midnight oneshots <3

flowers and headstones (edited)

edit from the first flowers and headstones, edited to be longer so i could use it for school to get extra credit without much work!!!!!!!!

Once a week, I visit the graveyard, bringing flowers to my late best friend.

She died a few months ago, and I still haven't recovered from it. Not sure if I ever will, seeing as she was my rock, my tether to the real world.

She loved flowers. They were her favourite thing, aside from cats, and, of course, me.

But, as I'm virtually broke, I always steal the flowers that I bring to her from someone else's garden on my way. Sometimes I see the curtains flutter inside the house of the garden, like someone's watching me. I occasionally see a girl watering the tomato plants on the side of the house.

I love tomatoes, and often think about stealing-er-" borrowing" those as well, but never dare to cross the girl's path.

One day I waved to her, but she just stared back at me with a blank face. Pretty creepy, if you ask me.

I like to make up stories about her, like, maybe she's in witness protection, instructed to talk to no one. Or perhaps she's trapped in the house, a slave for the man who lives there. But she's probably just annoyed that I'm stealing her flowers.

Today I walked down a street, and turned the corner, arriving at the flower house at the same time I do every week, 12:27 pm. I pick out some flowers and am about to leave when I feel a warm spot on my arm. I jump, turning towards the person who touched me. It's the flower girl.

"I'm coming with you." She says, practically confirming my second theory.

I look at her, confused. "Why? You don't even know me. For all you know, I could be some serial killer."

She shrugs. "I doubt that. You don't look too serial killer-y."

"You know," I shake my head, "Serial killers look just like the rest of us."

She rolls her eyes. "I need to see for myself that this girl is pretty enough to warrant flower theft."

She puts her hand out to shake my hand. "I'm Summer."

I raise an eyebrow, awkwardly shaking her hand. "Andre."

Summer gives me a smile, and I start to walk, fidgeting with the end of my sleeve.

"Soooo, what's her name?"

"Uh, Layla," I say, frowning.

"What's the frown for? She's your girlfriend, right?" Summer pokes me, which I think is strange since I don't know her at all.

"No, she was just my best friend," I say, looking away.

Summer mirrors my frown, either not noticing or failing to comprehend the use of past tense in my sentence. "Huh."

I shake my head. "You should just go back home."

"Noo, I need to see her. Make sure she's pretty enough to warrant flower theft, remember?"

I sigh. How am I supposed to tell her that Layla's dead?

Summer hooks her arm through mine. "How long is this walk?"

I look down at our connected arms, then back to the sidewalk. "Uh, not much farther." My gaze shifts uncomfortably, and I see the graveyard in the near distance.

"So, your name's Andre, you have a best friend named Layla who you steal flowers for every week, and what else?"

I shrug. "I dunno. I like hamsters. And-"

Summer bursts into laughter. "You-" she laughs, gesturing to my muscular body, "like hamsters."

I look away. "Yes, I do. I have three. Rocky, Bunny, and Squirt."

"That's awesome." She snorts.

We come up to the graveyard, and I turn into it.

"Is your girlfriend-I mean friend who is a girl- emo or something?" Summer jokes.

I sigh, "No,"

"What's up with meeting in the graveyard then?" She looks around, slightly uneasy.

We come up to her grave, and I gesture at the headstone. "That's what's up."

Summer inhales sharply, and I remove last week's flowers, replacing them with the new ones.

"I'm-I'm so sorry, Andre." Summer places a hand on my shoulder.

I give her a small smile, "It's alright, thanks."

"I shouldn't have joked like that- I don't even know you!"

I shrug, "It's fine, Summer. No worries."

She matches my smile, "Do you wanna go get a coffee or something?"

I grin, "Sure,"

Summer hooks her arm back through mine, and we walk away from Layla's grave.

That was the first time I walked away from her grave not blaming myself for her death. The first of many times, thanks to Summer.