The Memory of Rose

Note: I'm aware that there are plenty of grammatical mistakes here. My friend is still editing the story but I would like to hear you opinion about the story in general. Be kind, please, and thank you.

I

There’s something highly annoying about the sound of a clock alarm. No, not the blaring loudness or even the digital sound of it but rather the knowledge of what it signified: another day was here.

Rose Maris woke up with a grumble, wishing that she could just smash the blasted thing, but didn’t have enough power to do so. The remnants of her dream last night were still in her mind, sapping her strength. She tossed and turned in her messy bed before admitting defeat with a heavy sigh. She turned off the alarm, took a moment to stare at the pale ceiling, and finally got up from the bed. Rose did her morning routine without thinking: making the bed, giving a quick glance to the calendar to make sure that it was indeed a working day, crossing out the date, taking a quick shower, brushing her teeth, and finally preparing a very simple breakfast and watering a vase of forget-me-nots.

The only pause was when she opened the refrigerator and realized that she nearly ran out of any edible food. That meant it was time for grocery shopping. Rose loathed grocery shopping because she always ended up returning at least twice more to get something she forgot –if she remembered that she forgot them in the first place at all.

She sighed and searched the drawers for a pen and a paper as she took a bite of her plain sandwich, which was the only thing she could make out of her deteriorating food supply. It was too bad that when she did finally find the pen and paper her clock indicated that she had to leave for work immediately if she didn’t want to be late. Rose got dressed as quickly as possible and applied some simple make-up to make her presentable for the world. She grabbed her bag and made a dash out of the tiny apartment she inhabited, nearly forgetting to lock the door in her haste.

The city of Sïke was as busy as it could be on Thursday morning. Rose was lucky enough to able to catch the right bus this time –it wouldn’t be the first time for her to get on the wrong bus- after dodging a horde of students rushing to school and indifferent blond elves who minded no one’s business but their own. Once she got a seat next to a quiet woman carrying a cage containing a talkative black cat, she heaved a tiny sigh of relief. She then took the paper and the pen she had brought earlier. Rose frowned in concentration as she tried to write down everything she had to buy later. It didn’t help that the bus was packed with a chattering crowd, filled with the foul odor of the troll sitting at the back of the bus, and the motions of the bus made her hand shake.

Not being able to cook well, Rose mostly bought instant food. If it’s simple, cheap, and edible she’d buy it. For a little bit of change in the diet she should probably buy whatever vegetable or fruit was in sale. She also almost ran out of toothpaste, soap, and deodorant. She paused suddenly. Come to think of it, did she have enough money to buy all those? She gingerly touched the thin wallet she carefully kept in her cheap, imitation handbag. She hoped she still had enough to at least buy the essentials after the expenses she had to make last week in order to make her apartment more habitable for her and less habitable for rats and roaches.

Rose worked in a small bakery downtown, mostly known by its neighbors. They didn’t sell fancy cakes there, only donuts, cupcakes, and some normal cakes with way too much cream and strawberries on top. The extra decorations didn’t do too much in disguising the fact that the cakes didn’t taste much better than cardboard. The people in the neighborhood knew that it generally wasn’t a good idea to buy anything from the bakery but the owner did need to pay employees, such as Rose, so occasionally some kind soul would pity them and risk their lives by purchasing something. Rose had a feeling that the number of these kind souls was deteriorating and wondered if the bakery was to blame.

There was nothing much to say about her work. Rose couldn’t even go to the kitchen without spilling some expensive ingredient or burning a cake. It was a work of routine since she only put the cakes in fancy boxes. On rare occasions she served a familiar customer or two who only ordered specific cakes they knew were at least partly edible.

Aside from the salary (which was barely enough to keep her alive), the only thing that kept Rose in this job for over two years was her friends; she wouldn’t have stayed that long and looked for other job as she had done many times before if it weren’t for them. Her fellow workers are nice and she got a long with them quite well. Claire Gausch especially, was Rose’s closest co-worker since they were the same age and they both work together as the attendant. She was working part-time in the bakery to support her as she tried to live her dream as an aspiring actress. Rose admired her ability to split her time between acting classes, drama performances, and work in the bakery and yet still retain a good spirit. She was certain that if she were to live that kind of lifestyle, she’d drop dead of exhaustion or fall into a down period at least once a week. Claire managed to gain attention of many male customers with her attitude and good figure, adding the profit of the shop even by a little. She was tall and slim girl who never seemed to be able to gain weight no matter how many cakes she inhaled, with a pretty face framed by short black hair that reached her chin. Rose felt unattractive when standing next to her, what’s with her short stature, fuller body shape, as well as long brown hair she tied behind her neck. She also didn’t have much money to get some beauty maintenance that Claire occasionally told her about which could probably improve her fortune in love at least. In other words she didn’t resemble the flower in her name though it suited her just well since she’s not that interested in flowers anyway. All right, so maybe there’s a bit of an envy going on but most of the time Rose ignored it. It was difficult enough for her to perform a simple task as it was. She didn’t need distraction such as pointless comparison and self-pity.

