Flowers for the Dead Ch. 02

Daphne awoke gently to the sound of windchimes. With a generous stretch, she leaned over to silence her alarm. Despite the uneasiness of the night before, she felt well-rested and chipper. She drew the curtains of the bedroom window and was greeted with the soft light of the rising sun.

Today will be a good day.

This morning at the garden, they would be creating their newest exhibit. Daphne was excited to see the new plants and catalogue them all. She would make sure to get to work early to start. With one last stretch and a few cracking joints, Daphne made her way to the kitchen. The cool, hard-wood floor felt refreshing on the soles of her feet as Jack trotted after her. Padding from refrigerator to counter and back again, Daphne prepared a hearty breakfast that would fuel her for a day of planting and note-taking. While the kettle chortled for her chamomile tea, Daphne tended to her houseplants. She moved the aloe into the sunlight and gently removed the dead leaves from her African violets. The rest of her plants received a generous misting of water and a few encouraging words from Daphne.

When the kettle began to whistle, Daphne poured the boiling water into her mug and headed back into her bedroom to dress. She chose a denim overall dress and a pair of well-worn boots. Taking sips in between every layer, Daphne was finally dressed. Next came her hair. She removed the satin scarf that protected her hair at night and gave her bed-mussed cloud of curls a little love and attention. A quick spritz of perfume and a swipe of lip gloss and she was out the door. As Daphne bounded down her apartment steps, she checked her watch, a find from the thrift store around the corner. 7:30am on the dot. She smiled. She could take her time on her walk to work. Daphne hummed as she admired her summertime surroundings.

~ ~ ~

He studied her as she made her way through the city. He never tired of watching the liveliness of her features as she observed the plants and people of her surroundings. With each step, her hips swung sensually in time to the tune she hummed. He was familiar with it, as it was one she sang to herself nearly every morning.

He longed to grip her curves and caress every inch of her. He could nearly smell her fragrance as the breeze blew gently around the fabric of her dress; she wore a scent called Daisy.

Soon, he would have her. He had waited for too long. He would be patient no longer.

~ ~ ~

The walk on the way to the botanical garden revealed plenty of sights and sounds. Japanese honeysuckle creeped in between the spaces of fences and streetlights. School buses barreled along the street in a cloud of dust and exhaust. Pigeons cooed on stoops; dogs panted along with their owners during their morning jogs. The city was lively and bright. Daphne loved it. Shy by nature, she spent these morning walks people watching.

Daphne hadn't been living on her own for very long. She had received her Accelerated Master's degree at 22 and had moved to the city soon after. Raised in a small town, Daphne had a very sheltered childhood. Her parents, a veterinarian mother and meteorologist father, had home-schooled her from pre-school through high school. As a result, books had been her closest friends and confidantes. That changed, if only slightly, in college. Daphne's hometown hadn't one college or university. The nearest undergraduate programs were nearly 6 hours away. It was in the hollowed halls of Kore University that Daphne found friends, and her love of plants. When many of her friends in the Biology Department had been extended job opportunities in the same locale that Daphne had, she couldn't have been more elated. Three years later, she was still surrounded by her best friends and her favorite flora.

When Daphne arrived at the garden, her senses were confronted with the humid, herbal air of the main greenhouse. As she made her way into the lab to see the new specimens, she made sure to examine each one of the display organisms along the way. She was especially pleased to see that the jade vine was thriving. Once the plant bore seeds, the garden staff would be able to send the specimen back for conservation in its native country. After her inspection, Daphne made her way into the laboratory. She stowed away her bag and put on a sterile lab suit and hair net. Any outside spores or insects would prove disastrous for the newest exhibit. Daphne scanned the room and took in the sheer number of boxes, crates, and jars to be accounted for and propagated.

"Oh my." she said loud.

"Talking to yourself again?" came a voice from behind.

Daphne nearly jumped out of her skin. Whirling around, she was relieved to see her friend Melinda wearing the same sterile attire, with a devilish grin.

"I don't know why you take such joy in scaring me out of my wits!" Daphne said indignantly.

Melinda shrugged.

"It's the highlight of my day."

Daphne rolled her eyes.

"We haven't the time for practical jokes. We have over a hundred specimens to catalogue today. I should have gotten here earlier!" Daphne stared at the wall of seedlings and samples and heaved a heavy sigh.

Now it was Melinda's turn to roll her eyes.

"Would you relax? With both of us here, we'll be finished before noon. You'll have plenty of time to talk to your plants."

Daphne crossed her arms. "I just really like plants, ok?"

"Yeah, a little more than the rest of us" came Melinda's reply.

After a few more exchanges of good-natured insults, the two got to work labeling, tallying, and examining. Melinda opened crates and counted specimens, while Daphne tallied and recorded each plant's condition.

