Crushing Daisies, Killing Roses...

Chapter One: The First Encounter

The clock struck ten, if only they knew then, the people, that is. If only they had paid attention to the signs, the flowers... It was all about the flowers. The storm was coming and then they'd be trapped, but that is what he wanted. The flowers, it was all about the flowers... It was always about the flowers.

2 hours earlier...

The meeting ran late, it was already eight. They had all decided that it was best to stay, since the storm was on its way. What was supposed to be a quick meeting was now a party. No one seemed to mind since, it was a Friday night after all. The men had stayed in the study to talk about all things, science. Meanwhile, the wives were in the living room, already on their fifth bottle of wine.

There was a sudden knock at the door. The wives jumped in shock, one of them even let out shriek. They were not expecting anyone else. The lady of the house, Mrs Morgan composed herself and opened the door. She was speechless. She opened the door to the most handsome man she had ever seen, mind you, she did marry a man twice her age for his money. She had almost fainted at the sight of this stranger. Perhaps the many glasses of wine she had drank only worsened her situation. "Who might you be, good sir?" she finally said. "I'm Dr Bloom, I was invited by Dr Morgan" he said, noticing Mrs Morgan's expression. "I'm terribly sorry, I had trouble finding a ride from the station. People seem to be rather afraid of the coming storm", he continued. Mrs Morgan, still mesmerized by the sight of this stranger, took a deep breath, and let him in.

The man was tall, muscular, bright blue eyes, dark short hair, with the most clear and velvety looking skin, he was perfect... Maybe too perfect.

In his hands he held a bouquet of flowers. A rather curious bouquet of flowers. Usually in a bouquet there was a central theme, but his bouquet had an assorted array of flowers. None of the flowers were the same. Each flower was different. Rather curious indeed and even more curious was the fact that he had 20 flowers, 20 different flowers, which was the exact number of women at the party. Yes, curious indeed.

He followed Mrs Morgan to the living room, which had suddenly become silent. Except for sounds of the ladies either gulping down their wine or casually spitting it back into their glasses. They simply could not handle the sight of this godly man. They continued staring as he entered the room and proceeded to giggle as he started handing out a flower to each woman; starting with Mrs Morgan who received a sunflower.

He finally reached the study where Dr Morgan was ever so delighted to see him. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for the rest of the fine gentlemen who had all started standing taller, puffing out their chests and attempting to make their voices ten times deeper. I swear you could even see the cloud of testosterone above the room, let alone smell it.

Alas, the storm had finally arrived as the clock struck nine, whilst the ladies were now on their tenth bottle of wine. Everything seemed to be normal. The men laughing loudly, each sharing stories that made them seem stronger and manlier than the last. Except for Dr Bloom. He was more focused on the women. One woman in particular. He had spotted her when he first walked into the living room, she, like Dr Bloom, was different. She had long blonde hair that she left untied unlike the other women in the room who had all bunched their hair into tight buns with many pins and bands. She had leafy green eyes with specs of gold as though someone had sprinkled glitter on them. She had the body of a ballerina, and the face of an angel.

It was no wonder the other women disliked her so much. No one really spoke to her, in fact, they all spoke as though she were somewhere else. "Who does she think she is?", mumbled one woman, "I know! Her husband died but, she still thinks it okay to show up to these meetings" said another. It was harsh and rude, and worst of all she could hear every single one of them gossiping about her. She remained unbothered by all these petty remarks, she was used to it by now. Even when her husband, Dr Ambrose, was alive, the women ignored her. They had been jealous of her ever since her husband joined their little doctor society. Her husband was a very famous archaeologist and adventurer. He wasn't too hard on the eyes either. The women had been envious of her perfect husband and her perfect life. Mind you her life was far from perfect, but appearances were everything to these women. That was the first thing drilled into the minds of these young women, "appearances are everything", and Mrs Ambrose had the best appearance of them all.

I suppose Dr Bloom had sensed her differences when he was walking by, her kind nature and peaceful soul. That may well have been the reason he gifted her with the daisy from his curious bouquet of flowers.

"What are you looking at?". Dr Bloom jumped, "My God! Do you wish to give me a heart attack, good sir?" he said as the adrenalin in his system just rocketed. "Oh, hush now Dr Bloom, I hadn't taken you for the jumpy type" said an elderly man. "I am no such thing Dr Felix, you simply caught me off guard", Dr Bloom added after a few calming breaths. "Who might that woman be?" he asked with his finger pointing at the woman with united hair. "That is the late Dr Ambrose's wife but, she still insists on being addressed as Mrs Ambrose". "A widower?" Dr Bloom asked in a slightly happy tone, trying not to seem disrespectful. "She's a rather curious woman that one, I swear she knows just as much about science as any man in this room" Dr Felix said in a subtly impressed tone. "You should introduce yourself. She hardly seems to be having any fun and I have a feeling you two might enjoy each other's company".

Dr Bloom had left the study with a nervous laugh and bright red cheeks, in his defence it had been quite a while since he spoke to a woman. He was always in his greenhouse studying plants, Dr Bloom often preferred the company of his plants over people. This party was in fact the first he had been to in many years.

"Mrs Ambrose" Dr Bloom said or rather shouted, by accident of course. It must have been the nerves and they only got worse as he went on. "Dr Bloom, I-I am", "Sorry, Meant I Dr Bloom am", "S-Sorry". "Take a deep breath Dr Bloom, I know who you are" Mrs Ambrose said calmly as she took his hand into hers as to comfort Dr Bloom. This unfortunately only made Dr Bloom more nervous and he was now breathing so fast and turning so red that Mrs Ambrose felt the need to slap him. "Mrs Ambrose! What on Earth was that for?" said Dr Felix who was hovering around them the entire time eavesdropping. Dr Felix was rather fond of these two and felt like he was playing cupid by setting them up. "He was panicking" said Mrs Ambrose, "I was only providing a distraction so he could calm himself down". "Are you?" said Dr Felix, looking at Dr Bloom, "I, well, I guess I am" he said with shock. "But no more slapping, I sense you enjoyed that far too much Mrs Ambrose" Dr Bloom said snippily. "I cannot agree to that Dr Bloom, what if you need to be slapped again?" she replied somewhat snippy herself. "Well...I think this little encounter went swimmingly" said Dr Felix as he walked away allowing them some space, but still quite obviously hovering. It was only after Dr Felix spoke that Dr Bloom and Mrs Ambrose realised the whole living had gone silent listening to them. There were however a few whispers, started by Mrs Thompson no doubt...