Flowers

The wind revived him, as he shivered on his way back to the car, his steady walk becoming a desperate sprint. As he fumbled around searching for his keys, he noticed how excessively over-sized the bouquet in his hands was, as if the florist was really feeling generous. The thought flustered him a little, but mostly it gave him peace, everything had to be big tonight. It was his second anniversary with his wife Maureen. His wife who hadn't stepped out of the house in days.

After seating the several roses in the back seat, Jason finally reached for the wheel, driving home to surprise his wife. He wondered if she had planned anything out, like she had on their first anniversary, but he felt doubtful. He encouraged her to go out with some friends in the previous weeks, but she always said the same thing, "I don't feel well today, I think need some rest", and with that she kissed him on the cheek, permitting or maybe begging him to leave. Today morning was the same, although he hoped that perhaps she was hurrying him to piece together a surprise. Maybe a candlelight dinner, or at least a conversation. 

Jason was almost nervous, it was not easy trying to get Maureen to celebrate these days. He didn't know if she would feel excited or plain irritated. Either way, he had to do this. It was only their second anniversary, and there was no way he was giving up already. As he drove towards their home, his mind strayed into thought. Maureen and Jason clicked instantly, from the moment they saw each other, he knew there was something about her that he liked. She was like that, the kind of girl who reeled you in, asking you to solve her. So he did, and less than a year later he found himself married to this beautiful woman. It felt like his dreams had all come true, but times slowly turned, Maureen became distant, a pure stranger.

He dreamt of crashing in a horrific accident as he neared his destination, maybe that would help his wife feel something for once. He pulled into the driveway. Once parked, he sat in the car for a good three minutes. When he mustered the courage to face his silent wife inside, he quickly hopped out of the car. Walking to his front door, he pictured his wife, on this very day last year. She looked gorgeous, in a red fitted dress, lipstick carefully painted overtop her soft lips.

After ringing the doorbell, he waited for something, maybe some movement, Maureen opening the door, or maybe just her voice calling him to come in. But nothing. It was completely silent, he thought about how he had never  heard silence so strongly before. It felt like a premonition of an upcoming disaster. So he opened the door for himself,

Jason walked in hesitantly, with the over-sized bouquet in his hand. He wanted to sprint straight to his bedroom where he could picture Maureen sleeping peacefully, but he was halted. A hand that had crept up from somewhere behind had suddenly taken grasp of him. He could feel his heart beating in some abnormal rhythm as he turned to see whose hands they were. He turned around to see his younger sister, Leah, the look in her eyes telling him she had been sobbing.

"Don't cry, it's going to be fine. She won't be mad this time. I brought her flowers"

With tears still escaping her eyes Leah could barely speak, "no Jason, how much longer will you do this? I can't take it anymore"

Jason didn't process any of the words that came out from his sister's mouth, his mind was fixated on Maureen and heading to their bedroom upstairs. He found his arm still locked in Leah's grasp and thought of asking her let him go, but instead he just pushed her away. In a mere moment, Leah was there lying on the cold floor. She was visibly hurt, he could see that from the blood crawling from her head. He loved her dearly, but there was something inside of him that didn't let him stay there to help Leah. Instead he rushed up to this room.

As he rushed into his bedroom, he knew Maureen would be hidden as always. She was a woman who liked mystery, she was never easy. So he walked towards her bed where she would be laying in complete peace. As he opened the casket, there she was, laying the way Leah was on the floor downstairs, but her blood long dried. He extended his arms offering her favourite red roses.

"Will you forgive me this time?"

Ghosts

Another night drunk, and this time he didn't have enough money left to call a taxi. It'd been about three months, since Amy had left him, and since then his sober days were falling well below the intoxicated ones. It was the only way Brendon felt something other than his numbness, it was his way of surviving. 

He left the pub in a hurry, restlessly worrying about the bills he had to pay soon. Where would he end up after this? He was on the road of self-destruction.

Brendon pulled his keys out from his pocket as he approached his car, now breaking down. It was broken as long as he, the day she left him, he got into a car accident. Since then the car hadn't been quite the same, and neither had he.

His head was wavering with alcohol, it made him wonder if he should drive home by himself. But he had no option, he had no money, nor any friends to drop him off. He lost everything that night.

But he figured he saw things more clearly when he wasn't sober. He could still see her in the clouds, feel her in the passing breezes, and sometimes she touched him through the rains. 

With her in mind, he sat in the car and turned it on. 

The drive down the street was like most other nights, a drive down memory lane. It was self-inflicted pain, the one he kept prolonging. 

He looked ahead and saw her silhouette, she walked gracefully as always. Her hair swayed with the heartbeat of the sky, the palpitating winds. As he drove in closer, he looked into her eyes, waiting to get lost inside them. He saw little glistening droplets of rain land on her cheeks, descending to the rest of her. But he realized later, these were tears.

His car was approaching dangerously close to the thought of her. What if he just drove into her, maybe her ghost would quit haunting him every moment. So he accelerated forward.

Until he heard a bang. He was in dismay, do ghosts bang against cars like that. He immediately hit the brakes.

He hurried out to approach a still figure lying on the ground, a mere stranger she seemed.

"Oh my goodness...I'm so..sorry...Oh no... What the fuck did I do?" He mumbled as he cursed himself. He dialed the ambulance right away, his eyes on a life besides his own, he was ruining.

Her lips moved slowly, "thank you".

He was appalled, did she not know he was the man to drive into her.

"But I crashed into you. Your life is in danger right now"

"Crash again," she whispered slowly as she closed her eyes.

"Are you crazy?" He didn't know what to do, he wanted to curse her and himself. Was she committing suicide or was this something else. And if she was, then why under his car? He had enough worries in his life.

She was lay silent for some time, and Brendon prayed that she would stay alive. After a few moments, she quietly murmured to him, "life sucks".

"It does, but you're going to be fine..the ambulance is going to be here right now"

"They can't save me."

"Why?"

"The ghosts won't let me go"

"I killed them for you" He answered.. 

The ambulance finally arrived and took her away, and after that the police arrived.

....

He woke up hungover the next morning, in jail. "What the fuck?" he thought. It took him a few moments to recall what might have brought him here.

"Excuse me..how did I get here," he asked bluntly.

"You are exactly where you deserve to be after what you did last night." 

"I was drunk, can you at least tell me what I did? I think I deserve to know" He asked anxiously.

"You crashed into a girl, she's laying on a bed in the hospital because of you. Not only that, you ran away. You left her on the street in the rain!"

"Why would I do that? I swear I wouldn't.. I'm certain I called 911"

"You did call, and that's how we found you. Then you told us she asked for it."

"Oh yeah I remember, she did!"

"Nice try kid." The officer looked irritated.

Brendon tried to the recall the blurry pieces of his drunk night. He remembered crashing into her, she thanked him for it.

"Is she okay?" he asked. Nobody replied.

A few minutes later, the officer came back. He pulled Brendon out of the room, explaining how the strange girl gained consciousness and confessed it was a suicide attempt.

"We're sorry Brendon, it was just the situations, made it seem like a murder attempt.." the officer kept going on with his apologies, but Brendon's mind was fixated on this mysterious girl. Flashbacks of the night before played through his mind, the way she thanked him for crashing into her. 

He hurried to meet here.

When he finally got to the hospital, she was gone.. the only thing left of her was a short letter she had written for him. 

"Thank you for killing my ghosts, I hope you can kill your own."

He tried to think about the ghosts that haunted him, but there were none left.