"We've got four syringes of Podostroma cornu-damae spores and one for the Amanita bisporigera" said Melinda through her face mask. The spores were suspended in liquid, but she didn't want to take any chances. Nearly all of the new plant specimens in the lab were for the garden's new exhibit, "Fatal Flora: Plants & Their Poisons".

"Just one?" called Daphne. "Amanita will make such a lovely addition to the garden. They're so dainty in appearance."

"Yes, diarrhea and convulsions are frightfully dainty." Melinda retorted.

"That's only if you eat them!"

"That's usually how you get poisoned, Daph. We've got one seedling of Nerium oleander and one sealed bag of tobacco seeds."

"Oh, whatever. That's Nicotiana tabacum, right?" Daphne asked as she scribbled away on the clipboard.

"Look at you," joshed Melinda. "Putting that degree to good use!"

Daphne and Melinda spent the next endless hours in the same way. "Fatal Flora" was on its way to becoming the garden's largest specialized exhibit. If each of the specimens in the lab grew successfully enough to be placed on display, it would be the largest exhibit of its kind in the world. The last of the plants were the trees. They needed to be unwrapped, inspected, and counted. As Daphne inspected and Melinda tallied, their task was nearly finished. As Daphne removed the burlap sack around the last tree, she was surprised to see—

"Pomegranate?" Daphne noted the red husk of the fruits in front of her. "What's this doing here?"

"It's part of the exhibit, obviously. How does it look?" The tree was the last specimen to be catalogued and Melinda was eager to be finished.

"It's ripe! What organism ever comes to the garden in the final stages of maturation?"

Melinda set aside the clipboard and took a look at the fruit-bearing tree.

"Oh! It is ripe, isn't it? Let's have one." And with that, Melinda snapped off the largest and darkest fruit.

"Melinda Eris Thompson, what on Earth are you doing?" gasped Daphne.

"You're using my government name! You must be mad, huh?" Melinda said as she pocketed the fruit.

"You know we aren't allowed to eat the specimens! And from this exhibit too! What are you thinking?" Daphne stood protectively between her friend and the fruit tree.

"What difference does it make? We're the only ones that know it's gone. It would have begun to rot while on display, anyway." Melinda picked up the clipboard and noted the number of fruits still on the tree.

"You are so stubborn, I swear!" said Daphne throwing up her hands. "But what I can't understand is why it was sent to us in the first place. None of the plants in this family are poisonous."

"If that's what the curators chose, then that's what belongs in the exhibit." Melinda bustled around the lab cleaning surfaces and ensuring the organization of all the specimens.

"But, pomegranate symbolizes fertility in most cultures. The Moors used is as a symbol of the city of Granada. That's because of the plant's origins, not because of any known toxicity." Daphne mused.

"Daph, I don't know why you're so invest—"

"In fact, it's rumored to have medicinal properties. That's a separate exhibit entirely."

"Are you talking to me or to yourself? Because I don't very much care about whe—" Melinda was interrupted again.

"It's even mentioned in the Bible in that book of explicit love poetry. I don't see why it's here. And in such a condition! It's amazing it's not infested." Daphne rambled on as she examined each and every part of the plant. "This really is strange."

Melinda was beginning to lose her patience.

"We've been in here all day and you don't seem to be in any hurry to leave. We've missed our lunch hour." she huffed.

"You're the one who said we'd be out by noon." Daphne said without looking up. "Is there something about this plant that I don't know?"

"Yes!" Melinda's annoyance was clear as she raised her voice. "The ancient Greeks called it the 'fruit of the dead'! Are you happy now?"

Daphne looked up and blinked.

"Well, I suppose I am." chirped Daphne with a genuine smile.

Melinda rolled her eyes again.

"Good! Can we leave now? I'm starved!"

When Daphne and Melinda left the botanical garden, the sun was sinking behind the city skyline.

"Noon, huh?" snorted Daphne. "Not by a long shot."

"At least I didn't have fit over some fruit tree." said Melinda defensively. "I think I deserve a home-cooked dinner for having to deal with you all day."

"You know Fridays are our dinner dates." replied Daphne. "What are you in the mood for?"

"Honestly? I could go for some take out."

An hour and a half later, the two women sat in Daphne's living room with half a dozen take-out boxes before them. Jack sat watching and waiting for a bit of food to fall into the floor.

"I'm going to regret eating all this greasy stuff later." said Melinda with a mouth full of rice.

"You say that every time we order take-out!" laughed Daphne.

"Hey! I'm consistent, alright?" said Melinda in mock defense. "Change the channel, will you? We spent the entire day in the lab and you still want to look at more plants."

"I like this show!" Daphne pouted, getting defensive over an hour-long special on the history of botany. "But, as you wish."

She went through dozens of television channels before settling on some standard reality television show.

"How about this? It's that dating show with the one single guy and, like, twenty single girls." Shows like this weren't Daphne's favorite, but she could tolerate an hour or two for her best friend's sake.

