Chapter 5: Merely a Madness

There was a knock on the common room door. I darted from my room and opened it, delighted to see Rose Aster.

"Hey," I greeted her, moving aside so she could enter.

Timmy and Nate were sitting on the couch playing some first person shooting game. They had become close friends, which was great for them, but I couldn't help feeling left out, like I didn't belong or wasn't wanted when I spent time with them.

"Nice setup," she remarked on the video game console.

"Thanks," Timmy said, barely taking his eyes off the screen.

Nate, feeling the need to be polite, paused the game and turned to face Rose. "Hi, I'm Nate. That's Tim. Welcome to our home." He held out a hand for her to shake.

"Why thank you," she seemed mildly impressed by his gentlemanly nature. I felt a sudden urge to get a bowtie and a top hat and open a lot of doors for her. "I'm Rose, Henry's friend. Anyway," she turned to me, "there's an event going on in the multipurpose room, if you want to go."

"Sure yeah," I tried not to sound too eager, but it was a lost cause. I followed her out of the room. Nate and Timmy resumed their game.

The event involved creating a letter to send home, kind of a 'Hey, little Freshmen. Are you homesick? Well, come and try our arts and craft project. Golly, it's a sure lot of fun!' type thing. It felt a little patronizing, but there were cookies, so I couldn't complain.

I grabbed a few oreos and sat down with Rose. She had laid out some markers and stickers for us to use. I selected a purple marker and began making a card for my moms.

I wish my art skills were better, but I made a stick figure drawing of Emma with a sword and Regina with a fireball, fighting a dragon while I sat far behind them, immersed in a book, oblivious to the fight. I wrote a few sentences about how I missed them and the Charmings, but that I was having a great time at college and not to worry about me.

Eventually I looked up to see Rose's card. Evidently, she had brought a pencil, because the font on her card was much smaller than mine. It was almost like a letter. She hadn't done much drawing, but she did add some glitter around the edges.

"Oh wow," I commented. "That's a lot of words."

"Yeah," she said softly, and it looked like she was about to cry.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," she tried to hide her face. "It's fine. I'm going to try to find a red colored pencil." She got up and left me.

Now, I probably shouldn't have, but as I mentioned before, I'm a snoop, and I was also curious to see what was upsetting her and if there was any way to make her feel better because I don't like seeing her upset. So, I was just trying to be a good friend. I glanced over at her writing.

I only read a few words before it happened again. Maybe it was related to this whole Author thing, but sometimes writing lets me see into people's minds and I can feel what they feel. I'll admit, I sort of thought this would happen again, and I was very curious to see inside of Rose's mind.

The card/letter was addressed to her younger brother Sage. I could see him, in my mind. He had the same brown eyes, but blonde hair. She loved him so much. He had been her best friend practically since he was born.

Thanksgiving. She'd see him again at Thanksgiving. But that was so far away.

One week. That was the longest they'd ever been apart before. Now that time had tripled.

I could see them goofing off, playing video games, having splash fights in the pool, building Lego castles, sliding down the stairs on couch cushions even though Mom said not to.

I could see the fights they got into, how he would sometimes lose his temper and flip the chessboard because she won for the third time in a row. She got so annoyed when Sage would repeatedly ask her how to spell basic words that he should already know.

He got so offended when she called him stupid that it became a banned word in their household. But no matter how angry they became at each other, they were always best friends again by the next day.

I could feel how proud she felt when they were buying shoes for school and Sage wanted ones that were the exact same style as hers so they could be matching. I could recall their matching Halloween costumes and how they continued trick or treating together even when Rose was a high school senior. There was just so much. It was overwhelming.

I did my best not to cry as Rose returned with red and pink colored pencils. She began drawing a rose at the bottom of her paper and I smiled. A tear rolled down my cheek and I knew two things beyond a shadow of a doubt. Sage was the most important person in the world to his sister. And I was falling in love with Rose. She was the most important person in the world to me.