Rose & David

Her eyes fluttered open and began to slowly adjust to the light being filtered into the room through her windowsill. Rose hated mornings. She had for as long as she cared to remember. The way she saw it, aside from work related matters there was no good reason to wake up before noon. It was barbaric, really. However, to her distaste no doubt, as of lately she hadn't been able to sleep past nine. Which made no sense because her nights usually ran into her mornings and she found it nearly impossible to get any shuteye before the birds were due to wake. It was like her body was on some scheduled protest.

For no reason that she was consciously aware of, it would wake her up at 8am like clockwork. And every morning she would lie in her bed, stare up at her ceiling, and wonder what she had done to deserve this.

She couldn't lie there forever though, eventually she would have to get up and be productive. That usually happened after she accepted the fact that she wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep. Her bare feet meeting the cold wooden floors only intensified that reality.

Time to get up.

Although she hated mornings, she loved the solidarity it provided. She liked how quiet it was, her surroundings only seemed to get noisier as the day progressed — Which wasn't a problem per say, she didn't mind noise. It's just that the quietness she often found in the early hours brought a sort of ethereal peace. So much so that each morning she found herself in that predicament, she'd get inspired and take out a little black book in which she'd get some of the writing she seemed so keen on putting off done. Her room was her sanctuary. And it showed. Outside of her bedroom door laid a decayed apartment.

Running her hands through her hair and nearly pulling a chunk out in the process, Rose looked around the apartment. How did it get this bad? How was it that between the combined income of her three jobs that she was still living like this? Something needed to change. If she was gonna be damned to this city for the rest of her life, she was gonna make sure she didn't spend the remaining time on her sentence in this place. She'd pick up another job if she had to.

Bzzzt. Bzzzt.

It was probably nothing. Rose's notifications mostly consisted of ads. You know, Instagram Live prompts, email notifications, 50% off flash sales, the works...

— And if it was a real person they probably just needed a favor, which is exactly why Rose rarely paid attention to her phone. Instead of checking it she would get herself ready so that she could move on to the next part of her routine — The diner.

Sunnyside Up, her home away from home. In addition to her charming adversary for waking up before noon Rose was also a hazard in the kitchen, which is why she often found herself at this particular diner. It was close to her place, the food was cheap, the staff was nice enough, and the scenery was comforting.

"Morning, Georgia." She called out with a smile as she sat down on a stool at the front counter.

"Morning, Rose." The waitress replied with a smile just as warm. "What can I get for ya today?"

"The usual." She clasped her hands together and watched as the woman pulled out a mug for her.

"Which one? We doing eggs over-easy, powdered cakes, or the omelet?"

"Over-easy. And can I have strawberry jam on my bagel this morning instead of cream cheese?"

"Of course. Coming right up, sugar." Georgia smiled once more, letting her eyes shift from the young woman in front of her to the coffee being poured into the mug. "Before I forget, your brother was in here looking for you the other day."

Rose scrunched her brows together. "Did he say what he wanted?"

"Nope." She pulled the pot upright. "But speak of the devil..." She added in with a wink and a head nod towards the entrance before she disappeared to the next customer.

"Thought I'd find you here."

Said a low-pitched voice off to her side. David. She watched as her older sibling sat down and placed a cigarette in his mouth, proceeding to fumble around the inside of his jacket for a lighter shortly after.

Rose swiftly snatched the cigarette out his mouth and detained it in her pocket instead. "What is this, the 1950's? You know you can't do that in here." She offered him an amused smile. The man would just shrug and move to pull out another, which she would confiscate just as quickly. "Dave!"

"When is the last time you've seen Ren?" He asked, finally taking a break from his efforts.

Ren was their uncle. Due to a series of unfortunate events, aside from each other, their uncle was the only family they had left in this world.

"I don't know, maybe a week ago?" She began to nurse her coffee. "Why, what's up?"

"Can we talk about this somewhere else?" He began to get up from the stool and look for another cigarette.

"No. Why?" She asked, puzzled. "Anything you have to tell me you can just tell me here."

"I'd rather not announce my business to the whole diner."

"Dave, I'm busy today. I need to eat. Please, just tell me."

"Rose!" He gave her a look.

"Fine! Parking lot, I'm not going any further." She didn't have time for whatever this was. She may not have known what he wanted, but she knew it was probably going to cost her. Once they got to the parking lot in the back of the diner, she pulled out and lit one of the cigarettes she'd taken. He was gonna do it anyway, no need in exposing a fresh one to the elements. "What's up, Dave?"

"When's the last time you saw Ren?" He took a drag.

She grimaced when he exhaled. She didn't know why he liked those things, she couldn't stand them. "I told you — Like a week ago. We were just texting each other."

He looked up at the sky and chuckled, exhaling some more. "Seen, Rose. SEEN. When's the last time you've seen him? Because I've been over there almost every day the past month and I haven't seen you once. Texting someone is not the same as PHYSICALLY seeing someone!"

"God, what is your problem?? Save the guilt trip. You know I'm busy with work, I just haven't had a chance this month. I'll go over there tomorrow." She shoved her hands into her pocket as the cold winds began to attack her body.

"He's gone, Rose."

She shoved her hands further into her pockets and looked up at him, disgusted. He was lying, she couldn't fathom something like that being true. "No, he's not. Why would you lie about something like that?"

"I'm not." He looked his sister in the eye. "He's gone, Rose. Oh — And I saw the text you keep talking about. Or should I say the text he sent you? You never replied. Sometimes I don't even know why you have a phone, you never use the damn thing. It's like you live in your own world sometimes. You never leave that apartment unless it's for work or to go eat, you never reach out first, and you barely reply. The only time anyone can ever catch you is like this."

Rose had a habit of participating in conversations she'd never finish. She meant to reply, she really did, it was just that she would get distracted so easily and wouldn't remember to reply until it was offensively late. She couldn't look David in the eye, let alone speak. She knew she'd start crying if she did and that's one thing she refused to do in public.

"I just can't with you anymore." If she wasn't going to say anything, he wasn't going to stick around. David simply turned in the opposite direction and began to walk away. They'd speak again when they were both in better emotional states.

Rose held back in the parking lot for a few moments and pulled herself together before heading back inside. Her breakfast was waiting for her on the counter when she returned.

Gone? But they were just talking the other day. She was no stranger to grief, but she was having a hard time wrapping her head around this one. It didn't feel real. Before she could let her thoughts neglect her meal any further, she was snapped out of it by an envelope being passed to her from across the countertop. David had come back. "Here." The look in his eyes communicated that he was still hurt. How couldn't he be? Ren was their entire world. And they were his. Lately, David had to carry that weight for them both. There was something else in his eyes though. Behind that anger was a soft look that let her know that despite how upset he was, he loved her and they would get through this together. "He left you this."

Rose parted her lips to say something, but before she could get any words out he had waved his hand and was already out the door.

Inside the envelope she would find a note that read..

Get out of that apartment.

And check made out to her for $20,000. Her no crying in public rule was really being tested today.

"Everything alright, sugar?" Asked her waitress, coming back around with the coffee pot.

"Yeah Georgia." She replied, struggling to suppress the cracked sound in her voice. "What's new?" She asked with a forced smile.

"Well — And you didn't hear it from me, but you know Gladis, right? Big hair, two pawprints on her chest, can't remember an order to save her life? The one dating that guy who insists on wearing shorts in the winter? Well she got a job at that new place down the street..."