Death's Shattered Crown

Chapter 2

After Jessie came in and announced her dramatic news, Rose did her best to convince her she was fine and hadn't run into the man who'd been murdered. That was a lie, but she wasn't ready for anyone to know until she had it cleared up. Her stress at keeping the fake smile on her face only took a backseat when she realized Jessie had never seen her parents' apartment before. She'd never told anyone in high school just how poor her family was, and she expected someone who came from a rich family like Jessie to be disgusted.

She watched Jessie closely, but only saw surprise when she looked around the apartment. There wasn't disgust in her expression like she expected. And she hadn't seemed to treat Rose's family any different either. Rose felt relief burn through her mind as she realized Jessie wasn't going to judge them. That was something she never could have expected.

Around midnight she was more than ready to go home, but to her chagrin her mother insisted they stay the night. After the murder and whatnot, she was very worried about them. She would have refused anyway but before she had the chance Jessie agreed for both of them. She bit back her frustration and acquiesced. When she and Jessie curled up in a blanket on the floor, she was so tense that sleep didn't come to her for hours. She just lay there, listening to Jessie's light snores and the sounds of her sisters sleeping.

Eventually she must have fallen asleep because she was torn from her dream by being shaken awake. She groggily opened her eyes just to close them again against the cursed light shining in through the grimy window over the kitchen sink.

"Time to wake up Rosie." Lily said in a sing-song voice. Rose groaned and turned on her side, pulling the blanket over her head. "Come on Rose! Get up!" Lily snatched the blanket from around her and shook her shoulder.

Rose grumpily complied, sitting up. She immediately regretted sleeping over after feeling her stiff body moan and complain at her. The good news was that Jessie wouldn't ever voluntarily accept another sleepover invitation there again. Rose rolled her eyes at her thought as she stretched.

As she rubbed her eyes to wipe the sleep away, she smelled something delicious. Squinting around to find the source, her gaze stopped at the kitchen table. Everyone was sitting around it in the mismatched chairs her parents had collected from dumpsters and sidewalks through the years. In the middle of the table sat a plate piled high with waffles. Rose stared. They'd never had waffles in her whole life.

"Waffles? Where'd you get those?" She asked, not asking the question really on her mind: where'd they get the money for them? They could never afford breakfast, and rarely could they afford more than one meal a day.

Her mom glared lightly at her, clearly noticing the unasked question. If there was something her parents hated more than her not visiting more often, it was discussing money. Especially money problems. She held up her hands in surrender. "Just asking."

Her mom huffed and put a strand of her honey hair behind her ear from where it was falling out of her messy bun. "Since it's not every day our baby turns eighteen, we thought we'd celebrate with breakfast. Now come have some before it gets cold. We were waiting for you to get up."

"Wow, thanks guys. I appreciate it."

Rose willed herself not to say any more about it though internally she was upset they'd spent that money on her. She'd already gotten a cake last night, she didn't need more. She wondered what they'd be giving up this month to afford this meal. Hopefully they wouldn't be going hungry over it later.

She sat in the same chair she'd sat in last night and nearly fell off as it wobbled even more severely than it had last night. Rose thought she'd definitely need to sneak in some better furniture for her family. Shaking the thought off for now, she grabbed a waffle, smothered it in syrup, and dug in.