break the heartbreaker : luke

petal

8:32am

i rummage through the box, looking for something that will catch my eye the most.

my eyes settle on a small ziplock bag, still not being able to paint out what the item inside of it is.

i pick it up, and and inside is this small, brown circle that almost looks like paper, or a leaf. it's not entirely brown, as there are some streaks of yellow and red, but brown is the most prevalent color.

i look through the letters until i see the one labelled "dried flower petal."

i look at the item inside the ziplock bag again, and it's shape starts to make more sense. this isn't a piece of paper, nor is it a leaf. it's a single, dried up flower petal.

"don't fucking tell me this is what i think it is," i say, starting to unfold the letter, "she couldn't have."

i take a deep breath in and out before reading, mentally preparing myself. if this is what i think it is, i'll lose it for sure.

"i used to think that receiving flowers was really overrated. what's there to enjoy about receiving something that you know is gonna die? something that you have to watch everyday as it withers and withers? where's the joy in having something beautiful one day, then having it slowly die the next day?"

what a way to start this letter, huh.

"this used to be my opinion about flowers. i had received flowers from exactly three men, and the third one was the one that finally made me appreciate receiving flowers,"

"the first person to give me flowers was ashton. we were in third grade, in art class, to be more specific. we were tasked to create any piece of origami, as long as it's complicated enough to be done by a third grader. which means no paper airplanes and no paper boats."

"i was really fascinated by frogs at the time, so i decided to make an origami frog. the one that can jump when you press down on the back part of the origami. ashton, on the other hand, sat far away from me and wouldn't tell me what he was making."

"the time came when we had to present our works in front of the whole class, and i was proud to show them that my frog did indeed jump, and my inspiration for it was something as simple as, because i really like frogs."

"when it was ashton's turn, he showed us a red origami rose. complete with a green stem and leaves. he was so proud of it, and he said his inspiration was that he wanted to make a rose that'll never die."

"and guess what? ashton, knowing that i hated receiving flowers knowing they were going to die, gave me that origami rose. he said "you won't hate this. this is a flower that'll never die." and i still have the same origami rose displayed in my room."

"the second man to give me a flower, is no one but mr. rowens. yes, my dad. it was a regular weekend at the mall, and we were at the flower shop because dad always gets mom flowers any chance he has."

"this particular time, dad wanted to reward me for getting an a on my science project. he wanted to get me flowers, too, but he knew that i didn't like them when they start to wither."

i stop reading, hearing creaking sounds coming from the couch across my room. michael's probably just tossing and turning.

"so he got me a plastic sunflower, which came with a white plastic pot. he said that it's still a flower, but it won't wither like the others. it's currently displayed on my desk, right next to the origami rose from ashton."

"there's another thing displayed next to them. a remembrance from the third time i received flowers. it was the first time i received real flowers, so of course i took a part from it that i can keep forever."