Roses I Send to You (Beauty and the Beast)

Amelie the Emotional

The next few days were a blur for everyone in the village. Madeleine looked so beautiful during her funeral, and I was happy that she got to go to Heaven, but I was also sad that she couldn't be with me. I had a lot of friends in the village, but none if them were as special as Madeleine was. I knew that I couldn't get that kind of relationship again from any of my existing friends, so I decided to approach someone who wasn't my friend.

Chandler was at the burial, and he seemed almost as sad as I was, which surprised me. After all, he and Madeleine had never spoken. I was very confused, so I decided to approach him before the burial officially started.

"Chandler? What brings you here?" I politely asked as I batted my eyelashes. I knew it would be seen as rude for me to be flirting during my best friend's burial, but Madeleine would have wanted me to do it. 

"I....well......" he started. It looked like he wanted to say something in particular, but I knew that the next words he said wouldn't be true. "I'm here out of respect. You know, for Madelyn."

I was right. He was lying. Naturally, I told him so.

"I can tell you're lying. I don't even think you knew Madeleine. Yes, her name is Madeleine and it rhymes with twine. It's not Madelyn-rhymes-with-win. So...," I said while playfully touching his arm. "Spill it. Why are you here?" 

"I.......maybe you.....might need a friend....." The instant he said it, he looked like he wanted to take it back. He just said we were friends! I thought to myself. 

"Actually, I do."

The two of us held hands as her coffin was brought to the hole in the ground. He held my hand and I cried into his shoulder as my best friend was placed in the earth. I had collapsed to the ground and he was helping me up when they started putting dirt on her. 

I stood alone as I placed a rose on her grave.

As everyone had started to leave the grave site, Chandler and I were left alone. It was almost twenty minutes before either one of us said anything.

"Will you come with me? I need to do something for Madeleine," I asked him. He nodded, and I led him down the Rose Path to the creek. The two of us walked along the water's edge in silence until I stopped at the willow tree where Madeleine and I were trapped during the storm. 

"What do you need to do?" he asked me.

"We need to do it together. Follow me," I told him. While still in my fancy dress, I climbed the willow. Chandler followed me until I stopped at the stub that stuck out where a limb used to be. 

"There was a branch here, and Madeleine was sitting on it when it broke. That's how she died," I said before pausing to shed a tear. "She wanted to prove that the storm wasn't dangerous. I need to stand on this stub and jump into the river. I won't be able to move on unless I carry out her final wish. Hold my hand and we'll do it together. For Madeleine."

Chandler looked me in the eye and, when he saw that I was serious, took my hand so we could jump together.

We jumped.

The water was freezing. 

But Chandler and I didn't leave. We spent the next thirty minutes treading water and, in my case, crying. But I was happy. Chandler and I were...friends? I wasn't what we were at that moment, but Madeleine wanted me to be close to him.