Chapter Text
Rose Quartz was an unusual name for such a ordinary woman, but it was better then nothing. Her pleated skirt and creme tucked shirt would lead you to believe she was ordinary. And you would be correct. Rose Franklin was brought into a living family, raised with two brothers she had a incredible talent for cooking. With a few simple ingredients she could prepare a full course meal in 10 minutes with time to spare. And yet she didn’t utilise her talent, instead opting for a simple sales associate job selling televisions. People on the street wouldn’t bat an eye at Rose upon first glance, perhaps even second glance. Rose believed in simplicity and a simple life, no surprises and no shocking revelations. But without those this story wouldn’t be interesting, would it?
The cold air hit me soft and pillowy, grazing over my cold skin sending small goosebumps to my arms. If it were any other day I would have taken a sort of jacket or cardigan, but today was a bad day. My alarm clock seemingly stopped working, and I ran out of coffee. My grandmother always told me to turn a bad day into a good takes a few small steps, but now even small steps seemed impossible. Saying small greetings to passerby’s I continued on route to Elliott’s store. Elliot was a good enough boss, letting me take days off and giving me enough pay to keep me afloat. Although I would never complain, he always was open to sit and talk or just to have a friend. The store’s door was still closed, odd for 9 am considering Elliot insisted on opening every morning at 7 am. I fished around my purse for my keys, thankful for my long Dallas keychain. The act of pushing open the door seemingly caused a large silence to fall over the front of the store.
“Elliot? I’m here for my shift…”
My voice trailed off as I looked around all the televisions, turned off not so much as even plugged in. Odd for Ellitot, he took so much pride in his color displayes.
“Rose! Hey um sorry!”
A flustered Elliot came from the upper portion and began descending the large staircase, almost slipping and falling numerous times.
“Hey Rose sorry for the inconvenience, The shop isn’t opening today.”
He continuously kept looking back as if he excepted another individual to come out of the shadows.
“Oh, alright see you..?”
“Next week, also can you give me your key?”
Weather it was subconsciously or on purpose Elliot slowly started advancing forcing me to walk back to the front door.
“Alright Boss but if It’s alright may I ask why?”
Elliot’s eyes quickly glanced over his shoulder then to the ground before returning to my face.
“The store got robbed yeah real nasty all the cash in the register gone.”
I quickly became slightly flustered for asking such an insensitive and personal question.
“Oh yes No problem, see you next week.”
I quickly handed the key to him and scrambled to the door, as Elliot quickly shut the door behind me.
An unsettling feeling rested in my stomach as I pivioted on my heels and turned back down to the path to my house. The neighborhood I currently lived in was close enough to the city and work to be perfect, but some areas were more concerning then others. The house I had inherited from my parents after their unfortunate deaths. Their passing had been hard on my two brothers, Riley and Jack, we tried to connect after but always fell short. A dark alley way drew my attention as I noticed a large huddled figure. A man crouched down on the pavement, twisting a small canister in between his hands. My curiosity always got the best of men, approaching the man I began to pull out two crumbled dollar bills from my purse. The man’s stark white hair was moving slightly in the wind and even then his large hunched figure remained unmoved.
“Here you go, you might need this.”
I stuck the crumbled bills between my fingers and held it out to him, to which he begrudgingly took them. A smile creeped onto my face and with my heart swelled I began to turn back to the main sidewalk. With the small baby step to a happy day in, I could sense the figure begin to move behind me. Just as I was about to glance over my shoulder a large burly hand is placed on my left shoulder, spinning me around. A small hard object is pushed into my stomach and I’m met with cold hard eyes. The man who is now towering over me, held the crumpled bills in one hand, and had a handgun pressed to my stomach in the other.
“Purse”
That one word sent a long shiver curling down my spine and all the way to my toes. With shaking hands I handed him the entire bag, trying to hear my eyes away from his. His thumb reached to cock the pistal and there and then I knew it would be the last sound I ever heard. So I closed my eyes and waited for the shot to ring out, waited and waited. The suspense was building by ever second, but oddly enough the creepy feeling left my spine. I squinted one eye open to see nothing but empty dank alleyway. I stood there for far too many minutes, my eyes never leaving the space where he was. The mysterious Blonde man with dead eyes and no doubt wanted to kill me. And yet he didn’t, perhaps we was more then a killing man. This was a step backwards to a good day.