Some Go Mad

Rose strode down the hallway, bare feet making small slapping noises as they hit the wood floor. She stopped once she got to the door with the blue football adorned Bathroom plaque hanging on it. Her fist banged against it in unusual tension and annoyance.

"Andrew, hurry up! Matt has to use the loo and Tyler's mum is going to be here any minute now to pick you lot up," she yelled.

The door was flung open and Andrew, brown hair still a mess from having just woken up fifteen minutes previously, shouldered past his sister. He stomped down the hallway to the stairs and disappeared down them just as Daniel came into view. He sped down the hallway towards Rose and tried to get into the bathroom, but she held her arm out to stop him.

"Matty really has to go, Daniel," she said, eyes reproachful.

Daniel ducked under her arm, saying, "I'll only be a second," before slipping into the room and shutting the door behind himself.

Rose sighed, giving up and going downstairs herself. As she passed through the living room she saw Andrew and Matty sitting on the couch. Andrew's eyes were focused straight ahead at the telly and his body posture was relaxed. Matty, however, had his legs crossed tightly and his face was scrunched up from the work of trying to keep the contents of his bladder inside.

She continued on into the kitchen, where she sat down at the table across from her father. She watched his dark blue eyes, eyes that not her nor any of her brothers had inherited, scan the morning paper he held in his hands. About a minute later his eyes moved up to stare at her. Marshall Jackson sat the newspaper on the table and smiled at his daughter.

"How'd you sleep last night, Rosy?"

For the briefest moment, Rose's whole body froze. Her mind left the room as it back tracked to events of the previous night. To dreams of a man who traveled the stars in a terrifying blue Police Box that was impossibly larger on the inside. But no, she realized, that hadn't been a dream. The dream had been much more wonderful. Just one step forward and she'd floated out of the blue box, away from the strange Doctor man, into the stars. She'd never thought of them as beautiful. But as she was floating, no longer suffocating from having so many things on her shoulders at home, she looked at them with a small and thought, "What a beautiful place to die."

"Rose?"

Her father's voice broke her thoughts. Rose focused her eyes back on him and smiled, shaking her head slightly. "Sorry, Dad," she laughed. The slightly worried expression cleared from his face and she continued. "I slept great. I had the most amazing dream."

"That's fantastic, sweetheart." He checked the watch on his wrist just as there was a knock on the door.

Rose jumped up from her chair and sprinted to the living room. Her brothers all sat on the couch, Matty no longer looking ready to burst. She grabbed their school bags from the hooks by the door and handed each boy his own. She pulled open the door as they put their shoes on and greeted her mum's best friend, and the boys' ride to school, Nancy.

After a few minutes of scrambling to make sure they had everything and quick goodbyes, Rose's brothers left. Her dad left for work shortly after and she was left alone.

---

A noise as shrill as a siren invaded the house as the telephone rang. Rose reached over lazily to the receiver that sat on the table beside her. Her thumb punched the answer button and she held the phone to her ear.

"Hello?"

"Are we still going to the cafe for lunch? I haven't heard from you in three days and you were supposed to call me yesterday to confirm." The familiar voice of Rose's friend Jenny came through the speaker, bringing a smile to her face.

She laughed. "Of course we are."

"Well, you better get your butt outside then because I'm here."

"You're not serious?"

"I am as serious as a heart attack, Rose Jackson."

Rose stood up from the couch, telephone still pressed to her ear, and walked across the room. She pulled open the front door, rolling her eyes when she saw the small brunette standing on the front stoop. She ended the call and spun on her heel, throwing the phone into the couch cushions. Behind her came the sound of Jenny letting herself into the house.

"I'll be right back," Rose said, heading upstairs. "I need to change before we leave."

Jenny plopped herself down on the couch. "Why do you need to change? What's wrong with what you're wearing now?"

"Um.. I wore it to bed last night?"

"Ah, touche. Hurry up, though! I'm starving."

Once in her room, Rose closed the door and walked straight to her closet. She crossed her arms over her chest as she tried to find something to wear. Her right hand moved out to pick through the different shirts, stopping on one that happened to be almost exactly the same shade of blue as the box she'd been technically kidnapped in the previous night. She tore it from the hanger and threw it behind her, not caring where it landed, but hoping it was in the trash bin.

She grabbed the shirt that had been right next to the blue one, a long sleeved white-lace number, sitting it on her bed as she moved on to her dresser to find a pair of bottoms. After a minute or so she decided on a pair of black jean-shorts. Making sure the curtains were securely shut, she rid herself of her pajamas and changed into the new clothes.

A soft knock on the door sounded and Rose yelled that she was decent. Jenny walked in and sat herself behind the taller girl on the bed, watching her brush through the sleep-induced knots in her hair in front of the mirror on the wall.

"You look nice," she commented. "Hoping to run into someone at the cafe?"

Rose scoffed. "And who on Earth would I be hoping to run into, Jennifer?" She gave Jenny an incredulous look in her reflection on the mirror, continuing, "I don't like being around people, remember? Let alone the idiot blokes we went to school with."

"That's right. The only men in your life are your brothers and dad," Jenny answered. Softer she added, "Which is probably why you're so uptight."

"I am not uptight. You just don't know how to tell when a situation calls for seriousness over silliness."

Jenny shrugged. "I'll give you that. But, you have to admit, you have a real problem with telling when a situation calls for silliness over seriousness."

Turning around, Rose smiled at her. "You're right. However are we so compatible?"

Jenny jumped off of the bed and linked her arm with Rose's. "I've no idea, dear Rose, but we must be off before my stomach caves in on itself." She pulled Rose from the room, and then from the house entirely.