Flower Girls

Chapter 8 - The Laboratory

Thunder rumbled and lightning streaked across the sky. I watched through the window as the rain continued to fall like it did two years before, on the night I last saw Lily Green. At least this time I was indoors.

I looked at the vase of delicate, creamy white flowers on the windowsill.

Every week since I'd moved out of my parents' home and into my own house, I'd bought fresh calla lilies and put them in a vase on the windowsill as a reminder of the mysterious friend that had vanished as soon as she'd completed her "mission". I fiddled with the necklace that she'd given me and wondered whether we'd ever see each other again.

Since she'd left, I'd finished my exams, with good grades in science, and passed my driving test. The local science laboratories had offered me a job in Biological Sciences, and I'd accepted. I had started last week and was still meeting people and finding my way around.

I cleaned up my breakfast and tidied my plate and cutlery into the dishwasher. The rain still hadn't stopped so I'd need a raincoat to get to work today. I found my raincoat and ventured outside.

When I got to the lab, I found my boss, Amanda, was already there.

"Caroline," she smiled at me. "I wanted to show you the Physics laboratory today if you like?" I nodded.

I liked Amanda. She had dark skin, deep brown eyes and curly dark hair, and she was thoughtful and kind.

We turned left at the bottom of a long corridor and she showed me around a white laboratory with various people at work. Finally, we entered a smaller room the back.

"These gentlemen are Simon and Matthew," she said, introducing me to them. "Guys, this is Caroline, she started last week."

Simon was handsome with blue eyes and blonde hair.

"Nice to meet you," he offered, along with a friendly smile.

Matthew had dark eyes and dark hair, and a shiver went down my spine when I looked at him. He reminded me of the man that had tried to kill me two years ago. I shook away the shivers crawling down my spine. There was no way it could be him, because I had seen that other man die. And Matthew was way too young anyway, even if the resemblance was striking.

Matthew gave me a friendly wave and a smile too. Suddenly he looked less threatening, and I relaxed.

"So, what do you guys do in here?" I asked politely.

"Top secret," replied Matthew with a friendly wink.

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Boys and their toys," she mumbled.

"Matthew and I are a team," explained Simon. "I do the experimental things, he works on the theoretical stuff mainly."

"Sounds like a good split of work," I smiled back. I liked him already.

"Come on, I'll show you the way back," said Amanda.

Later that day, Simon came to find me, and asked if I'd like to have dinner with him. I said I would like to, and so on Saturday evening we went to a little Spanish restaurant covered with pretty lights. We talked all night, and at the end of the evening, he asked me if I'd like to do it again some time. I liked him very much, and of course I said I'd love to.

We had dinner four or five times together after that, before he asked me if I'd like to be his girlfriend. A year later, Simon had moved into my house with me and we were talking about getting married and maybe having a baby.

I was happy that I'd found someone I could be happy with, but I never forgot about Lily. I wished I knew how to contact her so that I could invite her to come to the wedding.

About a month before the wedding, Simon came home from work, saying that he wasn't feeling well. He went to bed, shaking, and I was worried about him. I brought him some soup, but he didn't feel like eating it. I sat on the bed next to him and stroked his hair to comfort him.

About an hour later, I started drifting off to sleep next to him, when suddenly, he jerked up, clutching his chest.

"Simon?" I asked, panicked.

"Caroline," he whispered back as his face crumpled in pain. "Help me."

I immediately phoned for an ambulance, which came quickly. The paramedics lifted Simon onto a stretcher and attached their monitoring equipment.

"Looks like a heart attack," said one to the other as they pushed him into an ambulance.

A heart attack? Didn't that usually happen to older people? Surely not to someone as young and healthy as Simon?

Despite their attempts to save him, Simon had passed away before we even got to the hospital. My heart ached for the man I was about to marry, and I cried as they tried to determine the cause of death.

But nobody could tell me exactly why he died.

And just like that, I lost someone else I cared about from my life.