The Story of Rouge

"Home sweet home!" I looked up at the ragged, old, two story cabin and back to my mother who had her arms spread wide and a huge smile on her face.

"You’re kidding me, right?" I questioned. How in the world did she expect us to live here? This place looks like it will tumble to the ground if a grain of sand hit it.

"No, why would I be kidding you?" She said as she walked up the porch stairs, unlocked the door, and waltzed inside.

"Don’t go in there!" I yelled.

"Why not, we live here now, so it’s not a crime if I walk in my own house." She said as she disappeared in the shadows. I followed slowly behind her, testing my weight before I fully walked inside. The door creaked as I pushed it open some more. Spider webs and dust littered every single inch of the cabin, well every single inch that I could see. I walked further inside, wincing slightly at the groaning sound the floorboards seemed to make with every step I took. It smelled old, wet, but had an underlying scent that I couldn’t place. It made it feel like home.

I walked around the first floor of the cabin. I walked into the outdated, dusty kitchen and shuddered. She better not expect me to cook in there. After I toured the kitchen, I walked to the living room. All of the furniture was covered in plastic and it had a fireplace opposite of the entry way. The mantel was ivory and had some type of weird carvings on it. I could also see the legs of a piano in front of the fireplace. I walked back to the foyer and up the decorated stairs. The carpet looked like a mustard yellow, but as I slowly ascended the stairs, the house started to look better. It was like I was opening my eyes for the first time. The wallpaper was white and gold and pictures appeared on the walls. I finally reached the top of the stairs. I could only see three doors. Two were on the left side of the wall and a table was pushed in-between the doors. A vase of freshly picked lilies sat in the middle of that table. I glanced away and looked at the door across from the two. Something was drawing me to that room, so I edged closer.

"Rouge, are you ok?" A voiced asked.

"Ah! Mom, where did you come from?"

"I have been standing here for the past two minutes. What were you doing?" She asked.

"I was looking at how nice it is up...." I stopped in the middle of my sentence.

Everything was covered in dust and spider webs. The wallpaper was peeling and back to its musty color. The place regained its smell of wet wood and moss.

"Is everything alright, sweet heart?"

"Yea, just a...um...headache."

"One of those headaches or just a headache?" She asked.

"It’s just that...I thought I saw something that wasn't really there again." I said slowly.

"Well, I won’t pressure you on telling me what you saw."

"Thanks mom."

"Well, if I did you would nag me and stuff." She said with her hands on her hips.

"Really, who's the kid in this family?"

"You know, I can be young and hip too!" She said and made a pose.

"Um, how old are you again?" I asked jokingly.

"So, do you like the house?" She asked with a smirk.

"Mom, we have moved a lot, and I mean a lot. I believe we have finally hit rock bottom." I said.

"We haven’t moved that much, and what do you mean we hit rock bottom?" She asked.

"Mom, we have moved over fifteen times and do you see this place! It’s in the middle of the woods! The wallpaper is melting away, it is dust covering everything and is that a spider!?" I yelped.

"Aw, come on sweetheart, we lived in the middle of nowhere before, and we can clean the house up a bit." She said.

The sounds of a phone ringing echoed through the house. My mom ran down stairs to answer it.

It’s a phone in this dump, I’m surprise it still works. I sighed and walked downs stairs and towards the front door. The floorboards creaked, so my mom peeked her head out from the living room and mouthed ‘where are you going?’ I pointed to the door and walked outside. Taking a deep breath, I walked farther into the woods.

"‘We can clean up the house a bit’ she said. Yea right! It’s going to take weeks to clean that house and fumigate it to kill all those damn spiders!” I yelled to myself as I kicked a rock. I walked for what felt like hours and came to a field in the woods. The field was empty. After stomping to the middle of the field, I lied down and looked up at the sky. Slowly, I drifted to sleep.

"You done it again…"

"Don’t you belittle me!"

"No one is belittling you, have you thought about what I asked of you?"

"After what just happened I would think you got your answer."

"It’s simple once you get the hang of it."

"Just like that, you make it seem so easy!"

"It won’t be easy, but you can at least try."

"You can't just change your way of living in a moment, you fool."

"No one is telling you to change the way you live in a moment. It will take time and practice."

"I was raised; no I was born this way!"

"Please, you have to try."

"I don’t have to try and do anything! You must have forgotten who I am! You must have forgotten who is in charge here!"

"I did not forget. I just want you to try."

"You can be so stubborn at times, you know that right?"

"You’re the one to talk?"

"Ha, I guess your right"

I slowly opened my eyes, gazing at night sky.

“Shit!”

I quickly ran back home. I did not have time to reflect on my dream. It was always the same man’s voice. Sometimes he was talking to some woman, others he was talking to the man who asked him to do something. Others, were just people screaming for mercy. Those were the worst dreams.

Finally, I made it back to the house to see my angry mother with a broom and a dust pan. She handed them to me and pointed up stairs. I sighed and went inside.