Ch. 9: The Emergence of The Past

Young Valentin ran hastily along the dark alley to find the man he had observed carefully for days.  He stopped at the dead end. With panting breaths, he bowed and leaned on his knees. His  shuddering palm  pressed against his chest to avoid a chance of his heart blowing up in a second Of course, it was only in his mind, but the most frightening part was about to happen. 

Young Valentin stepped toward the man curling up on the ground and next to the dumpster with a long brown rumpled coat covering the man's back while his face was facing the dirty brick wall. He grabbed the tip of the man's coat and with all the courage hidden in his stuttered voice, he woke him up. "S-Sir -"

The sound of clatter broke the silence. Valentin bounced and fell backward as he heard it. Glancing toward the source of the sound, he found that  it was only a cat making noises to find a piece of dinner inside the garbage can. He muttered for a while and then carefully approached the man again.

"Sir -"

"WHAT?!" The man flicked his coat and leapt from the ground.  His coat flapped open and fell. His moves were quick like he had woken up a few minutes before.

Valentin shivered as he stared at the man's  dark, cold, and sharp eyes. The beards on his face filled with soil and dust from the ground. His voice was hoarse. An awful smell  came out of it. The man must have been drinking to keep himself warm. He spat and snorted. The expression on his face clearly stated that Valentin's presence had been a great disturbance for him and was violating his territory.

"Sir,  I'm- I'm  just going to ask you."

The man raised his brows, wondering what on a devil a young  boy wanted from him? On that small alley, there was no one else around, and this boy could be a perfect target for something evil. 

"I'll pay you, sir. All you have to do is just pretending to be our guardian. My sister and I need your help. We don't want to stay in an orphanage. Our Aunt had left us and we need a grown-up."

The man observed him closely, looking at him from head to toes. Seeing how clean the boy really was and then put a crafty smile upon his  face. "Listen, kid! I'm a stranger, a street beggar. Who's ever going to believe that I'm your guardian? Besides, I'm not in the mood of having some practical jokes right now, so -"

"- why don't you just go off my territory? Go! Go to that orphanage! Believe me, kid! It's far better than living on your own!"

"But- but they are going to separate us. Rosaline is going to be taken away. I'll -" Knowing that his words were useless, Valentin dived into his pocket. He had intentionally saved it for that moment. "I'll give you this."

The man stared at the money and quickly grabbed them. "1..2…. Now, this is different, kid. We're talking about business here."

Valentin took the man home, hoping that his plan would work and the social worker would believe everything he would say.

"Val, where have you-?" Rosaline glanced toward the man as she greeted them in front of their house. "Who is he?" She could see the man's worn-out and perforated clothes. Compassion struck her, but not as  she saw the man's fiery eyes stared back at her. She quickly glanced back at Valentin, asking for an answer.

"I found him on the street. I invited him in. He's going to spend a couple of days here. He's going to be our guardian."

"What... what do you mean? So, we're going to lie?"

"There's no other way, Rose.  It's the only way."

Rosaline and Valentin stood in the dining room -- completely stupefied looking at the man eating their dinner hastily. The soup was supposed to be their dinner, but the man had eaten everything all up as though he had not eaten anything for days.

Rosaline could not help but chuckling. The man belched after he had finished eating his soup.

"Why are you laughing?" The man scolded her.

"I'm sorry, Sir,  do - do you want to have some more?"

"Like we have anything left."  Valentin grumbled beside her.

"What do you think I am? A pig?"

"Hey, she's just trying to be friendly. You don't have to be so rude. If it wasn't for-" 

"That's okay, Val. Sir, what's your name?"

The man stared at her. "I am a man with no name."

There was silence until Valentin broke it off by saying, "Then, we're going to call you no name, then."

The man ignored him. "So, when's the show time?"

"Tomorrow. Tomorrow morning."

"Okay, so it's bedtime now. Where's the bed?"

