Just got in (open)

“No problem,” Kenneth said with as kind smile. “I like to do what I can to help my friends. It is getting kind of late, if you’d like to freshen up before bed the bathroom is through the door, on the other side of my bed. Feel free to use any appliances here, there is a fresh towel on the rack in there and there is a lock on the door so you can feel safe, and know I won’t walk in on you.” As he finished talking he started to head into the living room to give Sarah-Rose full privacy.

(Yeah, I’ve seen too many sites die and just be left behind to be forgotten, and I don’t want to see another.)

'Thank you.' She smiled and opened her bag, taking out her bathroom essentials and headed into the bathroom. She had a quick shower, clean her teeth, brushed and dried her hair and changed into her blood red, silk nightdress, before pulling her cream,silk dressinggown over the top. Sarah-Rose unlocked the door and let herself out. She put her bathroom essentials back in the bag before heading into the living room area.
'Thank you, I'm done. It's free now.' She smiled shyly.


(EDIT - Thank you for the dorm! I know what you mean. It sucks!)

As Sarah-Rose walked into the living room Kenneth looked back at her with a few pictures of his family laid out on the table. “Oh good, just in time, I got some other pictures of me and my family if you’d like to see. I’ll go ahead and get ready for bed while you look at them.” He got up and walked into the bathroom.

One picture has his mother and father and him as a 5 year-old when they moved into a big house.

Another is him not smiling when he got his diploma and another one of his mom forcing a smile onto him face while his dad took the picture.

One is of him as he is moving out of his parent’s house and into the dorm he lives in now.

One is of him going to his first party and another of him unintentionally drunken with the biggest smile he had ever had, and his new friends walking him to his mom’s car. She was a little upset that he was drunk, but she was extremely happy to see him “happy” for the first time.

Another has him sitting as the principal for the first time with a woman in a mirror and another woman; his mom, blanked out from a flash of the camera.

There is another picture stuck behind one of the pictures. The picture is partially burned with words almost touched by the burns, which say “God brought us together, but after years of love, one year of sadness and half a year of unfaithfulness, Satan split us apart. Dated, 02/15/2009”

Sarah-Rose smiled. 'Thank you.' She sat down on the sofa and went through the photos frowning a little. She didn't understand. Why was he so miserable? And what had gone on between him and his mother. This wasnt right. She held the last picture in her hand, her finger running over the edges of the burns wondering what had happened. She guessed he hadn't meant for that one to be there. Sarah-Rose placed it to one side, feeling a little bad that she'd looked at it when he probably didn't want her to see it. Though her mind was buzzing with questions. But they were extremely personal...she didn't want to upset him by asking them.

Kenneth finished up in the bathroom and came out with spiral black and white soft Egyptian cotton pants and a shirt to match, and a towel still hanging from his head as he walked into the living room. “So how do you like my parents? They always did what they could to make everything fun. It just got to the point where I didn’t smile about it.” He said as he walked over to sit next to Sarah-Rose.

Sarah-Rose looked up as Kenneth walked into the living room. She blushed when she saw he was in his pjamamas. She didn't know why, she knew he would be in them but she couldn't help. 'You seem very close with you're mum, she's in most of the photos, though you do worry her at times. How come you stopped smiling though? If you don't mind me asking.' She asked carefully not wanting to upset him.

Kenneth looked at Sarah-Rose, "yeah I love both my parents, even though I didn’t smile, I still had a great time with them. I just never had a good mind to joke around; I was just an audience to all the jokes and fun stories being told. I’m not a comedian and I realized that early in life. That’s probably the one trait I didn’t get from my parents, but I’m smarter than both of them.” He looked down at the pictures to see what he could say about each of them.

“When I was 5 we moved into a new house so we could be closer to the school. That’s about the time when I first stopped smiling. The main cause of it was probably not that I wasn’t a very funny person, but our neighbors didn’t seem right to me. About a month after we moved in I saw what I felt from them… They had a daughter, the first other child I knew in the neighborhood, and possibly my first friend there. Sadly, her parents abused her for their own sexual pleasures.” He looked back up at Sarah-Rose, “I’m sorry this probably isn’t such a good subject to talk about, let’s go to the next picture.”

He looked back at the pictures and thought about which one to pick up next.

Sarah-Rose listened to Kenneth, nodding occasionally. As he talked about the little girl Sarah-Rose wrapped her arms round her stomach, pushing back the memories that were trying to overcome her. She concentrated on Kenneth's voice but it didn't seem to help much. 'Poor girl, its scary when you have no where else to go.' She said quietly, more to herself than Kenneth, her voice barely whisper. Sarah-Rose picked up the one of him at his graduation. 'Why not go in order?' She suggested, forcing a smile to her lips.

