Blood Flower (girl x girl) [COMPLETE]

chapter 1: A Seed

"Finally getting some rest, huh?"

Lara shrugged in response as she tied her black hair from a tight bun into a loose ponytail. Tired. It was the only thing on her mind at the moment. She was tired, they all were. If she was honest, she wasn't sure how much longer they could manage this. Lara turned to her coworker beside her, who was keeping his tie into his bag.

"A brief moment of rest before we come back into hell," Keith continued with a pained grin, before swinging his bag onto his shoulder with a slight grunt.

"Great," Lara sighed, picking up her own bag and trudging out of the lockers into the corridor behind him.

Being a police officer had been something she had always wanted to do. It had always seemed cool to Lara since she was a child. She wanted to do it. Catching criminals, finding evidence, serving justice. It was everything she had ever wanted. Cool and yet purposeful. However, the past few months were driving her, along with her other coworkers, to the verge of quitting.

All due to the Duct Tape Murderer.

It didn't start off as anything too hard on the officers at first, it was simply like every other case. Bodies were being found half-buried in the earth with duct tape over their mouths. Every few days, a new body would be reported. The killer was ruthless, but it was nothing too gruesome. Since it was in her jurisdiction, Lara was able to see a couple of the bodies on the scene. Some knife marks, an occasional crushed skull, sometimes a lot of blood, but it was alright. They could handle it.

The problem came when they couldn't find a solid lead.

No matter how hard the teams seemed to search, no matter how many experts the supervisors brought in, no solid leads were able to be found. It was like they were chasing after a ghost. It was an absolute headache. How hard would it be to track down a serial killer? Way harder than Lara had expected, that was for sure. Hours after hours of combing through the same material, over, and over, and over again as they fought to find something that could start them on a couple of suspects. All of it was in vain. They couldn't find anything solid to work off, and the public was angry and afraid. Lara did not blame them. A serial killer was on the loose and the police weren't able to do anything.

Just when Lara had thought that it couldn't get worse, the killings stopped. No more bodies were being reported. Dead silence.

Every time there was a body,  as bad as it sounded, it represented a potential opportunity for some evidence to be found. Perhaps the killer would be careless, just this one time? However, with the killings appearing to be put on pause, it meant that they could only work with the evidence that they already had- which was... not a lot.

Yeah. Lara was glad that their shift was over. Time to indulge herself in a comfortable night before having to return to this stressed environment once more.

"Where are you going? Need a lift?" Keith asked. "I drove to work today, so I can drive you back."

"Hmm, I'm meeting someone for dinner," Lara replied, taking out her mobile phone and opening her dating application. The corner of her lip rose a little as she saw the messages from the current girl that she was chatting with. "Is the Rose Pasta on your way home?"

This dinner was long overdue. Lara had been so busy with her job. The Duct Tape murderer had been a true obstruction in her love life, for his existence meant that they were working around the clock and ready to be deployed whenever a new body was found in their area. Dinner plans have been disrupted multiple times. Lara was excited to finally be able to meet her.

"Rose Pasta? The Rose Pasta near the theatre?"

"Yep, that's the one. Is it convenient for you?"

"Sure, it is. I'll drive you," Keith offered, taking out his car keys.

Grinning, Lara texted her date, Vella, as she followed her colleague into the carpark. Just looking at her date's profile picture was enough to give the tired police officer a small boost of serotonin. Vella was so cute. Dating online barely ended up in physical meetups for Lara, but Vella felt different. They talked so much daily, and shared the same taste in music. Lara couldn't wait to finally have dinner with her, just to see if the connection that she felt online was able to transcend and feel the same when they met in real life.

Definitely a nice break after all these hours of work.

"Who are you meeting?" Keith asked her as he unlocked his car.

"A date."

"A date? First time meeting them?" he prompted. "Also, was it your decision or theirs to eat at Rose Pasta?"

Lara looked up from her phone as she grabbed the door handle to Keith's passenger seat. Keith was still standing by the other car door waiting for her answer. His smile was still present, the usual smiley coworker that Lara was used to, but it just looked... slightly more strained. Lara let out a short nervous chuckle as she got into the passenger seat.

"Why so anxious, Dad?" Lara teased. "It's just a date. Don't worry, I can share my location with you so then you don't have to be worried. I'll be safe, I promise."

"So..." Keith said, the tight smile beginning to worry the officer a little more now. "First time meeting her?"

"Yep. And she recommended it. Said it was near her home, and it just opened, so we can go check it out together, isn't that so cute?" she replied, pulling up Vella's profile on her phone to show him. "Look at her, very cute. I'm so glad she agreed to meet up despite our busy schedules."

Keith looked at the profile as he got into the driver's seat.

"Cute, cute," he replied with a sigh as he buckled himself in.

His monotonous response caused Lara to let out a small sigh, but at the same time, she couldn't blame him. Both of them were tired out of their minds. Lara was tired too but she was doing her best to brush it aside because she was so glad that Vella was willing to meet her in spite of her troublesome work schedule. No time to be tired! She was going on a cute date! Time for her to relax and have some love life come back- hopefully. Lara scrolled through Vella's images on the dating profile to admire her date. Yes. She hoped that this would work out.

"Strap yourself in, Lara, if I get a ticket because of you I'm making you pay for it," Keith chided her, pulling out of the parking lot.

"Oh, right."

She had been so caught up in her excitement to see Vella that she had forgotten to abide by the law. As a police officer herself, this was not something that she should be doing. Just the thought of finally seeing Vella was too much for the officer to handle. The thought of it alone was able to send her heart skipping a beat. 

Lara was so ready to finally meet the girl she had been talking to online for so long.

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Written on: 18 Nov 2022

Edited on: 25 Nov 2022