𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚊𝚕 - 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚗𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍

01

"RAY'S A BIG FAT CHEATER"  Emma shouts in annoyance while pointing her finger accusingly to the said boy.

"What??!!" The boy exclaimed, denying Emma's loud tantrums.

"E - Emma, you have to calm down. I believe Ray defeated you fair and square." Rosemary explains to Emma.

"Yeah, listen to Ro. Just admit that you're a sore loser in chess." Ray taunted, making Emma flush in embarrassment. Rosemary sighed, "that's not what I meant."

It's been two years since the incident. Ray, Norman, Emma and Rosemary are now seven-year-olds. So far, the children have been keeping up good scores on their tests. None of the four were shipped out.

Rosemary has been studying non-stop to get full scores to survive the farm. She helped some of her siblings to study, preventing any of them to be shipped. But some, unfortunately, left.

Rosemary huffed in annoyance, slightly smiling with the bickering of her siblings. Norman looked at her and smiled, patting her head.

She looked up from her seat and saw a smiling Norman, making her smile widen.

"Norman, let's play chess!" Rosemary challenged him, grabbing a chessboard and placing on a table. "Ro --"

"-- it's dinner time!" Gilda announced while ringing the bell. The four children responded back and went to the dining room.

"Good evening mama, " the four greeted. Mama smiled and greeted back.

"Mama, Ray was teasing me earlier!" Emma complained to mama while clutching on to her skirt.

Mama bent down to Emma's level and hugged her tight, "it's alright. Don't mind him, I'm sure you did your best." She says to her.

Emma smiled brightly, "yeah!" She jogged to her seat, patting the seat next to her for Rosemary to sit at.

"Ro! Sit next to me!" She requested. Rosemary giggled and sat in front of her, making Emma tilt her head in confusion.

"I thought you would sit next to me?" Emma asks. Norman sat next to Rosemary and said, "sorry Emma, she promised to sit next to me."

Ray sat beside Emma who was mumbling under her breath, "I don't get why you're so upset. Ro takes turns sitting beside us three. You should wait for your turn." He informed her.

"Eh, but I wanna sit beside Rosie!"

Rosemary, the shy lively girl that is loved by all. Literally. Lots of the kids like her for her kind demeanour and beautiful face, and she's smart too.

So every day, the three best friends take turns sitting beside her when it's time to eat. Emma in breakfast, Ray in lunch, and Norman in dinner.

"It's alright, Em. You'll have your turn tomorrow again." Rosemary smiled at her, making their side of the table bright.

"Gyah, too bright!!" Don wailed, using his hands to cover his eyes from the 'brightness'

"I - I think we should all start eating," Rosemary tells them as she gestures to the food. They all nodded and begin eating their meal.

After the meal, they fixed themselves up as some got ready for bed. "Ro, when you get adopted, what do you want to do?" Norman raises a question to Rosemary, who was trying to brush her long Auburn hair.

"Here, let me help." Norman went behind her and brushed her hair softly. "T - Thank you." Rosemary thanks.

"Well, the first thing I'd do is to draw all the different sceneries that can't be seen here." Rosemary gave a small smile. "Ah, but I have to improve my drawings first."

"Yeah, that's right. You draw a lot, don't you?" Norman said, still brushing Rosemary's hair even if the tangles are free.

"Yep!" She replied. She turned her head to him and grabbed his hand which was holding her brush, making him redden from the contact.

She grabbed the brush and placed it on the table.
{ 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢'𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚗𝚘𝚠 }
"Well, in the future, let's both meet up with each other, okay?" Norman requests to Rosemary.

Her smile slightly faltered, but it wasn't obvious to the beaming Norman. 'Ah, if only he knew. . . .'
Rosemary thought sadly.

"Yeah, let's meet up!" She exclaimed to him. Norman gave a big smile and patted her head.
The door of the library opened, revealing mama who was holding a lantern.

"What are you two still doing up at this hour?" Mama asks. Rosemary and Norman apologizes and walked to their rooms.

"Good night, Norman."

"G'night, Ro." He smiled before opening the door to his room and walking in.

Rosemary sighed, her small legs dragging across the floor from exhaustion. She stood in front of the lattice window, looking up at the stars.

She heard footsteps and quickly turned her head to the sound. "Yo." The voice said. Rosemary sighed, "Ma-- oh, it was just you." Rosemary murmured.

"Just me? You don't want me here?" Ray taunted. Rosemary's cheeks redden from embarrassment, "t - that's not what I meant!"

"I know." He says before standing beside her. "So, what are you doing up this late?"

"I - I'd ask you the same thing, Ray." She tells him. Ray sighed before ruffling her hair. "I was in the library as well. Saw Norman brushing your hair,  can't help but vomit." He teased.

"I - It's not like that. . ." Rosemary started, "speaking of,  what would you do when you get adopted, Ray?" She asked him.

"Well, first of all, I would try to survive." He told her. Rosemary didn't expect that answer. Did he know about what lies beyond the gate? Perhaps, she wasn't all alone in this.

"I understand. Jobs would be hard since we never been to an actual school before, it would probably look bad on the papers. Speaking of jobs, what job would you take, Ray?" She questions him again.

"Job. . . ? I never thought of it." Ray replied.

"Wha -?! Why not? It's not like we would die here or anything like that!" Rosemary blurted out to Ray.

'Lies.'  They both thought at the same time. Rosemary studied Ray's body language, as well as his facial expression. Although he looked like his normal I - Don't - Give - A -Damn face, she could see a slight spark of sadness and alarm in his face.

'So he knows.' Rosemary gave a smile to him and bid him good night as he did the same.

She quietly opened the door and tiptoed her way to her bed. Sighing, she plopped herself at her bed and laid down.

Five years from now, the four of us would get shipped out. Knowing Ray, he would probably make Emma and Norman find out about this themselves. But when? If they ever do find out and manage to stay alive, they'll probably try to find a way out.

And knowing them, they would probably be able to escape.

Let's see how this game of chess goes, in the game we call life.