Il mio fiore

Chapter 3

𝑅𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑆𝑚𝑖𝑡ℎ

His aura was indecipherable. His stare was long but soft, intent but searching, almost as if...𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 but that wasn't possible, who'd want to admire a person such as myself. Imagine me thinking a hunk like him would admire my despicable features, even I can't stand how I look like. A man such as himself who probably has girls falling at his feet heeding to my existence, I must have been seeing things, unimaginable things.

With a huff I twist the front door knob, shaking my head a little to relieve myself of my oppressing thoughts.

"you're back"

Alyssa says, stopping on her tracks and facing me with an open book in her hand.

"remember that book we saw at the book store the other day, I actually found it on sale online and so I—"

Typical Alyssa, she was pissed at me a few hours ago and now she's acting like nothing happened. Well that's just a trait she got from my mum, forgiving easily.

"—and it's actually very interesting, that was why I-"

"Alyssa!"

I hear Anais yell from up stairs, ripping Alyssa of her possibly never ending flow of words.

"I need my oversized Ed Sheeran hoodie, I'm gonna be late for the concert!"

Anais yells hurriedly.

I still don't get why mum let's her go places whenever she wants to.

"remember I'm coming with you because I'm driving you there so we don't go till I say so princess"

Alyssa says in a 'duhh' tone followed by Anais's groan of frustration.

Alyssa turns to me.

"mum's out for work, she says she won't be back till 12 and Anais and I won't be back till 10"

She says, glancing at her wristwatch.

"it's 4:50 now, I'm gonna go grab the car keys. There's probably some left over macaroni and cheese in the fridge"

She says, turning and walking towards and up the stairs.

"Alyssaaaaaaa! "

Anais wines.

"shut up Anais or I'll make sure you don't go to the concert!"

Alyssa yells in a daring tone, her stance, one of challenge.

She just knew how to be a challenging older sister and Anais fears her at these times, heck even I do.

With a snicker, I walk towards the kitchen.

A ding from my phone grabs my attention from the heating up macaroni in the microwave. Alyssa and Anais left sometime ago leaving me alone in the house, just the way I like it. I pick up my phone, unlocking it in the process.

'𝐈𝐦 𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞'

A message from Eli read.

I thought he was grounded.

Momentarily forgetting the heating up macaroni, I walk towards the front door unlocking it and twisting the knob. Pulling the door open I'm immediately tackled to the floor in a hug.

"what the-Eli aren't you meant to be home, the f**k are you doing here?"

I ask with creased eyebrows.

He raises his eyes to meet mine and I'm taken aback by the glistening tear in his ocean blue eyes. His features were coated with fear and sadness and I could almost feel it in the way he held me.

"what happened Eli, are you okay?"

I ask alarmingly wondering when I last saw him like this.

"mum got into an accident"

And with those words, my heart dropped.

A beep from the kitchen reminds me of the macaroni I left to heat up. I gesture for Eli to get up and he does so, assisting me to get up aswell.

I walk into the kitchen and towards the microwave with Eli trailing behind me. Slipping on the oven mitt, I open the microwave and take out the bowl of macaroni.

"explain to me exactly what happened"

I say, placing the bowl down on the counter and taking off the oven mitt.

"when I got home after dropping you off, mum wasn't home"

His deep voice croaks out as I take out two food bowls, dishing out the macaroni with a wooden spoon.

"dad wasn't home aswell so I just thought they stepped out. About 20 mins ago, I got a call from dad saying I should come to the city hospital cuz mum was in an accident"

He finishes, his broad shoulders slumped down in despair. I place the spoon down, walking towards him looking up to meet his gaze in his height of 6ft1. I cup his cheeks as he stares down into my eyes, a tear contradicting his usually happy demeanor.

"I can't go alone Rose"

He says, his features coated with despair and fear.

"I'll come with"

Hospitals, one of the places I fear the most. A place that carries so much pain, the weilder of a person's loss. A place with the memory of a grieved and the presence of a grieving behind each door. A place....I lost my dad.

Walking through the double-doored entrance of the hospital, the familiar smell of disinfectant filled the cold air that hit my nose as I looked around the familiar white walls of the lobby.

Eli, beside me as we walk towards the check-in point.

"good evening, how may I help you"

The nurse behind the desk greets with a smile.

"Davidson"

Eli says in a low voice, not wanting to say further. The nurse creases her brows glancing at me and I give her a tight smile. She looks towards the computer screen, squinting her eyes before looking back up to us.

"3rd floor, room 056"

She says. My breath hitches as my legs become immobile. It's like a nightmare brought to life. My heart slams in my chest like a church bell, the deafening ring in my ear rules out every other sound. My eyes blur in renewed memory. One moment he was fine and the next he was gone.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒔.

"𝑫𝒂𝒅! 𝑫𝒂𝒅! 𝑫𝒂𝒅!"

𝑰 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕.

"𝑪𝒍𝒆𝒆𝒆𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒓!"

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒄𝒕𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒛𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅.

"𝑫𝒂𝒅𝒅𝒚!"

𝑰 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓 𝑨𝒏𝒂𝒊𝒔 𝒚𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒈 𝒂𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍.

𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒖𝒎 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒅 𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏, 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒃 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕. 𝑯𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒆𝒅.

𝑰 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒅𝒓𝒐𝒑.

𝑹𝒐𝒐𝒎 056.

"—rose! "

Eli yells, snapping me out of my daze.

"what's wrong?"

He asks, concern coating his features.

"uhm nothing"

I say shaking my head, feigning a smile.

He nods and leads my slightly shaking figure towards the elevator.