Rosemary Bakshi's Arc

Chapter 3 of 7

Morning came soft and yellow through Rosemary's window. She reached under the purple blanket for the little grey mouse with the pink dress and cross-stitched eyes. Her hand found only sheet. She sat up fast. The blanket slid to the floor. She checked the empty blue-and-cream chair by her bed, where the mouse always sat at night when she wasn't holding it. The seat was bare. Just a small dent in the cushion, mouse-shaped and waiting. Rosemary's chest went tight. She looked under the pillow. Under the bed. Inside her boots. She shook out the blanket. She crawled along the rug, lifting every book and sock. The mouse was not anywhere a mouse should be. Rosemary padded down the stairs in her socks. Her father was packing trays for the bakery, sleeves rolled, apron already dusted with flour. "Papa, my mouse is gone." Anand stopped at once. He crouched down. "Okay. We'll look. When did you last have her?" "In bed. I had her in bed." He nodded like this was a real problem, the kind grown-ups took seriously, and went to check the couch cushions. Her mother came in from the hall, hair pinned back, car keys in one hand. "What's missing?" "The mouse," Anand said. Madhuri set the keys down. "Then we look properly. Rosemary, you take your room again. Slowly this time. I'll take the laundry basket and the kitchen." She didn't rush. She didn't sigh. She just started lifting things, one by one, the way she did everything. They searched for almost an hour. Behind the couch. Inside the dryer. Under the dining table. Clove even checked the recycling bin. The mouse was not in the house. Rosemary sat on the bottom stair and pressed her face into her knees. Her mother sat beside her and put a warm hand on her back. "We'll keep looking tonight," Madhuri said quietly. "Things turn up. But right now, we have to go." Rosemary nodded. She slid her feet into her shoes. The empty chair upstairs stayed empty, and something small and certain in her chest understood that the mouse had not simply wandered off.