by Unknown
Forsaken Rose
by: Rachel Winters
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Illustration Copyright © 2016 by Claremont Publishing LLC
Cover design by Claremont Publishing LLC
Table of Content
Table of Content
Attention Reader
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Epilogue
Reader’s Perk
About the Author
Attention Reader
The book you’ve just opened is from Claremont. It will take you on a journey that holds a treasure at the end. So, pay attention to the details on this quest for romance and answer the question at the end of the tale for a special gift. It’s a gift that only Claremont readers may partake in.
Chapter 1
Rose Belmont fidgeted in her chair as she watched Professor Wellman make his way down her row of chairs. He was passing back the test from the third history exam of the semester, and besides the few gasps, groans, and short cheers that came from the classmates round her, the clap of Wellman’s shiny black dress shoes made the only true noise in the room.
The sound taunted her as he drew closer.
Rose could feel her pulse speed up in anticipation. She could also feel the eyes of her classmate, Eddie on her. Annoyed by her anxiety, no doubt. He had been leering at her grades since the beginning of the year. He thought— no, knew— she’d get an A, but Rose knew one could never be too sure. Her heart stopped as Wellman stopped at her chair. Slowly, as if drawing the moment out to purposefully make her faint, he pulled a paper out of the stack and placed it on her desk.
The paper slid and then came to a stop right before her eyes.
A+.
“Everything okay over there, Rose?” Mr. Wellman asked from over Rose’s shoulder. A smile was in his voice.
Rose opened her eyes just in time to see him make his way back to the front of the room.
“Yes, thank you. I’m just trying to absorb the moment.” Rose smiled; her bright blue eyes full of elation and relief. Mr. Wellman had been kind enough to help her out when she first started at the University. He was an intellectual man. Tall and wiry, he showed interest in each of his students and could read their moods.
The bell rang and the students began putting away their things and heading out the classroom.
“You’re so weird.” Eddie said, rolling his brown eyes as he got up to leave.
Rose ignored him and stood up, putting her papers into the leather messenger bag which she slung over her shoulder. “See you tomorrow Mr. Wellman,” she said as she headed out the door.
“Bye Rose, are you going to be out finding a job again today?”He called out.
“I’m going to try.” She called back over her shoulder. The hallways were crowded with students, their backpacks laden with heavy books. Some of the students stood at their lockers taking books out or putting books in. Others rushed past, clearly running late. Rose walked to the library at a brisk pace, knowing that every minute counted.
The library was gigantic, stocked full of books, magazines, computers, and other services for students. It was 2 stories high with shelf upon shelf of reference books, oak banisters and rusted lamps hanging overhead.
Most days, Rose made a visit to the library, usually just to skim the shelves or to do her homework in relative silence, but today, she needed to use the printers. She sped over to the printers and set it up to print out 12 copies of the resume on her thumb drive.
While it was printing she repeatedly glanced up at the large clock on the east wall of the building. The stores would be closed in three hours. The machine went silent and she picked up the stack of papers, gently stuffing them in her bag, then began to speed walk out the library.
The University was a big place with 32 buildings, a football field, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, a jogging path, 2 tennis courts, and enough dorms to house at least half of the 42,428 students. You could take a whole day just walking around to see the whole thing.
The sun was shining over her city and she was thankful. It put her in a good mood and hopefully would do the same for anyone she might talk to today.
Rose made her schedule out so that by the end of the day she was as close as possible to the bike racks. She ran over to her blue 10 speed bike and unlocked it from the rack. Hopping on the seat, she started off to her first destination.
***
She screeched to a halt as she pulled up to a retail store she had wanted to apply at. Quickly, she locked her bike at the nearest rack then, after checking her reflection in the shop’s window to make sure her long black hair was still in a neat bun, walked confidently into the store.
Savvy Silks was a secondhand clothing store, full to bursting with clothes hanging on rows of racks, shoes neatly sitting on shelves, and unusual accessories displaying in glass cases. It had that musty smell that is unique to secondhand clothing stores.
At the moment, it was mostly empty, but for a few customers perusing the shelves. Rose scanned the store until she found an employee. A young man with greasy black hair and a spattering of freckles on his pale face. She sped over to him with a practiced smile.
“Excuse me; may I please speak with your manager?” Rose asked.
“Why?” He stared at her skeptically.
“I’d just like to talk to him for a minute, it won’t take long.”
He glanced down at the clock on his wrist, then back up at her, looking bored.
“My shift is over now. Sorry.” He turned around and walked off, leaving Rose staring after him in shock. With an exasperated huff she sped over to the cash registers, and then whacked the bell on the counter. The metallic ding echoed in the mostly empty store and a few moments later she saw someone approaching. He was a large man with graying hair, his face vague and emotionless. Rose glanced at his shirt and saw that his name was Dave.
