Behind The Rose Bushes(Adela Jansen) The weather was rather gloomy and chilly even though it's mid August. Mommy and Daddy had decided to move back to France to live with Papy and Mamie. We were in a car, on our way to Picardie, a town 56 miles from Paris where Papy and Mamie live. Daddy and Mommy were discussing about which high school I will attend and which middle school my 14 year old sister, Annelise, will attend here in Picardie. I wanted to be homeschooled but I don't think they have private tutors here in Picardie.

Annelise was sleeping like a baby beside me with her earphones on, she was probably listening to Arctic Monkeys' newest album since that's her all-time favourite band. Our car drove pass a sign that says 'Bienvenue à Picardie (Welcome to Picardie)'. I haven't met Papy and Mamie again since 3 years ago when they came to visit us in London, I think Papy can't go on a trip by plane anymore, he gets tired very easily lately. After all, he's already 90 years old this year. Mamie gave birth to Daddy when she and Papy were 40 years old, that's why the age gap is pretty huge.

"Wake up your sister Em, we're almost there." Mommy nudged me. I shook Anne and pulled out her earphones. Our car stopped in front of a house with a lot of different kinds of flowers planted in the front yard. I spotted roses, buttercups, lilies and other types of flowers I don’t recognise. The house looks cheerful and the door is made of thick wood which i guessed was oak wood. Anne and I grabbed our backpacks and suitcases and carried them to the door, Daddy pressed on the bell which makes a very loud sound of an old bell, I bet Mamie set the volume to the loudest one so that Papy could hear it.

A beautiful lady with green eyes and white hair opened the door, she had a happy smile plastered on her face. Behind her, stood a boy who looked my age with his arms crossed and lips pressed into a straight line. His eyes and oval face shape are like a girl's, he would be gorgeous if he was a girl. "Huh, who's that guy? Is he our cousin?" I whispered to Anne. "Don't think so, Uncle Charles only has 2 daughters whom we never met." Oh yeah, we don't have any male cousin from Daddy's family, only two female cousins who were already in their 20s we never met.

Mamie hugged me and Anne then told us to take our bags upstairs and come back down for dinner. Anne and I shared a room with two single beds, I took the bed which is nearest to the window and Anne occupied the other one. I finished unpacking all my clothes and headed downstairs.

I was half walking and half skipping down the stairs when I tripped on the last step and fell. I heard a boyish chuckle and looked up. "What are you doing hugging the floor?" The boy with bright blue eyes asked, I can hear amusement in his tone."The floor needs love you know, they have feelings too." my voice dripping with sarcasm. He raised one of his eyebrows and walked away. "Geez, what a weird guy. Does Mamie know him?" I spoke to myself.

I grumbled, get on my feet and strolled into the kitchen. Daddy, Mommy and Anne were already there, chatting with Papy, Mamie, the boy earlier on the front door and the one who laughed at me. I went over to Papy's side and hugged him, the rest of the dinner was everyone chatting happily except me and the boy who laughed at me, who's name I found out later is Elliot, we were the only ones not taking part in the conversation. Mamie also told Anne and I that Uncle Charles adopted him and he's living with Mamie temporarily, so he's basically our cousin. After dinner, we all went to our rooms and got ready to sleep.
I texted with my friend, Jules, until 10 pm. I miss her already and I won't be able to see her until winter break. Ugh, I miss all my friends in London. Anne just went to sleep after reading a novel and I was also getting ready to sleep when I heard a whirling sound. It's really soft and it sounded like somebody was drilling the door. I got curious so I went out to check, to my surprise, Elliot was sitting at the end of the hall drilling the window that looks down to the backyard, it cannot be opened because Papy purposely did something to that window for no reason. He didn't notice me so I tiptoed quietly until I am a feet away from him. He still didn't notice me, then I poked him on his shoulder and he jumped from his sitting position into a standing position while clutching his chest.

"What the hell Emma! Are you trying to kill me?!" he whisper yelled. I smiled sweetly and asked, "Maybe. So, what are you doing drilling the window?" He ignored me and continued drilling the window. Wow, this guy has some nerves to ignore me like that I told myself sarcastically.

"I asked you something, you better answer me you sneaky guy." I said while kicking his back. He didn't turn his attention to me but he replied, "None of your business and I'm not sneaky." I kept kicking him, demanding for answers. After awhile, he gave up and motioned for me to sit down beside him. I sat down and crossed my legs.