“Good morning!” Claire greeted Rose loudly with a wide grin when she saw her arrive at the store in a rather disheveled appearance as per usual. “Woke up late again?”

“Yeah,” Rose gave her a lazy smile and a shrug. She went to the room at the back of the store to change her shirt and jeans into the white, black trousers, and an apron which were her uniform. After that Rose immediately got to work while chatting amicably with Claire and other store attendants. It was a busy morning because someone has ordered some cakes for a relative’s birthday or something but they didn’t really feel any need to rush because even their busiest mornings were lazy there.

They quieted down a little when their employer entered the back room where they were packing the cakes into tiny colorful boxes. If there were anyone Rose didn’t like here, it would be her own employer, Viviane, a small older woman with strange yellowish skin and an unfriendly smile who created all the inedible recipes they sold here. She was not annoying by all means but Rose had a feeling that she looked down upon her and saw her only as a cheap labor. Such was evidence from her half-hearted smiled when she dictate Rose’s work for today. Claire gave her a sympathetic look but Rose only smiled at her. She didn’t mind much about the opinion since it was true that she would take almost any kind of job to make ends meet because not all of them had parents as loving as Claire’s and business as good as Viviane’s. Rose opted to ignore her and stayed in her good graces to get that paycheck at the end of the week.

There was nothing eventful happening until midday. Rose and Claire would chat when there was no customer –which was most of the time-, stared out to see whether the wizard across the street managed to explode his TV again –which happened at least thrice a week-, watched the angry galloping centaurs chase after stolen vehicles or thieves –once a day if they’re lucky-, and kicked each other under the counter whenever there was a remotely good looking patron –which was extremely rare. Rose was not that interested in the men though, most of the time they only had their eyes on Claire and when they’re not, that only meant Rose was being too clumsy for her own good. Boring was good though. Boring meant there was no difficult customer to deal with or new menu to memorize. Boring was good. It should probably stay boring until the end of the week then she could dive into her bed and pretend to be comatose until Monday.

And then it happened. Rose almost tripped on her own two feet as she carried a tray of purple cupcakes to put on the display when a vision occurred to her. It felt almost as if it was happening then and there, the presence was so real she could almost touch it; two figures standing inside the shop, one talking to a store attendant and the other looked at the arrays of cakes. She saw the action, heard the conversation, smelt the stench of expensive perfume, felt the slight chill coming from the slightly open door. If she hadn’t known that it was unreal she would’ve thought that the event was already unfolding before her eyes. The annoyance was immediate, unstoppable. Then suddenly the figures disappeared within a blink of eye and Rose found cupcakes staring back at her from the trays she carried. The store was quiet, the door closed properly, the sweet scent of sugar filled her lungs. She sighed exasperatedly and immediately set the cupcakes onto the counter. Claire gave her a questioning look but Rose merely shook her head. She couldn’t explain and also she would like to hide as soon as possible because there was no way of telling when the dreaded thing was going to happen.

“Oh, God,” She muttered under her breath when the bell on the door tinkled, signaling coming customers. She didn’t have to look to know who it was, the girls’ gasps and hushed giggles were enough to inform her of the identity of the new patrons.

Claire smiled wider and others girls stood taller when he entered. The tall, blond, young man didn’t seem to notice though as he perused the counter, either indifferent or far too used to the attention. He was wearing a dark blue suit with a matching tie and a pristine white shirt underneath it, they were designer’s clothes obviously tailored to fit his figure.  His unusual purple eyes skimmed over the female employees, causing them to swoon. Rose lowered her eyes tactfully, not wanting to be seduced by the unnatural beauty, knowing that it’s not even real and that she would be left heartbroken for a month tomorrow. She had little interest in this customer. In fact it was the young man following him closely behind that got most of Rose’s attention. He didn’t earn as much attention although he wasn’t so bad looking himself in the dark grey suit he wore to compliment his black hair and piercing blue eyes. He was simply underwhelmed when in the same vicinity as his company, as any man would be, too.

