wildflowers/marcus abbott/on hiatus

ii.

FLO GRABBED THE HAT OFF OF THE WINDOWSILL and placed it upon rose's head, making sure she would at least have a little bit of warmth on the trip. she took a thin flannel she had and put it over rose's white shirt.

buttoning up her own brown flannel, flo grabbed a hair tie and tied her knotted-hair back and away from her face. after how many days they had been in that cabin, they were finally going to leave. once and for all.

rose grabbing the rabbit she had by it's ears and dragged it along with her as she went outside to wait and cool off. flo picked up her bag and followed after her.

she grabbed rose's hand and they began to walk away, before flo came to a stop, remembering something that could be a great tool.

"stay here." flo whispered, holding up her hand in a stopping way, as she quickly went up the stairs into the cabin.

rose stood there and looked around the forest. all the trees either had a couple orange and brown leaves or none at all. they had all fallen to the ground. she had learned in her kindergarten class that it was apart of fall. it made sense to her. if all the leaves were falling, that meant it was fall.

looking around once more until flo came out, she noticed a bundle of flowers by a tree's visible roots. thinking that the flowers were pretty enough to give to flo as a little gift, she began walking towards them. they were blue with little spots on them, which made rose happy due to flo's favorite color being blue. and once she was just about over there, she was stopped.

flo came up behind her and picked her up, stopping her from going any further. the idea of a twig snapping, rose falling, or even just stepping on a crunchy leaf terrified her to death. and the moment she went outside and saw her off the trail? her instincts kicked in and picked her up.

"what were you doing?" flo whispered, shrugging her shoulders.

rose turned towards the tree and pointed at the wildflowers, and flo followed her eye-level. her eyes quickly found the flowers she was talking about and looked at rose.

"why do you need them?" flo whispered.

rose pointed a finger at her sister, signaling that they were actually for her.

flo's heart warmed up at this small action her sister did. she smiled and turned towards the flowers, picking one of them up and tucking it behind rose's ear.

"my favorite color on my favorite person." flo whispered, as rose smiled happily at her.

the older sibling nudged her head towards her bag, signaling that they should get going. rose lifted up her rabbit into her arms and walked by flo as she grabbed her softball bag.

flo finally grabbed rose's hand, and the two were off. never to be seen at the cabin together again. it was a great feeling, such as the feeling of getting out of school for the summer. the stress basically slides off your shoulders, you can feel your breathing go back to normal, and just maybe, the air smells a little fresher.

but flo felt different. yes, of course she was free from the cabin, but her shoulders still felt heavy. the stress of taking care of a little girl in a world where you can't talk overcame her.

"just wait for the outcome, florence." she told herself in her mind, as the softball bat sticking out of her bag shuffled a little bit.

••••

AFTER ABOUT 15 MINUTES, the two made it into town. they headed straight towards a diner, planning to stay there for a while, maybe even just for the night. the thought of going a different direction from their cabin was terrifying. what if it wasn't worth it? what if the people wouldn't help them? thoughts rushed through flo's mind as her hands became sweaty.