Rosalie and her quiet friends

*Rosalie* Her name was Rosalie, and she was not sad. She just liked sitting still. Every evening, she lit three candles one for Mr. Bones on the left, one for Mr. Bones on the right, and one tall red one in the back that was just a candle, not a Mr. Bones. The roses would fall around her, one petal at a time. "Are you lonely?" people would ask if they ever found her. She would blink her big hazel eyes and shake her head. "No," she'd say. "The skulls are excellent listeners. They never interrupt. And the roses never stop showing up." And then she would sit, hands folded neatly in her little black dress, keeping her vigil not scary, not sad, just very, very good at being there when the candles needed someone to watch them glow.