Falling Petals of a Blue Rose

Chapter 26

 The next morning, Marisa woke up to find herself in her bed. She sat up and stared at the morning sun. Kimmiekoe was sitting next to her rubbing her head against her arm. Marisa just ignored her. She couldn’t get what happened yesterday out of her head. She slowly walked downstairs.

“Morning, sis. Feeling better?” Marisa sat down.

“Yeah, I guess.”

“You gave us all a bit of a scare when you didn’t come back. And when we found you crying by the beach, we were very worried.” Her mother said

“Sorry.”

“Well, as long as you’re alright. Here, have some oatmeal with honey in it. It will make you feel much better.” She said as she sat a big bowl in front of her.

“Thanks.” Marisa formed a sad look on her face. She couldn’t stop thinking about how she just froze like that.

“I wanted to go after him. I wanted to say something to him. But...the moment he said goodbye... my whole body just gave out on me.” After finishing her breakfast, Marisa headed to work. She spent the whole day getting caught up on her paper work. By the time it was mid-afternoon, she had over half of it done. Putting the rest aside, she decided she had enough for one day. She walked down to the resting room. To her surprise, Dr. David was the only one there.

“How are you doing today, doctor? Are you feeling alright?” Marisa tried to smile.

“Yes, I’m alright. Thank you for looking after my patients for me for so long. I’m sorry to cause you so much trouble.” Dr. David shook his head.

“It was no trouble at all. I was happy to do it.” Marisa poured herself a cup of tea. As she stared into the cup, she thought she saw a reflection of Thomas’s sad face. Her hands gripped the cup as she tried not to cry. Suddenly, her hand slipped and the cup fell out of her hand. It landed on the floor and broke into tiny pieces.

“Oh no!” She cried. Dr. David rushed over.

“Are you alright?!” Marisa didn’t say a word. She just stared at the floor.

“Don’t worry. I’ll get a towel and a broom.” Dr. David rushed over to the closet and pulled out the things he needed. While Marisa wiped the floor dry, he swept up the pieces.

“I’m sorry. I’m such a klutz.” Dr. David looked at her face. He saw a tear run down her cheek.

“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” Marisa gasped and quickly wiped her face. For a while, neither of them said a word. Finally, Marisa spoke.

“He...he told me...to forget about him.” Dr. David looked at her and gasped.

“Who? Thomas?” Marisa nodded.

“He said it would only hurt me if I stayed with him. That I would be better off moving on with my life and pretending he didn’t exist.” Dr. David sighed.

“And...how do you feel about it?” Marisa lowered her head.

“I...I don’t know. I really wanted to go after him, but I couldn’t. It was like my body was frozen stiff as ice. I couldn’t do a thing.”

“So...what are you going to do now? Can you really just forget about him?” Marisa’s hands started to shake.

“I...I don’t think I could ever forget someone like that so easily. I really liked Thomas. In many ways, I felt he was the only one who truly understood me.” Dr. David let out a sigh.

“What if...what if there was someone else who understood you?” Marisa gave him a confused look. Dr. David scratched his head.

“I mean...do you really have to have someone like him in your life to be happy?” Marisa gasped.