In the world beyond our own, existed a small heaven for a small girl. Not quite a heaven you'd imagine with clouds and sky... but
rather a cold mansion filled with a warm aura. Nostalgia, so thick that you breathe it in. The Rose garden Orphanage, the home she
lost everything in. She had lived some time after the massacre, but she preferred to not think about it. She fancied the idea of having
never left the orphanage. Fancied the idea of having died with the rest. So she returned to the form of her child self and took her
afterlife there. Only difference was that this orphanage was not the cruel and cold place she grew to know. Instead, the welcoming
new home when she first arrived. It was golden like sepia, warm with sunlight and had her favorite record playing. Here the record
player worked! A lot of things worked in this orphanage. Though... all but the most important thing to her. Oh yes, she had her dear
friend there. Brown; the sweet little puppy. He was safe in the shed where she had always kept him, before his funeral.
Even in death Jennifer was in denial.
She had thought this would be everything she wanted, but still something was missing. Someone.
Guilt rose in her throat at the thought.
"I said I would never forgive her. N..not ever..." She said aloud, with no one near to hear.
It pained her to repeat the words she once spoke so passionately to the beaten face she once loved.
Her princess, her poor lonely princess...
Now here she was; More alone than she had ever been, and Wendy was all she could think of.
She closed her eyes slowly for tears were beginning to form. A realization.
"This was how she felt about me...Alone, so alone... and thinking about where and what I might be up to.
Somewhere else, possibly happier without her.. Alone, and unable to think about anyone or anything else..."
Jennifer opened her eyes then, and the tears slipped from her lashes down her cheeks.
"Tortured... by love."
Upon that last word her voice cracked and she blinked the tears away. Suddenly she found herself sitting in the Prince and Princess' chambers.
The Prince; sitting Jennifer in the right chair. A strong need swelled inside her heart, as she found truth in her feelings.
Her princess was missing, and she needed to rescue her. Before she could question how, her eyes fell onto a piece of paper on the table.
All Soul's day.
Offer a song to the future lost
to receive a soul cake to free them.
was written crudely in red crayon.
Jennifer had perfect recollection of anything she learned during her time alive, so this was no mystery to her.
All except the part about who to sing the song too. "The future lost?" pondered the girl as she stood to begin her wander through the mansion.
Her surroundings shifted from the secret room to the halls of the orphanage. There she faintly heard taunting and giggling from familiar children.
A smile curled on her lips at this, the opposite reaction she used to always have. It was heart warming to hear them again and it gave her hope.
She walked her way to the library's door, but found it locked. Never had this door been locked before, nor would any room in her world be shut off.
Without outside forces, at least. No better idea could come to mind besides to knock... so she did. Upon doing so, two young women opened the
door but both their figures and faces were hazy. A heavy white mist clouded them like a unclear memory. Bewildered by this, Jennifer stood there
silently. The voices of Meg and Susan were heard faintly, making muffled mockery at Jennifer's dimwitted expression.
"A song for the future lost.."muttered Jennifer under her breath as she looked down for a moment.
Shaking her head she gained composure. She stood up straight, put her hands together and took a deep breath.
Thus, she began to sing the traditional soul-cake song.
"A soul! a soul! a soul-cake!
Please good Missis, a soul-cake!
An apple, a pear, a plum, or a cherry,
Any good thing to make us all merry.
One for Peter, two for Paul
Three for Him who made us all."
Once she had finished, the two young women seemed to laugh with muffled rude remarks and admitted they had no such thing as a soul cake.
Jennifer could only be saddened by this as it reduced her hope. These older figures of Meg and Susan came to pity her somehow, and shuffled
about as if to search for something. After a short bit, they extended their foggy hands toward her with mementos of theirs. 'Take these instead,
maybe you can trade them in for your silly cake.' and with that, they disappeared. An unfamiliar joy filled Jennifer as she held the goat doll
and brown button. It had been so long since she played the old game of trade to the Aristocrat club. She couldn't help but be excited by the idea,
even though she used to hate it in her actual childhood. Jennifer rushed up the many stairs to the attic, faster than she ever had managed while
alive. "If Wendy could see me now, she'd never think to call me a slowpoke!" With that thought a giggle came along.
