The Story of Her Holding an Orange Read Free Page A

don’t pay him any mind,” said my brother while helping Rose with her coat, “and thanks so much for the gift; it’s exactly the one I wanted.”
    “Oh, you’re most welcome, Mijo,” she said. As she walked out of the house, she turned around, looked at me, and said, “And I’ll see you soon, Milos.” Her creepy fucking grin was the last thing I saw before she shut the door. 
    “Did you see that?” I asked my brother.
    “See what?”
    “You didn’t think that was weird at all?” I asked, almost begging for some sort of confirmation that I wasn’t the one going crazy.
    “Dude, you need to chill out with this whole Rose thing. She was awesome tonight. And she didn’t harass you, did she?”
    I hung my head in defeat. “No,” I admitted.
    “See? It’s all good. Now, let’s get some sleep; we gotta get up early and clean this place before Mom and Dad come back.”
    I slowly walked to my room, feeling the frustration build inside me. I felt so helpless. Not even my own family would believe a word I said. I walked into my room and collapsed on the soft bed. I was so tired that I fell asleep immediately, without even taking my clothes off. At some point during the night, I got really cold, so I rolled under the blankets without really waking up. I was all set to go right back to sleep when I felt something cold and wet underneath me. 
    “What the fuck…?” I said out loud. I jumped and flipped the light switch. 
    In my bed was a crushed orange. 
    Tears started pouring down my cheeks. At that moment, I realized that there was no escape for me. I had nowhere to run, and Rose’s persistence was so convincing that I had no doubt she’d eventually get what she wanted.
    I stood looking at that crushed piece of fruit for a good ten minutes. I wanted to look through the window, but I was afraid of what I’d see. I walked over to my brother’s room.
    “Mijo,” I said, shaking him. “Mijo, wake up. There’s an orange in my bed.”
    “What?” he asked, sounding angry that I woke him up. “What’s happening?”
    “Rose left an orange in my bed, man.”
    “Go back to fucking bed. I swear, you and your fucking oranges,” said my brother as he turned around and went back to sleep. 
    That was when I knew that this would be a journey that I’d have to take alone. Rose was far too good to give away her monstrous nature in front of others. What bothered me the most was that she harassed me in the subtlest of ways. On the balcony, she acted crazy right until my mom walked in, then switched back to normal. She stood at my bedroom window and got away right before my dad was able to spot her. In the living room, she was a child-puppet who turned into a normal adult only in my mother’s presence. And finally, she was the center of my brother’s party but had managed to leave a message strong enough to make me cry, yet not big enough to make my brother think anything strange was happening. She always danced around the edge of being discovered but was too good (or experienced) to actually reveal her true self. And that is what was driving me insane.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    THREE
     
    The Final Incident and Farewell Rose
    One full year had passed since the first time Rose had offered me the orange. While I was always on the lookout for her to show up at my window, I had other things on my mind. Since I was making a name for myself in the basketball world, many American colleges had heard of me and started the recruiting process. Wanting the degree, but also secretly wanting to get away from the discomfort of always having to have my guard up, I decided to head to the U.S. After much debating, I chose Penn State University as my school. I had about four weeks to get ready for my American adventure, so I headed over to a basketball camp in a city some 40 miles away from home. 
    Training and mental preparation went according to plan. Multiple workouts a day and studying for the SAT in my hotel room was my