Timeless Hero Without a Goal

12th Tick: Normal Life?

Rose opened her eyes, staring at the ceiling. She looked at the ceiling, wondering where she was, then her memories hit. She was Rose Maze, there was school that day. She got out of bed and went to shower, brushing her teeth and changing into her uniform. She ran out of the living room, pushing the door open, she shouted back at her parents, “Bye!”

There was no reply, her father was at work and her mother was doing some housework. She was a perfectly normal high school girl, sixteen years of age, her future was bright. She walked to school, her black hair tied into a braid as she took in the scenery. She took a deep breath and smiled, the sunlight reflecting off her skin. It was relaxing, walking to school.

On her way, more students appeared near her, all of them heading the same direction. She did not feel like talking to them, instead, she saw as the leaves fell from the trees.

In school, she sat down, reading a book. She spent time however she wanted, that was how she passed her school life. Loving parents, a group of friends, a promising future, Rose liked it, she liked living.

That day, the teacher called the names of every student, checking to see if everyone was present. Rose noticed that her name was not called, so she raised her hand and asked, “Teacher, I’m here too.”

No one in class looked in her direction, the teacher did not seem to have heard her. She went up to him and waved a hand in front of his face, asking, “Can you see me?”

“Okay class, open your textbooks to the third page!” He shouted, hurting Rose’s eardrums.

She sat back down. She thought, maybe the class was just playing a prank on her, there was no way they would not notice her. She spent the lesson doing things like stretching, poking her classmates and even flipping a textbook over. The person simply looked at the textbook weirdly and flipped it back. Rose sat on her table, wondering just how far her classmates were willing to take their joke. She walked around while listening to the teacher. She stood beside her friend and said, “I have big news.”

Her friend did not react.

“That guy you’ve been crushing on, he actually has a girlfriend.” Rose continued.

Her friend flinched, but raised her hand instead of talking to Rose. She asked the teacher, “May I use the restroom?”

Rose followed after her friend, saying, “Wow, the class really likes to pull pranks. Can’t believe you guys could even convince the teachers to ignore me too. How did you do it?”

Her friend increased her pace, Rose following after. Her friend, instead of heading towards the washroom, took a turn and walked away, down the stairs. Rose watched from above as she met up with a guy, talking to him and laughing. Their interaction was short, and her friend returned to class. Rose followed, muttering, “y’all are taking this too far...”

Rose spent the rest of the day trying to get attention from her classmates and teachers, it was odd, no matter how committed everyone was to a joke, they should not be able to ignore her flawlessly like they did.

Hoping to gain attention, she left school halfway through class, no one stopping her. She walked around school, not wanting to go home yet in case her parents asked her why. She walked around the school compound, wondering what she had never seen before. That was when she noticed a school cemetery, to honour and remember the students who attended the school and died. Rose, with nothing better to do, went into the cemetery and started reading names off the tombstones. Each tombstone had a flower on it, of all colour and variety. The most noticeable was a certain tombstone with a significantly larger number of flowers. She went up to it and read the name off the tombstone, squatting there. She froze in place after reading the name, not sure what she was supposed to do. She let out an awkward laugh.

“They even made a tombstone for me...” She laughed. “I wonder how much further they can take it?”

In her mind, their pranks were more extreme than she would have preferred, but it was interesting to Rose, she wanted to know the reason for the prank. She went around town, not sure what else to do. She tried ordering from a restaurant, but failed. She tried going to an arcade, but failed. She tried doing anything remotely entertaining, but failed. She returned back to school, squatting in front of the tombstone. She covered her face and laughed, “They really did it, the whole town is ignoring me...”

She felt tears flow down her cheeks. She whispered, “I’m really dead?”

She placed her bag down and laid down, staring at the evening sky. How had she died? What was she doing? Was she a ghost? Or was she a spirit? Rose did not know, she simply laid down there, covering her eyes with an arm.

“Why did I have to die...” She sobbed. “I want to live, even if the conditions are bad...”

She felt fresh tears flow down her face as she cried, unable to control her tears. She wanted to live again, maybe be allowed a second chance at life. She wanted to live even if the conditions for living was bad, like if humans were used like animals by a superior life form. As long as she could live past sixteen, Rose would have preferred it.

“How hypocritical.” Someone said.

She looked around, not seeing anyone. She asked, “Who are you?”

“How boring, are you just going to sit there and cry all day?” The voice continued.

Rose noticed it sounded like a young boy’s voice. He continued, “As a ghost, how do you think your can be reborn? Obviously, as a ghost, you need to die, you need to find a way to fully ascend to heaven, then can you be reborn and live again.”

Rose stood up, it made sense, everything was clear, she simply needed to follow what that voice had told her, she needed to find a way, a way to truly free herself.