The White Rose

For many years in a small town, high up in the mountains of Northern California lived a very wealthy family. Generations of the Richardson family happily occupied the mansion, although they had a few others in various locations. People would wonder why they didn’t live in their mansion in the city, or in the one by the beach. The mansion in the mountains was isolated from the town below and if an emergency came up it would take a while for help. Their friends thought the family crazy for choosing that place to live and raise children, but the Richardson’s didn’t care what their friends thought. They loved their mountain mansion and nothing anybody said could ever change that.

Usually the owners of the house had large families and the halls would be filled with children running around and laughing. The current Richardson family was unlike the ones before them. There were only three in the family and usually the house was quiet. Some of the older servants noted this and thought it a shame. They longed for a happy household again

Mr. Richardson was rarely in the house due to business matters. He spent most of his time traveling the states and going to meetings. While Mrs. Richardson remained at the house to watch over their son, Adam.

Adam was much like his father in the ways of being proud and conceited. Even at a young age he displayed these traits and the servants feared what he would be like as he grew into a man. They would often comment on how the boy would talk to and act towards them. He had absolutely no compassion for people he deemed below him.

The years flew by and Adam grew worse. Even when his father passed away in a plane crash he didn’t shed one tear. But he didn’t believe he needed to. He hardly knew the man and had no reason to call him “father” or feel sad. He was only thirteen at the time.

Three years later, only a few months after his sixteenth birthday, an old beggar woman went to the gate, asking to be let in to warm herself up. His mother, though in her final stage of life due to chronic lymphoid leukemia, permitted the woman entrance. Even in her weakened state she greeted the beggar and even gave her a room to stay in for as long as she wanted. The old woman was grateful and soon made herself at home.

Now Adam didn’t like having some stranger in his house. Much less a beggar woman. Whenever she passed by him he would sneer or wrinkle his nose in disgust. He loved his mother dearly but wondered why she was always so nice to the riffraff. They got themselves into their situations so they should get themselves out.

Then one snowy day he was out in the garden just walking around. He didn’t know that earlier the old woman had gone out to take a walk as well. As soon as he spotted her, he narrowed his eyes then turned.

“Adam,” the old woman said in a hoarse voice. He decided to ignore her and keep on walking but when she called his name again he stopped. This was the perfect opportunity to let her know how he really felt.

Reluctantly, he turned around and faced the woman. His arms where crossed as he impatiently waited for her to walk over to him. As soon as she was closer he asked in an annoyed tone, “What?”

“I would like to thank you for your hospitality,” she answered. “And I wanted to let you know if it would be okay if I trespassed on your property for just a little longer.”

“No, it is not okay. I want you out of my house before nightfall,” he said rudely.

She took a few more steps closer to him. “I’ll only be here for one more day. Surely you can allow that?” The old woman began coughing wildly but he didn’t even waste one thought on whether she was okay or not.

“No. You are to be gone like I stated.”

She didn’t get a chance to reply as her coughing continued. She gained enough breath to plead, “Please?”

He glared down at her bent body with anger in his eyes. “Out!”

Suddenly the coughing subsided and she stood up straight. She looked at him right in the eyes, not even flinching one bit. “I’ve given you enough chances to see how good it is to help unfortunate people but you didn’t budge one bit.” She poked a finger in his chest, causing him to take a step back.

“Do not touch me you filthy woman,” Adam said before slapping her wrinkled hand away.

That was the wrong thing to do. The old woman turned out to be a witch and at that moment she placed a curse on him. The curse stated that when the last petal on the last white rose dropped he would die. But if he managed to find a woman to love him and in turn love her, the curse would be broken.

At first he didn’t believe her but when she gestured to the dead rose bush his mouth opened in surprise. Like magic, ten white roses returned to life and bloomed like it was the first day of spring. Even the harsh winter wind couldn’t damage them. He turned back to look at the old woman but she was gone.

That night his mother lost the battle with leukemia. Adam was by her side, holding on to her sickly hand, feeling helpless that there was nothing he could do to save her. Tears he had been holding back started to fall as she began taking her last breaths.

“Adam,” she whispered. “Do not be sad. I am going to a better place.” He nodded but the tears kept falling. “There’s one last thing I want you to know.”

“I’m listening Mother.”

“My only wish is that…” but she never had the chance to finish. At that moment she had taken her last breath.

After her funeral he fired all of the servants and lived alone in the mansion. Nothing mattered anymore. Not school or his health.

He stayed in the house not even going out to buy food or other supplies. He had them delivered. The only time he would leave the house was to go in the backyard and stare at the rose bush. Every year one died and he knew he was getting closer to his death.

One day he was out in the cool fall air, staring at the rose bush. Only one rose remained and most of the petals have fallen. Everything was quiet except for the few birds that braved the cold air. Wrapped up warmly in a thick sweater he thought about what was to become of the mansion after he was dead and gone. He thoughts were suddenly disturbed by a loud noise. Startled, he stood up and quickly went to the front yard where he believed the sound originated from.

To his disbelief and anger he saw that a truck had hit the old, stone wall that started his property. Every second that he looked at the damage his anger grew. Finally, one man got out of the truck and as soon as Adam’s cold blue eyes landed on him, he knew exactly where his anger should be directed towards. He marched right over to the man and when he was only a few feet away began yelling at him.

The man apologized over and over again but Adam remained angered. It wasn’t until the man started to plea and cry that Adam finally regained himself. Then he made a proposition. If the man came up every day and work at the house he can use that labor to pay Adam the amount to rebuild the wall. Immediately the man agreed and asked if he can go home to tell his family. Reluctantly, Adam agreed.

As the man drove to his house, in his damaged but still functioning car, he wondered how he was going to break the news to his sons and daughters. The oldest daughters were already in a bad mood for loosing all of their expensive possessions and being forced to move up to the mountains. They would have a fit if he told them that he had to work everyday for that man. And his sons will try to talk him out of it and ask to settle things through a lawyer. But after seeing the man’s mansion thought that to be useless. No matter how much his sons put together they wouldn’t have enough to hire a decent lawyer.

Feeling downhearted he walked inside and didn’t waste one second in informing his children about the incident and deal. Like he guessed the two oldest daughter started throwing a fit and crying. But the youngest, named Isabel, did not shed one tear. In the middle of one of the daughter’s rant she cut her off and proposed another proposition.

“Father,” her melodious voice started, “I shall go in your place.” He opened his mouth to reply but she held up a hand to stop him. “We both know that you can’t go up the mountain every day and come back down after a hard day of work. You’re just not as young and fit as you used to be. Instead I’ll go and do my best. How bad can he be?”

Her older brothers tried to talk her out of it but once she set her heart to something she could not be moved. Her older sisters didn’t feel bad at all, but grateful because that means she would be out of the house during the day.

With a heavy heart he agreed and the very next morning the two drove up and explained everything to Adam. After a quick look over of the youngest daughter he agreed and told her to return the next day—alone. So for the past few weeks she would drive up the mountain and keep house and at the end of the day she would drive back home, where she would complain about her arrogant boss to her father and five older siblings.