"I'm going to tell you something but don't tell anyone okay, not even your sister." he said. I nodded and replied, "Okay. " he told me things about how he overheard Uncle Charles and one of his friends talking about a basement under the backyard of Mamie's house and things such as secret documents. He also said that he drilled the window instead of simply using the backdoor because it's weird that Papy covered the latch with a small metal box that is cut half.

"Soo, you are curious and you are planning to sneak out tonight to find that basement?" I asked. He simply nodded his head and opened the window. He put his right leg hanging on the window and then the other leg before jumping down. "You coming?" he asked. I followed his movements and jumped, I almost fell because I stepped on my right foot with my left ones but luckily, Elliot held my arm to prevent me from falling. "You're not planning to kiss the ground again are you?" he joked, his eyes showing a glint of amusement.

We walked around the backyard for hours and all we see were flowers and more flowers. Elliot said nothing the whole time, his eyes were focused on the grass and anything that might seem like a door to a basement. I wonder why he wanted to find that basement so bad, did that basement hold a secret that might help him discover something? I pushed away all my suspicious thoughts and continued to trail behind him. We rounded the backyard, which is pretty wide and found nothing. Elliot noticed that I'm tired and sleepy so he decided to end the search. We climbed up the window, whispered good nights and went to sleep. Elliot had told me to meet him again at 10.30 pm the next night to help him search for the basement again.

***

"Emmaline Belrose, come down for lunch!" I heard Mommy's voice from the kitchen. It's noon and I have just woke up, yesterday I slept at 2.30 in the morning, thanks to Elliot who won't give up looking for the basement. I also agreed to accompany him look for the basement today. I mentally sighed, I guess I'm also curious of what secret the basement holds. I ate lunch and Mommy told me that I will start school in 3 days, I will be going to Stéphane Maupin High School, the same school as Eliot. In the afternoon, I played with Anne and Arthur, the boy who was standing behind Mamie the day we first arrived, it was good talking to him but when I asked what is he doing in Papy and Mamie's house, he ignored me and went to play with Anne.

That night, when I got out of my room, Elliot was already there in the hallway leaning on the wall waiting for me. He had a serious expression and said, "I think I know where the basement is, I remembered something my dad told his friend. I just nodded because I don't really believe him, we walked towards the window quietly, but suddenly, the door of the room where Arthur slept in opened, the light from the room shining on us like a spotlight. He looked at us with one of his eyebrows raised.

"What are you doing sneaking around together?" he asked. "Searching for Molly, my pet mouse, have you seen her?" Elliot replied sarcastically. I can tell by the look on Arthur’s face that he didn't buy it, but before he got the chance to reply, I spoke. "We were just about to go out for awhile, please don't tell anyone." I said in a pleading voice. Arthur nodded and went back inside. I glared at Elliot, my eyes saying “Look, how easy it will be if you just talk politely”. He looked away and walked towards the window.

This time, I jumped off the window without falling. Yay for me. "So, where do your think the basement is?" I asked curiously. "Behind the rose bushes.” he pointed to my right. "See, there are the bushes, I think there's a door underneath the bushes or behind the bushes." I nodded and trailed behind him.

We walked behind the bush and spotted a wooden material with a handle. "We found it!" I whisper shouted. "Shh Em, we can't get caught." Elliot put his index finger on his lips. I slapped his arm and pouted. He rolled his eyes but I noticed a small smile forming on his face, maybe he's not as bad as I thought my inner self told me.

Elliot lifted the basement door and we walked down a flight of stairs, the basement in a wide spaced room shaped like a study. There are papers and books piled neatly, I spotted a Victorian ballad, The Lady of Shalott, it was written by an English poet, Alfred Tennyson. I was going to grab the book when Elliot called me.

He studied my face and motioned for me to step closer. "Em, do you know that you have an aunt?" he asked with a soft voice. "Uh.. No, Dad only has one sibling and it's Uncle Charles right?" I said slowly. "Yeah, but I think they also have a younger sister who died. I was searching for old pictures in Mamie's living room yesterday and found a picture of my Dad, Uncle Mason and a girl with blonde hair. She looked like Mamie, so I think that maybe she's related to your family." he explained.

I stood there thinking, "Why Mamie, Papy and my parents didn't tell me about this? Did something happen to the blonde haired girl who was supposed to be my aunt?" I asked hurriedly. "Calm down Em, that's why we need to look through the books and papers here to find evidence. I'm sure that the girl had lived here since this is the house they had been living in since Mamie's pregnant with my dad." Elliot answered calmly. “Okay then, let’s start looking through these books.” I walked back to the shelf which held the book I wanted to grab earlier.

