Picture Perfect

Rosé loved photos. She loved looking at them, getting inspiration from them for her own photos, and most of all, she loved taking her own. Out of all of the photos she took and looked at, she loved landscapes. No matter if it was cloudy or sunny, forest or desert, land or sea, Rosé loved them all. And out of all of the landscapes, she had an absolute favorite photo called: Terre de Paix, a photo taken in Parrabia by photographer R.P.

Parrabia was known to be one of the most wealthy and beautiful islands in the entire world. 

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The(Shortened)Legend of Parrabia:

Long ago, there lived a family who lived in great poverty. The eldest and least favored daughter, Reina, who was fifteen, had to do all of the dirty work for the family and their small acre of land. Her three younger sisters,  Acia, who was thirteen; Lia, who was nine; and Cara, who was three. Reina always had this same thought everyday, Why are they so spoiled? All they do is sit around and do nothing and just watch me work all day long. 

Reina knew this thought wasn’t true, she always just exaggerated it for some reason… For motivation, maybe? 

Her sisters were quite kind to her. They never took advantage of having such little work. Sometimes, they even did a favor for her some nights. When Reina and their parents were asleep, Acia, Lia, and Cara quietly woke up and did some of Reina’s work that she hadn’t done the day before. And the reason why they did this was because for some reason, their parents favored them and didn’t even allow them to do chores. 

The next morning, when Reina woke up and saw the house so tidy and clean, she knew… She didn’t deserve making her sisters do her work. This was her task anyways, if she didn’t complete it, she deserved the punishment from her parents. She knew her sisters were just trying to help, but… She couldn’t bear it anymore…

She finally decided to write a note:

My dearest Mother, Father, Acia, Lia, and Cara,

I have finally made my decision. I cannot bear having to do all this work and having my sisters finish the work I had not completed the previous day. Though I am very, very sorry to all of you, I have made my final decision that I know I will regret but is the best decision I can think of: I will leave this home for good intentions. I know you will be furious with me though. If you decide to go after me, find me on the Mountain of the East  tomorrow afternoon, until then… Farewell my dear family…

Your dearest daughter and older sister,

Reina P.

Reina had already secretly packed the previous night. She took her favorite belongings and photos, put her note on her bed(which was actually more like a sofa), and walked out the front door. She sighed. Okay… I… Made it this far, but have not decided where to go. I have to go to the Mountain in the East… And I have no idea where that is because we do not own a compass… 

But in the far distance, Reina saw a large shape that went up to the clouds and beyond. Well, I’m guessing that’s the mountain of the East… 

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Rosé kept skimming through the legend. She couldn’t find out where Parrabia was. She  sighed. It’s just a legend, Rosé, what are you thinking? But her instincts were telling her something that Parrabia did exist. 

Something else stuck out to Rosé: Reina P. She knew this was a far shot, but, R.P… Reina P… Parrabia… Reina Parrabia… No, this couldn’t be… Why are you thinking stupid thoughts? But then again… Her instincts were whispering to her… 

“Rosé?! Rosé?!” she heard her mom call from upstairs. 

Rosé immediately stuffed the legend in her sweatshirt pocket. She heard the stomping of her mother’s footsteps coming down the stairs. “Oh, come on, Rosé. Where have you been? I’ve called you at least ten times by now!” Her mom stops in her tracks and stares blankly at Rosé. “Uh, what exactly are you doing?”

Rosé tried to come up with a good enough reason, but before she could respond, her mom said, “You weren’t looking at those silly photos again, were you?”

“Not rea–”

“What have I been telling you? You’re no good at photography and being a photojournalist will not help you raise your future family.”

“I–”

Rosé’s mom gave her that “don’t-you-dare-complain” look. She sighed. “You know, Rosé, I will support you forever, but that doesn’t mean you can achieve your goal.”

Rosé rolled her eyes. “Yes. I know. And I will do whatever it takes to fully convince you into actually believing in me.”

“Well, you’ve got a pile of laundry and books and papers and overdue homework and many other things up there that you’ve gotta organize… What a room!” Her mom said to herself.

Without saying another word, Rosé glumly walked up the stairs with her shoulders slumped. She absolutely disliked organizing her room. Though everyone at school thought she was the most organized and neatest person in the entire school, she hid everything in just one place: Her bedroom…

Once Rosé got up to her room, she looked around the gigantic space, not knowing what or where to start.

