The World Might Never Be the Same Solo

Rose Moon had been thinking a lot about where she started. Her mother. Her father. She started as something her mother and her father had made, and then encouraged into life. Something her mother had held and adored and nurtured. And something they could have abandoned or killed at any moment. She had started out in a family of five, but it had grown bigger. So she had really started out in a family of seven, though. And a golden year went by, full of many siblings yet little stress, and so many happy moments Rose couldn't even remember them all. That was how she started. Happy. Carefree. With her siblings and her mother and her father- her real father, not some kind of wannabe replacement father that would officially become her stepfather in the summer at her mother's wedding. Ugh, yuck.

She couldn't say she was looking forward to that. If she did, she would be lying to herself.

Rose stood just far away from her siblings so that they didn't know where she was, but she could see them. Three of them were waiting for her, as it had seemed urgent in the way she wrote the note to the three of them. Rose was looking at where she started. With her siblings. Her entire life rode on her siblings. If anything was to happen to them-

Rose shook her head, expelling that thought. No, they would be fine. They would always be fine, as they were able and strong and intelligent people. Wind blew by, tossing her curls around and almost asking her to just go and do it already.

But, instead, she kept thinking. She watched her siblings converse, laughing every now and then, and sometimes looking around as if to see where she was. She was looking at Faith specifically. Gosh, Faith was gorgeous. And she was so happy- she had finally found a good group of friends she could rely on, and Rose was happy for her. She had always been the one always closest with their mother. The news would crush her, and Rose felt a pang of doubt. Maybe she shouldn't tell her the news anyway? No, she would. She would have to. Rose couldn't keep it a secret forever.

What was the news exactly? Their mother had gotten into a car crash due to a drunk driver while she was on her way to Jessica's, who was their little sister, talent show tryout. Rose knew as a witch, she could have apparated, but that would have risen suspicion at Jessica's muggle school, so Rose understood why her mother didn't dare. Jess had sent her an owl telling her this, and Rose had blamed it all on herself. She was terrified of going to go see her mother, because she didn't want her mother to say it too. That would just make it feel oh-so real. Their mother wasn't dead, no, she was too much of a fighter for that, but she was probably really injured. Nothing St. Mungo's couldn't fix, though. She had almost died, and that had been what had freaked Rose out when she got the letter.

Rose understood that Jess couldn't write the same horrible thing five times, so Jess had asked her to tell her siblings. That was the news- the horrible, terrible news, and now she had to tell it.

Here we go.

Rose forced her feet to move toward her siblings, hearing her feet crunch in the cold grass rhythmically. Frankie noticed her first, his bright blue eyes looking up to see his sister approaching them. "Rose," he would say, standing up and going over to greet her, Faith and Gabe following suit. "What took you so long?" he asked.

Rose had her arms crossed over her chest, and she was looking at the ground, a numb feeling in her heart.

"Rose?" Faith stepped closer, reaching out a hand to push one unruly curl behind her sister's ear, then nudge her chin up. She would see despair in Rose's eyes, shining in her tears. Her grip tightened on the letter in her hand, and she couldn't hold back a dry sob as she looked away from Faith. But it wasn't even two seconds before there was a set of arms around her, letting her bury her head into Faith's shoulder. Her hands curled up by her chest, another pair of sobs pulling her closer to Faith.

How was she supposed to tell them? Rose still didn't know what had happened to her that morning, and she was absolutely terrified of herself now. How was she supposed to have enough control of her emotions to tell her siblings that their mother had almost died and it was all her fault? That thought was crushing.

Rose's knees gave out once more, forcing Faith to catch her by her elbows and slowly lower her to the floor. The boys must have been shocked for a good moment, because it was only then that Rose felt their hands on her arms and shoulders, and one rubbing her back. "It's all my fault. It's all my fault," she told them, sniffing and pulling back from Faith, her dignity left behind. She made eye contact with both Frankie and then Gabe, and then pushed the crumpled letter into Gabe's hands. He read it out loud.

"R-

Mom got in an accident. Drunk driver. On her way to my audition for the talent show. Almost died but Muggles got there first and saved her and she transferred to St. Mungos and is recovering there. I'm staying with Gramma since Mar is on vacation to Paris with some of her friends. They're scheduling for you all to go see her at St M asap. She'll live. Couldn't write this four times, so tell sibs."

Faith put a hand over her mouth at this, her eyes widening. "No- Mom."

"It's all my fault," Rose sniffed, covering her face with her hands. "If I hadn't told her to go-"

Frankie cut in forcefully, "No. Shut up, Rose. We all know this wasn't your fault at all, and you're just obsessing over your insecurities."

"But I told her to do the exact thing that got her- that got her almost-" Rose stuttered, looking at her limp hands in her lap.

"Don't tell yourself that," Gabe cut in, putting one hand on her own and interrupting her thoughts.

Faith shifted so that she was sitting on her behind instead of her knees, looking like she had been punched in the gut. "I can't-"

Rose reached out one hand, the hand that Gabe hadn't touched, to place on Faith's knee. "Hey," she said, going from the one being comforted to the comforter. "Fay, there's nothing you could have done for her. She's alright now."

Faith's eyes traveled up to meet Rose's own. "You were the one who told her to go to the audition," she whispered. "You were the one who told her she wasn't doing enough for us. Well-" her voice rose. "You're wrong. She did perfectly fine for all of us except for you and for Jess, but at least she wasn't complaining." Rose withdrew her hand, unsure of what to think. "It is all your fault, Rose. I'm glad you think so," she snarled, standing up.

Rose bit her lip, trying not to cry again. "I know," she said softly.

Then her older sister started to stalk away, but Frankie scrambled to his feet and walked after her, grabbing her hand, which made her freeze. "Faith, come on. You know Rose didn't mean to do anything of the sort. Mom was trying to do the right thing, and Rose told her to. We all know we've all thought that Mom wasn't as good as some other kids' mothers. This isn't worth it, we have to stick together."

Faith inhaled deeply and let out a long breath, turning around. "I need some time to think over this," she said quietly.

"Fay, don't tell Rose it's all her fault when she was always ever trying to help."

The blonde girl's lip curled. "You're siding with her, then?"

Frankie opened his mouth as if to say something, but Faith had already walked away, leaving him as well as Rose and Gabe still on the floor. "I have somewhere to be," Rose muttered, and got up to leave them, walking toward the castle swiftly before she could be stopped in a similar way to how one touch on Faith's wrist had done. She didn't want her brothers to convince her that the truth wasn't reality. Because she had caused this to her mother and she deserved Faith's anger at her. Rose would have liked it more if Faith had pushed her and yelled at her, instead of having the withdrawn tone of disappointment and burning embers of anger. But she deserved the worse one, the one where Faith would subtly avoid Rose and make her feel bad for what she had done, until brushing it off as something that didn't matter, when it still plagued Rose that she had done such a thing. That meeting had been shorter than she had intended, and she had left the stupid, horrible letter with Gabe. Good. She didn't need something like that in her possession, haunting her with its weight.

She deserved this. Rose deserved all that was coming to her.

As the world crumbles, it might never be the same again.

What changed between the time that Rose was a happy-go-lucky little kid and now, when she was a horrible twelve year old, insecure and ruining other people's lives? What had changed?

As the World Crumbles | The World Might Never Be the Same | But You Have to Get Back Up Again