“Can I help you?”
“Are you the manager?”
“Duh. What do I look like? Santa Claus?” He asked throwing his hands up in frustration as though this was a ridiculous question.
She was tempted to say yes, just to spite him but restrained herself. Trying to ignore his rude attitude Rose held out her resume and remembered the speech she’d practiced.
“I would like to leave you my resume. I’m interested in working here if you have any open positions.” As she said this she momentarily wondered if she should just leave, so far this didn’t seem like a great place to work. He looked apathetic as he said
“I’m afraid we are actually closing down in the next few weeks, so we won't need any more employees.”
Rose made an effort to keep the disappointed frown from her face.
“I'm sorry to hear that. Thank you anyways.”
“Yeah, whatever.” He said, and then headed towards the back. She barely heard him mumble as he walked away, “You’re probably not qualified anyways.”
Rose headed out the store, fuming. It was no wonder they were closing! They were both rude and unprofessional. But there are plenty of other places, she reasoned, and this was just the first one today. The rest would hopefully turn out better.
***
Two ho
urs later, Rose’s hopes had turned to doubt. She had gone to as many stores as she could, but hadn’t had a good feeling about any of them. A few of them took her resume, but she thought it unlikely that they would call her to offer her a job. The sky had started to grow dark as she pulled up to her apartment on Lincoln Ave.
Rose locked her bike to a nearby rack and walked up the steps pulling out her keys. The first drops of rain began to fall as she opened the door. The smell inside the lobby always bothered her. It smelled of dust and grease, the result of a kitchen fire in one of the apartments in the building before she lived here.
After closing the front door behind her she trudged up the stairs to the 3rd floor, where her apartment was located. She was putting her key in the door when a male voice made her jump.
“Do you have this month’s pay yet?” There was venom in the words.
Rose turned around to see George glaring at her. This was her landlord, a short man with an even shorter temper. His black hair was slicked back neatly and he was wearing a ridiculous black and blue pinstriped suit and tie.
Rose shook her head as her hand tightened on the door knob.
“No, I’m sorry not yet. I’m working on it.”
“Well, you better work on it faster,” he spat. George’s frown deepened. “I can’t let you stay much longer without the month's pay. I need you to pay me in three weeks or at least have a job by then.” He grumbled and started heading back down the hall, frowning at the peeling paint on the walls of the hallway.
Rose watched him leave and then went into her apartment and closed the door behind her. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes, head tilted up at the ceiling. The rent he was demanding seemed like a lot of money for such a small apartment. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again, taking in her one bedroom apartment. It was pretty shabby with green carpet and hideous matching drapes over a single window. The apartment wasn’t that great, but at least the bathroom was decent, for this she was thankful.
With a sigh, Rose kicked off her shoes and hung her coat on the rack by the door. She went into her bedroom and flopped on the bed, tossing her bag beside her. Lying there, she wondered what she was going to do about employment. Her phone began to buzz in her bag. Rolling onto her side she pulled it out and hesitated before answering.
“Hi Kelsi.”
“Hey Girl! I found the cutest outfit at the mall today; I can’t wait for the party this year. I know you don’t usually come but I really think you would have fun. I could even help you shop for an outfit if you want?”
“Thanks but no thanks. I have a ton of homework to do.”
“Oh.” a slight pause. Rose pursed her lips, waiting for the question that would surely follow.
“Have you found a job yet?”
“No.”
“Oh, Rose. You’ve been trying for weeks, and still nothing. And you don’t have any family who can help. Why don’t you just accept my offer and move in? I don’t care what my parents say, you know that. And it’s not like we don’t have enough space.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t expect you to understand but I just can’t do that.”
“Alright.” Kelsi sighed. “But I hope you know I’m not going to stop asking till you say yes.”
“Yeah, I know. I got to go now, but I’ll talk to you later.”
She spent the rest of the evening poring over her homework, sitting on her bed in her pajamas, while eating a bowl of cinna-crunch bites cereal. The curtains were closed over the window blocking out the already fading light from outside, and the tall lamp by her bedside was turned on, casting a warm glow around the room. After so much homework though, she couldn’t concentrate and hopped off her bed.
Barefoot, she padded over to the dresser and reached into the bottom drawer and pulled out a small cardboard box. With a smile, she jumped back onto her bed and took off the lid. This was her box of treasures, none of the items were valuable really, but they were special to her.
There was a page from her favorite book as a kid. The rest of the book had gotten torn to bits by a bigger kid when she was 6. So now, only this page with a couple paragraphs from the 2nd chapter was left. A small crayon drawing from Lucy, one of the little girls at the orphanage. It was supposed to be a picture of Rose riding a horse but if little Lucy hadn’t told her she would not have known.