"Wait! You should know about us first. The social worker will ask you lots of questions. You should know about us."

The man turned to Valentin. Valentin could see dark circles under his eyes. "Bah! How did I get myself into this? If I don't have my sleep right now, I'm going to tell to the social worker that your aunt had left. How is that?"

"Then... you won't get the rest of the money."

"The rest of the money?" The man's face turned brighter. "If the pay is fair, then you get yourself a deal, kid." 

"Okay," replied Valentin, not amused by it. "First, we're going to start with the easiest. My name is Valentin, and she's Rose, Rosaline White."

"What- What did you say?"

"My name is Valentin -"

"No - no, your sister's name, what's hers?"

"Ro- Rosaline White? Why?"

The man seemed thinking about it for a while. "I thought I remembered something. Nah! Her name must have reminded me of my… ex."

"So, what else should I know now?"

"I- I think you should clean yourself first, Sir.  Then… we'll talk." 

Outside, Valentin and Rosaline sat on a bench, looking at the crescent moon  up in the sky. That night, the stars weren't shining brightly. Both of them could not find a way to sleep, not when the man was snoring loudly, and they could not sleep knowing that the next day was going to be the judgment day for them.

"Do you think it's going to work?" asked Rosaline. 

"It will. It has to."

Rosaline glanced away and sighed.  He felt her insecurities. Soon he fake a smile for her.

"Everything will be fine, Rose. Aunt Amelie will say anything on the phone to keep herself safe. The social worker will believe him, and he will leave this house soon." said Valentin, assuring her.

Rosaline sighed again. "I hope so. I believe that everything is going to be fine. However, I feel sorry for this man. Does he have any family out there?"

"Rose-" Valentin turned to her. "We cannot trust this man. It would be better if he leaves."

"I-I  hope you're right." She got up from the bench, ready to go inside the house, but  her feet felt stiff and cold like an ice. 

"What's wrong?" Valentin arose from the bench. He noticed tears in her eyes.

"I'm scared."
 

"It's okay. We're not going anywhere. They cannot separate us."

 

"I promise."

______________________________________

Four Years Later and In the Present Time:

"I'm sorry, Valentin. I just... cannot."

Having said those, Rosaline left the house in a hurry. She knew that Valentin was still observing her  through the window in his room, but she wasn't running from him. She was supposed to be in school in ten minutes. In her head, the wrath of Ms. Danielle, a woman who often wore a black blouse and who's also her Art and Physics teacher had lingered on.

"Wait!" She shouted toward the yellow bus. The bedazzled sun blinded her vision and the dust from the road dispersed and united with the crisp of morning air. It made her coughing, grasping for air. Her skin was sweating.

"Wait!" She raced off, but the bus was getting further. Even though she had shouted loudly, it only left her with smoke from the muffler.

"Wait-wait!" She shouted again.

The bus driver finally noticed her and pulled over. With panting breaths, she reached the door handle and hopped inside the bus.

Definitely, she wasn't running from him, but all the way there, from the first step inside the bus and while she's holding on to the stanchion, her mind could not escape a single thought about him -- of how his low voice signified the broken pieces inside him.

She held on tighter to the stanchion and bowed her head down. What has she done? The pieces in her  heart screamed.

"Are you okay, Miss?" asked a man behind her.

"I'm- I'm okay." She  said, clearing off a chance of her eye drops drenching on her vermilion cheeks. The guy might have thought that she was getting dizzy by the density of passengers. Surely, she was sweating a lot from the running, and the bus was quite full indeed, mostly filled with new students. Even so, she had already been getting used to that situation, or at least for a couple of days. Val usually drove her to school, but it had just happened the other week  he had finally sold his red scooter.

She couldn't believe that he had finally sold it. Valentin had not told her anything yet. He only stared blankly to the spot where he used to park the red scooter. As much as he did, she loved that old scooter. She loved to sit on the back while he was driving it to her school.  Holding on to his waist, her eyes enjoyed the mountain scenery along the road and the fresh wind blowing through her hair. Sometimes, Val teased her by speeding up, and made her cling tighter around his waist.

