At three in the morning, Rose woke up to the chime of her phone ringing. She picked it up and put the receiver to her face.
"Hello, who is this?" She asked into the microphone, the words slurred coming out of her fatigued mouth.
"Hey Rosy... this is Rob." Rose knew Rob; he was close to her dad.
"What's up? Why are you calling so late?"
"Well, brace yourself…" There was a pause.
"Rose, your dad had a heart attack in the bathroom… he was found dead a few minutes ago," confessed Rob
It didn't feel real. Rose had just seen him hours ago; he was perfectly healthy, just a bit tired. She leaned onto her old oak nightstand.
"W-what… Rob, your jokes were never good, but this one can't even be-"
"It's not a joke, Rose; he died. I know it's a lot to take in," cut in Rob.
The air temperature dropped. Rose's eyes felt hazy, her brain like goop. Her stomach dropped as if it fell to Hades' grasp, her feet on nothing. Her eyes welled up, and she began to sob.
"I'll… I'll leave you alone for now, get some sleep, Rose…" Rob hung up, leaving Rose alone to fall to her knees on that rugged, hateful carpet. She wondered why it had to happen to her - why it had to be her perfect dad to pass away. She didn't know how long she was on that floor, crying her eyes out until they were bruised orbs of collagen and tissue. At some point, her alarm sounded, but she just turned it off. She didn't want to feel anything at this moment, but she knew she had to go to school.
Rose got out of her lumpy form on the ground; she had to manually tell herself to do things to even be able to function. Put your clothes on, Rose she would obediently follow, though feebly. Now go brush your teeth, Rose. Go do your hair, Rose. This action made her cry even more, as she used the hand-woven hairband her dad had made for her. It fit perfectly with her hair, both in terms of color and size, and was a good match given that Rose was never strong, so she had to use low-resistance bands. Her father truly took Rose into consideration, even down to the minute details. Check your backpack for all your stuff, Rose. She continued to follow her own commands in despair.
Once Rose exited the house, it was as if several eighteen-wheelers pressed upon her; the outside air smelled of burning sulfur, the ground felt like quicksand, sinking her deeper and deeper, but she forced herself to go to school anyway.
When she arrived, it felt closer to a dream, yes! A dream! It could be that this is just a dream! Rose dug her nails into her thigh until she slightly bled, but nothing happened. Her father was truly dead, possibly the hardest pill to swallow of any possible. She dragged her feet on the way to class, on that hard, unforgiving flooring, shoulders down and head hung low. Her peers all greeted her as she passed by, though it felt more like bees humming in her ear constantly, never-ending.
Once she reached her class, she trailed in with the small stream of students, taking her seat next to her friend - her one true friend, Abigail.
"What's wrong?" Abigail asked, noticing immediately that Rose was off, which others didn't notice, no matter how obvious. Rose shook her head in response to Abigail's instigations.
"I'll… I'll tell you later." The words were hard to get out of her sandy, cracked mouth; they were the first words she spoke aloud since talking to Rob.
"Alright, just let me know if you need anything." But Rose knew that Abigail wouldn't let go that easily. Rose knew Abigail would be constantly watching her from there on, which was somewhat reassuring. Rose claimed her missing notes from her teacher, which she missed yesterday due to her oversleeping.
Throughout the day, Rose was asked many, many questions - as expected, ranging from how her day was to the answers for the AP Literature pretest (which she wouldn't give up). Rose could only dread what she would have to do soon; this could possibly ruin her life.
Right before lunch, Miss Anderson always used the bathroom, but the teacher's only bathrooms were halfway across the school. Paired with the fact that all the students would be outside at break before lunch, gave her roughly ten minutes to get something from Miss Anderson's bag. Rose stayed in the empty classroom across the hall from Miss Anderson's until she heard her exit, the footsteps trailing down the hall gradually getting quieter. This was her moment, it was now or never - her life would surely be ruined if this wasn't successful.
Her heart beat outside of her chest, skipping a few beats as she tipped the door to Miss Anderson's classroom open, making sure to stay out of sight of the windows. Rose peered around until she found Miss Anderson's bag and took one of her tupperware - though she didn't know what it contained. Rose vacuumed her stomach and tried her best to hide the box tucked under her skirt as she left, holding her stomach as if it hurt.
It was almost completely successful; all she had to do was make it to her bag and put it there. Then she would be able to find time to retrieve a drink from the teacher's lounge. As Rose approached her classroom, she saw Miss Anderson in the commons area, presumably going back to her room. Rose acted like she hadn't noticed Miss Anderson until she was greeted by her.
"Hi Rose, why are you inside today?" Miss Anderson was interrogated.