It’s been half an hour minutes after we started searching and I was rereading the first part of The Lady of Shalott for the fourth time. I do this every time I read a poem or a paragraph from a novel that I really like. Elliot was on the other side of the room looking through a pile of handwritten books, he said that those books might belong to my great-grandfather, who used to be a famous writer who wrote romance novels. I remembered there’s one time when Mamie told me that her father was a charming man. He could swoon any girls of any age, they love all that charming and semi-cheesy sweet words.

I was on the second part of the poem when I noticed that there are pencil marks around the corner of the page that have been erased. “Elliot, come here! I found pencil marks on this book.” I whisper-shouted, causing Elliot to jump and glare at me. “What Em? Can’t you see that I’m busy here?” he returned his attention to the book in his hands. I knew that he’s to stubborn to move his arse so I got up and walked towards him. I shoved the book I was holding to his chest, he raised his eyebrows and looked at the book. He then noticed the pencil marks and pulled out a pen and paper from his pocket. “We need to write down this second part of the poem and go back to the house to figure out why this page was marked.” he told me while smiling. “Yeah, we should. Finally we found some clues after half an hour, and that’s because I noticed these marks.” I replied smugly. “Well yeah, but I read a lot of your great-grandfather’s works and diaries which might help us figure out what these words circled mean. You have reread this poem for 4 times and you only notice it now.” Elliot replied smirking. I stuck my tongue out childishly and looked away. He shook his head and started copying the poem.

***

It was 7 in the morning and I was sitting in the kitchen with Anne and Arthur eating breakfast. Today, Mamie had cooked us pancakes and her signature soupe à l’oignon. I devoured my food, eating like I had not eaten for days. After that I sat there silently, waiting for my stomach to feel a little better since I ate too much. I noticed that Anne and Arthur had gotten pretty close these past few days, they were even chatting and laughing together while eating.

Suddenly, I heard the bell rang and I got up from my chair to go check who was on the door. I was about to reach for the handle and open the door but Elliot came out of nowhere and beat me to it. He literally shoved me out of the way and opened the door. Rude I muttered. There on the porch stood Uncle Charles, his face lit up and a huge grin formed on his face when he saw Elliot and I. We hugged and exchanged a few words before Uncle Charles picked up his suitcase and walked into the kitchen.

Elliot was about to walk away when I tugged his shirt and sent him a confused look. “What? I thought that the new iPhone I ordered had arrived.” he answered nonchalantly. “What?! You’re getting a new phone?” I exclaimed like a kid on Christmas day. Damn, this boy is lucky. I have asked Daddy for a new phone but he said that we’ll get it when we go to Paris. Elliot simply nodded, looking amused. “Is little Emma jealous that Elliot the Great is getting a new iPhone?” he said in a baby voice. I muttered “Shut up.” and he laughed. It’s not even funny. “Let’s go up to my room and figure out what the poem means.” he asked after recovering from laughing like a hyena. He started walking up the stairs and I trailed behind him.

The poem is not that hard to figure out, especially when we have the help of Mr. Google. The poem described the Lady of Shalott who spent all day weaving magic webs. She was cursed, forbidden to look outside. So instead she watched the world go by through a magic mirror. We figured that this mysterious aunt of mine is lonely and that she hates her life. What we can’t figure out is why.

We were still sitting, enjoying the silence and thinking of the possible reasons why my aunt went missing. Suddenly I remembered something, “Hey Elliot, have you realised that we don’t know her name?” I voiced out my thoughts. Elliot’s eyes widened for a second and he said, “Shit! You’re right, we’re too caught up figuring out this poem.” he slapped his forehead. I laughed, “Yeah, why are we so dumb.” “Because we are cool like that Em.” he laughed too.

Elliot and I were chatting about random things, which is weird considering we were never this friendly towards each other before, when the door suddenly bursted open revealing Anne and Arthur. “We’re going out for dinner in 5 minutes. Get ready sis!” she said happily. Elliot wanted to get changed so I got up and walked as slow as I could to my room to change into a decent outfit.

We had dinner with everyone at a small diner that has delicious pizzas. I ate so much that i felt like I was going to blow up. Hmm my appetite has increased I thought to myself. Elliot has mad a joke about how I can turn into a 8 months pregnant woman in an hour and made everyone on the table laugh. He’s annoying like that.

