entitled - gene gallagher

PART V

16th October 2020

Rosaline Albarn was sitting in front of her record player, Oscillate Wildly by The Smiths on Louder Than Bombs was playing quietly in the background. She could feel her head about to explode, and her foot going numb from being sat crossed-legged for an extended period of time.

It was her birthday, and she hated birthdays. She was turning nineteen this time, and she felt older than ever. That was one of her biggest fears growing up- getting older. Eventually getting grey hair, and then her bones becoming weaker, until eventually she was too frail and weak to perform normal activities.

Most people say you become an adult at eighteen, since it's the age you can legally drink and smoke, but Rosaline would argue it's a year later.

At eighteen, you're still in free education, probably living at home in the safety of your parents' abode- at nineteen, that's when you go to University, or get a job, and most likely move out to be alone.

Rosaline lived a sheltered life up until this point, she always had, and still sort of does, her parents' money to fall back on. Spent all of her savings? Lillian could top up her account. She wanted to take a surprise vacation? Damon funded it. It was a privilege, something she didn't like to talk about.

She's always felt quite strongly for how badly society treats people of the underclass. With anti-homeless architecture, to the phrase 'Just get a job' not working whatsoever.

How is a homeless person supposed to get a job when he hasn't showed in a week or changed his clothes? How is any interviewer going to take them seriously like that? Rich people lack respect, they think that the entire world revolves around them just because they have a heavy bank account, and it's something Rosaline never liked about her kind.

She always got shit for being like that. From people on the internet slating her for posting something about donating to a charity, or running an event to help people with little money get a few baskets of food to feed their family. The comments section was always riddled with cretins calling her privileged, and to stop hiding behind a mask of a good person and to just admit the fact that she'd never touch a homeless person if they came up to her and asked for help in person.

You can't really win in that scenario as someone in her position. If she does nothing, she's a bad person, but if she does something, she's just somebody trying to act like a decent human being when in reality she's nothing more than another rich fuck who thinks she's better than everyone.

That isn't true, by the way, far from it.

Lillian Rose Parker grew up on the backend of poverty herself, which is why she tried to give Rosaline the best life she could without making her out of touch with the rest of the world. To be honest, she should be proud of how she brought up her daughter, considering how strongly she feels about these societal issues.

Rosaline's birthday was the single day of the year where she felt completely and totally isolated from the rest of the world. She would usually blank out during the day, a flat expression on her face and words stuttering out of her mouth as she tried to focus on what people were saying to her. She didn't know why she hated the day so much.

The idea of getting old was something she disliked, but not enough to have this much of an effect on her.

Maybe it was to do with the gifts. She was never the one to receive gifts. I mean, why should somebody have to spend absurd amounts of money on her just because it was the anniversary of her birth?

"Rosa? Hello?"

She shook herself back to reality, blinking and turning towards the door to her room, where her flatmate, Aurora, was standing, holding the thing open, "Hi, sorry."