The Blooming Flower (on hold)

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Allison and her boyfriend Todd sat at the kitchen table, eating a dinner of creamy Fetuccini Alfredo when, suddenly, a wave of nausea hit Allison. She clutched her stomach and ran into the bathroom. She knew the familiar feeling; she was going to throw up.

"What's wrong?" asked Todd from the kitchen as Allison sat keeled over on the floor with her head in the toilet, heaving, coughing, and spitting, an unpleasant taste forming in her mouth.

Todd appeared in the bathroom and when Allison had finished, he wet a cloth and handed it to her to clean herself off as she breathed heavily.

Are you okay?" Todd asked, concern in his eyes and voice.

"I am now," Allison said, panting.

"What happened?"

"I don't know," said Allison. "I was fine a minute ago and then, all of a sudden I just felt nauseous for no reason."

"Was it my cooking?" he asked.

"No, I ate some shrimp at Emily's," said Allison. "It probably went bad."

"Yeah," he said. "Well, why don't you lie down now? You shouldn't eat anymore after you just threw up."

"Okay," Allison agreed and they exited the bathroom.

"Here," said Todd, grabbing a blanket off the couch. "Lie down."

Allison obeyed, resting her head on the couch pillow and Todd covered her with the blanket, tucking her in. He kissed her forehead and went into the kitchen to clear the table.

"We'll just have to save the chocolate cake for tomorrow," said Todd as he gathered the two plates and carried them over to the sink to wash them.

"No, you go ahead and eat a piece," said Allison. "It's fine."

"Are you sure?" Todd asked over the running water as he scrubbed the dishes.

"Yeah," she said.

"Okay," he said. He dried the dishes and placed them back in the cupboard.

Allison and Todd lived in an apartment together in Southington.

Allison's parents passed away a year ago. She just graduated high school a few months before it happened. Allison's parents drank pretty heavily and one night they went out to a party, and drank a little too much to the point where they couldn't realize they shouldn't drive. They decided to leave in the middle of an intense game of beer pong and no one noticed they left. Allison's father, even more drunk than his wife, drove, exceeding the speed limit. As a cop chased them, he drove off a bridge and into a lake.

Obviously Allison was devastated, but she could have been more upset. She didn't really like her parents that much because they always went out to these kinds of crazy parties until all hours of the night, and she never got to spend any quality time with them. Basically, she felt like a couple of teenagers raised her because her parents acted like just that.

It came as no surprise to Allison when she found out her mother worked as a prostitute at Allison's age. She married her father at twenty and gave birth to Allison at twenty-one. You would think that someone with a baby at such a young age would grow up, but she never really did. She still held the demeanor of a teenager, and so did her father. He worked at a gas station during his teen years. Her parents did not  hold very successful jobs due to their irresponsible, childish ways.

Allison would go visit her grandmother often; she held a very close relationship with her and practically lived there and was raised by her.

But now, an eighty-eight-year-old woman, Allison's grandmother was losing her independence. She lived in a nursing home now. She needed to wear diapers because she suffered from incontinence, she needed to use a wheel chair, because her muscles were very weak, and she had limited mobility. She pretty much relied on others to take care of her so she was virtually helpless. Allison and Todd would go to visit her every week. She loved the company; no one else ever really visited her so she was always happy to see them.

As for Todd, his parents were workaholics so he wasn't really close to his parents either. He wasn't really close with any of his family except for his fifteen year old sister Liz. She came to sleep over at Allison and Todd's apartment almost every other weekend if she wasn't having a sleepover with one of her friends.

Allison wasn't really close to any of her family either, besides her grandmother. She had one aunt on her mom's side of the family, but they never talked much. Also, she was an only child.

Because they didn't really talk to their family, Allison and Todd decided that, since they were adults, they would get their own place. So, when Allison's grandmother had to move into the nursing home a few months ago, they went out and looked for an apartment. They'd been living together for about six months now and they'd been dating for almost a year.

Now Allison was going to be starting college to study psychology. She had always been fascinated by the human brain. Todd was going into his sophomore year of college. He was studying to be an automotive engineer. All of his life, Todd was fascinated by cars. Granted, all boys are at some point in their lives; it's sometimes just a phase, but for Todd it was more than that. He worked at a car wash right now, but soon he would be working with the inner parts of cars, and he could hardly wait.

Allison would be attending a university in Boston about 30 minutes away from Todd's school, Lincoln Technical Institute in Lowell, Massachusetts. They would see each other on weekends. Allison was excited to be living with her boyfriend who she hoped to marry one day in the future. Todd was very good to her and she didn't plan on their relationship ending anytime soon or at all. She was very content with the life she lived with Todd.

"Do you want to watch a movie?" Todd asked, after he finished his cake.

"Sure," said Allison. "Let's pick something on Netflix."

"What kind of movie do you want to watch?" Todd asked.

"Uh, you pick," she said. "I don't care, I'm up for anything."

"Okay, how about a thriller?" said Todd.

"That sounds good," said Allison.

So they chose a movie. It was two hours long, but Allison missed the last hour and a half because she fell into a deep sleep, although it was only 8:30. Normally, she and Todd would go to bed around 10:30 or 11; they were night owls. However, tonight Allison felt unusually tired. Todd dismissed it as the early signs of a virus because she had thrown up earlier. It made sense; any rational person would come to that conclusion. So, he switched off the TV and carried a sleeping Allison to their bedroom.