“What would you recommend for me today?” The young man asked with a charming smile, sharp fangs and pointy tail carefully hidden to feign harmlessness. His deep voice caused hairs at the back of Rose’s neck to stand. She flinched in discomfort but said nothing, keeping her eyes carefully away from him.

“Err…”

There was a brief awkward silence as the girls attempted to regain controls of their brains as they were far too mesmerized. Just as the questioned attendant opened her mouth to answer, Rose spoke up, not wanting the patron to stay longer than necessary. A mere two minutes could turn into weeks of tears and need for consolation. She knew well that one of them would have a wonderful night and a terrible morning. It wasn’t the first time it happened but this customer’s nearly irresistible charm prevented them from learning from experience.

“I would recommend our lime cake, sir. It’s quite in demand,”

Rose ignored a stray glance and focused on smiling to the curious man while chanting the names of every darned ingredient for cakes she had been forced to memorize to get her job. Egg… flour… hazelnut… lime… whipped cream-Wait, no. Don’t go there-… mint extract… strawberry… chocolate… chocolate dipped strawberry-Dammit, no!

Impatiently she waited for his decision, praying that their stay would not extend too long -It’s not like they have that many assortment of cakes to choose from. Her entranced co-workers and the girls pressing their faces onto the glass windows of the shop began to grate on her nerves and Rose’s eyes twitched in impatience.

“All right. I’ll have one of those. Do you want something, Leto?” He asked, looking back to his companion who merely shook his head.

The previous store attendant who was first asked scrambled to get the cake.  Rose trained her eyes to the man while mentally counting the seconds as she struggled to ignore the discreet look given to her. Rose gritted her teeth when they finally left her with a bunch of squealing girls. She really hated her work.

##

“Toothpaste! I know I forget something!” Rose exclaimed as she rummaged the plastic bags containing her purchase. She huffed and puffed, frowning to herself as she looked for a piece of paper to write the forgotten item so that she could buy it tomorrow. She wrote it in big bold letters and stuck it to the refrigerator, re-reading the note to make sure that it was clear enough for her sleepy brain to understand tomorrow.

Thankfully Rose had enough money to purchase basic necessities. She thought of having dinner outside with the money left but decided against it. She hated going out alone at night. Her neighborhood wasn’t really safe and she didn’t really feel like risking her life for a plate of unhealthy food. There was too little light outside and silence rarely meant safety especially in her part of the town; it generally meant something was lurking in the shadow, watching and waiting to strike. Missing people or body parts (she still couldn’t decide which was worse) happened often enough to be a regular happening. Rose was grateful enough for whatever mundane normalcy she could have in her apartment. It was boring for the most part but if making a change meant putting her neck on the line as it happened so many times in books and movies, she’d rather be at home watching TV shows with a bowl of popcorn in hand as she was doing currently.

Her eyes strayed to the clock on the wall almost automatically. Rose noted that it was almost 8 P.M. and wondered if she should be excited or annoyed by what was coming. She’s not that desperate for a company, was she? She had been on her own for as long as she remembered since her mother had been too busy to take care of Rose when they still live together. She could simply pick up the phone and called someone on the short list in her address book –Claire did say today that her boyfriend wasn’t coming tonight because it was a boys’ night out or something- and have an actual social life.

Rose sighed when she heard a knock from her front door just as the clock ticked to 8 P.M.. Right on time as usual but it wasn’t exactly something to be grateful for. Rose glanced at the idle phone, wondering if she should pretend to be busy but knew that her guest would wait stubbornly until she was done anyway. He was as good with keeping himself busy until he got what he wanted as he was good with annoying Rose until she caved in and gave him whatever just to shut him up. So with a great sense of exasperation she opened the door and greeted her guest with the most exasperated look possible.

“May I come in?” James said as soon as she opened the door. The hallway behind him was almost completely dark; only five lamps overhead were still working to light the way. Someone ought to tell the landlord but Rose doubt anyone would. No one in their right side of mind would come out when the day had grown dark outside anyway. The doors of other apartments were closed and locked as they should be at night in this neighborhood. Comfort was one thing, safety was another.