There was also an old photograph of her as a child. Rose held it closer and stared at herself in the picture. There were 15 kids in the photo, ranging in age from 3 to 14. Rose was among the taller kids at the time, holding one of the younger one’s hands and staring sadly at the camera. Ms. Alabaster, the head of the orphanage, was standing nearby, looking professional in her grey suit. Rose set it down and reached for the next item in her box.
It was a small necklace, and she could never make up her mind whether she liked it or not. It was fairly small, round with faded metallic silver edges and a purple stone in the center. There were swirled patterns on the front and little symbols but they were too small to see and Rose didn’t really care enough to look at it with a microscope.
Rose hadn't worn it in a long time and stood up, putting the necklace around her neck. She walked over to the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. It didn’t look so bad; in fact it looked good against her olive skin. And it could have been her imagination but the purple of the center accentuated her blue eyes, almost making them look like a shimmery mix between blue and purple.
She pulled her stark black hair out of the bun on her head and let it fall around her shoulders. She almost looked pretty in that moment. Satisfied with her appearance she put her box of treasures back in the dresser, but kept the necklace on.
Going back to bed, Rose lay on her side and pulled her papers closer, determined to finish her homework. But she was so tired from the long day that slowly the numbers on the page became blurry and she closed her eyes, falling asleep.
Rose knew she was dreaming when she saw the gorgeous house atop the hill. It was surrounded by neatly trimmed maple trees and the lawn was perfect. It felt soft beneath her feet. She glanced up at the windows and felt an incredible surge of happiness.
There in the front windows were a man and woman, they were watching her, beckoning her to come inside and join them. She couldn’t keep the smile on her face as she ran towards the house. On the way though she faltered and stopped running, covering her face with her arm.
The sun had been shining over the house but now it seemed to be getting brighter. Almost unbearably bright. It felt like it was burning her flesh, especially around her neck. Despite the searing pain and the flashing light in the sky she started running again, in the general direction of the house. She couldn’t see and the heat emanating from her chest was making it hard to breathe. Through the blinding light she could see the house, but it seemed to be getting farther away rather than closer.
Rose bolted upright and grasped the necklace on her chest, her breathing ragged and quick. It felt hot in her clammy hands and in a hurry she yanked it off and tossed it on the bed beside her. She stared at it, wondering if it had been her imagination. After what seemed like an eternity she slowly reached out a trembling hand and touched the surface of the necklace. It was cold and she supposed she had still been in a half dreaming state when she had felt it burning hot and tossed it aside. With a moan she picked it up and set it on her bedside table. Sleep came quickly after that, and thankfully there were no strange dreams this time.
Chapter 2
James lifted his head to the sky, reveling in the warm feel of the morning sun and the fresh after-rain smell in the air. The park was mostly empty but for a few joggers running past him, headphones in their ears. He slowed to a stop as he approached a bushel of bright red and yellow tulips, drops of fresh dew on the delicate petals. With a sigh of admiration he bent down on one knee and pulled his camera from the backpack he was carrying and switched it on. He moved it close to his face and held still, pushed his unruly brown hair out of the way,
then pressed the shutter button, capturing the beautiful flowers. He took two more pictures from different angles then stood up, and resumed walking.
This park was one of his favorites, since most people didn’t know about it. It was the perfect place to take a leisurely walk and snap pictures of the beauty of nature. Despite the fact that hardly anyone came here, the gardeners put forth a lot of effort; Planting various flowers and other plants, and maintaining them throughout the year. He smiled with pleasure as he approached the koi fish pond around the corner. The sunlight was reflecting off the water and sending shimmering light into the nearby trees.
He sat down on the cold ground a moment, breathing heavily and took a swig from the water bottle from his backpack. When his breathing was back to normal he knelt on one knee as he had before and snapped multiple shots of the peaceful pond. He heard a strange noise nearby and turned his head in the direction of the sound, waiting, frozen in place.
It was silent except for the leaves rustling and birds in the trees. With a shrug he turned back to the pond and continued what he was doing. But there it was again, it sounded like a little girl squealing, disrupting the peace and quiet. Frowning, he stood up and put the camera in his backpack, walking towards the sound.
“Just a little bit higher, you’re almost there!” A little girl's voice. He pushed aside branches and leaves as he moved through the thick shrubs trying to find the source of the voice.
“I’ve got it!” A second voice exclaimed. This one a girl, but older, probably in her mid 20’s he thought. Finally he pushed through a particularly thick shrub then moved back a step as he finally found the source of the noise. There was a small clearing here with a tall oak tree in the center. At the base of it stood a small girl, blonde hair in pigtails, looking up into the tree, her back to James. He looked farther up the tree and there, about 20 feet high was a young woman grasping a kite in one hand and trying to gracefully make her way down. Both of them had their backs to him and he sat there silently watching.
