After spending the rest of the day in her room, and crying herself to sleep, the next morning was peaceful, but sometimes nature wasn't enough to let her forget her problems in life, especially the news she heard recently. But she couldn't spend the rest of her days locked in her room. All because of another job interview. Rose crawled out of bed, with puffy, red eyes. Blurry eyed, she made her way to the bathroom, dazed, feeling numb, empty, and certainly not alive. She was about to turn the shower on, until she heard a knock on the door. Rose stood quiet, unable to speak. “I'm so sorry!”, her mom said, her voice cracking at mid sentence. Rose could feel she was emotionally drained from all the crying. “But I promise that we are still your parents, because we raised you….. it will all make sense when you go home. That's all I can tell you.” Those words felt like a knife, jabbing her in the heart, but something felt right about what she had said, like she knew it was right. 

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 Before leaving, she put on a crisp white blouse, and a black pencil skirt, with a pair of black and white polka dot shoes, and most important piece to her, was a pair of moonstone earrings, just to put the cherry on top. For some reason, she has always been attached to them, ever since her parents gave them to her when she was 13. Then she jogged down the stairs, to let her parents know she was leaving. “Um, I have to go now, my other interview is today.” Both of her parents looked up at her at the same time, then stood up from the couch to hug her. “I can't cry, I will have to redo my makeup!”, she said, trying to have a playful tone. They laughed, but all the broken hearts were too noticeable to ignore. “Bye.”, she whispered. 

Watching her parents wave, just like the way they did when she drove off to college for the first time. Driving away felt so strange after yesterday's events, when all she wanted to do was bury herself in blankets and pillows, hide away, or better yet, find some other place to be rather than the harsh reality she's living in, was all she could think about. By the time she arrived, her vision had gone blurry, not realizing she was crying, ruining her eyeliner. "Ugh, why?", she said aloud. Glancing in the mirror, she wiped off the smudged mess, redoing her eyes. " Okay, come on Rose, pull it together. You have to." 

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Waiting for the manager felt like a lifetime. “Ms. Linton?”, called the assistant. “Madame Livingston is ready for you.", the young girl stated. She was almost identical to Rose's outfit; a black pencil skirt, white blouse, the only main difference was Rose’s heels and curled hair, and the assistant’s mint colored glasses, as well as her matching nails. Rose inhaled deeply, and stepped inside Madame Livingston’s office. “Wow”, she murmured. Every inch of the office was white and gray, with edgy furniture, and pictures of famous landscapes hung on the wall in perfection. “Please, take a seat.”, she said. Rose sat down while admiring how large the room was in size. “Your office is incredible!”, she said in awe. “Thank you, as a matter of fact, I, Miss Brilliance,  designed it, obviously.”, the lady said while caressing her tanned skin. After all, the interview was for interior designing. Mental note: she is VERY self-centered.

“So, I read your résumé and, um…, she trailed off. “It's lacking something”, she said in a rude tone. “Oh! Um… like what?” “Hmm...”, the woman proded. “Madame Livingston, with all due respect, but I believe there are more pa-” Madame Livingston gasped. “Oh, dear, I figured it out! Experience! The only thing that's on here is that you know French, you worked at a local clothing store, and that you raise money for shelter animals! I'm terribly sorry, but you need more than that. A LOT more!”, she hissed, tossing her short, curled blonde hair.  Rose sat in shock. “You are coming off very offensive.'', Rose stated calmly. “Get out of my office!”, she shrieked, her green eyes bulging from her head. “ I'm just letting you know, if it wasn't for you beauty and money, no one would like being your friend!”, Rose said, picking up her handbag and walking away. She heard Mrs. Livingston shrieked again louder than the first time, like a witch being melted.

“Good for you. Someone finally stood up to her.”, her assistant said in a low voice. Rose straightened her spine. “Thank you. Don't be afraid of her, she seems like a witch by nature.” While Rose was walking to her car, she was panicking, making it harder to breathe. “How in the world am I supposed  to find a career!”, she yelled, all though no one was listening. In fact, it was dead in the parking lot, except for one man, who turned at her. Staring at her like she was dressed in a clown costume. She ignored the man's stares and went into her car. She slammed her hand on the wheel, making it honk, growling in frustration. Slowly putting her head on the wheel, she wept, feeling pity for herself. Taking a deep breath, she shoved her hair out of her face, and swiped at her tears. 

