Rose

My hand shook as I knocked on the wooden door. Just as I was about to turn around and head back, it creaked open and Merelda's head stuck out slowly. Her stare alone had me already regretting coming here.

"The flower is back," was all she said, her pale eyes latching onto mine.

This was going to be fun. "I need to speak to you.

"About the boy?" I nodded slowly. She opened the door all the way, her small frame standing off to the side of the doorway. "Come in," she grimaced, exposing her yellow teeth.

As I stepped into Merelda's cabin, I immediately realized that maybe this wasn't exactly the greatest idea I ever had.

Or the safest.

Walking into her cabin was like being transported back to mine. They were identical — from the paint on the walls, the furniture taking up the small space and right down to the carpet covering the floor. Except, hers had the lingering scent of dried flowers.

The door slammed shut and I jumped, my hand flying over my heart. Merelda chuckled at my dishevelment as she walked towards the couch. I watched her, her long, grey hair swaying behind her, as I crossed my arms awkwardly over my chest.

She gestured at the chair adjacent to the couch. "Sit," she commanded. I obeyed without hesitation. "You are here. Tell me why."

I chewed nervously on my lip. "The last time we spoke, you seemed to know a lot about Sebastian and I... How?"

"I hear things."

I needed to aim for specificity or this was going nowhere quick. "How did you know my name?"

"I hear things," she repeated.

"What kind of things?" Annoyance had crept its way into my words.

Merelda shrugged, her long fingers curling around a strand of hair. "Words carried by the wind. Words murmured in the trees. I hear it all," her voice was light, carrying through the cabin without a care in the world.

Okay, so she wants to do this the hard way. I forced myself to smile and not throw something across the room. "What do you know about Sebastian?" I asked, trying a new tactic.

Now, Merelda laughed. Her laugh sounded like nails on a chalkboard. I sat there for minutes waiting, growing increasingly uncomfortable, before it subsided and she was ready to speak again.

"He is troubled. Sad. Like myself, he hears the words whispered between the trees."

My eyebrows raised in confusion. "He's like you? What does that mean? What whispers?"

Merelda's pale eyes narrowed. "Ask him."

"He won't tell me!" I sighed in frustration, running my sweaty palms against my jeans. "I'm sorry. He's ...hiding something. I just want to know what it is. You said that I was his newest flower. What does that mean?"

"Violet," she answered. Was that supposed to mean something to me?

"He likes violets?"

Merelda grinned. "Very much. Roses, too."

Great, so Sebastian's secret was that he's a florist. I rolled my eyes as I took a deep breath to suppress the scream itching at my throat. Violets, I forced myself to think about this harder. Roses. A name and a flower. What if ...

"Violet is a person," I breathed.

She's another flower.

Merelda's grin grew. "You're half right."

"Is she his ex girlfriend? Does she live here, too? Is that who he's always talking to?" My thoughts spun out of control as everything began to click together like the pieces of a puzzle.

I leaned forward eagerly as Merelda opened her mouth to speak. Finally, I would learn the secret that seemed to be haunting Sebastian. Anticipation bubbled its way up inside me like a volcano. 

"Violet—"

Merelda screamed as the door flung open. Sebastian rushed inside in a daze, staring frantically between the two of us. "What are you doing?" He breathed, staring at me, his eyes wide as saucers, as water dripped off his hair and splattered onto the floor.

"Get out!" Merelda cried at the top of her lungs. I bolted upright, torn between running to Sebastian or comforting Merelda.

Before I could make up my mind, Sebastian ran to me. His hands latching onto my shoulders like an anchor. "What did you say to her?"

"I—" My gaze snapped between the two of them quickly. Merelda was still screaming, her hair whipping behind her from the wind entering through the open door. She was a force of sheer power, one not to be reckoned with. 

Sebastian grabbed my face in his hand, pulling my attention back to him. "Rose," he demanded. "What did you ask her?" His wild eyes held the secrets I would never know.

I raked my brain for an explanation but everything came up short. "I'm sorry," I choked out, pushing Sebastian off of me as I ran out of the cabin as fast as my legs would allow. 

I slammed the door to my cabin behind me with all my force but it wasn't enough to block out Merelda's screams. They vibrated through the wood and echoed in my ears. I squeezed my hands over my ears as I leaned against the door to regain my breath.

Merelda was about to tell me what I so desperately wanted to know before Sebastian interrupted. "What have I done?" I groaned, sinking to the floor and burying my head in my hands.

The look in Sebastian's eyes was burned into my mind. The sadness, the anger. The ... betrayal.

But I had to know.

He was talking to someone. And now, the mystery figure had a name: Violet. The first piece to a puzzle I was no closer to solving.

But now that I had a taste, I wanted more. I needed to know who she was and why she was here. What she meant to Sebastian and why he was so adamant to hide her from everyone ... From me.

Mostly, I just wished Caleb was here to hold me. Times like this, I missed the comfort he provided. I missed the way he'd rub my hair and tell me everything was going to be alright. But the further I went into this web of secrets, the worse I began to feel.

And the further I began to feel from Cal, too.

Pushing up from the floor, I ran to my bedroom and held the frame, the only reminder I seemed to have of him, to my chest as I sat on the edge of the bed. His lovely eyes stared back at me like a warm embrace. If he were here, my heart wouldn't hurt this much. 

A tear splashed onto the cool metal, blurring out Caleb's face, and I wondered when I had started crying. 

I set the frame down and rushed to the washroom, staring at myself in the mirror. The skin beneath my red eyes was stained with tears and my hair clung to my wet face. I looked exhausted, like a shadow of myself. 

Splashing water on my face, I attempted to wash away the mess and hoped the guilt lingering in my gut would vanish with it. This wasn't me. I didn't cry. I didn't kneel when problems were thrown my way. My boyfriend died and although a part of me died with him, I still made it out alive. I was a fighter and, I decided, I wouldn't stop now.

I dried my skin and tugged my hair back into a ponytail. This time, the reflection staring back at me looked determined, strong — not weak.

I told Sebastian that him not telling me his secrets didn't bother me. I lied.

I also tried to tell myself that I didn't care for him. I lied again. His eyes were a black hole that kept drawing me in. And no matter how hard I fought, I was absolutely powerless against them.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts. I placed the towel back on the counter and breathed in deeply to steady my pounding heart. It was either Sebastian or Merelda standing out there. I didn't know which one scared me more.

Slowly, I peeked through the blinds and, to my own dismay, a distraught Sebastian was standing on my porch, shaking. No, he was bouncing on the heels of his feet.  

His eyes met mine through the slit in the blinds and I froze. "Open the door," he mouthed.  

So, I did.

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Please tap the star and vote :)

Lol, okay. Is Merelda just crazy or super smart? Maybe a mixture of both... Also why hasn't anyone realized the significance of her name yet? I'm sad.

Another chapter should be out in an hour or two — woo, double update (kinda). Stay tuned! xo