Ring Around the Rosy
Author: Inquisitive (Ink)
Rating: PG- for character death
Disclaimer: Rosy belongs to me, everyone else belongs to Disney.
A/N[1]: This is my first sad fic. So any feedback would be appreciated, good or bad.
Darkness.
Suddenly two children's voices can be heard singing,
"Ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies, ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies, Ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies."
There is a bright flash of light.
Now there is a small field visible. It stands behind a modest country home, and is bordered by giant pine trees on three sides.
Two children, a boy of eight, and a girl of six, are skipping in a circle with their hands clasped together, chanting the familiar childhood rhyme.
"Ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies..."
"Ryan, Rosy, dinner!" A woman calls from the doorway of the house.
"Coming Momma!" The little boy, Ryan, calls, gently grasping his sisters hand as they walk toward the house.
They walk in and find their mother dividing soup into bowls.
"What's for dinner Momma?" The small girl, Rosy, asks as soon as they come through the door.
"Chicken soup." She responds, slapping Ryan's hand as he tries to grab a roll out of the basket on the center of the table. "Now go wash up."
"Yes Momma." Both children chorus in unison.
After they are finished with dinner, there is still some daylight left, and Ryan and Rosy are both eager to get back outside.
They rush past their mother, after depositing their dishes in the sink, and head strait for the door, ignoring her request that they put on jackets.
"I'll race ya to that tree." Ryan says, pointing to the biggest tree on their property.
"Your faster than me." Rosy protests, putting her hands on her hips and pushing out her lower lip.
"I'll go slow, Ready? 1, 2, 3, GO!" They take off running for the tree.
About half way there, Rosy trips over a rock, and falls sprawling, onto the ground.
Ryan stops immediately, and turns back.
"Rosy, are you okay?" He asks.
"No, I ripped my dress, and now Mamma's gonna be mad and she won't let me go fishin' with Daddy on Saturday." She says beginning to cry.
Ryan helps her up, and inspects the small tare in her skirt.
"Don't worry," He says, "I'll tell Momma it was my fault."
She looks up at him, her eyes bright with tears, and a mixture of hope and admiration.
"You will?" She asks shakily.
He nods reassuringly.
She immediately stands up on tiptoe, and kisses his cheek.
"I love you Ryan." Rosy says honestly.
"Come on," He says, wiping the back of his hand across his cheek, and ruffling her soft brown curls. "We're waisting time, it'll be dark soon."
They start off again, with Rosy slightly ahead, and Ryan behind her, letting her win.
They reach the tree, and duck under the long lower branches. Ryan looks up, taking in the sight of the tree branches sticking out in every direction, looking like big welcoming arms.
Both grab hold of the pine gummy branches, and begin climbing to their favorite spot. After reaching the yellow ribbon, which their father had tied onto a branch, indicating how high they were allowed to climb, Ryan looked up again, longingly. Finally the temptation became too much.
"Hey Rosy, I'll beat you to the top."
"But we're not supposed to go higher than the ribbon."
"Come on, what are you a chicken?" Ryan says, taunting her until she gives in.
Slowly they made their way to the top. The branches were getting smaller and smaller.
"Ryan, maybe we should stop now." Rosy said, worry evident in her voice.
"It's only a little further." Ryan says still climbing.
Rosy, not wanting to look like a chicken in front of her big brother, begins climbing again.
All of a sudden there is an earth- shattering SNAP! As a branch gives out.
Rosy, suddenly finding herself in mid air, tightens her grip on the branch above her, which begins to crack with the added weight.
"RYAN!" She calls frantically.
He stops climbing, and looks down, seeing his little sister dangling from a small branch over one hundred feet in the air, he begins to carefully pick his way down to where she is literally hanging on for dear life.
"Hold on Rosy, don't let go, I'll save you!" He says.
As soon as he gets to where he can reach her, the branch she is holding onto breaks.
Making a blind, panicky reach, he manages to grab hold of her hand.
"Please don't drop me!" She wails, kicking her feet, and trying unsuccessfully to find a branch which will hold her slight weight.
"I won't let go Rosy, I promise, but you have to hold still."
Too far in the grip of panic, she doesn't even hear him, and continues her wild flailing.
