Indigo:
He always had been scared of heights. He used to be scared of many things as well like the guinea pigs and hamsters. Something about their beady little eyes just creeped him out. But he was definitely terrified of heights the most.
No matter what he did. Whether he sat out on the window with Caddy comforting him or abseiling with Michael or sitting on a roof with Tom. He never got over that fear. He still secretly takes tablets that put him to sleep when he's on an airplane so he wouldn't freak anyone out with his fear. He hides it from everyone else and thought he did a very good job.
Until a day out at Alton Towers with Sarah and Saffy. The roller coasters went far too high and he could barely look at them let alone get on one. He managed to somehow put a calm face on for the first ride. But the moment they got up to a very high point where he could see the whole theme park he lost it.
Saffy and Sarah helped him get out of the cart as he was shaking and trembling. They ignored the attendant's complaints of vomit in the cart. He saw his reflection in the booth window and he was so pale that he had a green tinge to his skin.
They sat him down on a bench and Saffy ran off to fetch him a drink when Sarah gently kissed his forehead and stroked his hair.
"It's nothing to be ashamed of," she told him gently, "we all have our fears and you do better than most to hide them. Just remember that I'll always be there to whizz by and catch you like Wheelchair Woman should"
He couldn't help but grin and by the time Saffy came back he felt a lot better than before.
Saffy:
"I don't think I can do this anymore Saffy. You're like a rose with thorns. Far too many. You never let anyone get close and I can't stay with someone like that"
Those words kept echoing through her mind as she destroyed any remains of yet again another ex-boyfriend. This was why she never lets anyone get close to her. Because they leave. They die. They run off and she's left being lonely.
Her world was destroyed at the age of three when her mother died. Again at eight when she realised her family weren't hers. Then at thirteen and onwards it was one incident after another. Granddad died, Indigo got really, really sick, Bill was her father and her siblings were half, Sarah's health, Caddy running off...
She was cold because she was protecting herself. Today this person could be here and there for her. Loving her. The next they could be gone – car crash, heart attack, asthma attack or simply they leave. Her world crashes and she's stuck here frightened and hurt and once again battling her two greatest fears.
Loneliness and death.
The phone rings. A distraction. Pushing back her fears, she answers the phone and is immediately swept back into normality. Well normality for a Casson.
The cold mask and thorns are back on.
Rose:
There was a thunder and lightening in England and for once the Casson house was quiet. Disturbingly quiet as the thunder roared above the house. Tom was too used to noise and chaos that all this peace and quiet unnerved him.
Bill and Eve were fast asleep. Indigo might be. It was difficult to tell but if he was disturbed he'd get in a mood so Tom didn't try. Caddy had moved out long ago and Saffy was staying at Sarah's. And he hadn't seen Rose at all since she went to bed.
Bored and lonely Tom decided to wander around the house. Explore and see if he could find some sort of secret that he never knew before. He crept pass Rose's bedroom when he heard the quiet whimpers.
Stepping back and pushing the already opened door wider, Tom found Rose huddled under her covers whimpering at each rumble of thunder and flinching at each spark of lightening.
"Rosie Pose?"
"Ah..h-hi T-OM!" the last part of his name came out squeaked as she jumped at another crash of thunder and lightening.
He couldn't help but grin a little. Rose was so fearless and strong that it was rare to see her so scared. "You don't like storms?" he asked.
"Didn't mind them until o-NE t-t-time. Power went out a-a-a-and got locked outside in one"
She was trembling and was rather close to tears. He never saw Rose in such a state. Heard that she had been like this when she broke his guitar but that was it. He walked over and sat down beside her.
"Budge up. You're hogging all the bed space" he said pushing her lightly. She moved and he settled down beside her on the bed. He wrapped an arm around her and started singing random songs that just sprung from nowhere until she relaxed and fell asleep.
The next day Bill was not pleased to find the two of them in the same bed.
Caddy:
"What's your greatest fear?" Michael asked during a date.
They were curled up in the backseat of his car nearby a small village in Wales that had beautiful natural scenes. Perfect for Eve to paint. Caddy looked out thoughtfully as she pondered Michael's question. Her greatest fear...
She was scared of many things. Death, failing, going backwards...
"The unknown" she answered finally. "I don't like the unknown. What happens after we die? What's behind me? What's in the shadows? When will this end? What I don't know I begin to fear"
Michael smiled. "Are you sure you didn't walk into a Philosophy class instead of Zoology?"
"Oh Michael Darling," she sighed. Though she couldn't help but smile and change the topic.
A few months later her fear of the unknown separates them for almost forever.
Eve:
When she was a little girl she had witnessed an accident. A young boy running with scissors in school and accidentally cut someone badly. The gushing red colour was rich and beautiful. A colour that no paint has ever captured before. But the smell. The copper taste that she could feel just by smelling...
It was revolting and nauseating.
After promptly throwing up, she had fainted.
From then on she had avoided anything that would lead to such horrific bloodiness. She did fairly well, though it was difficult during that time of the month, until she got pregnant. Bill, not realising the poor darling, had researched pregnancy and giving birth. Read out all the gory bits and the moment he mentioned the blood that'll be covering the baby, she threw up.
She began having nightmares for the last few months and the moments her waters broke she cried.
Bill stayed strong though. He held her during the nights, wiped her tears away before he magically pulled out a bag he packed for her the moment he heard she was pregnant and swept her off to the hospital.
He held her hand and murmured comforting words as he stroked her hair.
"I can't do this!" she wailed. "I'll see the blood and something bad will happen and I'll make my baby hate me!"
"Eve Darling, be sensible! The baby won't realise and you'll have your second impression when you wake up. You'll be a lovely mother, lovely, lovely, it'll love you to pieces"
Another scream and a baby cry overtook Eve's sniffles.
"It's a girl!" the nurse said cheerfully.
She wobbled backwards as she saw the poor little thing covered in blood. Bill held onto her and kept her upright while looking at the baby with a strange look. One she never seen on him before.
She swallowed and looked back at the baby. Beneath the gore and blood were specks of gold clinging to the baby's hair.
Gold.
Mentally she flicked through her paint chart to find a colour to name it. Then she found it, the perfect name for her daughter.
Cadmium Gold.
Bill:
It was the most evil sight he had ever seen. Well one of them but this one was coming towards him. Big, slightly hairy, disgusting thing. A creature like that shouldn't exist. He backed away slowly but it kept coming towards him.
He let out a scream.
Eve came running in with a glass and smacked it. He knew it was Eve because Linda had gone out to get some milk and left him to her father and sister's mercy. Accidentally squashing it. She looked at her hand horrified before starting to sniffle.
"I didn't mean to kill it, just get rid off it" she said wiping her nose on the hanky he had absently given to her. "It's not a pretty thing but all things should live" she said between sniffles.
She looked like Linda but was messy. Hair wild and eyes red from her crying. She was covered in paint and there was something in the way she looked at him that endeared her to him.
He had a feeling that she wouldn't tell anyone about his fear of spiders. Loyalty and keeping people's secrets were both good virtues to have. Something not many people have.
He began to fall in love with Eve that day.