THIRD PERSON NARRATIVE

Poppy was angry, and she couldn’t pinpoint the exact cause of her anger. All she knew was that it settled in the moment she heard Edna was having a dinner to celebrate her birthday that evening.

It made her restless at home and before she knew it, she was marching towards the Chester household when dusk had fallen. She didn’t care that she was anything but dressed for a dinner party and simply barged into the house. It was empty with no furniture but decorated with something that was so Edna. It made her roll her eyes.

The only people in the room which should have been the sitting room, were Isabelle and Mrs. McGregory. Poppy’s anger levelled up when she spotted Belle. Edna had only met her like when, a week ago?

She stomped over to the two, keeping her glare on the dark haired beauty. “Where is she?”

Who was she angry at? At Edna or at Belle?

Belle turned her head and her eyes widened in surprise. “Poppy? Why are you-” She gave her a once-over and confusion was strewn over her face at the appearance of an uninvited guest.

“The birthday bozo. Where is she?” Poppy spat.

Belle quickly regained her composure and replied with a slight stutter, “Last I heard, she was headed to the kitchen to-”

Poppy didn’t let her finish and swiftly headed for the kitchen.

How dare she?

The cause of her anger had started to become clear the moment she saw Isabelle. But when she walked into the kitchen, the sight before her made her boil.

It was her. The impudent wench she’d despised ever since she learnt her name. Because would a poppy come close to the beauty of a rose?

She managed to look perfect in her grey and silver gown, and it matched well with her skin tone. She didn’t even need to try or care about what anyone else thought with how horrendously she was laughing – laughing with Edna.

The two of them stood near the table upon which the creamy birthday cake had been placed, completely lost in themselves.

“Careful or you’ll snort out my precious wine, dimwit!” Edna said between laughs. “And if you dare knock into my cake, I’ll carve your eyeballs out!”

Rosa threw her head back and laughed harder, eyes squeezed shut. Her hand shot out to grab the table, but she stumbled instead.

“Whoa!” Edna held her, leading her away from the table. “That’s enough now. I shouldn’t have given you any wine. Good Lord, you’re weeping! Nuh-uh.” She fished out a white handkerchief from her coat breast pocket and dabbed at Rosa’s eyes. “Have this, Nkwanzi. I need to head back and talk to mother about bringing the cake out. Stay here and compose yourself while I return, okay?”

Rosa sniffled as she nodded, dabbing her eyes with Edna’s handkerchief. But the wide smile never left her face.

Edna pinched her cheek before walking past and heading out the back yard through the front door.

The whole scene had left Poppy agitated to the point of fury. She was angry with everyone at the moment. Angry with Belle, with Edna, with stupid Rosa. Why were they all happy except for her?

She glowered at the dark skinned girl in front of her, who had finally calmed down from her high.

It had always been her. She was the bane of Poppy’s existence, the root cause of all her troubles. Everything would be so much better if she wasn’t in the picture.

Rosa finally recognised her presence and flinched, before scrunching her face in a grimace. “Who the heck invited you? I know Ed didn’t.”

A pang hit Poppy in the chest, but it didn’t quite feel like anger. Was it because of Rosa that Edna hadn’t invited her? It must have been. She bit hard on the inside of her cheek, not letting up on her glare.

“And what are you, the guest of honour?” she growled.

Rosa offered a fake tight lipped smile. “None of your business. But it is mine what you’re doing here.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “Are you going to make Ed miserable even on her birthday?”

She hated hearing Edna’s name roll of her tongue so easily. So easily when she herself had trouble saying it.

Poppy snorted. “Nothing I do can make her miserable today. After all, she always celebrates her existence with both her parents by her side. Today’s no different.” Spite brewed within her as she glared at Rosa. “I can’t say the same for you, however.”

There was a wince in Rosa’s face and seeing her displeasure heightened Poppy’s spite.

“How long has it been? Eight years?” Poppy continued. “Eight years that he’s not been here to celebrate your existence. Your father probably foresaw how much of a lousy, disastrous, unwelcome tyke you’d become and so he left you behind! You know what I think? I think he should have just taken you with him and saved us all the misfortune if he wasn’t going to stick around to raise you properly!”

“POPPY!”

