Visions, Love, and Flowers

There it was again, hiding in the sidelines of my vision. The black shadow-like creature stared at me intently. "I know you're not real." I commented blandly. I was starting to get sick and tired of these "visions". My mom was starting to get worried. My father has Schizophrenia, so its always been possible for me to have it. It started to get really frequent around when I turned twelve, I guess puberty pushed it along. Now I'm 22, and I have dealt with it for ten years. After high school I decided to go to and art school near my home town. I moved into an apartment, got a dog, and found work at a local flower shop. I live in an apartment above the flower shop, I rent from my boss. I have a small Chihuahua mix named Nala, due to her tan color and lion-like fierceness.

It was a normal day and I flew through classes then went to work. I had morning classes that day, so I was at work around noon. "Hey, Miss Sue," I mumbled tiredly as I meandered my way to the small shop counter. "Oh, Bailee! You look so tired," she chirped, "You don't need to work until closing tonight. I'll have Wilbur take the last shift." The nice older woman gave me a quick hug and grabbed the phone to call her husband. "Miss. Sue, I'm fine. Just a little tired." She gave me a worried look. "You're not sleeping again, are you?" I sighed," If you're really that worried," I groped around for some money in the depths of my bag," Then take this money and kindly get me a frappichino." Miss Sue's wrinkled face turned into a crumpled smile as she hurried out of the shop.

I sighed and pulled my backpack up on to the stool behind the table. I searched lazily through my bag for my camera case and sketch book. When I had found what I was looking for I put my worn old camera on the table. I carefully lifted it out of its old leather case and breathed in the smell of the animal hide and shining wax. I looked through the old lens and landed on a flower. I stepped a little closer and the snapped my picture. The black and white dew dropped rose was burned on to the old school photo paper.

I hate digital cameras. I either use the camera that instantly discards them or I develop them in my dark room. I sat down my camera and began to doodle mindlessly wondering what topic I'd pick for my art history class. After about twenty eyes were staring back at me from my paper, I smiled and pulled out my lap top. I began to work on my essay for my business class. This way when I started to sell photos, I would know how to do it. Miss Sue walked in, plopped the frappichino down at the desk and left smiling.

I had been typing a good ten minutes and had already competed my introduction paragraph with meticulous wording and keen grammar when the door bell jingled. A chubbier boy stepped into the hop carefully, as if not to disturb the flowers. "You don't have to be so quiet," I smiled, catching him off guard," the posies love a nice chat and the primroses are a loud bunch." He smiled a weak blushing smile,"Oh," he stammered," I thought you were working." I made a gesture with my hand as if to push his words away,"I was just working on an essay for my business class." He gave an understanding nod. He looked around and seemed sort of clueless, so I stepped out from behind the desk to help him. "Anything in mind?" I asked genitally placing my hand on his shoulder. He shook his head no. "Well, I really like white roses, and primroses are my favorite." He gingerly picked up a dozen of lavender primroses. "She's a lucky girl," I smiled. His cheeks turned crimson,"Oh, no. They're for my brother. So he can give them to his girlfriend. He asked me to pick up some flowers."

The way he held the flowers and smiled from within was magic. "Can I take a picture," I asked pulling out my camera. "Sure," he nodded and started to move. "No, like that," I smiled at him, "You have a real smile and the crinkles in your eyes are so natural." He smiled brighter, not knowing that was exactly what I wanted. I snapped a picture and waited for the photo paper to crisp up and let the ink set in. He walked over,"Black and white photos are my favorite." I glanced at him trying not to blush,"Me too." He gave me a happy look then his face turned dark. "Well, I better buy these flowers and scoot." He started towards the counter and I slid behind it. I checked out the flowers and wrote down my number and name on the receipt. I handed it too him and he inspected the number with a smirk. "Bye, Flower Girl." Before I could tell him my name he was gone.

I pulled the picture from the table and inspected it. The way his dark hair contrasted from the pale primroses and his chubby face pulled into a smile was all I needed to remember him. Just then my phone buzzed from the depth of my pocket. It was a message from an unknown number, this is what it said,

"My flower queen
The primrose picker
The white rose of her soul
The photograph
She keeps of me
My heart is trapped inside
A little piece of paper
A flower queen's wish
It holds a phone number
From a girl who needs a kiss"

My heart started pounding. I knew I liked him but, did he like me too? What is happening? I kept scrolling to find there was more a few lines after the poem.

"I'm Charlie, thanks for the primroses. Meet me at Starbucks tomorrow at 8 a.m."

After reading this I felt light as air and the rest of the work day zoomed by. I had a good nights sleep, even through Nalas' excessive barking at the shadows and their whispers of reply. When I woke up It was around 7. I rushed around my apartment throwing on a Lady GaGa tee shirt and a pair of jeans. My black sweatshirt and my knee high black boots topped it off.

I scooped up Nala knowing that the Starbucks workers would let me bring her in. I shoved her down in to my sweatshirt and she lazily lifted her head out to look around. I smiled and ran out of my apartment, pushing aside the shadows that fallowed.



*Hey guys how did you like the story? If you want me to write chapter 2 go ahead and leave a comment!*