She soon decided to start with the papers. She organized them into three separate piles: Overdue homework, trash, and what she wanted to keep. It took Rosé about fifteen minutes just to organize those loose papers. After one of the last ones, she saw something she had never noticed before. It was a small note in excellent penmanship. Wow. Rosé thought. 

The note read:

Ros’e Palinski,

I know many great things about you. I believe in your dreams. You have been specially selected by the leader of my country to come for a hearing. If you accept this note, please sign below. If not, the leader and I will be greatly disappointed. 

Best wishes,

R.P.

Rosé sat there in shock. R.P… R.P. as in the person who took Terre de Paix?! She was excited. She immediately stood up, shoved her neatly organized piles off her desk, found a pen and signed her name on the piece of paper. Though, she had no idea how that note possibly got in her room or how this would get delivered back to R.P. There was no address or anything. Oh well… Good luck convincing mom about this. She’ll probably just throw this out and say, ‘Rosé, there couldn’t possibly be anyone who believes you can be a photographer when you’re older. It’s just a ripoff, a piece of junk.’ Yeah, that seemed accurate. Wait… What if I don’t have to tell mom just yet???

Rosé got up, and walked out of her bedroom, leaving the note on the ground… Which was glowing… 

“Rosé?” she heard her mother say as she started walking down the stairs. “You’re done with your room already?”

Rosé stopped in her tracks and hesitated. “Umm… No. But the thing is–” Her mom cut her off.

“ –Nope, no excuses–” Rosé could almost feel her mother’s stern look on her face.

“ –But… This is a good one… Trust me,” she said with confidence. 

Rosé’s mother sighed. “Fine.”

Rosé took a deep breath. “This is going to be kinda hard to explain… So, I got this letter from this weird mysterious lady named R.P. She didn’t mention her name or anything. So, it said she believed I could become a photographer–” Immediately, she regretted what she said. Too soon…

Rosé’s mother seemed furious now. First, her daughter didn’t finish her chores, then she started making up random excuses that a stranger believed in Rosé. She walked towards the bottom of the stairway. “You’re going to show me this letter right now,” she said in a lecturing kind of tone, the tone Rosé absolutely strongly disliked.

“Okay, okay. It’s in my room.”

Rosé and her mom walked back up the stairs in silence. 

“Okay, the letter is right–” The letter was gone. “No. I absolutely swear that the letter was right there.” Rosé touched the spot where she left the letter.

Her mom put her hands on her hips. “I don’t believe it. More excuses. And look at this room. It seems as if it got even messier than before!” She exclaimed in shock. 

Tears started to form in Rosé’s eyes. Her only opportunity was ruined.

“Clean your room. Don’t come down before you finish,” her mother scolded.

Rosé slumped onto her bed and fell into a deep sleep.

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“Rosé, Rosé!” A whispering voice called. Rosé didn’t recognize that voice. “Rosé! ROSÉ!”

She twisted and turned on her bed. “Who is it?” she mumbled, without really intentionally saying anything.

“Reina…” the voice said in response.

Rosé moaned. 

There was a creeping moment of silence that almost terrified her.

“Time is running out. Come. Come with me.”

“Where?”

“Wake up, and you will see…”

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Rosé immediately sat up, wide awake. Her eyes tried to adjust to the light and her surroundings, trying to make out what was around her, expecting to see her room. But, instead she was out in the open, on gravel. She couldn’t make out where she was. She knew it wasn’t around her suburban town because this place was rural with only grass in sight. No buildings or any houses. Rosé looked out ahead of her. Just a mountain range, a path of gravel, and just plain old grass. She blinked several times.

Where am I? Rosé thought.

Immediately, Rosé thought back to her dream. Who and what was that voice? How did she get here? Why was she here?

Oh no… Rosé suddenly had the worst possible thought. Mom is gonna find a messy room and her only daughter is gone. Oh my goodness. WHY??!!

Rosé decided not to wait any longer to see what would happen if she just sat there. She had this gut feeling that she was here for a good reason that she had no clue what it was. So, she got up, walked a few steps and shock went down her spine.

“AHH!!!” Rosé heard a high-pitched piercing scream coming from the distance. It was so shocking and out of the ordinary that it made her jump.

Rosé sighed. “What. In. The. World… Was that?” She said a little too loudly.

“AHH!!!” She heard it again, but this time not so sharp and high-pitched.

Rosé heard it about three more times, each time getting weaker and weaker. What was this? National Screaming Day? The last scream was less like a scream and more like a loud moan.

Rosé looked around, trying to make out which direction the sound was coming from. 