That brought to mind the fact that James was carrying a gun with him as usual. Rose knew it wasn’t the best idea to let an armed man inside an apartment where she lived alone but she knew she could trust James. Besides, she just couldn’t let him go back after making his way through the danger he must have gone through to go here. “Come in,”

James nodded, stepped inside and waited until Rose told him to sit down but she said nothing and continued to watch TV. He waited a little more before sitting down next to her on the couch. Rose couldn’t help but noticed that he had carefully kept a certain amount of distance between them as if to not intrude on her personal space but his mere presence here already felt like an intrusion. She felt very conscious of the wrinkly t-shirt and baggy pants she was wearing as well as the state of her apartment. She couldn’t even remember the last time she had cleaned the place. Was it two weeks ago?

Of course it’s nothing to be compared to James’s house a few blocks away, clean and organized without second-hand furniture one could get for half the price during garage sales. Not that she’d been there since four years ago of course but she would imagine that it barely changed since her last visit to attend his parents’ funeral. Or was she wrong? The memory was faint to her anyway. Maybe she should visit him sometimes. She’d come up with the excuse later.

“Do you really have to come to the shop today?” She asked when they remained staring quietly at the screen for too long.

James shrugged in indifference. “We were in the neighborhood and Danny wanted some cake,”

“You could’ve shown him a better bakery,” Rose said, pointing out the obvious that the place she worked in was not in the class this Danny usually had. Not that she knew anything about it but she could guess as much from the way he was dressed.

“He liked the cake,” Rose gave James a long look but he ignored her in favor of taking the bowl of popcorn from her hand. “This show sucks. Change the channel, will you,” He said while chewing a handful of the treat.

Rose frowned and stole back the bowl. “Well, I happen to like it,” She said stubbornly. In fact she didn’t really like it. It was too absurd, too many love triangles and surprises only managed to make it too predictable. The only reason she had it on was because when James came she was flipping the channel to look for something remotely bearable; something not too realistic to make her cry for humanity or something too unrealistic to sickened her with boredom.

James gave her a mocking look. “No, you don’t,” He grabbed the remote control and ignored Rose’s protest as he looked for another show. He finally settled on a crime solving series that Rose actually liked but didn’t care to mention. James let out a satisfied grunt and relaxed against the thin hard cushion. “Have you had dinner?”

Rose sighed, defeated by James’s stubborn behavior. She had known him for many years because she was often sent to James’s house when her mother was ‘working’ since Rose didn’t even know her father’s name. Rose still wondered about the nature of her work but she guessed it was one of the main reasons why she ‘mysteriously disappeared’ (ha!)  seven years ago just before she finished high school. She left her house and quit school then, opting to support herself rather than resorting to others’ support. James’s parents had helped her find a cheap apartment close by so they could check on her. Unfortunately they got into a deadly car crash just before James finished his study in college four years ago and ever since James remained faithful in visiting Rose as his parents did before.

“Yeah. I made chicken soup,” She paused, wondering her next course of action. She’s never been good playing hostess because she rarely had anyone come over. James was one of the few people who visited her but she never knew how exactly to treat a friend whose parents took care of you for so long you’re practically siblings who came over just after dinner almost every night to watch TV although he had his own TV set at his house. “I have some left. Do you want to eat?”

James shook his head, intently watching the screen as the actor pretend to dissect a rotting body. Rose tried to watch without thinking too much about it. She’d rather know the ending at the end of the show rather than five minutes into it. “No, I’ve eaten. You should eat healthier food,” He said, alluding to the fact that the soup Rose was referring to was instant food. They both knew she wasn’t master cook, in fact she could only make limited kinds of food and chose to eat instant ones the rest of the time.

Rose gave him an accusing look, half joking and half offended. “It’s my fancier menu,”

“You don’t need fancy. You need to be healthy,” James stopped watching the show to give Rose a lengthy look. It unnerved Rose a little so she averted her eyes, pretending to be engrossed in the show when she was nervously hoping that James would stop looking. “Did something go wrong?” He looked around, trying to see something out of place and undoubtedly noticed that she had gone shopping today. He sighed and scooted just a little closer to Rose until she could feel their shoulders almost brushing. Warmth seeped into her body, making her skin tingled with extra sensitivity. Rose bit her lip in attempt to ignore the reaction. “Don’t think of it,”

Rose scoffed grimly. “I didn’t and look what happened,”

James frowned at the screen disapprovingly. “You’re thinking too much about this. Stop thinking and just watch the damn show,”

Rose sighed deeply and leaned back against the couch. “You’re fucking brilliant at cheering people up,”

“I know,”

##

Idly running her fingers through her tangled brown hair, Rose sighed. As usual it had been difficult to remind James that he had to go home without literally kicking him out. Somehow she managed to do the deed without shedding blood and James finally left with a final reminder to lock the doors and windows.