We were on our way out of the diner when I felt somebody pull me, I tripped on my own foot and almost fell but someone caught me. I was pulled towards a body and when I looked at the mystery man. It’s none other than Mr. Elliot himself. No surprise there, haha. I glared at him disbelieving what he had just done but he ignored my piercing eagle eyes and leaned down until I can feel his lips brush my ear softly. “You know what, I just thought of something. I think I know where to look for your aunt’s name.” he whispered.

After Elliot told me that he might have figured out a few things, we decided to discuss it at home. In the car, on the way home, I kept thinking about the poem. The poem says something about the Lady of Shalott watching the world went by through a magic mirror. Maybe that window is the magic mirror and maybe my aunt wasn't allowed to go out. Did Papy and Mamie not allow her to go out? That can't be.. Papy and Mamie lets Dad and Uncle Charles go out a lot when they were younger.

The ride was quiet, it’s a comfortable silence though. I think everyone is just too full to talk. I step out of the car and Elliot pulled me upstairs the second I step into the house. Elliot told me to sit and he spoke, "I was thinking of the basement when I suddenly remembered that I saw a picture of Papy, Mamie and a blonde girl on the small table. Next to the picture is an envelope which I wanted to take with me but your Lady of Shalott theory made me forget." I stared at him blankly and said "Oh you forgot huh," he rolled his eyes and I continued, "actually, I was thinking on the way home.. The magic mirror mentioned in the poem might be the window and that means that my aunt was always at home. Either she wasn’t allowed to go outside or she was very sick to even go outside. So I thought that maybe we should just ask Papy and Mamie instead of sneaking around like this..” I spoke slowly. “Yeah, I know. But let’s go check the basement once more, if we can’t find anything we’ll ask Papy and Mamie.” he replied.

That night, we snuck out of our bedrooms at 11 and went to the basement through the window. Elliot walked to the small table in the center of the room but when he was about to pick up the letter, someone touched my shoulders and I screamed. Elliot looked back, panic obvious on his face. But as soon as he saw who was standing behind me, he calmed down and sighed. I turned around and my eyes were met with Uncle Charles’ caramel brown eyes. He didn’t look angry at all, instead he looked kind of sad. Elliot was about to open his mouth when Uncle Charles suddenly spoke, “Kids, I know that you both have questions but let’s go back to the house and talk.” Me and Elliot nodded then followed him into the house.

We walked back into the house and sat in the living room, Uncle Charles didn’t turn on the light. Maybe he didn’t want my parents, Papy and Mamie to know that we found out about my aunt. “So, I know that both of you had figured out some things but I’ll just tell you the whole story. My sister, your aunt, was 6 years younger than me and 4 years younger than Mason. Her name is Jessica and she suffered leukaemia..” Uncle Charles told us everything about Aunt Jessica. He also said that Papy and Mamie didn’t allow her to go out as they were afraid that something worse might happen to her. She died 26 years ago, at the age of 16. She never had any friend to play with so she read books in the basement, that basement is where she spent most of the her time. She loved that basement because it held a bunch of books and she loved to read great-grandfather’s novels.

“Please don’t tell Mason or your grandparents that I told you this. After she died, we agreed to forget everything and move on with our lives. Her death had been very hard for us. It is the best to not talk about her, especially in front of your grandparents.” Uncle Charles said. I glanced at Elliot and he was also looking at me. We nodded, said good night and went back upstairs. Elliot asked me to go to his room for awhile so I did.

“Em, this past few days had been fun.” I raised my eyebrows. “I mean it had been nice spending time with you, I’m also not very chuffed about finding out that someone very important to my grandparents and dad had died and it had been kept a secret. But I just wanted to tell you that even though the times we spent together are somehow boring, I liked having you as a company.” he smiled softly. I kept quiet for a while before replying. “Well, I never thought that you actually liked me annoying you but I feel the same El.” I smiled too. “And I think we could be best friends!” I continued, raising my voice and speaking in a overly girly voice. Elliot laughed and replied in the same girly voice, “Yup! We could dress up barbies together.” I bursted out laughing. I want moments like this to never end I thought.

The next week had gone pretty well, I went to school with Elliot and we had most of our classes together. None of us had brought up anything about Aunt Jessica, I think we had a silent agreement between each other that somethings are better left unsaid. Why bring up something that could ruin all the happiness? It’s better to just live the moment and dwell in happiness.

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