Hanahaki

1

The first time it happened I wasn't all that surprised. I was watching tv, the station was turned to the news. I felt as if there was something trapped in my throat.  I started coughing violently and I felt as if I might throw up.

I ran to the bathroom, the wood floors of my apartment creaking with every step. When I entered I ran to the toilet and placed my hands on the rim. As I stared down into the clear water with my bloodshot eyes, I saw a beautiful rose petal drift down. It all seemed so surreal in that moment. The thought of the Hanahaki Disease affecting me.

It landed on the water causing a ripple effect. A couple of tears fell blending in with the water as petals flew out of my mouth, onto the floor.

Most of the petals didn't even make it in the toilet I was crouched over, they danced on the air to land all over the floor. There were piles of rose petals laying at my feet. By the end of my coughing fit around a hundred petals covered the bathroom tiles. They were deep red contrasting greatly from the white tiles lining the floor.

The smell of roses was trapped in my bathroom. It was sweet smelling. It smelled like the flowers my mother would get me after school plays I performed in, or dance recitals. Those smells always made me happy, but this smell, the same smell,  made me depressed.

I left the bathroom knowing it had finally happened. I finally coughed up petals. My throat burned from coughing so I grabbed a cold glass of water. It brought little to no comfort to soothing my throat, but I drank it anyways. I stood behind the granite countertop looking at the wall.

So this is the end I thought. I'm not getting the surgery and there's no way they would ever love me back, so this is how I die. Alone in a cold world will be the last thing I think about.

I made my way over to the closet to grab a broom. I still needed to clean up the mess I made in the bathroom.

I dragged the broom behind me with my left hand and held my water in my right hand. When I entered into the bathroom, I was yet again blasted with the smell of roses.

I walked into the center of the room to clean up this mess. When I was cleaning all you could hear was the utilities and the sound of petal being swept up off the ground into piles.

I took a step backward to admire my work. I winced at a pain in my foot. There appeared to be a rose thorn embedded into my foot. I'm surprised I didn't feel it when it came up. I pulled the thorn out of my foot.

There was a bead of blood that rested upon my skin in absence of the thorn. I took a sheet of toilet tissue and wiped it off. I threw the tissue in the trash bin. The white of it clearly stood out amongst all the rose petals in the clear piece of plastic. Next time I clean these petals  up I'll wear shoes. That will probably be tomorrow.