AN: I noticed that in the last chapter, quite a lot of lines were missed and the format of dialogue looked quite messy, but don't worry, I have…tried to improve :) Enjoy!
Chapter 4 - Friendly Encounter
As my feet directed me further and further into town, my heart became even more set on my destination. That certain destination was the house of a woman called Rosie Campbell, whom I loved with all my heart. Rosie became a part of me and my siblings' lives when she and Iggy met as kids and to be honest, I don't think I could've been luckier; Rosie was like the loving mother none of us ever had. The more I thought about her, the more my spirits lifted and my steps became springier. The way I wanted this visit to go was as follows: I would talk to her about the argument that had just gone down and I would also ask if she knew anything about Pauline.
Another reason why I wanted to go round Rosie's was because I actually trusted her with telling the truth and whenever I had a problem I wanted to share with her, she always acted like a therapist and that I was her client. Sitting in her front room with her arms wrapped round my shoulders was the best feeling any kid could have and it was the feeling that I should've received from Pauline and I should've been receiving it even now. I was sad, yet confused about why she never showed us any love whatsoever and why she left us, boom, just like that. I guess there was potential that I would find out more information about this familial mystery.
Just a few more corners, then I would finally be there. Finally, I would be in the hands of somebody I could trust and fall into the arms of whenever I wasn't strong enough to emotionally stand. However, no sooner had I walked through the fabric store parking lot, when I caught sight of a face I knew only too well. There wasn't really much of his face to see, since his blue locks of hair were covering most of it. The person was sitting on the stone steps of the fabric store, hunched over and staring at his phone. He must've heard my sneakers scraping against the gravel as I took my steps because he looked up at me with a smile and a nod.
I smiled back and wandered over. It was my best friend, Ludwig.
"What are you doing out here?" I asked.
Ludwig pulled a face, which suggested to me that he was chewing the inside of his mouth and he turned round nervously to look inside the store.
"I'm waiting for the shop to quieten down," he replied. "It still looks a bit busy inside but I'm sure it'll be all right soon."
I nodded. I perfectly understood why he was acting this way. After all, I was sort of used to it.
"Anyway," Ludwig said. "Where are you going?"
"Oh, I'm just heading to Rosie's for a talk." I responded, half hoping that the conversation would end right there, but to my slight disappointment, (slight disappointment because I wasn't mean) Ludwig stopped me.
"But, you're not normally in a hurry to go to Rosie's." he pointed out.
Damnit, he was right. Usually, whenever I felt like I wanted to talk about something private, I would go to Rosie's, but I would walk at a very slow pace because part of me wanted to talk about it, but part of me didn't want to face the embarrassment. However, this time, I really REALLY wanted to see her, so I could understand why Ludwig could smell fish. Should I tell him? I thought, He is my closest friend after all, he deserves to know my secrets.
I sighed, sat down next to my best friend and told him everything. About that intolerable nightmare I had last night about Pauline murdering me and then waking up in a sweaty mess, feeling that sense of disorientation and about the inadvertent argument that I had with Iggy not long ago. I hadn't meant for it to be that bad, I was just desperate for information about my biological mother. When I had finished, Ludwig stared back at me in shock and for a moment, I felt as if I was seeing Lemmy's exact reaction when I told him about my nightmare. What made it even more relatable was when Ludwig muttered,
"Wow."
Then I told him that the reason why I was on my way to Rosie's was because firstly, I needed to calm down after the argument and secondly, I wanted to at least try and find information about Pauline. After I had done talking, I stood up from the steps and said,
"Sorry, Lud, but I've gotta go now. If I leave it until later, she could be busy with something by then."
"Oh, all right." Ludwig replied. "See you around."
"Yeah, see you around…"
My voice trailed off as I walked away because I had been thinking about something. Maybe if I found just enough information about Pauline, I could go and live with her. The only thing that bothered me was that I didn't even know where Pauline lived. Maybe she lived really far away and I would very rarely visit my friends from school. Would I ever see Ludwig again after that?
I had no idea, but I knew I had to do it when I was one hundred and one percent sure that nobody was on my back and watching me. If Iggy was going to go out of his way to tell me nothing about Pauline, it was just as well. In that case, I would find out myself then! It would be Iggy's fault about me running away because he would've driven me crazy to the extent that I had to do so. After thinking about it a little bit more, however, it would maybe turn out to be a kernel amount of my fault because from Iggy's point of view, I probably needed to try and focus on controlling my anger and making sure I didn't go too far with things.
"Let me feel as if I'm someone's child." I whispered through gritted teeth, referring to what I suspected Iggy thought about me and what I wanted to know so badly.
I totally disregarded that thought whilst I took the last twenty or thirty steps because that was when I knew I was nearly at Rosie's house and with a huge sigh of relief, I opened the gate and closed it behind me. Discreetly, I stole a glance through the living room window. I saw Rosie sitting on the couch in front of the TV with her golden retriever, Ruby curled up next to her, but she didn't see me. Taking one last deep breath, I hobbled down the pebbled pathway leading to her door.
AN: Hey! First of all, please note that Rosie is based on the Mario character Rosalina and secondly, I can't believe I've finished Chapter 4 already! Wow, it feels like yesterday I started writing this fanfic and already I've got this far! Hope you guys enjoyed reading it :)