rosaline has the sun and moon dangling from her earlobes as bijouterie. she likes to clothe herself in robes of charmeuse when bathing in guava tonic water (purifying her baby blue soul and picking out mother earth's kisses from beneath her fingernails) ,
one dawn, when rosaline is out picking flowers from a nearby street stall, she sees a boy with a soul the colour of sand pulling each bleeding heart from it's leaf. rosaline reapplies her cherry lemonade lipgloss and walks over to the boy.
" hey i'm rosaline "
" i know."
although curious as to why, she doesn't ask.
"well, don't you want to tell me your name? "
he shrugs.
"i don't want to say. besides,
it doesn't matter, i don't think
you'll see me around again, i'm
not staying for long "
rosaline can't help but feel her heart swell a little towards this boy that she didn't even know the name of. she shakes her head in confusion, watching silently as he continues to rip the flowers. her hand reaches out to hold his wrist.
" someone might want to buy them "
the boy looks down at the small but soft hand wrapped around his skin.
" no one wants to buy something
that doesn't have a chance of lasting "
" doesn't have a chance of lasting ?"
" yes "
rosaline tilted her head
" how odd, you think that because the hearts are bleeding, there's not a chance they will survive ?"
for the first time, the boy met rosaline's gaze.
" you think they will ?"
" why wouldn't they ? "
the boy scoffed and shook his wrist to release her hand, and continued ripping each flower. he couldn't help but feel cold in the place her hand no longer touched. he watched rosaline from the corner of his eye, her hands were crossed over her chest and her lips glistened as if she had swallowed stars. he didn't realise he had ripped so many bleeding hearts, until he saw there was only one more left. he hesitated for a moment, but then reached out, to meet rosaline's hand protecting the last flower.
" no, leave this one where it is "
the boy rolled his eyes.
" why should i "
" to remind you that over time, hearts heal, and that if given a chance will last longer than you'd think "
with that, rosaline let go of the boy's hand and walked away from the stall and back to her apartment, leaving the boy repeating the words she had just said. he watched rosaline walk away, and looked back to the flower.
rosaline stayed in bed for the whole day, repeating her conversation with the boy. she turned off her night lamp, and rested her head on the soft pale clouds, between the sun and moon.
the following dawn, rosaline walked back to the stalls. her smile causing by-passers to stop and stare, when she saw the bleeding heart clinging onto it's leaf.
