Red Spider Lilies - SparklingHerb

8 - Full bloom.

His eyes shot wide open realising what was gonna happen next, "S-Sorry...give me a second." He bolted to the bathroom, slammed the door shut and coughed harshly. 'Why now?! Out of all times....' In another room, Sparkling could hear the Gardener's coughs. It worried him a lot, he slowly went towards the bathroom door and peeked cautiously at Herb. He saw a crimson red liquid in the sink, 'Are those...flowers?' The boy stared in horror as the green haired boy's coughs became more violent. The gardener's body started to wobble and slowly slumped against the wall, he gasped for air and felt like dying again.

This time, some of the flowers he coughed bloomed.

Sparkling couldn't believe what he saw. The gardener had fainted on the floor and the sink had flowers, flower buds and petals covered in blood. It was everything Herb coughed up. "There's no way, my eyes must've been deceiving me." Sparkling was...afraid? Worried? He didn't know how he felt. He just knew that Herb couldn't have been okay.

Herb's eyes fluttered open. He was lying on a soft bed, he wore a blue gown and examined the room. "No doubt, I must be in the hospital. He couldn't get up, he could only turn his head. His head throbbed, he started to groan and tried to pull himself up. Even that tired the poor boy. He stood up and walked around the room at a snail's pace, panting and sweating as he did. His legs felt like they were burning, he pushed through the pain and went towards the door. "Almost...t..here.." He groaned in frustration 'First my lungs now my legs, what kind of luck do I have?' He sighed and opened the door, 'Such a wide hallway.' He thought, he went out to look for a nurse for help. "H-Hi! Can you perhaps tell me why I'm here? I don't recall anything at all." Herb asked "Oh! Well your blonde haired friend carried you here and told us that you were coughing a lot! I hope you're okay now sir!" The nurse smiled "I'm alright, so...could I get discharged?"

"Blonde..." Herb murmured
...

Sparkling wasn't his usual self, his customers could tell the change in his attitude. It seemed like he was...constantly...thinking about something, or someone.
"Oh Sparkyyy~" Vampire called, "Could I have some more red wine?" He smiled expectantly, "Yeah, sure!" Sparkling went to grab a new bottle and popped the cork off. He poured it into Vampire's glass and handed it to him. "Anyways you've been acting weird lately, don't you think?" Vampire sipped his wine "Weird? What do you mean?" The bartender asked in confusion "You should be more aware about your behaviour, each time you've been making a drink you haven't really been interacting with others, you're...dozing off." He took another sip, "You kept on glancing at your phone and looking out the windows." Sparkling was surprised, a little. "You know, what's the point of worrying so much about something, just live life to the fullest am I right?" Vampire laughed. Sparkling wasn't worrying, it was more like...he was nervous or maybe even afraid about what happened to the gardener. "Maybe I should live life to the fullest," Sparkling sighed "I've just been concerned about a close friend is all." "If you don't mind me prying, why is that so?" Vampire gulped down his wine and put it next to the piles of empty glasses. "I think he might have an illness or disease, but I have no idea what it is! He's been...avoiding me too." He lamented. "I see. You're probably disturbed by that, huh?" Vampire empathised "Talk to me whenever, just like how you are to your customers." Vampire smiled and walked out of the bar drunkenly.

a/n how is everyone?