Set in Stone: The Rose Secret

Chapter 7: The Storm 🌪

The sun lingered off behind the clouds and the air came cold. Pellets of crystal raindrops tapped on my shoulders like little dancing fairies. The bulky bags of fog heaped together making a thick pillow of cloud. I shut my eyes and let the mist spray my face. "Pure ocean spray" I thought peacefully. Soon more rain fell out of the sky. A calming noise like tap dancing cats on a rooftop made me cheery.

"Your stop" Iren shivered as he leaned on my mailbox. "Bye, thanks for dinner!", I yelled running off my long laneway. Aunt Pamela was sprawled out on the porch playing chess with Gabbie my young cousin. Their eyes followed me as I strode in the door. My fingers streaked through my hair as I dropped my bag in the mud room. Thomas and Benjamin two brothers were wrestling in the long corridor.

As I walked down the corridor, I glanced at the family tree that has been painted on the wallpaper since the 18th century. I ran my fingers along the tile with my little face on it. White Rose born in August 15th 1970. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Blue's picture. Quite noticeably was a scribble across her face that hadn't been there before. "Roses are red, violets are blue and I hate you" it wrote with a black marker. I studied the writing, it wasn't the the handwriting of anyone in this family for it was too messy.

My grandmother hates messy writing! She even has her own handwriting workshop exclusively for the Rose family.

I stomped into the kitchen and grabbed the first magic eraser scrubber. I then started to lather the writing with lukewarm soapy water. Hopefully I could rid of this before someone would notice the writing.

Aunt Pamela bolted into the corridor swearing as loud as she could "what are you doing" she screeched. "I spilled a bit of paint on the wall, just cleaning it up" I lied. "What in Bluntwoods name are you doing with paint in the main hallways? You know the rules White. Right?" Pamela snorted grabbing the scrub brush out of my hands. She hobbled over to the family tree and brushed off the soap. "You wrote on your sister"? She howled looking at the still noticeable scribbles. "No I swear! I found it that way" I urged. "Must've been one of the younger children of the mansion, most likely the Steve triplets" she grumbled.

The Steve triplets were mischievous pranksters with a charm that always pleased the parents hence their devious ways. They were about seven years old but they had the mind of a seventeen year old. There was Steven the oldest and most mature (still not that mature), Stefan the shy one but silly at times and the leader, Steve who was the main prankster in the group.

The triplets were my cousins. They had caused a lot of troubles. Their first one was using white out and making our ancestors on the family tree look like aliens and I was one of the victims. Luckily Sue their older sister was an artist and painted over top of the blobs of white. Other than painting my nose to be long and pointy, she did a pretty good job.

Walking fast past the diner, computer room and spare bedrooms, I finally reached the fourth floor where Blue's room was. Her room was at the very crest of the house and her ceiling made a upside down v shape. I creaked the carved wood door open and peeked inside. The room had no signs of Blue inside. I tip toed in and sat on her bed. I streamed my eyes around watching the small lonely goldfish swim around in his oversized aquarium. Blues room was quite small but was well decorated. She had teal painted walls, a light grey carpet and a few dressers and drawers. I walked over to the wall that faced east. A name carving of a previous person who lived in the room was in the top right corner, it read E.D. Eddie DeFrancis.

I remember hearing stories about Eddie. When my father was little he had a friend named Eddie who was adopted into this family. Eddie was very smart and skipped a couple grades so he was ahead of my father. One day Eddie returned to the mansion after a days worth of play with bruises and cuts all over him, the parents though he just played a little too ruff with the older kids. The next day Eddie returned, this time with broken bones. The parents and elders of the mansion sent him to the nearest hospital to heal. Overnight he had disappeared and was never seen again.

I jumped onto her bed and laid down. Her bed was quite soft except there was a small lump on the surface. I rubbed my fingers over the lump not knowing what it was. It was coming from the interior of the bed. I lifted the top mattress to see a small box the size of an egg tucked in the bedsprings.

It was a small plastic easter egg from when we were little. Must've been durable to withstand the weight of the mattress all these years or for the length of time it has been there for. I unscrewed the cap pouring the contents onto the bed. A few shrivelled notes, a hair pin and a necklace sprawled onto the pillow.

I first open the notes that looked decayed. "Time will only tell when your time is up" one said. A newer looking one was neatly folded. I read the messy writing: starry nights, BLUE skies, one of these night you will be caught by surprise. I shook my head, someone must be pranking her big time.

I placed the egg back under the mattress, then walked over to Blue's floorboard. This particular floorboard was in her closet, this is where she kept hidden her candy from the Steve triplets. I pried on it and it flung open. Inside was a stash of cassettes, vhs's and a couple dolls from her youth. I picked up Rosey, a doll that we once shared. Her face was withered and decayed and had a smudged eye. Her nose was dug into and her hair was cut short. Rosey has seen better days. I remember playing doctor with Blue when we lived in our old house. Rosey would have been our patient.