Flowers

Chapter 1: Daffodils

Ardell opened his eyes, immediately awakened by the excruciating, familiar coldness. He shuddered and pulled the fluffy grey blanket over himself, grumbling something. The soft pitter-patter of a small animal on his hardwood floors cleared Ardell's sleepy brain, albeit slightly. He huffed and rolled over onto his side, lifting the blankets off his foot accidentally. Ardell groaned at the coldness. He glared at the animal sitting on his floor. It was a small black and white spotted cat. Ardell's stupid cat, Whiskers. Yes, he knows it's a stupid name for a cat. Shut up, he isn't creative. Ardell cursed under his breath at the small creature and sat up, draping the blanket over his shoulders. It was far too cold. The feline rubbed against Ardell's ankles and he swatted it away. Of course, the creature would wake him up early. The stupid thing was probably hungry.

The cat ran away and Ardell got up, instantly regretting his decision to take his socks off last night. The floor was so cold! Ardell cursed Whiskers in his head again. But he got up to feed the spoiled thing all the same. Maybe he should just throw it out in the snow for a bit so it'd learn how good it has it here. He wouldn't, of course, but that didn't stop his daydreams.

The cat nibbles away on the food, crunching uncomfortably loudly. Ardell puts his headphones on and starts his kettle to make some tea. He hums to himself as he boils the water for his morning tea. He has the same type every day, just a simple and cheap herbal tea. What can he say, he just likes the cheap stuff. Plus, he's been doing it for years, so he can't mess up his schedule over some tea. Even if his parents keep sending him tea he will never drink.

After his tea is done, he curls up on his sofa and sips at it. It's nice and soft. He, despite how much he wishes he could, cannot handle anything too strong. Whatever, he's content with this familiar flavour. Ardell feels a weight plop down on his lap and he jumps a bit, having not heard anything due to his headphones. He grabs the headphones and pulls them down. Whiskers had, apparently, finished eating and decided it Ardell's lap was the perfect pillow. Ardell cracked a smile and transferred the mug in both of his hands to only hold it in one. The other hand went down to stroke the fluffy animal in Ardell's lap. Whisker's fur was so soft. Ardell swears that's the only reason he keeps it around, but he loves the thing to death. Ardell finished his tea and contemplated on how to get up without waking the feline.

In the end, it was unavoidable. Ardell sighed as he gently picked the cat up, placing him up on the sofa beside him. It was a waste of time - as Ardell had guessed it would be - because Whiskers just jumped off the couch and sat on the floor, glaring at Ardell. Ardell winced and stood to his feet. He regretted that immediately as shockwaves of static came up from his legs. Ardell sat back down and clutched his asleep leg. It wasn't painful, but uncomfortable. Ardell glared down at the cat who seemed to be relishing in his suffering.

"Damn cat..." Ardell muttered through gritted teeth. His voice was on the softer side, and in Ardells not-so-humble opinion, pretty pleasant sounding. It was raspier because he hadn't spoken today yet. Although he rarely ever speaks anymore. It was just bothersome at this point. Plus, he lived 29 miles from any other human being, and 37 miles from any sort of town. What reason would he have for talking to himself? After the numbness had passed, Ardell got up again and lightly kicked Whiskers in revenge. Not even hard enough to even move the cat. But Whiskers hissed and swatted at Ardell's foot, the dramatic little bastard it was.

Ardell puts his mug in the sink and washes it there and then. He never understood leaving dishes in the sink. Well, not exactly. He understood it a little too well, as he used to do that. But then he actually had to do all those dishes at once, and it'd take like, an hour. So that's not a thing he even considers anymore. Alright, time to get down to business. Ardell put on his coat, a big fluffy light blue jacket that was too big on him. It complemented his light blue hair. It wasn't natural of course, this isn't some anime where the main characters have unnatural-coloured hair so you can spot them in a crowd. It was dyed. His natural hair was light brown but unmistakably brown. Some people with his hair can be mistaken as having blonde hair, but you'd have to be really stupid or really colourblind to say Ardell's hair is anything but brown. Anyway, I digress.

Ardell opens his front door. Thank God it's not another windy day. Whiskers tries to escape, but the cat and Ardell's foot have a little tussle. Ardell managed to get the cat far enough away from the door to slip out. He sighs and closes the door. Time to see the damages. It had snowed last night - as it does every night - and it wasn't too bad today just barely reaching the top of Ardell's foot. Ardell smiles to himself and grabs the snow shovel, shovelling the path from his front door to his garden. Ardell sees storm clouds rolling in, so he's gotta work fast.

Many people don't think you can have a garden in the extreme cold, where Ardell lives. But actually, thousands of plants can grow in the cold. all kinds of trees, shrubs, perennials, grasses, and even flowering plants can grow in cold climates. Ardell has many of these plants, especially the flowers. He has a decent-sized garden. His pride and joy. Ardell really, really likes plants. He loves gardening and plant facts and everything to do with plants.

Ardell hums happily as he watered his plants and pruned some shrubs. He's just about done when the snow starts falling. That's his cue to go inside. He steps inside and immediately lays down on his bed. Ardell doesn't work. He is what most would call a 'trust-fund baby'. He didn't ask to be.

As he wallows in his own sorrow, he hears the crunching of footsteps outside. That's odd, but it's probably just a mailman or a deer or something. Most likely an animal. Worst case scenario, it's his parents. Which would be a pretty bad worst-case scenario. Ardell hates it when people drop by unannounced. It's most likely not his parents, as they're in America for a business trip. Even though he had been doing nothing all day anyway, he still gets frustrated when someone messes up his routine. Even so, he gets up and grabs a kitchen knife. You can never be too careful. Whiskers goes to paw at the door. Ardell genuinely doesn't expect it to be a human person. But then came three quick and loud knocks.

Looks like his schedule is ruined for the day.

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