She hadn’t realised she’d risen her voice until Edna’s berating shout made her flinch and her heart jump. She drew her eyes away from Rosa’s still frame and trained them on Edna, who’d just arrived at the back door. Her grey eyes were wide with shock and disbelief while her chest heaved with rage.

The moment of pin-drop silence was broken when Rose swiftly turned and whooshed past Edna, leaving through the back door. For a second, Poppy’s nerves bounced in trepidation that Edna might follow her friend but instead, her eyes remained glued to her.

“What!” Poppy barked, feeling angrier at the hate she saw behind those stormy grey eyes. “I didn’t say anything that wasn’t the truth!”

Within a few strides, Edna was next to Poppy. She winced as Edna grabbed her forcefully by the elbow and dragged her out of the kitchen and into the empty sitting room. She took fast strides as Poppy hobbled behind her, her arm stinging from the vice grip.

“Let go,” Poppy growled as Edna dragged her through the foyer.

Edna only let go once they were outside, and it was to throw her out onto the yard. Poppy stumbled forth but caught herself before she could fall.

“What the fuck is wrong with you!” Ed yelled as Poppy turned to face her, taking a moment to study her expression. She was flushed with anger, basically trembling in it with clenched fists. “How can you spew such insensitive shit out of your goddamn mouth without a care? How vindictive – how cruel can you be?”

“How am I the cruel one when I speak facts!” Poppy shot back. “She’s badly behaved and she wouldn’t be if her daddy hadn’t left her-”

“Shut up!” Edna snarled, flinging her arms to the side. “On more word against Rose or her family, Poppy, and I swear – I fucking swear I won’t let it slide with just my words. Not only are you disrespectful to the living but the dead as well?” She scoffed, incredulity evident on her features. “I see new, uglier shades of you every day.”

Poppy’s anger started to dissipate as a harsher emotion seeped into her chest – hurt. She’d never seen Edna so furious, and she could tell she meant it when she implied she could hit her. All because of Rosa.

“You’re always defending her,” Poppy gritted out.

“Of course I am!” Edna affirmed. “And I always will because she’s my dearest friend. I will always pick her side and always shield her – especially from the likes of you.”

Poppy didn’t want to ask, because she already knew the answer. But she swallowed, and found her mouth running. “Do you love her that much?”

“I do,” she answered in a heartbeat, and instant regret of the question filled Poppy. “It’s obvious that I fucking do, but I don’t expect you to get that. Things like friendship and love are foreign concepts to you and you clearly don’t understand them.”

She scoffed. “You know, after you blew up at me a couple of days ago, I thought maybe we could gradually let go of our animosity. That since you’ve experienced pain as well, you could get to understand others’ pain and empathise. But after today, all I understand is that you’ll always be the cause of it. You just can’t help hurting others, can you? You want to hurt Rose, and you want to hurt me.”

Poppy shook her head as a lump formed in her throat. All the anger had vanished and all that was left was her raw, bare vulnerability. “I ...I don’t want to hurt you.”

Edna barked a harsh wry laugh. “That’s funny because once you hurt Rose, then you hurt me as well. And people who hurt Rose, well...they’re the people I hate most in this world.” Her glare turned cold. “I’m talking about you.”

Poppy’s heart constricted and she found herself taking in more breaths. “You don’t mean that.”

Edna shook her head. “I don’t understand you, Poppy. You tell me you hate me multiple times and when I finally say it back, you refuse to believe it? But you already know that I do and say what I want so this should make it easier.” With a stone expression, she enunciated, “I.Hate.You. Don’t talk to me or Rose ever again.”

She didn’t await a response and just marched back into the house, slamming the door shut behind her.

Poppy found it difficult to breathe and her eyes blurred. She didn’t stop the tears when they fell in hot rivulets, making her dry heave. She didn’t want to hurt Edna and she didn’t want Edna to be furious with her. All she’d wanted was for Edna to see her the same way she saw Rosa.

But all she’d ever been taught to do was compete. Naturally, competition was the only way through which she knew how to interact.

Compete, eliminate, conquer.

Evidently, that foolproof method was a failure in the quest for friendship.

Poppy wrapped her arms around herself and shivered as her body trembled with sobs. No, it was something more than friendship she wanted from Edna. Wasn’t it?

Or was it?

How could she expect other people to understand her if she couldn’t even understand herself?

A/N:

Do you understand Poppy?