Vienna

1

Vienna Matthews
7:03 am
June 18th

Vienna did not want to wake up to screaming. Sadly, the sound filtered through the thin walls of the house that she had started renting in May.

She'd spent ages trying to save up the money to move to this town and continue her college education. Nothing was going to stop her from staying. Not the person who kept swiping flowers from the backyard garden. Not even people screaming at 7:03 am in the morning. Nothing.

She yanked her sheets back and sat straight up in her bed and stumbled out of bed. She lost her balance and tumbled forward. Her slow reflexes barely allowed her to absorb impact with her arm.

"Fuck," she groaned as she hit the floor. It's going to be a wonderful day.

Meanwhile, the screaming was still going on. It was shrill and echoing, and not at all a recommended way to wake up.

Which circle of hell did this person crawl out of? Is it even a person?

She tried to pull herself up from the floor by grasping the sheets of her bed and tugging. Unfortunately, her misguided confidence in her sheet tucking ability proved fatal. She fell heavily on her back.

After abusing her arms (and her back), the world became clearer to her drowsy mind. She finally picked herself up off of the floor (with no help from the sheets). She groped around for her glasses and planted them roughly onto her head. Vienna ran through her house towards the back door, from which the screaming was coming from.

She thrust open the back door and found a boy in her backyard. He was yelling his ass off and swinging his arm from side to side.

"What the HELL is wrong with you? WHY do you have to yell in MY backyard?" She squinted through the rays of sun filtering through the morning sky. Then, she saw the problem.

Her dog, Pepper, was hanging off of the him, her teeth sunk into his arm. "Oh, shit. Pepper, come here! Pepper...Pepper!" She strode over and tugged the dog away, which prompted him to yell louder, and then finally shut up.

"Your dog is fucking CRAZY." He finally spoke, studying his arm. Pepper growled from Vienna's arms.

"I'm sorry, she doesn't usually attack people unless she thinks that something is- Wait. Why were you in my backyard?" The question finally occurred to her.

The house she was renting was half on the border of the town in a secluded area surrounded by trees and bushes. If one went north, the grocery shops located near the cemetery were accessible. If one went south, a church and town hall would come into view.

It was hell to get there, which is why had had driven around for hours before she finally found the place.

He muttered something almost unintelligible under his breath. She only caught the words "flowers" and "didn't know".

"So you're the one that's been taking my flowers. Did you know that I've worked SO hard to grow these plants in this stupid town that's basically a desert? Did you? I even persuaded the owner of this house to let me PLEASE tend a garden and it took days until he agreed." She took a breath and continued lecturing. Her face was hard and eyes narrowed.

"Oh, and you want to take these flowers to GIVE to someone? They'd better be as beautiful as my fucking flowers. You know what? I'm going to patch up your arm, and then you'll take these flowers to this other little bitch and I'll come with you. They should be worthy of all the time that it took. All the blood, sweat, and tears that I poured into trying to create a garden in the middle of this fucking WASTELAND. Now come inside."

She opened the door and scowled at him as he walked inside. She slammed the door with more force than necessary and stomped inside the house. She began opening and slamming cabinet doors, murmuring curses under her breath.

Vienna stalked over to him, and he flinched away from her.

"Relax. I'm not going to murder you," she said, slightly annoyed.

"Not yet, at least," he mumbled under his breath. He seemed to be in his early twenties, with his messy hair and tired eyes. And a really nice jawline. Damn, son. Wait, no, no boys!

She frowned and led him to the bathroom sink, where she washed out the bite (it was only a scrape) and pressed his arm gently. "It's not that bad. Maisie barely bit you. She's vaccinated as well, so you won't have to worry about rabies." Vienna placed a small bandage on his arm, and she found him studying her.

"Thanks, I should really g-" He started his sentence but Vienna cut him off.

"I'm coming with you. I certainly haven't forgotten about the flowers." She cut off some protests as well and he gave her a pained look.

There's no escape, flower-stealing-asshat.

It doesn't matter that you're somewhat attractive.