Petals of Rose Valley

Roses of Rose Valley

"Miss Johnson, we're going to be late," My driver David tells me from the car.
"Okay, okay, I just had to grab some breakfast," I tell him, biscuit in hand.
I'm leaving from my hotel to go pick up Noel from the police station and bring him back to Sarahville. There's a large sum of foot traffic on the roads today. The large buzz is for all the shopping needing to get done for the upcoming holidays. Yes, in the post-apocalyptic newly zombie purified world there are holidays. Mostly celebrating our country but we also have some very... Unique... Holidays too. Well, we'll get into that later. But now we're at the station.
"Lindsey!" Detective Graves yells to me as I exit the car.
     "Matthew! Dinner was so great last night," I say as I give him a hug. "We'll have to do it again sometime soon,"
    "Definitely. So, I'm assuming you're here for Noel? I'll grab him for you."
    "Thanks." Matthew runs inside and within a few minutes he comes out with Noel.
    "Hello Noel, how are you today?" I ask him.
    "I'm doing great, how about you?" He asks.
    "I'm fine, so here's the car. You can give your bag to David, our driver, and he'll put it in the trunk."
    "Thank you, for doing all this for me. I don't know how I can repay you,"
    "Don't worry about it. You are our guest here, not a prisoner," I say to him as I shoot Graves a glance. "And Matt, I'll see you soon. Still coming home for the holidays?"
    "Of course, I wouldn't miss your mom's lasagna for the world," He says. I give him a hug and hop in the car with Noel. The car ride is long and I explain a few things to Noel about our kingdom's culture and history. We pull up to the Capital Building at around 12:15.
    "So this is where I work, the Capital Building," I tell him.
"Wow. This is... Gigantic," He exclaims.
"Yeah, it's the biggest building on the island. Six stories tall. There are legends of of buildings over 100 stories tall, that reached the clouds before the plague."
"That's incredible."
"So, are you hungry? Because I sure am. I could go for some lunch."
"Yeah, I'm kind of hungry myself."
"I know of this really great diner down the street. It's only a short walk."
"That sounds great. But I mean... I don't really have any money."
"It's fine, it's on me. You know, I kind of run this entire country."
"Wait, seriously? I though you had a monarchy?"
"We do, but I'm kind of the Queen's left hand woman." I explain as we start walking to the diner.
"That's amazing. It must be very stressful though."
"Not really. It's mostly just attending banquets and ceremonies in place for Her Majesty."
"Still, traveling around the country on a daily basis, it must take up a lot of your time."
"Oh believe me, it does. I even have a suitcase in my closet pre-packed for overnight stays."
We laugh and walk down the street making small talk. We reach the diner in no time. We enter and take a seat at the bar.
"So, what's your favorite thing to get here?" He asks me.
"I love the pancakes. The biscuits are also really good. And the eggs! Don't get me started on the eggs!"
"I guess you're a big eater then. Doesn't really look like it," He laughs.
"Aw, how flattering." We share a laugh and the waitress comes to take our order.
"Well, I think I'm going to get a waffle with a side of bacon and toast lightly buttered with an apple juice please," I tell her.
"Okay, and what about you?" The waitress asks Noel.
"I'm just going to get what she's having."
"Okay. Your drinks will be out in a minute," The waitress tells us.
"So," I turn to Noel, "Do you even know what bacon is?"
"Well, no, but I mean, if you're getting it it must be good." I laugh and the waitress comes back with our two apple juices.
"Thank you," I tell her. "So, are there any more questions you have about this fine world we live in?"
"Well, what exactly is a bacon?"
"'A bacon' is meat from a pig. You know what a pig is, right?"
"Yes I know what a pig is. It's the white and black animal that goes 'moo'."
"No, no that's a-"
"I'm kidding! I know that's a cow. How stupid do you think I am?" He laughs to me.
"Well how should I know? I've never had amnesia before, I don't know what you remember and don't remember!"
"Well, basically I remember words, and animals, and basic things about math and science and moral ethics, but just not anything too advanced. I don't remember learning any of these things or anything before waking up on the street in Victoriana," Noel explains to me. I see the waitress start walking towards us with our food. She places the plates down in front of us and knocks Noel's apple juice all over him.
"Oh my God I'm so, so sorry!" she says.
"No, no it's fine it's my fault I left the drink on the edge of the table. Here let me take this off." Noel lifts his shirt over his head and starts to wring it out.
"Wait, what is that?!" I ask as I point to the Roses printed on his chest.
"What is what?" He says.
"Right there on your chest. Is, is that a, tattoo?!" I ask in amazement. "That technology has been extinct for hundreds of years! How did you get this?"
"I-I don't know, I thought everybody had it. I don't remember getting this. Don't you have one?"
"Last I checked I don't think anyone on this planet had one, but now you do. We have to get you down to the lab for some research. You just become more mystifying by the hour Noel."
Now this is getting more strange, because it's literally impossible for someone on this planet right now to have a tattoo.

Who is this man from the sky?