“Thank goodness, I'm home!”, she told herself. Opening the door with the last of her energy, she called out  to her parents, “Hey guys, I'm home!” “Hey, honey! We were cooking dinner. Would you like some?”, her mom asked, still with puffy eyes from crying. “Yes, please.”, she said quietly.

“So, how did the interview go?”, her mom asked. Rose gave a look that suggested misfortune. “Oh. You have always had good taste in decor, I thought this was going to be it for you.” “No, I guess not.  Mrs. Livingston said I didn't have enough on my résumé. But I think she didn't care to read my other pages.”, she said disappointed. “I actually really wanted this job, but…,” she trailed off before swallowing the lump in her throat. Her parents exchanged concerning expressions. “I promise, you will find where you belong.”, her mom said calmly. Unable to argue it, she nodded. “Hopefully,” she murmured. 

Tonight, dinner was pleasant. It was just like every night before she heard the big news about them, or her, despite the conversation.  She filled the bathtub with warm water and dropped a lavender coconut bath bomb, making the bubbles turn slightly purple. “Ahh”… she exhaled in relief. She put her fist to her temple as she soaked in the bubbles, realizing her thumb was hitting something cold and hard. “Oh, that's funny, I never took my earrings off.”, she said to herself aloud. All she needed was to be in other reality right now. She wished  that there was some other place to be. 

Anywhere but in the world she lives in. All her thoughts, her worries, the faces of her parents, all the emails that she didn’t read, knowing they would be words of rejection, all the words and all the faces, in front of her spinning faster and faster as every second passed, making her head swim. She couldn’t see the bathtub she was in, only the words of discouragement, shattered hope, broken hearts, tears, memories- then saw a bright blinding light, then a calm but firm voice spoke, “Rose, you will rise.”, and then the voice somehow pulled her back to reality. Rose opened her eyes, relieved to see the bathroom walls again. Taking deep breaths, she laid her head on the edge of the bathtub.

“Good step forward.”, she thought. She walked outside to her backyard with a blanket tucked under her arm. Tonight, was different… she wanted to sleep under the stars. Laying her blanket out, she then settled the weight of the world and her worries on the blanket. Gazing up at the stars gave her a sense of comfort. With her arms crossed behind her head, she was counting all the stars she can, until her eyes became heavy. Before she fell asleep, she sat up and took the earrings off, setting them beside her carefully. She would be devastated if she ever lost those earrings, they meant so much to her, she felt unusually connected to them. Maybe because she loved the smooth, cold moonstones that were embedded in the center of vintage looking metal. Maybe because she had always loved diamond-shaped earrings? Whatever the reason, she loved those earrings.

A specific star caught her eye, like it was twinkling for her, to watch, to connect with her like it was in her blood. “Beautiful.”, she whispered. Then a cool breeze brushed her loose strands of hair out of her face, and letting her close her eyes, falling fast asleep.

Miraculously, one of the earrings were glowing, Dark, purple mist, pouring out of the stone from the left earring. Rose was then falling into a dream, a beautiful dream, where flowers were in bloom, their fragrance bursting into the air, she could almost smell it. Lilac, sapphire blue trees were lined up along a long, narrow pathway. Blue and purple pumpkins, scattered along all the leaves. Every beautiful shade of blue was the leaves of the trees! In this dream, it was lucid, so realistic, she could actually smell the plants, touch the leaves, and analyzed the blue and purple veins, running through every single leaf. She then heard a beautiful melody, the sound of an emerald green bird, with a pink beak, humming, something so familiar, so she decided to follow it. The exotic bird pointed its wings to the end of the path, with a wisteria tree. One like no other. She then saw a feminine, delicate body shape, appear in a bright, colorful mist of pink, blue and purple. And then a soft hand reached out to her. Rose felt light and invigorated by the cool breeze being washed her way. The girl held out her hand to her, and Rose without any hesitancy, they linked hands. A bright yellow light flashed before her eyes, and she was taken to another world…