“Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, will I ever see thee wed

I dedicate this book to 31st Pathfinders. Without them I would have never learned the song ‘Rose,’ also because the song ‘Rose’ is a staple in their campfire. (Seeing as this is a pathfinder song, you are hereby warned that this story does not have a happy ending. This story in particular is a Ghost story)

“Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, will I ever see thee wed?” Mrs. Clarkson sang the soft lullaby into her daughter’s heart.

“I will marry at thy will sire, at thy will.”Rose sang the words softly through her tears. “I love you mom,” said Rose. “I don’t want to leave you. Not ever!”

“I know you don’t dear, but we need you to. In order for us to live here, you must marry him.” Her mother sniffed.

“Are you all packed?” Her father said, poking his head into the room, breaking the silence. He had insisted that she should finish packing at least one week prior to her moving out.

“What’s going on?” Alexandra asked as she walked into Rose’s bedroom.

“I’ll tell her,” said Rose. She pulled her across her room and onto her bed. Alexandra sat down, and Rose sat closely beside her. Mr. and Mrs. Clark left the room without a sound. “I’m getting married.” Rose spoke solemnly.

“I’m so happy for you!” Cried Alexandra.

“I am not.”

“Why not!?”

“I have to marry our landlord.”

“What?! That’s awful!”

“I know.”

“Why?”

“Because…because…”

“You don’t even love him!”

“I know, but we have no choice. We will be flung to the streets if I don’t. But I promise that I’ll come and visit every day. He only lives down the road. I’m sure that you can visit me whenever you want.”

“But still, you will be gone during the night, what if I miss you horribly?”

“Then you can visit me in the morning. I may even sleep over here.”

“But how? He’ll notice.”

“Have you ever heard of lying?”

Alexandra smiled, the first time since she heard the horrible news.

The week blew by, and although it was short, Rose managed to teach Alexandra a song that they could sing together. It was just for them.

“Sunshine, you are my sunshine,

You make me happy when skies are grey.

You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.

Please don’t take my sunshine away.

When there was only one day before her wedding, Rose thought to herself, I’d rather die than marry this monster! She decided that she would have to do one or the other. So, that night, when everyone else was in bed, she quietly got out some paper and a pen, Very carefully, she began to write.

Dear Mother, Father, and Alexandra,

I love you all so dearly, but I do not love our landlord. I know you want me to be happy, and I will be. I will be with Gad in heaven. I’ll be a lot happier away from that man. I need you to tell him that I would have married him for my family, but not for him. If you cannot keep this home, sell my unwanted things, and buy a different one. Father, you and Mother can continue to work as you have been doing, farming and quilting. Now for Alexandra, go to school. Promise my dead body you’ll go to school. Please! Hugs and kisses from heaven,

Rose.

Knowing that her parents would find her note, she stabbed herself. It didn’t kill her, but it hurt. She tried to pass her life away by singing.

“Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, will I ever see thee wed?

I will marry at thy will sire, at thy will.

Ding-dong, ding-dong, wedding bells on an April morn…”

When her sister awoke during the night, she walked into the kitchen and found her sister’s body sprawled upon the floor.

“Mother! Father! Come quick! Rose is hurt!” She screamed.

“What happened?” Her father asked. He looked at her worriedly. He saw the piece of paper and read it out loud. He ran to the hospital with Rose in his arms.

A few hours later, Mr. Clarkson walked from the hospital with a relieved expression on his face.

“She’s alive,” was all he said when he returned from his unpleasant venture.

“I must see her,” said Alexandra, who had put on a blue dress when her father had gone.

“I’ll go with you, there’s no reason for you to be running around a hospital all by your self.” Mrs. Clarkson said.

About a week later, Rose was allowed to go home from the hospital. When the landlord came down to find out what had happened to his bride, Rose told him that a robber had come and had tried to kill her. Normally, her parents were against lying, but this wasn’t necessarily an easily repeated circumstance.

As time went on, Rose decided to marry him. She decided to let Alexandra visit her every day. After a while she learned to love the landlord. One night, the landlord, or Joshua, told Rose that he had to go away on a trip. Rose had asked him how long, and he said that he didn’t know. When he left, Rose prayed for his safety.

One day, when she was doing the dishes, there was a knock at the door. She thinking it was her younger sister, she went to get the it was not Alexandra at the door; quiet a different case, actually.

“Joshua!” Exclaimed Rose. “You’re back!”

“Yes, I am,” he said, with a cold smile, as he was playing a game and he was winning.

“Well come inside and have some tea, you’ve been gone for weeks!”

That night, Rose heard Joshua get out of bed. She knew something was bothering him, but she didn’t know exactly what it was. Rose got out of bed and lit a candle. She looked at the clock. Six in the morning. Figuring that she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, she decided to get dressed. She put on a lovely green dress, and went out into the kitchen.

“Hello Joshua and how are you this fine morning?” She had asked him, but for a long time he said nothing, and then he spun around and punched her face. She stepped back, and then looked at him-confused as to why.

He looked at her with his own set of confused eyes, but his face remained as cold as ice. He had his other hand in a drawer.

“What are you doing?” Rose inquired through strangulating tears. “Joshua?” She started backing away slowly. He pulled out a knife. She began to run. She ran outside, through the bushes and into the trees. She paused to look back. He was running right towards her, knife in hand. She started to run again. She ran so far, that she thought that she would reach the end of the earth. She ran, even though she fell and cut her face on some roots. She ran, fear pulsing through her veins, making her fast. When she was a ways away, and Joshua had lagged behind for at least what seemed an hour, she sat down for a rest, and quickly fell asleep.

“Rose?” Someone was calling her from within her slumber. “Rose?” It was Joshua. “Rose? Is that you? I learned that you tried to commit suicide; because you didn’t love me?” His eyes were accusing. His last statement had no hint of question in it either.

“I didn’t but now I do.”

“It’s not going to matter know. I’ve decided to help you.”

“Wha-” Rose was cut off short by a knife stabbed deep into her back. Her split scream echoed in the forest, silencing the animals. Nobody ever spoke a word, but Joshua always had to live with his guilt.

The end to this tale is a sad one. Joshua married Rose only for her beauty, and when the joy of her freedom was taken away, the beauty that made her so radiant faded. When he did not want her as his wife, he asked his brother what to do. His brother told him, that he had a foolish mind to marry a girl for her beauty, and that he had to stay with her. “Till death do part,” were his exact words. Joshua listened to his brother, but ‘till death do part,’ came a little early for Rose and Joshua. Rose was buried in a marked grave nearby her murder spot, but even as she was lifted to heaven, her heart grieved the soul for his new bride on their wedding day.

As a token of her sadness, Rose sent a bird to symbolize herself at the wedding. Alexandra’s wedding. Even though nobody could hear her, she was singing her life song during her ascension.

“Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, will I ever see thee wed?

I will marry at thy will sire, at thy will.

Ding-dong, ding-dong, wedding bells on an April morn,

I’ve got my name on a mass covered stone, a moss covered stone.

A poor bird, take ye flight,

High above the willows on this grave night.”

The main picture of this story is Rose’s ghost, the way that she looked on the day she tried to commit suicide, was married, and was murdered, wrapped into one sight, appearing at the church on her wedding anniversary sinning her song (Rose). Then, when she is about to vanish into thin air, she says “Till death do part, Joshua, till death do part.”

“Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose, will I ever see thee wed?

I will marry at thy will sire, at thy will.

Ding-dong, ding-dong, wedding bells on an April morn,

I’ve got my name on a mass covered stone, a moss covered stone.

A poor bird, take ye flight,

High above the willows on this grave night.”