Rose threw her body to the bed, feeling light discomfort when she hit the thin mattress. She stared tiredly, reminiscing today’s events. Much to her dismay the anxiety still persisted, growing strong by each time she glanced at the clock. She’s not really looking forward to tomorrow but unfortunately it was inevitable unless the world ended when she’s sleeping but she’s not a deep sleeper anyway. There was nothing she could do to stop tomorrow from coming and took her memory away.

Before she quite realized it, Rose had already reached into the bedside drawer. She grasped around for an item and carefully took it out. It was a pink box in the size of a large music box -in fact disguised as one. The once-clear surface was now cloudy but it was still strong enough to hold the treasure inside it. Rose carefully opened the lid, revealing white-colored powder in it.

Truthfully she didn’t know what it was, only what it was used for; to call a certain person to her dream. It had been given to her by a man whose face she had forgotten. He gave it to her when she was walking home from school many, many years ago. Rose still couldn’t remember why she didn’t refuse but probably that was because she was too distracted with the knowledge of her ability to see the future with the price of her memory. Whatever the reason might be, she was glad that she didn’t refuse because it proved to provide her with the lesson her mother wouldn’t give otherwise.

Rose hesitated in using it. There’s only a little left now and she didn’t know where to get it again. It certainly wasn’t sold in stores and the one person who could tell her where to get it refused to do so. She blamed her anxiety as a child when she would use it almost nightly. She then learnt to use it only when needed but she didn’t learn soon enough.

Rose took a small cup from its hiding place. The surface was cracked and the inner part was dark from being burnt. She took several pinches of the powder and put it in the cup before returning the box to the drawer. The lighter was constantly ready by her bedside table so she reached for it to light the powder. A small fire started then died down as it slowly ate the fuel. A sweet, relaxing scent filled the room. Rose inhaled it deeply. She still couldn’t tell what the smell was consisted of. There was a hint of spice and something flowery but she couldn’t recognize it.

Well, it didn’t matter. Rose lied down in bed and closed her eyes, waiting for dream to take her away.

##

The house was surrounded by fog as usual though Rose didn’t feel cold at all despite only wearing the t-shirt and shorts she wore before bed, only showing hints of the tall iron gates, well-kept garden, and the old building. The house was a three-story black and white Tudor house with tall clear, mullioned glass windows that for some reason didn’t show the interior or fogged by the mist surrounding the place. She took a moment to look at the building in front of her, then sighed and pushed the gate open. It made no sound which was good because she would hate to ruin the silence. Rose closed the gate again though she knew well that there would be no one who took advantage of her negligence. She looked at the pure, unmoving whiteness outside, wondering if she’d been lied to and there was in fact something else out there. She never tried to explore very far; the idea of being lost in the world of white frightened her. It was safer inside the house, much more comfortable, much friendlier.

It was silent inside, no sign of life no matter how hard Rose strained her ears. The wooden floor creaked under her footsteps but it was the only sound she could hear. She waited for a while, waiting for something but there was still nothing. Rose walked past the empty living room, a dining room, and many locked doors, knowing her destination already. She had been checking all rooms in this house during one of her first visits, when she wasn’t too scared to enter and wait outside until she was called to go inside. She climbed two flights of wooden stairs to arrive to her destination, her hand lightly grazing against the wooden paneling of the walls.

The door to the room where she was expected to be was closed so she knocked on it before opening it. The room was filled with a different kind of fog, the deadlier one though it didn’t have any effect on the one inhaling it constantly. Rose waved the smoke away and coughed but knew that these gestures would be ignored anyway.

“Hello, Rose,” said an elderly man who had a book on one hand a cigar on the other. He smiled at Rose, looking pleased with himself for no apparent reason. “Sit down, please. I’ve missed you,”

Rose obeyed quietly and sat on an old but still plush couch with carved wooden structure. She looked around the place as the man put back the book to one of the many shelves in the room. From the window next to her, she could see the mist swirling outside but couldn’t see any faces or figures no matter how hard she tried. It was just a thin white cloth veiling the empty world from prying eyes. So quiet and lonely.