He could feel her slipping now.
"ROSEY, HOLD STILL!" He demands, but she either can't or won't hear him.
He tries to tighten his grip, and for a moment, he thinks he has her securely, but then he feels her fingers slipping through his.
He can hear the tortured screams as she hits every branch in her path on the way down. Then he hears a heart breaking THUD. Then nothing.
The darkness is back, and through the silence, a little boy and a little girl are singing,
"Ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies, ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies, ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies, ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies, ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies, ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies..."
Specs awoke with a start, and bolted upright in his bunk. His face was awash with tears, as he tried to regain his bearings. His eyes darted frantically around the bunk room. Finally, he was able to breath normally again. After splashing some cold water on his face, he quietly made his way out onto the fire escape to smoke, and to forget.
"It's all my fault," He whispered to himself, exhaling smoke with every word. "I killed my sister."
For weeks now, it had been the same routine every night. He would stay up as long as he could, trying to avoid sleep at all costs, eventually exhaustion would overtake him, and he would fall into a fitful sleep. He always dreamed about his baby sister, and that evening so many years ago, which had haunted him ever since. He would wake up startled and disoriented, the first few times, he had screamed, waking several of the other boys. He was grateful that at least he wasn't doing that anymore. After waking, he would splash water on his face, then go smoke and collect his jumbled thoughts.
Finishing the cigarette, he pitched it into the alley below, and crawled back into the bunk room just in time for Kloppman to wake everyone up.
Walking to the distribution office, Specs kept seeing his sister everywhere. He saw her cherub like face reflected in the Bakery window, but when he turned around there was no one there.
After buying his papers, he scanned through them for the best headlines. Suddenly, a picture of a child he had never seen before, changed into a picture of his sister, age six.
Specs threw the paper away from himself as if it were a bomb about to explode.
"Hey Specs, you okay?" Race asked, walking toward him.
"Yeah I'm fine Race." He replied a little embarrassed.
"Do you want to sell with me today?" Race asked, worried about his friend who hadn't been quite himself lately.
"NO... I'd rather sell alone today Race." Specs replied, walking off and leaving Race looking puzzled.
On his way to his selling spot, Specs heard children's voices as they sang the all to familiar chant.
"Ring around the Rosy, a pocket full of posies,..."
"Girls, come inside this instant, you are going to be late." A mother called, and the little girls ran into the house.
"How does the rest of the rhyme go?" Specs asked himself allowed. "I can' t remember, it's been too long."
Specs sold about ten papers all morning, before giving up and heading to Tibbys.
He walked in, and sat down at a table by himself, humming and trying to think of the last six words of the rhyme.
"I hope he's okay." Mush said to Blink as they both glanced worriedly at Specs.
"Today is really hard for him, today is da anniversary of his sister's death." Blink responded.
"How do you know that?" Mush asked.
"He talks in his sleep." Blink replied.
Specs pushed his food around his plate for a little while, before giving up on eating, and heading back to the lodging house.
About half way there, he froze, not believing what he was seeing.
There in front of him stood his little sister, still six, and still dressed in the little skirt with the rip in it.
She did not say a word, she just beckoned to him. Almost against his will, he followed her.
She led him down dark streets, and even darker alleys. Finally she stopped, and Specs looked around for the first time, and found himself in the middle of the Brooklyn bridge.
Rosy pointed toward the railing, before fading slowly away.
"Wait, I need to talk to you! I never got to tell you that I'm sorry! It was all my fault!"
Ignoring him, she disappeared. Crying now, Specs looked at the section of railing she had pointed to. There, tied in a bow, was the old yellow ribbon that used to hang in the big pine tree.
Specs climbed up onto the railing, and looked down at the water far below.
"I'm sorry I let go." He whispered, as he took his hands off the railing, and pushed himself off of the bridge.
He felt no fear, the only feeling he had was that of relief.
The last thing he heard before he hit the water and everything went black, was a quiet, hauntingly child-like voice singing playfully;
"Ashes, Ashes, we all fall down."
A/N[2]: I'm sorry I killed Specs, but it couldn't be helped. Please review and tell me what you think!