Chapter 34: Who is Rose Miller?
1993 Words
Monday morning, she was lying in bed her hands tucked just waiting for the alarm to go off so she could start the day with enthusiasm, on her bedside table a picture of her mum, both of them actually. Even in darkness she could still see them smile radiantly, two women decades apart in age but still the same in behavior and physical attributes. She smiled. Grateful to be alive even though she had a lot on her plate, an angry and blinded by love father, always angry, evil and pretending to be nice step-mother, a step-brother addicted to drugs and who looked like he could hit her with a car at any moment and a distant cousin she couldn't figure out and a hot boy who had kissed her lips and went back to acting like nothing happened. School work? Not a bother. She was on top of her class, always. Were those problems going to affect her in anyway? Perhaps, she didn't give a f**k about anything anymore but like everyone else all she wanted was clarity.
A sneak peek into the future not necessarily by her but by someone she trusted so they could tell her that everything was going to be okay, that some people didn't deserve her time and she was better off not worrying them. The alarm went off and was met with the wrath of her heavy arm, in trying to change everything around her she was also changing her program, waling up half an hour earlier than everyone. She sat up, yawned and stretched before rolling out of bed into her slides. The hot shower was her last stop before she walked into her wardrobe and settled for a pair of jeans and a cotton white blouse with black stripes, she combed her hair backwards and let it flow on her back like a mighty waterfall. A black trench coat and white rubber shoes completed her look, on her way out she picked her glasses and bag pack, kissed her mother's picture and opened the butler’s gift of a locket before leaving her room.
"Let's see what todays’ got for me!"
Yeah, not for anyone, just for her. She had realized that looking out for her was as a matter of fact not being selfish, just putting her interests, happiness and goals above everything else, and that built a wall of confidence around her that her family was surprised of. Was it working? Yeah of course, Rose was keeping distance and Lucas was not looking at her funny.
"Good morning old man"
"Good morning young lady, your breakfast is ready, and I packed some pancakes and snacks..."
"Pancakes yes, snacks no. I'm trying to reduce my intake" she walked to the dining where the breakfast was set, Eggs with bread sandwich, a glass of milk and her lunchbox just in case she missed lunch at school.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, went without them the whole of yesterday"
"Progress I see. Why are you..."
"Change is inevitable, join me"
"No, I'll pass. I'm going to fire up the car"
"Fine, thank you for agreeing to this new schedule on short notice"
"Anything that gives you peace kid"
Even on a new schedule Rose found a way to sneak in. She was the last person Audrey was expecting to see before leaving the house. The woman had become a walking breathing symbol of her bad luck and suffering, the source of her problems and every time she walked in her house she felt like Rose was watching ready to pounce on and decollate her. While she enjoyed her breakfast, Rose was standing in the living room just looking at her, unbothered. Maybe she was waiting for that calm and fearful daughter to say good morning, if that was the case she was going to stand there for eternity because that particular morning she wasn't in the mood to bow to anyone.
"Audrey"
"Yes, I didn't see you there"
"Oh, something tells me you did and ignored me. Just between us girls what's up with you?"
"Nothing"
"Clearly there's everything wrong. Someone who knows you so well would say you're rude all of a sudden"
"Depends with which lenses one's viewing this from"
"Am lying?"
"Probably, I'm okay. For long you've pretended to care about me but you don't. So, I've also decided to accept the fact that you'll never genuinely care about me and live like it...have a day that fits you well am leaving for school"
"And who's going to drive you at this time "
"I am" the butler sneaked in their conversation, "ready kid?"
"Yeah"
"And who's going to supervise breakfast? This has been going on for far too long, I'm not going to be disrespected in my own house"
What she considered disrespect escalated when the two of them walked out on her. Audrey was leading the way. She wanted to burst with anger, how come she was losing a grip on the control of a home she called hers. And at the center of her misery, a seventeen-year-old overweight kid she once loved and cared for. Genuinely. Then, where did the rain start beating them? What happened between them? Ladies and gentlemen, jealousy is a disease. A malignant cancer that starts as one bad cell and then spreads to others squeezing genuine love and care out of a healthy relationship. And funny thing, now this is gonna hurt, strangers can never be jealous of you. As of now you can sense that there was more than what met the eye when it came to Rose, the deals David had to strike under the table to get her life back and her dark past was a keen detective away from coming to light. And the key to it all was her very own niece, Ivy.
