Every school day it was the same. Wake up, text Justin, go on the bus, hang out with Justin, share most of your classes with him and then leave school. Once she came into the picture, it changed.
Naomi Rodriguez. A transfer student from god knows where. You and Justin were just sitting in class when she walked in and sat down right in front of him. He switched seats, not even talking to you.
Let's face, you had a bit of a crush on Justin. It was no surprise. Everybody saw it except him. Little by little he stopped talking to you, he'd barely text you. Eventually he just stopped acknowledging your existence.
It hurt. It hurt a shit ton. You felt your heart being ripped out of your chest as he never even looked in your general direction. You started crying yourself to sleep at night. You would only fall asleep for an average of two hours a night, afraid that if you slept for any longer you'd disappear from life all together.
Justin was your only friend. And he abandoned you for some girl.
One night you woke up at 3 AM feeling sick to your stomach. Good. You thought. Maybe then I can have an excuse to stay home from school. Maybe I'll finally lose weight.
You walk to the bathroom, hanging your head over the toilet. You starting coughing, a gag reflex hitting you like a brick. You close your eyes and throw up, spitting the weird taste out of your mouth. You open your eyes again to see...
Oh no.
Flower petals.
You widen your eyes, praying that you were just imagining the pink and white cherry blossoms floating in the toilet bowl. You look in the mirror, rubbing your eyes as if this was a dream and you were trying to wake up. You hack up another pile of flowers and petals, and you realize that it wasn't a dream.
You had Hanahaki.
Day 1.
You stayed up until it was time to go to school. You went in your PJs, carrying a towel with you cough the petals into. You sit behind Justin and Naomi again, hoping that they wouldn't notice you. You cough a little too loud, Justin turning around.
"[name]?" He asks. You were surprised that he was talking to you. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." You say. "Just ignore me."
Day 2.
A little worse than yesterday. The teacher offered to send you to the nurse's office. You declined.
"I'm ok, honestly."
Naomi looks at you weirdly, shrugging then looking away.
Day 3.
The teacher just sent you to the nurse's office. You spent most of the day curled up on the cot, coughing up petals and flowers nonstop into a trash can. The nurse sighs, shaking her head and mumbling "too soon".
Day 4.
You stayed home from school, not feeling well at all. The fifth time you had thrown up cherry blossoms, and you saw something you didn't want to see.
Blood.
The flowers were all partially stained with blood. You wipe your mouth with your hand to see a red smear on your arm afterwords.
Oh god.
Day 5.
The next morning you felt almost dead. Coughing up blood and flowers, you hear your phone buzz. You look.
My boy Laboy: Hey, you didn't come to school yesterday..
My boy Laboy: Are you ok?
You didn't respond. You were too afraid to respond. You didn't want him to see you like this.
My boy Laboy: Do you want me to come over?
You looked at the bright screen in grief and pain, an overwhelming urge to throw up again taking over. Your trash can was filled to the brine with blood and flowers. Petals fall to the floor as your spit out the mercury like taste from your mouth.
You knew you were going to die. This was the end. This was it. You walk out of the house, wanting to see the world one last time before you disappeared for good. You walk past Justin's house, and the inevitable happened.
"Justin, you said we were going to watch movies tonight."
"I'm sorry, I have to visit my friend." Justin told Naomi. "I'm worried."
"Fine then, I'm going home." She said, walking back inside. He sighs, turning around to meet your gaze. His eyes widen.
"[name]?"
You start sprinting, running away from him. He screams after you, and you could hear your feet and his best the ground as he chased you. You hack up more petals, wiping your mouth. You couldn't hear him behind you anymore.
Justin has stopped to inspect what you dropped. His heart dropped to his stomach when he saw the flowers dripping with blood on the sidewalk.
"Hanahaki.." He muttered. He starts running after you again.
You run into the forest next to the park, dodging trees and trying not to trip over your own two feet.
Justin screams your name again, but tears flow down your face as you realized he was the one who caused this.
Justin had tears flowing down his face as he saw you turn a corner into nothingness. He turns the same corner to see...
Nothing. You had disappeared from his vision. He cried your name into the dark woods. No response he takes a step forward only to stop again. He drops to his knees when he sees the remnants of what you were.
He looked at the sprout of the cherry tree in the ground, almost looking up at him in shock. He cried as he slowly dig up the small thing. He slowly walked back home to see Naomi on his porch.
"Justin-"
"Get out."
She stopped in shock. Justin looked at his feet, so many things crossing his mind. In his hands he held a small clump of dirt and the small cherry sprout.
"What?" Naomi asks.
"GET OUT!" Justin screams at her, tears still rolling down his cheeks.
Naomi slowly steps off the porch, making her way to her car before speeding off. He goes inside, slamming the door and bawling.
"[name] I'm so sorry..."
~~~~~~~~~~~
Justin walks in through his door, wiping his feet as he takes off his coat and hangs it up. Three small dogs meet him at his feet, and he smiles.
"Hey guys!" He says, petting his dogs. "Did you guys keep her safe for me?"
The dogs bark happily, all rubbing against his legs and looking up at him eagerly. He chuckles. "Alright, alright. Let me get you your treats."
He goes into his kitchen, grabbing a plastic jar from the cupboard and opening it. He hands all of them one treat, putting the container back in the cabinet. He goes to the window sill above his sink.
"Hey, [name]." He says, his voice threatening to crack. He stared peacefully at the Bonsai cherry tree that was once the love of his life.
