✑ The Wilt of the Rose

scrap work

Everything was dug up from the grave. He buried alive his past, something that never really died, but yet had lived in denial of its existence.

He felt like he was breathing through a straw. So much time he had spent scrubbing away the dirt, shielding what once was. But he knew that it would only be a matter of time until someone in this town looked closely enough to see the remnants of the old figments. All that time spent running, just for it to slap him in the face in the form of a newspaper.

Now he was standing here in his room. His best friend standing across from him holding the last thing he'd ever expect or wanted her to find. His eyes glued to the paper held out in her hand, her face stern and questions that lacked answers, too heavy for comprehension. A ghosted breath heaved into his mouth as he stiffly turned to the side and sat at the side of his bed. His eyes now bore the wall, struggling to gather this up as his palms plastered themselves to his knees, the grip shaky.

His brother's corpse laying out on a table, caked in dirt.

Roger in the court room.

His father taking him fishing during the time of the trials.

The broken glass in his knee.

His mother's frazzled state.

His brother in photoframes.

Remembering Veronica's dead body.

Captain Benson.

A pig's head on a stick.

Simon.

Piggy.

Eric.

Blood.

So much blood.

A cord being brought down on his back.

Broken bones.

Fire.

Smoke.

The smell of iodine.

Hospital lighting.

Caskets.

A carving in his arm.

The day he moved here to this town to escape his mother and his memories.

Destroying Eric's belongings.

Their birthday.

Hiding his brother's pictures.

A scarred back.

Deleting it all from his life.

Wiping a clean slate.

It all was coming back at the press of an undo button.

Summer stared at him with a stilted expression as he thickly heaved in the pulpy air which felt paper thin just moments before. The lamp that sat on his bedside table illuminated the room partially with a sheer veil of light, thrusting her yellow lit face to be visible in the dim room, unable to hide her reaction.

He heard two sounds; the sound of his breathing, and the thump of his heart that gradually was speeding up.

Too hot, too cold, too loud.

Swallowing to rid the tightness in his throat which seemed to restrict his airways, he looked to his side to snatch the newspaper from Summer. He sat in complete still shock as his wide eyes bore the article he was crushing in his hands.

The nightmare plane route from 1991.

Further through the mess of words he saw blurry, black and white pictures of familiar faces, but only one of them stuck out. It was one that looked identical to his own, only it wasn't him at all.

In a mix of panic and awkwardness, Summer shuffled forward to slide the paper out from his crushing grip. Sam paid no mind as he kept struggling to breathe. Once his hands had again become unoccupied, he plastered his hands to his knees, gripping just as hard as he stared down to the floor like it would provide some reassurance from this sick reality.

"Sam," the whisper loosely fell through her parted lips. "Why didn't you tell me?" The desperation was tangible as it has mixed itself with a hint of hurt. Why was something so big kept secret from her?

He swallowed harshly and peered up at her with glassy, shock-glazed eyes. Two watery pools filled with inner turmoil and regret.

"Don't say anything," he shot. "Please." He choked on air as the ability to breathe was still fleeting, worse than a moment ago.

"I don't understand," Summer shook her head helplessly. She then quickly moved to sit by him, her hand finding his shoulder.

"Sam..." She repeated softly like a soothing mantra. "Talk to me."

The boy's jaw clenched, and vigorously shook his head.

"I can't." His voice wavered like a flower standing in the middle of a breeze. Tears finally started to swell up in his eyes. Summer felt her gut churn, for this was the first time she'd seen her best friend show any hints of crying.

His eyes flickered to the hand which rested on his shoulder like he was just now noticing it. It felt heavy and uncomfortable as it almost restrained the air space around him. This small touch made him irrationally claustrophobic and antsy. Sucking in a harsh breath, he jerked away from her touch. Summer, who wasn't one to be offended just sat and watched him. Waiting for something, anything.

"Sammy," she chimed softly. That did it. He crumpled over himself and wept. Shoulder-jerking sobs wrenched out of his throat. The girl could only watch in mild horror and surprise. She had considered rubbing his back, but hadn't, recalling how he reacted to her last attempts of comfort. She frowned uncomfortably and watched as he sobbed, hugging himself like a child.

A jumbled mess of words had spewed through his cries, some that she would barely grasp. They mainly contained things such as, 'This wasn't supposed to happen, it wasn't supposed to be like this. Why now-'

The contagious emotions infected her as she began to feel herself tear up. Sam never seemed to be one to cry, not ever. This reaction was the last thing she'd expected and it struck her like a bullet to the chest. She backed up a few inches, unsure of what to do as the crying persisted on just as intense as it was when it started.

...

Hey guys! So this was something I wrote a while ago, this is nothing new. For someone who wants to stop associating my writing with LOTF, I do seem to post about it a lot still. I figured that while I won't be writing new LOTF content, I could post some of my old stuff here.

If you didn't figure it out, this was an excerpt I had written in the past when I would write random scenes that I had planned out - this being when Summer would've confronted Sam about the newspaper she'd discovered.

This isn't a perfect excerpt - hence the fact that it's a SCRAP. I would've written this differently if I was putting it in a book, but whenever I get thoughts I quickly type it out to save my thoughts, this being one of those moments.

I really only wrote a few scenes during that time in a journal. I might end up posting those in the future, but I don't want to post them all at once.

But yeah, that's all! I hope you're all doing well :)