Kenneth looked back at Sarah-Rose and knew he had to lighten the mood. “Well the bright part of the other story was that my dad got the girl away and the neighbors went to prison for 25 years” He smiled back at her, sure let’s do that. He looked at the picture and thought…

“Oh, hey this was my greatest achievement to put the entire audience to sleep.” He laughed at his own memories as he continued. “I was the one with all the ‘fancy gadgets and strings’ some worn to the school’s graduation for the first time. Well actually only one, but still… well it was more like a schools personal medal for being a content person and to never give up on anything I had my mind set on. Even though I didn’t smile in the picture, I had my own special grin of achievement coming down off the stage. By this time I had turned down 53 colleges, me… a graduate turning down a college that usually turns everyone else down. Some were low cost, low education but others were like Harvard or some other well known college that hardly ever requests new students, but waits for others to come to them. I was full of myself by that time. I wanted to go to the college my mom and dad went to, nothing more, noting less.”

As he stopped there, he looked at Sarah-Rose in hopes her body expression is better.

Sarah-Rose nodded. 'Did she live with your family?' Her posture didn't change, she continued to force back the memories that were threatening to break her down. She smiled slightly at his comment about putting the audiene to sleep and listened as he continued about the various collages. 'Oh wow. That's impressive. You must be extremely smart then. Which collage did you go to?' She asked. She'd notice his eyes kept glancing at her posture and tried to distract him from it by gettin him to tell her about the other photos.

Kenneth nodded, "She stayed with us for a little while, but her grandparents came and got her. They were in their late seventies and couldn’t harm anyone with a cane. They were better people than their child was. We visited them a few times each year to see how she was. She was doing fine the last time we saw her. I think she went off to do something in the field of medical people… sorry I kind of forgot what they were called.” Kenneth laughed, “Doctors that’s what she went to do.” Kenneth continued to look at Sarah-Rose in hopes to possibly get her to open up if she wanted to, but continued to tell his past.

“I went to a branch off of three different colleges that nobody knew about in a small town with no actual name to it. The total number of students that attended was twelve and we all had the same teachers, but we had a better chance of getting better attention if we needed to. And we almost became close to each other, some of the students actually got married and stayed in the college, it was really easy, and everyone still got a good education and learned what they needed to even with a few distractions.”

He took a breath and decided to ask her, “Are you alright?”

Sarah-Rose nodded. 'Im fine thankyou.' She replied but she didnt move. 'Did you not find anyone at collage?' She asked trying to get him back on the subject of the pictures.

Kenneth shook his head, “No, unfortunately I was probably the smartest idiot back then.” He took a breath to think if he should ask Sarah-Rose if she was sure, but did not want to pry at her past unless she wanted to talk about it. “Well, I don’t think anyone liked me much then either. I was full of myself and probably acted like I knew everything, when I only knew what was in the textbooks. But that all changed when my parents took me to a party and left me there. I was able to experience some things that I didn’t know anything about. Well, more or less I was tricked into drinking and my actions that followed can’t be accounted for really. That’s when my mom took this picture…” he pointed at the one where he has the big smile and walking to the car. “It was also when my life changed for the better. I actually had some friends after then. My attitude was different, not just because I had just graduated from college, but I had more fun that day, since I was five.” Kenneth smiled at Sarah-Rose and continued, “I began to act more like my mom and dad after that day. I talked to different people more, and had fun doing so.”

Sarah-Rose nodded. 'It's a shame you had to learn that way, but at least you did learn. It's made you a wonderful person today.' She blushed. She picked up the picture of him as principle. 'Who are those two ladies?' She asked, pointing to the lady in the mirror and the blanked out lady.

Kenneth smiled as he looked at the picture, “That’s my mom; she had to take the picture with the flash on so she could see me better, but it caused her reflection to be flashed out. She was very upset that it did that, but she knew it would.” He took a breath and to explain the other woman in the picture. “That was before I got together with her, she was just my friend then. She is the woman that is now my ex. It felt like everything was better back then. I had a crush on my best friend and she had a crush on me.” Kenneth looked over at Sarah-Rose, “If you ever meet somebody, don’t move too fast that you don’t know what you’re doing before its too late. Learn who your boyfriend is, and have him learn who you are. If you both have any secrets; share them, if you have anything personal; if you love him, tell him. Don’t hold back, if your relationship is to last, both of you have to work together to make it happen.” He looked down as he continued, “don’t let one argument or disagreement get in the way of your relationship, compromise and work through your differences.” He looked back up at her, “Commitment to one another makes a huge difference in a relationship.”