Until that day, she had never guessed that he would have sold it. Even though, they didn't have lots of money, but they had jobs, and selling it would have been the last thing he would have ever considered to do.

She knew it must have been very hard for him to have seen it taken home by one of his friends.

The old scooter was a memorable gift because it was a gift from Alex, their father --or at least she still hasn't able to stop acknowledging and calling him as her father. It was, nonetheless, a birthday present when Val was fourteen. Of course, Alex didn't permit him to ride it at that age. He promised  that Valentin would be allowed to do so after he had turned seventeen, and the first thing they did before using it were repairing and upgrading it. Yes, it was a used one. Alex bought it from his friend in a low price. His friend  was in a need of cash, and Alex happily bought it from him. It took them about one month to make it look like a brand new scooter.

Still, the togetherness seemed to be the most important thing for them. It was one of the old good memories Alex had given him. Rosaline once found them bubbling with laughter because their cheeks and noses were fully smeared and tainted with black oil diesel.

"What happened guys?"

"Hey, Rose, want some free make ups?" Valentin laughed and so was his father.

And now, without their father or their mother, she had never thought that it would  be so complicated. Would it have been different if their parents were still alive? Who was her real father, knowing that her mother had already died? Why did her father never try to find her? Why  did he even ask someone else to tell her to leave  France? Was he afraid that people would know about her existence? Did her father hate her so much?  These questions  filled her with tears.

Finally, the bus pulled over and stopped in front of her school. She felt  it had taken almost her lifetime to get in there. She got off from the bus and should have been hurried off  to the class, but her steps were heavy. Those thoughts were like a thousand kilograms put into her small brain.

As she headed toward the front gate, a girl bumped against her shoulder and made her books fall onto the ground. "Look at where you're going!" said the girl in a rude manner. "I'm sorry." Rosaline picked up her books.

She gazed up and found Laurie Cornier was standing in front of her. Laurie Cornier was the most popular girl in school. Every guy in the school was looking forward to dating her.  

"Hi, Laurie!" Rosaline gave the brightest smile she could give that day, but Laurie only stared at her, turned around and  pushed past her without saying a word.

That's okay. Rosaline tried to smile. It could have been  really nice to be friends with her, but it's everyone's right to be friends or not, and it's not going to be the end of the world, anyway. Rosaline had more things to be concerned of. 

Yet, Marie Louvre disagreed. "She's such a snob, isn't she?" Marie cursed at Laurie. She's one of Rosaline's classmates. She's a beautiful girl with blond hair and soft blue eyes. She often braided her hair in two and decorated it with  a pretty butterfly hair pin. 

"It's okay, Marie. Maybe she's in a hurry or something."

Marie sighed, knowing that it was going to be Rosaline's exact response, but... "Maybe you're right. Hey, do you think Mrs. Danielle has arrived yet? Better hurry or she's going to be so furious at us." Marie said, modeling the wrath of Ms. Danielle when she was angry. Rosaline could not help but laughed. "Yeah, I really want to miss that part too."

Unfortunately, they didn't.

"Rosaline White! Marie Louvre! It would be a miracle if  you're not late. Do you know how precious time is? Theodore Ryan!" yelled  Ms. Danielle abruptly. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Ma'am, I really need to go to the toilet now."

"Stay here until I say so!"

"O-okay, Ma'am." answered Marie Louvre shakily.. Her face turned pale seeing the teacher's face.

Ms. Danielle wasn't really that angry actually, not until Theodore Ryan showed off his antics behavior and drew her attention again. 

"What do you say, Ron? That evil witch won't let us go. What should we do now?"

"Then, Harry, we shall... DIE."

"THEODORE RYAN!!!"

