Trepidation pulled at Rey's chest. How sure could she even be that it meant dying or that it was even attached to a real person? And why rose petals? Something so tangible, inscribed with an idea she couldn't reach far enough to grasp.
Rey couldn't help but inject doubt into every thought she had.
It felt
wrong, the way life carried on as if nothing had happened. Nothing had happened, she thought. No one she knew had died or was dying.
The most proof she had that some strange event was going on were the
rose petals. Magical, unexplained
rose petals. Rey sighed. Life
went on.
Rey arrived
at the coffee shop ten minutes late. She had waited on her porch for the rose
petal, praying an "I" or "W" or even "S" could save her from another day of
anxiety. But it didn't arrive earlier like she hoped it would.
She contemplated the oddity as it was to others. Rose petals, appearing out of nowhere, inscribed with a letter that Rey just knew the meaning of. She did sound completely mad. But the idea of madness only added to the belief that she was right. That anything else was just too simple of an explanation. And Rey was not a simple person.
"Ouch!" Rey cursed. Preoccupied, she had burned her hand on one of the machines.
"You okay?" Her coworker, Benny asked.
"Just peachy."
Benjamin eyed her over with doubt before returning to work. Focus, Rey, she thought.
Towards the end of her shift, a familiar face appeared.
"Hey," Finn greeted.
"What're you doing here?"
"I got off work early and I thought I'd come pick you up."
"Thank you!"
"Anytime," Finn replied.
Rey tried to work up the courage to ask Finn about the rose petals again. She planned how to casually mention it, but accidently blurted it out in the middle of Finn's sentence instead.
"They're dying," she cried.
"Who, Rey?"
"You know the rose petals?"
He sighed. "Not this again."
"Please listen," she begged. "You know how they've been "I"s and "S"s and "W"s?"
"Injured. Sick. Well. You've told me."
"Well now they're "D"s and I think—no, I know- it means dying. Please believe me."
"I believe you."
"What? Really?" Rey exclaimed.
"I don't see any other explanation than what you're saying. Unless you're absolutely off your rocker. There's a fifty-fifty chance."
"Just wait until you drop me off, the petal will be there," she declared.
Rey was right. When they arrived at her home, she ran from the car and spotted the little flare of red on her porch. She held it up to Finn.
"Woah."
"I told you."
"The letter doesn't look carved or written. It looks like it was grown as a part of the petal. Organic even," Finn pondered. "How can I help?"
~~
They had spent hours searching for news articles on accidents and crimes, articles on any illnesses that had broken out near them, even obituaries. No lead turned up solid.
"Finn," Rey contemplated. "You work at the hospital. Maybe that could help."
"One, I am a nurse in the emergency room, not a doctor in the actual hospital part. Two, I can't ask every dying person if they've ever received a weird looking rose petal," he argued.
"I'm just asking for a little reconnaissance. Poke around. The dying petals started arriving about a week ago. See if there's anyone admitted around that time," Rey pleaded.
Finn was her last hope.
"I can't poke around private records."
"Just keep your eye out. Please."
"Okay. But I can't promise you more than that." Finn sank down on the couch beside Rey and grabbed her hand.
"Don't worry, Peanut. There's still a good chance it isn't even connected to a person. Honestly, there's a good chance we've both been drinking contaminated water and we are hallucinating all of it." He laughed.
Rey started crying.
"Years, Finn. They have been coming for years. They moved with me. Before I even knew it was strange to get them, I felt a connection deep, deep inside. I know someone's out there, dying. And I know we're meant to meet.
I can't lose my oldest friend before I meet them."
He could see the pain in Rey's eyes.
"Alright, Peanut. How 'bout we make a list of every name you remember starting as early as possible. It's gonna be tedious, but what are friends for if not to help you find one person out of seven billion using Google?"
"Thank you."
Rey hoped as hard as she could this would work.
A/N: Ello, loves! I'm so excited to be working with ThatBubbleGumBxtch on this!! I hope you like my first solo chapter <3
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A Million Petals • Reylo AU (on hold)
Hayran KurguCollab with the amazing @captaincassian <3 They showed up every morning on her doorstep, a single red rose petal. They were soul petals, petals of a rose that were given to someone to show how they're soulmate is doing. They often came inscribed...
