The Rose Friends

Alice is looking at the window and reflecting on the past holidays she had spent with her family. She did not go back to the city where she once lived. Her closest friend Cindy had lived down the block from her. Their mutual friend Daisy lived across town and often traveled by bus. From the second grade to her senior year of high school, Alice always spent Thanksgiving at her home with her parents and older brother. However Cindy and Daisy would come over and have dinner with them. During Christmastime, it would be a different scenario at least for Daisy. Whenever her father would come home, her mother noticed that he would smell like beer and right when her own family, visiting from out of town, was in the living room smelling the beer breath too. Daisy overheard the loud shouting between all of her family members and amidst the arguments, she snuck out the back door from her house and went into her treehouse until it was over. She heard her father exit the house and started walking across the street. She noticed the fighting was over and she realized it still would not be peaceful. At that point, she asked her mother if she could visit her friends the following Christmas and she agreed. The year after, she and Cindy went to Alice’s house. Daisy saw how beautiful the decorations looked, the tree was standing up perfectly and everyone was opening their presents. Alice then gave both Cindy and Daisy presents and Daisy was happy upon seeing how better things were for Alice’s family. They were all cheering, laughing and passing presents to each other, something that Daisy wished that her family had some of the time. Around senior year of high school, Alice found out her family would be moving to another city and the holidays had become more difficult for Daisy. A few months after Alice had moved, Daisy had felt that she was on her own. Even then, Cindy and her family had gone out of town to visit a couple of relatives she had not seen in years. During Christmas dinner, another argument began which led to a shouting match and a plate being thrown against the wall. During all this, Daisy had escaped through the backdoor without anybody noticing her leaving. She traveled by bus and saw that Alice’s old house was completely empty by looking through the windows. After moving out, Daisy moved into the dorm rooms and on her first Christmas there, she began drinking. At that point, she refused to move back in with her mother who had just split from her father. After a few months, she continued to drink, which had become concerning for her mother, calling Cindy and Alice who came back to town on a week-long visit. The two friends visited her in her dorm room and saw how tired and upset she was. She was still dealing with the past Christmases she had with her family and when she saw the food being thrown throughout the dining room. Alice had become highly aware of how upset and overwhelmed Daisy was during the holidays. Daisy would see her brothers and sisters always argue with each other and she would do her best to intervene, but with little to no success. Then both of her parents would shout back and forth and Daisy heard some glass breaking. The following month, Daisy had some nightmares and could not sleep. Alice and Cindy, seeing that Daisy is very much alone, decided to stay with her for another week and spend the next Christmas with her, which was in the next six months after. Then they all gave each other a hug.