***

The break came and Rosaline was sitting on a bench outside her class, spending her time reading a book to repeat what she had learned earlier. Biology had always been her favorite subject, but she needed to repeat it again. She needed this 'A' to keep her scholarship. Being so focused on her book, she didn't realize that someone was heading toward her.

"Do you mind if I sit here?"

Rosaline gazed up and found Pierre Claude smiling. "Of course not. I'm just reading here."

Pierre sat next to her on the wooden bench. His eyes glanced toward her and then noticed the title of her book. "Biology...?"

"Yup, there's an exam coming. Wish me luck. I really need this A."

"I'm sure you can get your A, Rose."

"Thanks. Sorry-"

"It's okay. I'm just going to sit here enjoying the view. It's getting pretty hectic inside, and I have enough of Drama class."

"Okay." Rosaline chuckled and put her concentration back on her book. She didn't realize that Pierre was still watching her closely.

Slowly, Pierre took a deep a  breath. 

It's a really wonderful view indeed. Being together like this, just sitting beside "his girl" was priceless. All that he's waiting for was a sign from her.

A sign that would let him in into her heart so he could ask her whether she's tired or not,

...  to let him to invite her to rest on his shoulder…

... to squeeze her hands while they're talking about their future like what college they're going to attend.

Pierre had planned to go to Sunset Valley to take Art or Social Studies there. He knew that Rosaline had spent most of her childhood in Sunset Valley, and so it would be wonderful if they could go there together. Maybe, after a couple of years and they're finally ready to settle down, they would be planning more serious matters like engagement or moving in together.

Yet, all of his plans had to wait for a little longer.

 

"I have to go now."said Rosaline, closing her book.

"Wait!" He grabbed her by the hand. Standing on the school hallway, there was no else around. He could use this opportunity to show how much he really cared for her.

"I just... want you to come to my birthday party on Friday. The party is at seven, and I'd really want you to come."

"I'd love to go there."

"Really?" 

"Of course, I could not skip your birthday. You can count on me that I'll be there on time." 

"That would be great, Rose."

He left the hallway with a broad smile on his face. That wasn't so hard after all. All he  had to think about   was his other plan. He shouldn't let his chance to go by to no avail.

As Rosaline entered her class, a box of gift was  sitting on her desk, beautifully decorated with a golden ribbon upon its lid.

She opened it and was surprised to see what was inside it. Chocolates and lots of them! They were made in different shapes and probably in different tastes, but most of them were dark chocolates in a shape of heart. She loved dark chocolates and she really wanted to taste them, but there was no name on  the lid --  a sign or anything about the sender or the addressee. It couldn't have been for her. Someone might have put it on the wrong side of the table. Marie Louvre sat beside her, so it was probably for her.

" It wasn't  for me, Rose. Who might have given this for me?"

"Well, I heard that Richard really wanted to ask you out, so perhaps it was from him."  Rosaline giggled. Richard was a boy in Art Class who admired Marie secretly, but Rosaline thought it wasn't a secret anymore since everyone seemed to know about it. 

"How could you be so sure?"

"I'm not. I'm just guessing. Maybe it's from your another secret admirer." Marie had lots of secret admires.

Marie Louvre let out a light sigh. "I'm going to take it, but you have to take it the other half. I'm not sure that these chocolates were for me either. Besides, I don't want to get fat. Look at me, Rose! Look at my belly!"

Rosaline chuckled. "You're not fat, Marie. Even though you're fat, you will still look great."

Marie shook her head. "Believe me, Rose. I don't want to see myself getting fat."

"Then, "Rosaline smiled. "I'll get the half of your fatness, then." Rosaline really wanted to get fat. Seeing her body in the mirror, she often sighed.

Marie closed the lid, and suddenly remembered about something. "Have you done your homework?"

"Homework? What homework?"

"It's Math.  How could you forget about it? It's me who usually forgot about it."

