the little prince.

Tara didn't know what life was. She knew she was living, but didn't understand it.

Why was it so tough? Why did everything have to fall apart when she was so young?

Life wasn't very enjoyable. Tara learned it's cruelty too soon - or maybe too late. She didn't know. After Sam had left her, her father left her and her mother seemed to lose herself, she stopped seeing the colors.

She stopped noticing the sparks life had. Everything was dull, even her friends, who lit up her world just a little.

Wes, a kind little boy, Tara would describe him so. He grew up to still be kind, a bit awkward sometimes, overly prepared for the worst case scenarios. She liked him, but maybe not as much as he did her.

Soon, she met the Meeks-Martin twins. Both so similar, yet different.

Mindy was a little too loud for Tara's liking at first, but it grew on her. She was talkative, loved movies. She grew up to love them even more, maybe got more mature, although she sometimes lacked a filter.

Chad was charming. Somewhat less of a troublemaker than Mindy, but still fun to be around. He grew to be a typical tough guy, the jock. Strong, tall and funny. Tara knew despite his somewhat stupid ideas, he always wanted the best for others.

Tara didn't know Liv as a child very well. She was quiet, always stuck more to playing with a bunch of other kids before ultimately sticking to Chad. Later, she was more open to others, even if she wasn't always hanging out with the group at first.

They were all so different and yet nothing in them seemed to brighten up Tara's world enough for her to feel happiness again. Sure, they made her smile, but at the end of the day she'd go home, get to bed and memorize the pattern of her ceiling for hours, empty.

Tara wasn't necessarily forcing herself to feel. She just existed, she thought everyone did that. Nobody spoke of their late night thoughts, how useless it felt to be so small in such a big world, how lonely it felt - she didn't speak of it either. It was normal, keeping those things to yourself, she thought.

She woke up everyday and took care of herself, others. Her little life was nothing out of the ordinary for a long time.

Then, she met someone.

The colors surrounding her, surrounding everyone, never seemed so strong before, they blinded her. Suddenly, everything was alive and so was Tara. For the first time in so many years, Tara didn't feel lonely in a crowd, no, she felt surrounded by just one person.

Her name was Amber Freeman.

Something Tara has said alone in her room several times, just to feel the name roll off her tongue so effortlessly, like it was meant to be.

Nothing was ever the same with Amber in her life, even if her presence confused Tara at first.

Amber wasn't like anyone else she had met. She knew her way around people, but didn't like them at all. She preferred to be alone, she valued her privacy, despite hosting so many parties each month. She wasn't necessarily a liar either, she did have fun with the people, but sometimes it got too tiring.

She was mean to people she didn't like, less mean to people she tolerated and nice to Tara, which she didn't understand.

Amber didn't say it outright, but she did like Tara, it was obvious. When Mindy jokingly said she only likes Tara's presence, she didn't deny it.

Tara was absolutely mesmerized by the person Amber was. Everything about her was perfect, it was unreal. She grew to envy her a little. She wasn't broken like Tara, she was whole, she didn't hurt.

Tara learned that isn't true. The image of Amber immediately changed in her mind.

She was perfect again, she was like Tara, broken. She was her missing piece.

Amber was the first person to make Tara curious, to make Tara angry, envious and to make Tara love.

One day, she lost Amber. They argued, which surprised everyone in their friend group. No one knew Amber and Tara were capable of fighting.

Tara was upset with her, she seeked someone else, someone who could fill the void Amber left behind.

She couldn't.

Amber was the only person who understood her. Despite being able to find tens of girls who were seemingly just like her, nobody could replace Amber Freeman.

Tara was broken again, it seemed. She realized how stupid it had been, after remembering how they met.

She had spent days, weeks even, trying to get Amber to be a little nice to her, as she wanted to befriend the new girl at school. She was insufferable the first week, Tara thought. They hated each other.

Tara still spent time with Amber. Nothing could stop her.

That's why, eventually, Amber did say something nice.

"You're not as much of a loser as I thought, Carpenter."

The way her lips curled into a smile left Tara speechless, as she felt her own do the same. That was the first time Amber complimented her, in a way.

Now that they were apart, Tara longed to see her smile again.

They did make up.

Tara couldn't be any more happier. She realized something.

She loves Amber.

Tara loves Amber.

Tara Carpenter is in love with Amber Freeman.

Mindy didn't seem surprised at all, but Tara was. No wonder her life was so much nicer when she showed up. It was love at first sight, maybe. She doesn't believe in things like that.

Amber loves her too, she soon learned.

The feeling of her lips on Tara's felt like the whole world stopped just for them. It was just her and Amber in that moment, nobody else in the world other than the two of them in each other's embrace.

Amber was the lone fox she befriended one day. Then, she was the beautiful, unique Rose that Tara looked after, as much as she looked after her in return.

Everything she went through with Amber, the beautiful feelings she got to experience, everything withered away in the moment she pulled the trigger, pointing at her beloved.

Her beautiful Rose withered away.

Tara dreamed of her every day. She wouldn't leave her head, she lived there, forever.

She was dead, but to Tara she was well. She wasn't gone, no, she just moved to Tara's mind. She got so sick of other people, she needed just Tara.

She fell into a spiral of constantly breaking down and talking to herself. It was okay. No matter how many times Sam tried to tell her she's gone, Amber would just remind her later in her dreams that she was still there.

She was still her beautiful Rose, just blooming somewhere else.