"Hello, Miss Anderson. My stomach hurts, so I'm just gonna do some work if that's fine." Rose replied, trying to sound as inconspicuous as possible. She entered her classroom, safe! She put the tupperware in her bag and sat on a chair, her head floating from the stress. Of course, there would be consequences to her thievery. Rose knew she would have to lie her way out of this - not that she had ever lied out of something this big.
After a few minutes, Rose heard her classmates trailing in and took out an assignment, so as to have an excuse for not being outside. The door creaked open, and her classmates, as per usual, called her such a great student for doing her work instead of enjoying her time outside, though it would be different if it were someone else - they would probably call them a nerd. Rose wouldn't care for the latter, but the present was arguably worse than being ridiculed, to Rose. She smiled and waved, as normal, and continued her work, her classmates slithering out in a line to lunch.
Near the end of lunch would be when she would have to get the drink from the teachers' lounge: when teachers would still be eating in their classrooms, dormant for lunch detention or students needing things, and students would be at lunch, not allowed to wander the halls late into lunch. Rose sat doing her papers for a while before checking the time; five minutes before lunch ended, it was time to make her move.
Rose opened the classroom door, taking her paper with her. Only being a few yards away from the teacher's lounge was convenient. The halls were empty as expected, and the teacher's lounge door was left ajar. Rose entered to find the deserted room, and the drink refrigerator eyeing Rose, tantalizing her to come closer. If Rose got this over with, her troubles would be gone, and she would be able to go home to mourn her father.
Rose opened the refrigerator and took a Sprite, not knowing what Eve would want. As she was walking out, the Sprite hidden, the teacher's lounge door opened, and Mr. Deebs walked in.
"What are you doing here, Rose?"
Rose froze like a deer, almost, but regained her composure quickly.
"I was looking for you, actually! I had a question about the assignment…" Rose asked about the easiest part, which she had not yet done. It was very convenient that it was Mr. Deebs who had caught her there, as he was very egotistical and would take any opportunity to make himself look good.
"Ah, yes, Rose, this part. I'm surprised you weren't able to do it. We learned it last month. All you have to do is use…" Rose stopped listening at some point, just nodding and agreeing. Mr. Deebs, at some point, stopped talking about the assignment; he went off topic often to talk about himself. Rose's chance to leave was when her classmates were coming back from lunch. Mr. Deebs left and advised her to come too, as she wasn't supposed to be in there, though she wouldn't face any consequences.
Rose merged into her class's line, walking next to Abigail. Though Abigail was Rose's one and only friend, Rose probably wouldn't even tell her about what she had done, so she wouldn't be seen differently by her. Rose kept her facade up so well that she almost forgot about the Sprite, but she ended up being able to slip it into her bag, even with the number of eyes always watching her (a curse to say the least).
Rose was constantly on edge as the day passed, worried that she would be questioned as a suspect of the lunch thievery, but it never happened. Rose assumed that she either didn't care or didn't notice, but either way was fine with her. When the 3:25 bell resounded across the school, Rose made her way back to classroom 53, each step feeling like a car held it down.
Rose opened the door to find Eve in that exact same seat, writing on those same papers. She closed the door behind herself and approached Eve, putting down her bag and delivering the requested items reluctantly. Eve looked Rose in the eye and smiled, getting up from her chair. Eve reached her hand out to Rose, ignoring the offering of items, and held her chin in her fingers.
"Good job," Eve muttered, tilting Rose's face to examine her. Rose felt threatened, completely paralyzed in Eve's presence - in Eve's cold, disturbing grasp.
"I got your stuff, now let me go," Rose demanded.
Eve let her go and took the food, feasting on it at once. Cold? Weirdo. Thought Rose, though she would never say that out loud. Rose stood there in silence, unsure of what to do. Eve waved her off in discharge, but Rose stayed there, her mind blank. She had just realized the weight of her actions, she had just committed a misdemeanor, and she couldn't go cry home to her father; she couldn't go to anyone.
"I already told you to go, get out of here." Ordered Eve.
"I don't have anywhere to go…" Rose sat down in a chair, watching Eve eat.
"Why should I care? Go home, Little Miss Perfect." Eve kept her gaze on her food, though making it clear that she wanted Rose gone. Rose decided it was best to leave, dragging herself out lethargically, somewhat hoping Eve would call to her for help. Help never came, and Rose exited, closing the door behind her. Rose walked home in silence, moving slowly, hoping time would just leave her behind, in the deserted state she was in.
After about an hour, Rose opened the door to her cold, barren home, no traces of her father's welcoming fervency. She went to her room and lay in her bed, hoping to sleep forever, and just dream - the only possible solace from her current life. As she drifted off to sleep, she could only imagine her father tucking her in, as he did when she was little…