He looked back at the pictures and noticed they had skipped over the one of his dorm room and as he picked it up he felt the burned picture behind it. “I thought I threw this one away…” he said as he looked at the back of it and read the sentence. “Sorry, maybe I went a bit too far into my feelings.” He looked back up at Sarah-Rose with a small build-up of water in the corner of his eyes, as he took a breath and closed his eyes. “I hope you enjoyed my past.” He smiled at her opening his eyes.

(You probably don't have to listen to, or take anything that is being said to heart. This is more of me just rammbling on about stuff)

Sarah-Rose nodded. She knew he was right. But no one knew about her past other than those directly involved. She'd never said a word to anyone who wasnt there. She didn't know how. It was too hard.

Seeing the tears in Kenneth's eyes she moved forward and hugged him. 'Dont be upset sir. It's in the past now. You can learn from those mistakes. And I did thank you.' She smiled.

Kenneth slid closer to Sarah-Rose and returned her hug, “Yes, but even time can’t heal some wounds…” he looked down at her face, still in the hug. “I’m certain even the pretty girl here in my arms knows this to be true.” He said in a soft whisper. “But talking about what troubles oneself can help the wounds feel less deep.” He kissed her on the forehead and lessened the hug. “It’s getting around the time to head to bed. Would you like to finish story telling time while lying in bed?" He offered.

Sarah-Rose blushed as he whispered in her ear. She closed her eyes as he kissed her forehead, a sudden warmth spread from it to the rest of her body. As he let go she opened her eyes and nodded. 'It's only fair. And maybe you can relate to it slightly.' She told him, a little hopefully.

Kenneth stood up and looked back at Sarah-Rose, “Are you sure you don’t want to sleep on the bed? It’s quite cozy.” He said with a little humor. He turned around and picked up the pictures, and moved out of the way to give Sarah-Rose room to get by.

Sarah-Rose nodded. 'It's not fair to kick you out of your own bed. And it is only for one night. I'll be fine.' She reassured him. She stood up as he moved aside to let her through. 'Thank you.' She smiled nervously at him and headed into the bedroom and sat on the love seat. This wasn't going to be easy. To tell him what had happened. She wasn't entirely sue how to explain it really. But she would just have to try.

Kenneth followed Sarah-Rose into the bed room as he replied to her comment. “Well I don’t think it’s considered kicking someone out of their bed if they put the option out willingly.” He smiled even though she couldn’t see it and thought for a moment about Sarah-Rose telling her story. “I’m not much on the psychology classes, but if telling your story gets to a point that it’s too hard for you, you don’t have to continue. I just believe that if you can get out your past, hard or not it can bring friends, or in the better situation, lovers closer together. Now even though we’re not lovers I’m like to get to know something of my friends past, so I don’t hit any sour notes when having conversations with them.” He put his hand gently on her shoulder, “If your story is too hard we can put it off.” He said out of an assumption of her body language from the other room.


(Sorry it took so long for me to write this, I've been having some problems with my laptop.)

Sarah-Rose nodded 'I guess its not, but still.' She smiled a little. 'Thank you. But you're right. I guess it is better if you do know.' She sat down on the loveseat and collected her thoughts for a moment. 'It sort of happens in three stages.' She explained. 'The first stage was with my parents. I lived with them until I was ten. They went out one evening and never came back. The police think they're dead.' Sarah-Rose told him quietly, fighting back tears.

Kenneth sat next to Sarah-Rose instead of sitting on the bed when he heard that her parent may be dead. As he put his hand gently on her back he said quietly “I’m sorry to hear that.” He sat there intent on listening as much as possible.

She smiled weakly at him. 'Thanks. After that I moved into an orphanage. It appeared really good from the outside but inside it was horrible. The older kids bullied everyone, including the staff and the staff. They...they...' Sarah-Rose stopped, tears taking over stopping her from talking. She curled up into a little ball beside Kenneth.

Kenneth wrapped his arms around Sarah-Rose to comfort her, “There, there it’s ok now, you’re safe…” He always heard stories of how bad some orphanages had been in the past, but never could fathom exactly how bad they were. Probably part of the reason he wanted to learn more about her but not the only reason. He rubbed her back in attempt to soothe Sarah-Roses tears.