The Red Rose - The Prequel

Prologue, Present Day

Present Day,  May 09 2022 

8 pm

A bud is always eager to bloom and spread its fragrance because it doesn't know that the bloom would only last a day. Then it withers into an ugly being that makes people frown at it, the stem too weak to hold its weight and head bowed down in shame. But even then my red rose was always the most beautiful and her thorns were ever the sharpest, piercing through my skin as I tried inching closer to her.

That's what I like about her. I love the torture of being near her. I crave the pain of loving her.

...

I had hurried home from the party. She said she had something to tell me, and said it was urgent. I'm scared of finding out what she wanted me to know but the unknown never scared me. It keeps me on my toes and that's what I look forward to every single day of my life.

There are a thousand questions in my head that I hope she would answer someday and something tells me that that day has finally come.

The moonlight was the only source of light around the house. That's weird; it's never this dark or was it? I quickly got out of the car and rushed towards the door. I reached for the doorknob to open it and peeked inside the house to see what was going on. That was a pretty useless thing to do. It is pitch black inside the house and I can barely see a thing.

She had always loved the dark.

I switch on the lights in the living room expecting her to jump out yelling, "SURPRISE!!" But that didn't happen.

I scanned the living room. I know I shouldn't feel so proud even after all these years but what can I do? The simple yet sophisticated look of the living room is just so her. I was never one to pay attention to such details or spend time designing a living room, with theme and colour schemes but she cares too much about all these and I'm not complaining. The whole room gives a vintage vibe. The beige and brown interiors, the way it was arranged, all of it just screams her name.

I looked around the room to see if she was hiding somewhere but she was nowhere to be seen, so I let out a rather loud, "I'm home..."

I should've gotten a reply for that.

Still nothing.

The extreme silence always bothered me but that's nothing new. I am used to it and somehow I've grown to love the silence that is a part of her and now, me.

Yet, tonight feels different. The silence is bothering me for reasons I don't know. It is as if something in the back of my head is telling me something's wrong. But isn't that how surprises work?

Right? It's all about butterflies in your stomach and a nervous sweat running down your spine.

I looked up at the giant staircase in front of me. There were tons of pictures of us along the staircase wall. They always make me smile. She said we'll fill every corner of that wall with our pictures and I've been looking forward to doing that with her. She's been obsessed with the idea ever since she came across some pins on Pinterest.

She's cute.

I called out for her again from the foot of the staircase, just to give her a heads up before going upstairs and as expected I received no response. Absolutely nothing.

So I slowly climbed the stairs. It is too dark in the hallways and as I approached my room, my inner voices started screaming at me, telling me to stop. But I can't stop. I'm a hundred per cent sure she's waiting for me on the other side of the door. I have to keep going and as I reached my bedroom door, I pushed it open. I felt around the wall near the door for the light switch and flicked it on.