Apparently, Rosé had an amazing sense of direction. Well, that’s what everyone from school said. Though, she really doubted that statement. Well, now was the time to prove if it was true. Rosé went with her instincts and went forward down along the gravel path.

As she kept walking, she noticed that the screams were becoming more consistent and louder, as if it weren’t coming from a person, but it was automatic, like from a machine.

Suddenly a person who looked uncivilized came running up to Rosé and clinged onto her for no reason at all. “Help… It’s happening… Again…” He panted.

Rosé made a disgusted look at the man. She slowly backed away from him and said, “Slow down, what’s happening? Who are you?”

The man’s panting kept getting faster and faster. “I– It’s–” Before he could finish he ran off back to where he came from.

Rosé blinked, trying to process what she just saw. Was she imagining it? Suddenly a loud BOOM! Shook the earth. She now knew that she wasn’t imagining this. It was totally real.

Suddenly a mob of people came storming down towards Rosé’s direction. She spotted the man she had just seen moments earlier. She knew she was going to get trampled if she didn’t act soon enough. So she turned toward the field beside the path and ran as fast as she could away from it. 

The angry mob was quite fast. One second they were in front of Rosé’s sight, and the next, just a trail of dust left behind.

In the distance, she could see something bright flashing. Wait, was that… Fire? Suddenly panic flooded Rosé’s body. What would she do now? Okay. Calm down. It’s probably not going to spread, is it? She thought.

As if right on cue, she felt the heat of the fire getting harsher and harsher on herself. Beads of sweat started to form on Rosé’s head. She started to feel dizzy and queasy inside. Then, immediately, Rosé collapsed onto the grass.

“Rosé. You’re close. Come. Hurry.” That same voice from her other dream seemed more eerie than before.

“Where? Could you just please tell me?!” Rosé said, starting to get frustrated with this lady.

“You’ll be here when you wake up. Goodbye for now.”

Like before, Rosé found herself in a different location. Now she felt like she traveled back to medieval times. She found herself in one of the fanciest rooms she’d ever seen and in the fanciest bed she’d ever been in. She looked around. Sunlight was shining brightly through the stained glass window. The room was very luxurious. She saw the shiniest and largest mirror. Beside the bed stood a large wardrobe with very intricate and detailed carvings on it as if they were carved from pure gold. There seemed to be no electricity, for there was only sunlight and nothing else that seemed to be powering this room, or even the entire building. 

“Hello?” Rosé squeaked.

Knock. Knock. Rosé turned her head and faced the large bedroom door with a nervous look.

“Quick, we must bring her,” she heard whispers of low-pitched male voices say, which she thought were “palace guards”, assuming that she were in a palace. 

BANG! The door burst open, revealing two fully armed men with spears in their hands, ready to attack at any second, with stern looks on their faces. One had one of the bushiest beards Rosé had ever seen, and the other looked quite old because he had grayish hair. But once they saw Rosé, their faces softened. They dropped their spears on the ground and kneeled. Rosé was really confused now.

“Umm…”

“Princess Rosé,” the guards said in unison, still looking at the ground.

“Excuse me? Umm, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. I couldn’t possibly be–” They cut her off mid-sentence.

“You must come with us to see Queen Parrabia…” the first guard said.

Once she heard the word “Parrabia”, Rosé didn’t hear anything else that guard had said. She repeated that word in her head. Parrabia. Wait. Parrabia?! Immediately she said, “Yes, please take me to her!” Rosé urged them.

“Yes ma'am.”

“Umm, please don’t call me that.”

“Your Majesty.”

Rosé shook her head.

“Your Royal Highness.”

“Y’know what, just forget it, call me whatever you want and just take me to Queen Parrabia.”

Rosé half expected them to call her another name that sounded too formal, but instead, they just nodded agreeingly and said, “Right this way.” And motioned her out the door.

The palace hall was even more fancy than the bedroom. Rosé looked around in awe. Wow. She thought. Rosé and the guards took a few turns and finally, they came across a door that went all the way up to the ceiling. The first guard with the bushy beard reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold key. He carefully placed it into the lock on the door and opened it. “In you go,” he said. Rosé nodded.

In the throne room was a glamorous gold throne with the most beautiful woman sitting on it wearing the most elegant dress. Something was wrong though. Why did she look awfully familiar?

No way. Rosé thought. No, no, no. It can’t be her. “Umm…” She hesitated for a moment. “Mom?”

The woman smiled and nodded. “Rosé, welcome to Parrabia. I am Reina. And you’ve finally made it.”