Death By Flowers

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Virgil shot upright in bed his heart beating fast. He looked at his clock and sighed at 3:58 a.m. Well, he thought to himself, at least I got a couple of hours of sleep tonight. More than I've had in a while. But this time something was off. He knew he hadn't woken up from a nightmare... So what did he wake up from? His answer came in a harsh coughing fit. It lasted until Virgil coughed up red petals. He looked down at the petal. This again...? Where had it come from? Why did he cough it up? But the biggest question of all- When was the last time he ate a flower? He lay back down, too tired to stay sitting up but too hyper to sleep. So he laid there and played on his phone. Why sleep when TUMBLR?

It happened again during the following days but Thursday morning during the first period it got a lot worse. Instead of the 1 or 2 petals in the past few days, he now coughed up 3 petals and a flower bud. His best friends Deceit and Remus having grown suspicious of Virgil, dragged him to the bathroom and hid in the largest stall.

"All right, spill the tea or spill the blood," Remus said as soon as the door was locked.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Virgil said with his hands placed firmly on his hips before doubling over in a coughing fit.

"Are those flower petals?" Dee asked after a moment of silence.

"Would you believe me if I said no?"

"Absolutely. Now, why are you totally not coughing flower petals up?"Dee asked.

"Did you eat a flower?" Remus asked. "Because if you did you should eat roses so they can scratch your throat."

"NO!" With a sigh, Virgil started to tell them about what had been happening.

He came to a sudden stop when he heard the sound of the door opening followed by the sound of footsteps.

"Do you think they heard us talking about you coughing up flowers?" Remus asked. The footsteps stopped for a moment, then the sound of someone pivoting on their heel, more footsteps, and the sound of the door closing was heard.

"DUDE!" Virgil said throwing his hands in the air. "Why would you say that?!?

"You know I'm impulsive!"

Virgil was about to start yelling again when they heard the door open. He held a finger to his lips to indicate to the others to be quiet this time. There were more footsteps this time. Two guys? There came a light knocking on the door.

"Who is it?" Deceit whispered in a falsetto, opening the stall door slightly.

"Dee, it's Patton and I. Let us in," Logan stated, "If the kid has what I believe he has then the symptoms will get much more severe."

"Please?" Patton added.

After looking for Virgil's approving shrug, Dee opened the door and motioned for them to come in. After some shuffling with Virgil sitting on the toilet and the other four sitting on the floor around him.

Logan pulled out a small notebook and began, "How long has this been occurring?"

"A week," Virgil muttered letting his head hang as the teens around him made noises of protest.

"What color are the petals?"

"Red."

"Do you know what type of flowers they are?"

"Hydrangea, Forget-me-nots, and Tulips."

Logan looked up surprised and Virgil just shrugged. It wasn't his fault he was raised by a couple of lesbian botanists. After answering the rest of Logan's questions there was a moment of silence before Patton got up and hugged Virgil.

"My poor dark strange son!" Patton cried out.

"Patton, not this again. You can't just adopt random things you find." Logan sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Why not?" Patton whined letting go of the frozen boy.

"He totally doesn't do that a lot." Deceit muttered, "He totally didn't try to adopt me and then my dearest brother never stopped him."

Virgil didn't question Deceit as he had a habit of using sarcasm to communicate. At first, Virgil thought it was weird, but by now he was used to it and accepted it as one of his many quirks. He pulled out his phone to check the time. 8:28. They had 2 minutes until the bell rang so they used the time to talk about the possibilities of what Virgil had.

---time skip sponsored by Jefferson being a jerk---

It wasn't until after the school day when Logan finally told Virgil. They stood in front of the library where no one was and after making sure no one was around they walked over by the doors.

"I've been doing some research and what it sounds like is Hanahaki." Logan sat on the bench and pulled out his laptop. He had multiple pages opened but pulled the one he was looking for to the front.

"Hana-what?"

"Hanahaki. It's said to be a fictional disease originating in Japan but there have been 10 reports of it being real. Although it's highly unlikely. It will last 3 to 6 months and must be fixed."

"What happens if it isn't dealt with?"

"The person dies due to suffocating on the flowers."

"So how do you deal with it?"

"Well there are 2 ways," Logan paused to push up his glasses before continuing. "The first way of being surgery. If you choose to get the surgery you will lose your love of all things. You will not be able to feel the emotion love. If you don't want surgery you can always get the person to fall in love with you back. They can kiss you, but the kiss has to be full of love and meaning. Or they confess they also love you but they have to be truthful about it."

Virgil thought about it and slumped down on the bench, "Well... I guess only have half a year to live."