Always A Blonde

Seven year old,Damian Millhouse Spinelli watched his best friend,Rosalina "Rosie" Carpenter carefully. Rosie whirled around freely in the rain,giggling softly as her ash blonde hair clung in wet,tangled strands to her small,pixie like face. Her eyes,the color of amethyst shone and danced as she stared at him. "Dance with me,Dame Dame!" She trilled in a girlish tone.

Damian laughed as he watched her for another moment before he grabbed onto her hands and swung with her.

Twenty two year old,Damian Spinelli awoke in a cold sweat. He sighed as he remembered his best friend. The one that tragedy had taken from him a few days after that rainy afternoon. She'd died fourteen years ago,today They'd been friends since they were two and had been neighbors. Spinelli leaned over the edge of his bed and pulled out an old photo album and began to thumb through it. He stared at the pictures of he and Rosie at school,in the park,in the bathtub when they were two,playing in a yard. Every picture was a memory that he cherished greatly.

When he looked at his clock,he groaned. He had to get to work. He stuffed the small album into a pocket of his laptop bag and grabbed some clothes to take a shower.

At work,Sam kept throwing him worried glances. She'd noticed that look in his eyes as soon as he'd walked through the door of their Private Eye Business. It wasn't something she often saw with Spinelli. He looked as if he were at a loss. She sat down some of her paperwork,glanced at Winifred who was preoccupied with something on her laptop and walked over to him. Her hand went to his cheek.

He jumped at the contact in complete surprise.

"Spinelli?" Sam asked with concern. "Do you feel okay?"

He nodded. "Uh huh! Absolutely fine Fair Samantha! Um would--would you mind if I took the rest of the day off?" He asked as he clutched at his worn out laptop case.

'He's kept that close to him all day.' She thought before nodding. "Um sure Spinelli. Just get here early tomorrow,okay?" She asked.

Spinelli nodded and gave a tiny half smile before turning to leave. The small photo album that he'd put into a pocket of his laptop case fell out and onto the floor.

Sam knelt down to pick it up and ran out of the building after him so she could give it back but he'd already left. Sighing,she went back inside to ask Winifred to take her calls while she was gone and close up for her. Then,she went back outside and got into her car,driving to the penthouse. She parked in the garage of the apartment complex. She chewed her lip and furrowed her brow in comptemplation. She knew that she shouldn't look in the album. It belonged to Spinelli. If he wanted her to see it he'd have shown her himself. But she was too curious to do what was right so she pulled the book onto her lap and flipped through it. Seeing all types of pictures of a young Spinelli and a little blonde girl from the ages of two to what seemed to be seven. Spinelli was smiling in all the pictures with the little girl,eyes bright and shining. But when she got to the end of the album,where he stood alone,there was a frown upon his lips and a darkness in his eyes that looked out of place for a child so young.

----

"Is Rosie going to hell granny?" A little green eyed boy asked as he looked down at his skinned knees.

Miriam Spinelli whirled around,eyes huge as she faced her grandson. "No! Darling...why would you assume that?" She asked,kneeling down to hug her grandson.

Damian shrugged his shoulders. "Father Green says every Sunday that people who don't go to church and don't believe in god are forni--somethings and burn in hell." His eyes were dark and haunting,full of shadows as he eyed his grandma. "And grandma,Rosie didn't believe in god and she never went to church. Father Green says people who don't believe in god are punished and the kids in school--they laugh and say she deserved to die."

Miriam felt like crying. Not only had her grandson lost his best friend that cold afternoon---he'd also lost his innocence.

Spinelli's eyes opened his eyes. He could taste the saltiness of his tears upon his lips. After that day,his grandma had decided to home school him. That was how he'd gotten so good with computers and how he'd become the Jackal. His hand reached in to pull the album out of the camouflage laptop case once more. His eyes widened in horror when he didn't feel it. "No! He yelled. How could he have lost it? His only pictures of Rosie were gone. He sat down on his bed and began to sob into a pillow.

Sam brushed past Jason into the penthouse,mumbling about having to return something to Spinelli before she headed up the stairs. She paused at Spinelli's bedroom door and her eyes widened. She could hear crying. Taking a deep breath,she opened the door. Her heart wrenched in her chest when she saw Spinelli curled in a ball on his bed,clutching a pillow to his chest as tears travelled down his face. She walked over to the bed and sat down. She put a gentle hand on his shoulder hesitantly. "Spinelli?" She whispered.

Spinelli froze at the sound of Sam's voice. What was she doing here?

Sighing when she realized that he wasn't going to reply she said,"This fell out of your bag when you left. I thought that I would bring it back."

That got his attention.

He turned and sat up,grabbing the book from her with his trembling hands and hugging it to his chest.

"May I ask who that little girl is?" Sam asked before she could stop herself. "The one in the pictures with you when your little,I mean?"

Spinelli looked at his friend. "Her name was Rosalina Arianna Carpenter. I called her Rosie though and she called me Dame Dame in this really girllish tone. She was my best friend in Oakfield from the time the Jackal was two until he was seven." He told her,voice a mere whisper.

"You said she was your best friend. What happened to her? Did she move away?" She asked in confusion.

He laughed bitterly. "I wish it was that simple. She died. We were at a park that was near a lake when it happened. I went to the bathroom and when I came back my granny,Rosie's mom,and a crowd of people covering their screaming kid's eyes were all around her. I ran over and saw Rosie soaking wet and pale and her lips were blue. There was blood coming out of a cut on her forehead. Apparently,she fell into the water and hit her head on something. I dunno what. She died." He said,voice dull.

"I'm so sorry." Sam said,wrapping her friend into the warmth of her arms.

Spinelli embraced her gratefully,burying his head into the sweet smelling shoulder of her shirt. "It was fourteen years ago today that she lost her life. Fourteen years ago that the first blonde I ever cared for hurt me.

The End