The Last Flower on Earth

Emma, the Mystery Girl

I wake up to see that she has rolled over at some point, either she is sleeping, or unconscious people can rollover. Since I didn't know any better, I assumed that she was still unconscious.

Working in the I water some of the plants that require more and pick some of the ripe ones. Thanks to temperature control and a lot of reading about plants, and since it's somewhere around 2200 I can keep them 'in season' year-round.

But the abrupt sound of broken glass and feminine shout roaring from the living room/dining room/kitchen is enough to make me lay down the berries and pay attention to the other human in the bunker.

I rush out to see her with a large knife and a half-eaten carrot, based on how surprised she must be I thought she was about to throw the carrot.

"Where am I! Who are you!" She shouted as she wiggled the knife, some carrot bits fall out of her mouth.

"Connor, this is a bunker. I live here. I found you unconscious on the surface to I brought you down. You're welcome." She took another large bite as I motioned her to put the large blade down.

"What did you do to me while I was unconscious!" She is greatly overthinking this situation. "If it was anything lewd, you're dead!"

My arms fall to my side as I have stopped taking this very seriously. "First of all, please put the knife down, blood is hard to clean, and I don't want you hurting yourself. I took your knives as this is the very situation, I sought to avoid." I was rubbing my face in disappointment.

Mystery girl unarmed herself and finished her meal. "You have fresh produce, where'd ya get it?"

"Homegrown. What's your name by the way?" It's due time I could start asking questions. But God forbid if she asks another one instead of answering.

"Why where you rummaging through my stuff? Hmm? You shouldn't do that." I have time for this, but I don't have time for this.

"In case you were keeping a decapitated head for a snack, now what is your name. Any more questions and your ass is going outside for the Hate Demons." You threatened me with a knife, rummaged through my refrigerator. I give a tired exhale.

"Name's Emma, Emma Vita."

"Connor Martivich. Since I'm the one asking questions now, where the hell did you come from?" I began slowly closing the physical distance between us.

"I... don't really remember. I remember." She loses herself in thought. I get to see her eyes, they're not the normal colours, they are distinctly different, unnatural.

Magentas, purply blues, almost everything between blue and red, excluding blue and red.

My eyes are blue however, blue as the ocean as my mom used to say. That was before the war however, she only exists in me now. I clench my shirt as the broken memories flow back in.

"Your eyes," I say instinctually, my curiosity gets the better of me.

"What. Is something wrong with them?"

"Quite the opposite, that colour, never seen it before." I can't hide the smile.

"Yours too. Such a deep blue."

We both stop talking only to notice we were flirting in a way. A childlike, immature way.

"Well," In an attempt to break the awkwardness, "Feel free to make yourself at home, this place was made for up to fifteen people so get comfy. You're the first lifeform I've seen in just over seven years."

"Seven years?" She sits on the couch, I sit on the one across from her.

"You heard me right. Seven years of total isolation. Well, maybe not seven. I know it's either late into the sixth year or early in the eighth year. Either way you swing it being alone for such stretches of time isn't fun."

She has a concerned face as my head hangs low. "God, I can't imagine that being easy."

I snicker. "The concerning part is it gets easier. The first couple of months slogged by, then the next couple flew by with glee... then the rest of that year slowly and slowly got worse, the loneliness creeps behind you at every moment, the idea of dying alone and nobody knowing haunts your dreams while the dread of knowing that nobody else is alive eats at you. The depression is next, why is it worth surviving if it is truly worthless, why survive when only death awaits you."

I gave a break for her to process, I just met her and I'm already telling her all this. "Then I started getting used to that sensation of pointlessness, that feeling eating away at me. After that I started feeling normal again, just lonely, I always felt lonely, like a part of my heart was hollow. Humans are social creatures, even if we seek isolation, we still come out to talk eventually, but that simply wasn't an option for me. I started going outside at this point, then it really hit me, my reason to live. I found an old flower shop."

She was nodding along. "In that shop, even after all this time, were seeds. A bag of seeds stored and kept alive all this time, I took those seeds and planted them in the garden. The colours, how bright those colours were blew my young mind."

A tear left my eye. "I'd've forgotten how colourful the world can be. So, I decided that I'd grow that garden and wait for the sky to clear up, I'd grow the garden to span the entire field. Then I would die happy surrounded by all those flowers."

"And that's what kept you going? The flowers?"

"Yes, those flowers. The world is so grey and dull," More tears came out, "I wanted to see it have some colour. I can't remember when it had colour."

"Well Connor, I don't remember a world with colour either. So that sounds like a beautiful dream."

I wipe the tears with my forearm. "You don't find it stupid?"

She leans back. "Nope."

I look over at her. "Do you have spare clothes? Or only that outfit." She seems slightly shocked.

"Yeah... I don't... either I didn't have any or forgot to pack it." That sucks, honestly, I couldn't tell you if I have girl clothes on standby.

She looks around the living room. "For a one-man job I can't imagine maintaining this place is an easy feat. How big is this place anyway? 2-3 floors?"

"We have the main floor here. One level down is primarily bedrooms with a game room. Under that is the maintenance quarters and electric slash hydro-related matters, the deep freezer is down there. I never go down that far unless something serious comes up." She nods.

"Well, how about showing me instead of telling me?" I can't say no to a smile like that.