Rosaline couldn't believe that she had forgotten her homework.

"Don't worry, Rose! You could copy mine if you want to."

"Thanks Marie.  I think... I'll try to do it myself first."

Rosaline tried hard to solve the Mathematical problems, but outside and through the windowpane, someone  in a yellow sweater was staring at them. Someone who greeted her on the hallway and sat beside her. Someone  who asked her to come to his birthday party at friday. Someone who had bought those chocolates and put them inside the beautiful box.

This someone stared at the girl sitting in the classroom, scratching her head while she was doing her forgotten homework.

"Rose." Pierre Claude softly whispered.  "It's for you... not her."

 ***

"Yay!" shouted Rosaline in joy. The class had ended and it was time to go home.

"You got an A? That's great, Rose!" Marie smiled cheerfully. 

 

"Now, you owe me that treat in Mrs. Beatrice's canteen!"

Rosaline's face turned serious in a sudden. "Marie, I will only get my salary until after two weeks, so-"

Marie stared at her -- didn't have a clue that her friend seemed having problems with money. "It's okay,  it can wait."

"Then, there's one more thing though. Do you still want to accompany me to the swimming pool today?" The muscles on Rosaline's forehead suddenly tightened.

"Are you sure, Rose?"

***

On second thought, maybe she should not have asked her that.

"Rose, what are you doing there?"

"M-maybe we should go home, Marie." Rosaline couldn't believe at the fact that she had gotten herself into this.

She thought it was a great idea, but it turned out not to be anymore. Maybe she could tell her teacher that she's sick or something so she would skip the exam, but she remembered that her mother had told her that there's nothing worse than a lie.

But why was this water all around her? She needed to get out! Quick!

"Follow me and you'll be alright, Rose." Marie tried to help her overcome her fear,  but it's not going to be alright.  The safe state for her would be thousands kilometers away from this pool.

"Come on, Rose, it's only water. Everything is only in your mind and with a little...."

Marie's voice trailed off. Everything around her turned darker and a splash of water swirled her around.

"What was that?" She turned around, but she could not find anything there. Suddenly, she felt so alone surrounded with blue water, and something from below was pulling her in. 

No! She shook her legs so it would let her go.

Marie turned her head around. She noticed that Rosaline wasn't following her. "Rose, are you okay? Maybe you're right. It's not good idea. Come on! Let's go to the side." However, before they could reach  it, one of their classmates suddenly stopped them."What's wrong with your friend there?"

"Nothing, Myrell. We've just finished-"

"Hah!" The girl covered her mouth. "She's afraid of the water right? I can't believe it. Rosaline White is afraid of the water." She splashed the water around and toward Rosaline's face.

"Don't do that!" Marie shouted at Myrell. "Rose, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Rosaline shivered.

"Oh,  she really does afraid of the water. Now, that's going to be a hot gossip. Unless-" Myrell drawn her forefinger onto her chin. "Your friend can prove that she's not by a breathing contest of course."

"She doesn't have to do that, Myrell. Listen,  we're just going to the side, okay?" Marie grabbed Rosaline's hands. However, Rosaline pulled back,  refusing to leave.

"It's okay, Marie. I'll try it.  For how long, Myrell?"

"Only  a  minute." repplied Myrell, wasn't getting amused hearing Rosaline response. "I'm not sure that you can make it in one minute." she said.

"Alright." Rosaline took a deep breath and then dived into the water.

"Wait, Rose! Are you sure?" Marie tried to stop her, but Rosaline had already held her breath. 

Under the water, everything became still. The water veiled her vision. There were only blue hues surrounded her. The coldness thrust into her bones. She could not hear the sound of the others or Marie swimming in the surface. There was only her and the water, until finally she saw something upon her. 

Up on the surface, there was the bottom of a boat floating around and a sound of a fog horn roared out in a distance...

To Be Continued

Theme Song: "Nothing Like You and I" by the Perishers