Must the Flowers Die

Chapter 1: Americana

Mia felt bile rise in her throat as she stared at the scene in front of her. The house that she had known so well was no more. It was now a jumble of wood and bricks. A huge hole marred the ground, and bodies were everywhere.

How did it come to this? She felt like she was in a bad dream. She was so naïve, to believe that everything would work out.

Mia scanned the scene, and her eyes focused on Alice and Steve. Alice was working to free Steve from some debris that pinned him to the ground. Her eyes were glazed in shock, and Steve wasn't budging. Then Mia saw a movement that made her blood freeze. Liam moved towards them, with a sword in one hand and a gun in the other. His face was remote and passive, as if his body was acting of its own accord. Mia's mind refused to register what was happening. He couldn't. He couldn't. Liam's sword sliced cleanly through Alice. She let out a little gasp and collapsed forward as Liam pulled out his sword, blood already pooling around her. Liam then moved towards Steve.

"No Liam! No!" She heard herself scream.

Her body then tumbled forward, as if rocked by some invisible force, into the empty space in front of her. She looked up, eyes wide, and her fall seemed slow, an airy dance in zero gravity. But gravity existed, and she plunged down the sheer cliff.

CHAPTER 1

First day of school of senior year.

Mia Tao locked the door of her trusty old Corolla and stared up at the sterile façade of Leslie Mann High School. She sighed and resolutely accepted that this was her lot in life.

One more year. One more year until college. Until she could get out of the destitute, mid-sized, suburban wasteland of Piston, SC. Until she could start living.

One minute out of the car, the hot humid South Carolina air had already generated an admirably large pool of sweat on her neck and back, and Mia felt the back of her shirt stick like honey to her skin. Hot, sticky honey. Hot, sticky, salty honey. Mia blew her hair out of her face, and she welcomed the slight breeze caused by her breath. That brief respite died quickly, and the heat resurged immediately after like fiery fire rushing into an oxygenated room.

She rumbled through her book bag to find her cell phone and turned it on silent. The school enforced its cell phone policy with the leniency of an authoritarian prison. One ring, and it was gone forever. Mia suspected the teachers deal in a black market of confiscated cell phones, but alas, there was no proof.

"Hey, Mia."

Mia turned her head and caught the brown crop of one of her best friends Alexander Walter. His long legs crossed the distance between them in seconds, and he slung his arm casually about her shoulders. Alex's god-like Grecian profile was marred by a silly grin, and Mia squinted, the worst haircut she had ever had the misfortune to witness. She could only describe it as a melding of a mullet and a Bieber cut circa 2010.

"What did you do to your hair?"

"I cut it yesterday."

"Where did you go? So I know to never set foot in there."

"I did it myself. You don't like it?"

"Jesus, why did you do that?"

Alex shrugged and grinned, "Ok. I messed up. But no worries. The ladies will still love me."

Mia narrowed her eyes and sniffed disdainfully, but there was nothing to say. The girls in the school would continue to drool over the hunk of man-meat that was Alex, even if he sported a Bieber mullet. Towering at six-feet-four-inches, with a soccer player's body, chestnut hair, warm hazel eyes, and when he wasn't grinning like an idiot, the most sensuous mouth, Alex had an overflowing dance card. Mia could ignore the rest of him, but sometimes, when she looked at the perfect bow of his upper lip, she wished they had not known each other since Alex still peed his bed. As the facts stood, however, the moment usually passed after thirty seconds, and Alex would return to his role as her lovable but completely disgusting best friend. The moment was often shortened by Alex burping in her face.