“How was everything?” The man said, sitting back down onto his chair. He inhaled his cigar deeply, enjoying the feel of poison in his lungs.

“Normal,” Rose said carefully, looking down to her hands. It’s still a little weird for her to tell him about this no matter how long she had known him. It’s mostly because Edmond was too impersonal, refusing to disclose anything about himself while expecting her to tell him everything. It had been fine at first but Rose sometimes wondered if he could be trusted at all. “Nothing to tell,”

“Was it?” He asked flippantly, staring at Rose with a good amount of disbelieve to irk her.

“Well… no…” She sighed deeply then lay down on the couch, staring the wooden ceiling. She always thought they looked pretty and she swore there were recognizable shapes in there if she narrowed long enough and didn’t think. It’s a rather entertaining exercise when she thought the conversation was getting boring, which was most of the time. “Edmond…” she sighed in suffering, tired of the game she was forced to play.

“Rose,” Edmond replied teasingly with a hint of smile on his lips. He hummed a strange tune as Rose glared at him, as if he had all the time and patience in the world to wait for a story. The fact that he did have as much time as he wanted barely improved this attitude.

Edmond lived in his dreams. His real body, wherever it was, was in a state of constant sleep he called eternal sleep due to the use of a powder like the one Rose was using to meet him now. He said he could be awakened but he preferred to keep sleeping due to reasons he refused to tell Rose. So now Edmond lived in this house he built in his dream to protect himself from the mist outside as well as entertained himself while he stayed away from reality.

It actually sounded like a great prospect to Rose who had learnt that she couldn’t use her power in here. If she stayed her she wouldn’t have to be worried about losing her memory. In fact Rose was tempted to ask Edmond to tell her how to get the eternal sleep but hadn’t done so because she felt that there were still some thing she looked forward to in her life. Besides, the silence frightened her. Was it not boring in here? Wasn’t it lonely?

Rose sighed again, this time in defeat. “I saw James coming to the shop this morning,” She finally confessed. “Before he actually came to the shop,”

Edmond set his cigar down. He laced his fingers together and looked at Rose intently. “What did you see?”

“I saw him come with that guy he worked with –you know, Danny, the one everybody in the shop has crush on- and buy some cake. Nothing serious,” Rose shrugged dismissively, trying to put herself at ease.

Edmond hummed and nodded. Rose couldn’t tell whether he was satisfied with her information or not but he didn’t ask for more. “Is that all?” he pried gently.

“Umm… and there was a bit when I was at the supermarket. That lady was going to drop an entire stack of bottles and I…” There were many more that had happened since she met Edmond last week but she couldn’t really recall them. She couldn’t begin got tell Edmond about them. There were too many. It hurt too much.

Edmond nodded, smiling gently. “That’s very kind of you. Now what do you think will happen?”

Rose stared at the ceiling, wishing that it would give her an answer. It remained silent though and she began to feel tears rise to her eyes and her throat felt clogged. They were small favors -she couldn’t even do anything about Danny’s arrival to the bakery. But she knew that they would cost her some of her memory. The memories lost wouldn’t be anything important but she’d still rather not lose any memory at all. Rose turned to her side, facing away from Edmond, and curled into a fetal position. “I don’t know. I don’t want to know,”

For a long moment she remained in that position, holding back tears and screams she couldn’t let out. She’s tired of this, tired of her life, tired of her suffering, tired of forgetting. Why couldn’t she be normal? She didn’t mind surprises, no matter how bad, as long as she had a good memory for consolation. Why was everything taken away from her?

A hand began to gently stroke her hair. There was no word said because there was nothing to be said to make things better. There was nothing to be said when nothing would be better.

##

“Friday,” Rose told herself, looking blankly at the calendar. It took her a second longer to decide to take a quick shower (she ran out of toothpaste) then go to work. She stopped for a while to check her temperature. Normal. She’s just distracted then. That’s not good. Rose slapped her cheek gently, then with more force, rousing her brain into a state of alertness –or at least more alert than previously. She sighed when her reflection on the mirror stared at her blankly still. “Work,” She told herself again. “Must go to work,”

A large black dog trotted across the street from Rose’s apartment, glanced at her once then proceeded to approach a house. It entered the wooden gate easily and soon Rose could hear a long howl of warning. She shrugged. Life’s boring but at least she’s not the one who’s going to die in a week. Was that even a good thing? Oh, well.