In just a short bit, the aristocrat club's door was in front of her.
She smiled, and slowly lifted the swinging shut to the offering box's slot. Delicately dropping the brown button in you could hear it bounce
before settling flat. Then it was followed by the shut swinging closed with a loud clunk. Jennifer took a step back, waiting for the drawer
below to quickly push open. She eyed it with a smile as she held her patience. The silence seemed to only grow and her patience began to fade.
The drawer did not budge and the box did not speak any demands. The girl hung her head then with a soft sigh as she took a turn to leave.
Before she could take another step away, the small pink drawer shot open and hit her foot. With a startled flinch she lost her footing!
She fell backwards into the wall and loose wood panels and a loud crash rattled the room. Luckily, no pain would come from such.
Despite so, giggling could be heard from behind the door and faint shuffles. Jennifer scowled but before she could get to angry,
she noticed something small and round sitting at the bottom of the box.
It was a soul cake.
She jumped up and took it, quickly putting it away in her pocket and pushed the drawer back in with her foot. Eagerly she lifted the shut for
the box again and shoved the doll through the slot. This time without delay, the box below slid open again with another soul cake. It was
a success and better yet, this time the offering to the aristocrat club was for good use! She hopped up and began to run around the whole
orphanage, visiting each location where she knew the orphans most often resided. Before she knew it, she was humming the soul cake song in
between visits to the locked doors and her pockets were full of flat yellow cakes. She had gotten lost in the thrill of the exchange, but snapped
back to reality when she past by the door to the court yard. Slowly she turned her head to glance out the window. The unsettled feeling in her
stomach rising. She saw a young women with blonde hair, long enough to reach the mid of her back, and dress in blue. Hazy like all the others
but with her back turned to the window with her head down. Jennifer's stomach knotted at this familiar scene. This is where she had stood
before her friend's funeral, waiting for her to arrive. She strained her eyes to see what the ghostly figure was looking at, and she could see
various crosses. Swallowing her unease, she opened the door and entered the court yard. To her surprise the figure had disappeared
entirely and left her all alone with the graves. She was about to turn and leave as the urge to vomit was growing, but something red caught her eye.
Exactly where the ghost had stood, sat a small rose brooch on the ground.
Her eyes stayed locked onto it; unable to pull away. Quickly those eyes began to fill with tears. The idea pained her. It pained her so much, but
she went and lifted the brooch from the soil. Her precious gift from her beloved princess. If offering it granted a chance to save her, it was worth it.
Clutching it tightly in her palm, she began her way back to the attic but slowly this time. It was almost as though she could hear the faint cries
of her dear friend again. It became suddenly cold in her heaven, and the light seemed to fade. Night had fallen for the first time.
Standing in front of the offering box, she slipped her hand through the slot with her palm facing down. Ever so slowly, she uncurled her
fingers from the brooch. As she felt it pull away from her flesh, she waited for that painful sound of it falling to a hard surface... but it did not come.
She felt around the box in a panic but found nothing inside.. "Whe...where-" A small thud that came from below the offering box interrupted her.
Stepping back as she slipped her hand out, she looked down. There inside the bottom drawer sat a small soul cake, just like the ones before.
Kneeling down, she hesitated picked it up but once she had... she held it as if it was someone's heart.
"I can... I will..." said she with a weak voice.
Making her way back down to the grave filled courtyard, she thought back to all the good memories with her lovely Wendy.
All the things she loved about her.
All the times they played together.
The times in the rose garden.
Coming to the front of the door, she closed her eyes and thought about all the sad memories of her lonely Wendy.
All the things she tried so hard do.
All the times she fell too ill to play.
The times she barely could smile.
Entering the courtyard, candles and roses were now decorating the graves. Sitting herself down, she took out all the cakes from her pockets
and placed them in her lap. Still holding the one from Wendy's brooch in her right hand, she smiled. The candles offered a warm glow in the night.
"I forgive you..
I love you.
I'll free you.."
Closing her eyes, she took a bite from the cake.
It was sweet.