Until The Last Petal Falls

Midnight's Gift

I stood frozen in the doorway, staring down at the rose.

It was pristine, its petals a deep crimson that seemed to glow against the damp, gray stone of the porch. The rain fell softly around me, but the rose looked untouched—perfectly dry, as if the storm hadn’t dared to mar it.

My chest tightened as I bent down to pick it up, my fingers brushing its smooth stem. No thorns. No imperfections. Just the soft weight of something impossibly beautiful, impossibly real.

I stepped back inside, closing the door firmly behind me. The house felt colder, the silence heavier, as if it were holding its breath.

The rose sat in my palm like a question, its presence too deliberate to ignore. Who had left it there? And why?

The clock on the mantel chimed midnight, each note ringing out with a clarity that made my skin prickle. My birthday.

I set the rose on the kitchen table and leaned against the counter, staring at it like it might spring to life. Grandma’s stories echoed in my mind—her warnings, her cryptic tales of love and fate.

“When the last petal falls, love will seal your fate,” I whispered to myself, the words tasting bitter now.

I didn’t sleep.

Instead, I paced the house, my thoughts churning like the storm outside. The rose on the porch, the glow of the one in the attic, the journal’s cryptic warnings—it all felt like a puzzle I didn’t have the pieces for.

As the first light of dawn crept through the windows, I found myself standing at the base of the attic stairs again.

This time, I didn’t hesitate.

The attic door opened easily, and the cold air greeted me like an old friend. The rose in the case glowed softly, its light spilling across the floor in gentle waves.

I stepped closer, my heart pounding as I reached for the case. My fingers brushed the glass, and the glow intensified, pulsing like a heartbeat.

The pull was undeniable now, a magnetic force that left me no choice.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted the lid.

The scent of roses filled the room, sweet and heady, as if every bloom in the world had converged in this one space. My fingers trembled as they hovered over the rose, the air around it vibrating faintly.

When I finally touched it, the world shifted.

A rush of warmth shot through me, followed by a cold so sharp it stole my breath. The attic dissolved into darkness, and for a moment, I was weightless, suspended in a void that felt both endless and suffocating.

And then, I was somewhere else.

The first thing I noticed was the light—golden and soft, filtering through the leaves of an impossibly large tree. Its branches stretched high above, their tips vanishing into a sky that shimmered like molten silver. The ground beneath my feet was cool, covered in moss that glowed faintly with every step I took.

I turned slowly, trying to make sense of my surroundings. The air was thick with the scent of roses, stronger than ever, and the distant sound of water lapping against stone reached my ears.

Before I could take another step, a voice broke the silence.

“Seraphina. You shouldn't have touched it”

I spun around, my heart leaping into my throat.

The man stood beneath the tree, his golden eyes fixed on me. He was tall, his presence commanding yet strangely familiar. His dark hair fell in soft waves around his face, and the faintest hint of a smile tugged at his lips.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said, his voice low and steady.

Every instinct screamed at me to run, to retreat back into the attic and pretend this wasn’t happening. But something rooted me in place, something in the way he looked at me—as though he already knew me.

“Who are you?” I managed, my voice barely more than a whisper.

He stepped closer, his movements fluid and deliberate. “I am Elias,” he said simply, as though that should explain everything.

I swallowed hard, my mind racing. “How do you know my name?”

He didn’t answer immediately, his gaze dropping to the rose still clutched in my hand. “Because you’re the one I’ve been bound to,” he said softly. “And now that you’ve touched the rose, whether you believe in curses or not, Seraphina Laurent, you’ve just sealed your fate..”