Purple Sunrise

Twenty-Nine

As soon as Rose woke up, she went into Lily's room to get her up as well. Rose was excited for the day ahead of them.

"Lil. Time to wake up, we have a lot to do today." She tenderly shook Lilly, getting her to open her eyes in a flutter.

Lily hadn't expected to see Rose this early in the morning, she had half thought that she would have forgotten about organising a day to spend with each other. Stretching her arms up above her head, Lily let out the biggest yawn; pulling the covers back and hopping out of bed with more eagerness than expected. Giving Rose a once over, she knew that Rose had only just woke up herself.

"I'll get dressed and meet you for breakfast." She affirmed.

"Okay, I will see you there!" Rose made sure to add in all Liveliness the sleep filled conversation.

Lily watched Rose walk out of the room with a spring in each step. Gathering clothes from the wardrobe that Rose had watched by hand the day before, Lily walked into the bathroom throwing cold water over her face. "Ahh." She let out the sound of her brain beginning to wake up fully. The cold water shocking her body into action.

Lily sauntered into the room, focussing on the mass amount of fresh fruit laid out onto the regular table. Oranges, strawberries, Apples and Plums, spread, making the colours jump from their places. Lily noted the water on the table; Rose had added in lime and lemon slices to give it a different taste.

"You've really pulled out all the stops." Lily commented, extremely happy that all of it had been done just for her.

"Sit, dig in!" Rose encouraged.

"So, I have quite a lot for us to do today." She began, sitting down opposite Lily.

"You are gonna help me this morning before we can have some play time outside. How does that sound?" She enquired hoping that Lily would like the plan Rose spent nearly all-night planning.

Lilly was too engrossed to properly listen to what Rose was telling her. "Oh yea..Yeah...Sounds good." she nodded with her mouth full of food.

Rose knew that she was absorbed in eating, not offended at all by Lily's answer. Lily always looked forward to waking up in the morning just for the food. It was on Lily's mind, all day, and all night. Food seemed to rule her life now. Being the main thought to go through her head, keeping her going through all the struggles.

"Wait, what?" Lily asked perplexed. She had remembered hearing someone talk but not the words. Rose shook her head bemused, Lily had finished eating, with her brain catching up with what had gone on around her.

"I had said that this morning you are helping me out with some odd jobs that are needed to be done outside, before we can have some play time. I've thought of games that you wouldn't have been able to play in a long time." Rose repeated herself, knowing that this time Lily had taken in her words fully."

Lily fist pumped her hand in the air.

"Yessss!" She hissed out in anticipation.

"I'M FINALLY ALLOWED TO HELP PROPERLY!!" Lily yelled jumping up. Switching from one foot to another with her arms moving up and down in a celebratory dance.

Rose roared with laughter watching it happen. She had never seen this side of Lily before.

"It nice to see her acting her age for once." John whispered to Rose as he strolled by.

"Mhhm." Rose agreed not turning to watch him walk away. She was trying to keep her full attention on Lily for the best part of the day.

"So, I've heard that you've managed to find some books in the bunker. What have you been reading about lately?" Rose enquired, trying to make small talk.

"Eh, not much, I've been reading two books slowly actually, ones about mechanics. And the other is about planets after they were formed." Lily replied feeling awkward.

"I bet they're nice reads! Which one has been your favourite one so far?"

"Well, I like them both equally, they're both special in their own way. Like mechanics is more about your hands than thinking massive amounts unlike the planet book. With the mechanics I can learn to build things from scratch. And with the planet book I can find out where the materials come from depending on how long ago the planet was formed. Plus, with the planet book, I get to discover other planets that had been formed and what they are like. Like knowing the secret to the universe." Lily rambled, happy to be talking about both books; a glimmer appeared in her eyes as she kept on talking.

"They are both just so special in their own way." Lily concluded.

By this time, both Lily and Rose had made it to their first destination. The compost pit. There seemed to be some difference from the last time anyone had come here. No flies. "No life on the planet." Rose whispered. If the flies hadn't come to this, or animals for the scraps, there would be no life at all. The compost had begun to decompose, it all looked soft, all dark brown or black as it withered away.

"EWE!" Lily screamed.

"Why did you bring me here to look at this?!" She pointed towards the pit not understanding what they were trying to accomplish.

"We are attempting to get it to turn into mulch, when it does, it will help form compost for the plants to grow outdoors. It will leave room for us to expand our food supply." She replied back; bemused by Lily's outburst.

Rose knew that it wasn't the prettiest thing to look at, but it was one important task to getting the end result they needed. Lily wanted to be more involved, and this was one of the many daunting t tasks she would have to look forward to.

Rose pulled out the book dedicated to documenting down how the pit was progressing, writing down all that she noticed, even down to how there still was still no creature in sight. The decomposing process was advancing much more than they had expected it to. They hadn't thought that much would have gone on with the pile, but it did prove that the planet had some living micro-organisms here. Putting more food waste into the pit Rose turned to Lily.

"With the pit, all we have to do is note down in the book what it looks like so that we can compare it to last weeks, see how its changing. It will also help us with working out more about Purple Sunrise." Rose gave a brief smile.

"We can go now though; the next job isn't as bad." She teased.

Walking backwards, Rose goaded Lily into following. Falling over the rhythm in her footsteps, she quickly caught herself from tripping, turning back around to walk forwards normally. Lily on her other side.

"What's next!" Lily asked energetically.

"You'll find out when we get there." Rose annoyed Lily by not telling her.

Lily was becoming frustrated from being kept in the dark, she wasn't one for surprises as she had no patience. She kept on huffing, getting louder and louder, hoping that Rose would get the hint that she was giving and ask what was wrong; but that didn't work.

Letting out a hearty laugh, Rose stayed silent, walking towards there next destination which was just over the horizon.