked as if they had made enough food to feed an army. There were eggs, crepes, orange juice, and fruit.
After actually eating breakfast, I ran upstairs to change so that I could take care of the roses. But after I arrived at my room, I was drawn in by the roses again. They seemed to be an even deeper red—if that was even possible! Their fragrance was incredible. I just stood there and breathed in their aroma. Shutting my eyes, I took a deep breath.
After standing there with my eyes closed for some time, I walked out of my room without changing and went back to the dining room to talk to Deleena, Russel, and Leala.
I took my time walking. As I walked through the Seasons Pathway, I carefully studied the walls. It almost looked as if the seasons were happening as I watched; the trees were moving.
Leala was in the dining room, holding clean plates in her hands. She was setting them on the table.
“What are you doing?” I asked her, confused.
“Hey, sweetie, I am just setting the table for lunch,” she informed me.
“Wait! Did not we just have breakfast?”
“We did, but that was hours ago.”
“Hours?”
“Yes, darling, hours. You disappeared for a while.”
“But I-I was just in my room for a few minutes.” I was utterly confused.
I did a double-take, looking from the dining room back toward the direction of my room.
“Well, you were in there longer than a few minutes. The last thing you said was that you were going to take care of the roses. You left, and then we never saw you come back downstairs or go outside.”
“Uh, okay?”
She set the dining table with three extra spots for Ava and her family, hoping that they would come. Leala smiled at me as she set out the silverware and napkins. I smiled back as I walked over to sit in my chair.
It was almost time for lunch when Deleena walked in, drying off her hands. She looked as if she were preoccupied with something. Then she walked over to sit across from me.
“Where is Russel? He knows we are about to eat, right?” Leala asked Deleena.
“I told him when we were going to eat. He said that he would not miss it. So I am not sure where he went,” Deleena explained.
Russel was never late when it came to a meal. He always ate the most, no matter what meal it was. So it did not make any sense for him to miss it.
“Wait! Should we wait a little bit to see if Ava and her family come? That way, we give Russel more time to get here,” I said. I wanted to make sure that no one missed out on lunch.
“Good idea. Let us give them a few more minutes,” Deleena agreed.
Time passed quickly. We waited as long as we could, but there was still no sign of Russel or Ava and her family. It was hard enough not having my parents there for my birthday, but two of my best friends were missing too. I hoped that Ava and her family were okay, along with Russel.
After we finished our lunch, we cleaned off the table. Once it was clean, I told them that I was going to take care of the roses, for real this time. So I made my way upstairs to change into ratty clothes.
Once outside, I spent a long time tending to the roses. Before I knew it, Leala came out to tell me to clean up so that we could make our way over to Ava’s.
I ran to clean up quickly. When I came back downstairs, Leala was waiting for me in the foyer. Together we made our trek to Ava’s house. We were swinging our hands and skipping, enjoying nature and the fresh air.
When we finally made it to their house, something was strange. Their door was wide open, but we did not see anyone. We called out to them, but no one answered. I looked at Leala in confusion.
I let go of her hand and walked toward the gate in front of their house. One of their workers, one I had never seen before, came out of a shed by the side of their house. He explained to us that they were out for the day.
“Thank you, sir,” Leala said as she grabbed my hand tightly. “Let us go,” she said sternly.
Her voice was a little shaky as we began to leave. Her hand was trembling, and I could feel her heart beating quickly, but I did not understand why.
Once we were back at the castle, it was just about dinnertime. Leala and I walked into the kitchen to get clean dishes and silverware for the table.
The castle was quieter than normal. Usually there were people yelling, singing, and clanking things together. But aside from Bernard working in the kitchen, it was almost silent.