The range rover slithered on the tarmac like a snake in green moisty grass. The butler had his hands on the wheel, Audrey was at the back reading a book, Dolly Parton was playing at a favorable volume, a perfect environment for two people who not only enjoyed each other’s company but also the serenity of calmness, peace of their silence and tunes of their heartbeats. But the butler wanted to be filled in on something, what was the mantra behind her sudden change of attitude? A landmine topic, he didn’t want to try and pull down her efforts to get out of that shell at the same time he didn’t wan to see her fall deep in that bottomless pit of vengeance. The butler believed Audrey wasn’t going to change anything by being exactly like what she was trying to stand up to.
“You’ve been stealing glances at me the entire trip”
“I’m sorry I thought they were furtive”
“Not quite what’s up? Jesus Christ and I thought coming to school early is going to save us time from this traffic”
Fort canon city was up…although it never slept. The sun was splashing its yellowish rays, giving a golden touch to everything they touched. She rolled down her window to enjoy the cold oceanic breeze, poked her head out and shut her eyes inhaling sharply until she felt the presence of someone from the sidewalk.
“Good morning beautiful” that startled her.
“Sean?”
“In the flesh, how are you”
“Fine. You ride your bike to school?”
“Yap, I can’t afford a car besides Werner school is somehow closer than Bridgetown from where I live”
“That’s great. I wish I could be riding too, for exercises purpose only but am afraid of anything that moves on wheels”
“I can teach you” Audrey didn’t seem to be interested, “It’s fun”
“I know but No. have a good day Sean”
“See you at school today”
The window pane was halfway up but she forced it down surprise written all over her face, what did the stalking Sean mean by seeing her at school? Clearly, he went to that trash school that had great but not so great brains and competed with Bridgetown on matters science, academics and sports.
“Have you been transferred or what?”
“I’m on the boys soccer team and today we’re coming over for a friendly game. To wipe the name Mason Klein from your lips because greatness is visiting”
“And sing who’s?”
“Mine” said Sean confidently, Audrey laughed so hard.
“Look, I don’t know you but you’re nothing like Mason Klein, he is arguably the best at what he does, with a ball at his feet he is a demigod you can only hope he doesn’t embarrass you so badly but anytime you face him defeat is inevitable”
“Oh, you like him”
“Hell no. I’m not even a soccer fan”
“And that proves my point”
“Bye Sean I hope I don’t see you again”
“I’m inevitable” He winked at her and cycled away smiling.
The cars in front of them also started moving and she rolled up the window. Sean the waiter had just brought up Mason and all of sudden her mind was drifting back to that kiss and she tried to decipher what his silence and hers too could possibly mean. That aside, what were they going to say to each other in case they met. And they were surely going to meet if he wanted them to.
“Are you okay back there?”
“Yeah…I’m good” she cleared her throat and adjusted her eye glasses staring outside.
“Who was that back there? You seemed to know each other so well”
“A waiter we met just the other day…and you don’t believe me. He is not my boyfriend if that’s what you think”
“No, he is not but he thinks Mason is and so do I”
“Shut up Clive. Back there before Sean happened you wanted to say something, spit it”
Oh boy. And he thought he was ready to face her. She was not the nine-year-old girl he enjoyed teasing and ordering her around, threatening so that she did what he wanted. Audrey was seventeen and suddenly not shy anymore a change that he didn’t see coming but still he liked it. Could you believe it was the first time he was seeing her talk to a boy?
“Your attitude”
“Towards what exactly?”
“Your step-mother. I think you’re being very rude to her which is so unlike you. Right now, you might think it’s the right thing to do but trust me, matching energy is the reason why people are so miserable today. You can’t clean up blood with blood”
“I hear you but for the first time since she walked into our lives pretending to be my mother’s friend I can really see her for what she is”
“And what is she?”
“A cheat up to something bad. Ivy knows something and she will tell me but the rest I’ll find out myself. My father might not like me but I like him and when mum died she asked me to take care of him. I found her in his office in the middle of the night and when she saw me she froze”
“Okay, how about I also do my own investigation. But try and be nice to her, reverse psychology. She won’t notice that way”
“I know you’d fall in line” Audrey said happily leaving the car, they were at Bridgetown, “Good day”
“Likewise, I’m proud of you”
She smiled and bowed in respect. Were Rose’s days in the Miller manor coming to a bitter end?
- Writer