The bus was crowded as usual but Rose somehow managed to catch a little sleep. She woke up when pointed finger poked at her ribs, nodded in gratefulness to the smiling blond elf kid, and arrived to work just on time. No extra work today as customers decided to cram themselves with stomach medicine after consuming their products. Routine was good since her brain wasn’t fully alive yet.

Rose blinked in confusion when Claire entered the shop with swollen red eyes. “Are you okay?”

Claire looked at her in incredulity. She seemed to be going to snap but buried her face in her hands instead. Rose blinked a little more before dragging her friend to the back room. Claire’s sobs grew louder and harder, making Rose slightly scared. She’s never good with dealing with this. She looked at an accompanying co-worker whose good maternal instinct told her to give Claire a warm hug and not a slap in the face as Rose was tempted to do.

“He wasn’t there this morning,” Claire said amidst sobs, gasps, and whimpers.

“Who?”

“Danny!”

“Isn’t your boyfriend’s name… Wait. Is it that Danny?”

Claire paused long enough to glare at Rose. “Who else?” she half-screamed in failed-romance-induced-hysteria before continuing her cry.

“Oh. Okay. Um… so when and how did you meet him?” Rose decided to shut her mouth when she was given two annoyed looks. All right, something’s definitely not right. She watched blankly as an impromptu counseling session took place before her. Claire… Danny… and that note with the words ‘TOOTHPASTE. BUY!’ stuck on her refrigerator… She had definitely missed something. But what?

##

“I’m not as rich as you are, you know,”

“You owed me one,”

“I owed you toothpaste! Not fancy dinner at a restaurant!”

“This is a fast food restaurant,”

Rose wanted to argue further but the hamburger looked too delicious and she hadn’t been eating anything that doesn’t come out of a card box or a can for so long. She began eating it, imagining that it was James she was biting into.

Eww… bad imagery.

“And you owed me something for that bullshit I had to come up with yesterday,” James continued, balling up the wrapper. “Lest you’d lose a friend due to your insensitivity,”

“I’m not insensitive! Just… you know…” Rose made a vague gesture, not wanting to say it out loud. Forgetful. It sounded so simple yet it wasn’t. She felt terrible enough knowing what was going on, the price she had to pay for a gift she didn’t want. Admitting it out loud was like rubbing salt to the wound. Edmond had taught her how to control her power most of the time; by not trying too hard to concentrate on something. Unfortunately sometimes it didn’t even take concentration to bring her the vision of a future. They could appear at random intervals, even when Rose was daydreaming. There was no way of telling how much knowing the future would affect someone’s life as there was no way to tell how a loss of simple memories could affect Rose’s. “And Claire is still upset and her boyfriend isn’t too happy, either. Look, can you not take Danny to our shop again? He’s… disastrously attractive,”

“At least you don’t work with him,” He shook his head, wary and amused at the same time. “It’s daily psychological breakdown in the office,”

Rose chuckled. She had heard that Danny was banned from bedding anyone in his office but apparently either he broke the rule or he was charming enough to cause chaos without any type of romantic or sexual contact. “I don’t want to imagine. It’s troublesome enough as it is in my shop and he only came, what, once a month?”

“See? Could’ve been worse,” James said. “It’s in his nature to be charming and attractive just as it’s in your nature to be defensive,”

“What does that mean?” Rose asked, frowning.

James took his time answering, listening to the murmurs and screams and growls and howls of other customers mixed with soft stupid jingle song in the background. It was often difficult to tell between chaos, war, and eating time during weekends. The restaurant was crowded to the point where several people had to wait for an empty seat despite this place not being the most famous restaurant. Crowded meant safe though if the fact that James always carries guns and knives around at night was not enough of assurance to Rose. In fact, no, it wasn’t assuring enough since almost everyone here was definitely not harmless in anyway. “It means,” James began, pausing to drink his coke.  Then he leaned back and looked at Rose with an unreadable expression. “It means, I’m glad you’re not taken in by him,”

Rose stared then looked back to her hamburger for the answer to the biggest secret of the universe: James’s thoughts. Even after years of knowing him she still had no idea what he was thinking or feeling. Perhaps she should ask but something prevented her from doing so; pride mainly but she also knew that James wouldn’t answer if it’s too personal. “I have enough trouble as it is,” She said bitterly.

“You do,” James said quietly. He watched Rose eat for a while before standing up suddenly. “I’m going to order another one. You still owe me one for that flower I brought you last time,”