"Perfect! I forgot that aired tonight! This is gonna be so good. Last week, this girl threw another girl's entire suitcase in the jacuzzi because she was jealous!" Melinda scooted from the sofa to the floor to get closer to the screen.

"These shows all have the same formula: guy meets girl and girl and girl and so on. He picks the most predictable one, usually blond. They get engaged and then call it off a year later. None of the winners are ever girls like us anyway."

"Of course not! You think I want to see girls like me fighting over some prick on national television?" Melinda ran her hand over her shaved head. "Girls like us get to do kick-ass shit like counting spore syringes and stealing pomegranates."

"I didn't steal anything!" accused Daphne, pointing a fork at her friend. "I'm innocent."

Melinda shrugged. "You were an accomplice. You'll eat it with me, right?"

"Wouldn't want your criminal actions to go to waste. We may as well eat the evidence." Daphne walked into the kitchen to get a knife, bowl, and cutting board. As she returned she said, "Go ahead and cut it up. We can eat it during the show."

The show was nearly halfway over by the time Melinda had successfully harvested the edible parts of the fruit from its tough, outer skin.

"I hope it was worth staining your shirt." laughed Daphne, noting the blood-red splatters on Melinda's white button-up. She tossed a bit of fruit to the dog, who snapped it up with enthusiasm.

"It will be." Melinda offered Daphne a cup of garnet arils and lifted her own. "Here's to a love that lasts a hundred times longer than those depicted on this stranger-than-reality television show! Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Daphne tipped her cup back and crunched a mouthful of succulent pomegranate seeds.

"So? Was it worth being an accessory to theft?" asked Melinda as a tossed a handful of fruit into her mouth.

"I'd say it's nearly worth jail time." Daphne laughed before her body was racked with an overwhelming chill.

"That good, huh?" Melinda asked, upon seeing her friend tremble.

"I just got so cold all of a sudden! I think there's a draft in here." Daphne looked around for an open window.

"You're probably just low in iron or something. I've been telling you for ages now that your tree-hugging tofu diet isn't doing it for you. You do look like you gained some weight though."

Daphne swatted her friend's shoulder. "Excuse you! I'm just becoming more womanly."

"Daph, you're twenty-five. You're already a woman." Melinda scoffed.

"That's not the point!" Daphne said as she pulled a blanket over her shoulders. Jack settled into her lap.

The show concluded with a flourish of drama. The program's bachelor would be choosing not one, but two women to be eliminated.

"Same time next Friday?" asked Melinda as she headed to the door.

"Of course! But let's actually cook next week, alright?" Daphne stood in the hallway with a very alert Jack in her arms.

"It's a date." Melinda called over her shoulder as she walked to her apartment, just a few blocks away.

Daphne secured the door before quickly cleaning up the remnants of their feast. Her joints were beginning to ache from the busy day. She longed for a hot bath.

After the bath water had filled the tub and was sufficiently enriched with dried rose petals and scented oil, Daphne submerged herself with a contented sigh. As she wiggled her toes just above the surface, she thought back to the TV show they'd watched. She knew that reality television was no reflection of society, but she couldn't help but wonder if that swept-off-the-feet-and-living-happily-after romance would ever happen for her. She was pretty enough on a good day, she thought. And smart, too. But she wasn't sexy or alluring. Her brown eyes and dark skin weren't prized. Her glasses made her look as bookish as she really was. And her hair was a mass of tight, unruly curls. Cinderella looked nothing like her.

I can be happy with plants, friends, and a loyal pet.

Jack looked up from his spot at the door as if reading her mind. Daphne smiled and drained the water from the tub.

Love isn't destined for everyone, I suppose.

After drying off, Daphne quickly dressed in a comfortable night shirt. She buried herself beneath her covers with Jack by her side and soon drifted off into sleep.

10:07 p.m.

Daphne was back at the party, if one could call it that. It was a house full of twenty-somethings, loud music, and copious amounts of grain alcohol. It wasn't Daphne's scene, but she was trying to branch out. This is what college is about, right? Academics, Adderall, and alcohol. Only two of those things were present tonight.

Her friends, Tiffany and Carissa, had convinced her to come. They'd said she deserved to get a little tipsy after midterms. They'd done her hair, makeup, and even picked out her clothes and shoes. She looked like a girl in a music video. The stares that she kept getting made her pull down her skirt at nearly every step.

Daphne looked around. She'd lost sight of her friends. She pushed through the crowd of gyrating bodies, careful not to spill her drink on her borrowed blouse. After making her way through the entire first floor of the house, Daphne gave up. Setting her drink on a nearby coffee table, she went to the powder room to take a breather. She looked at her reflection. The dark eye makeup made her brown eyes look entrancing and feline. Her already full lips looked even more striking under bright red lipstick. She sighed. It was just one party. Once it was over, she'd check it off her list of "things to do while in college".

Daphne returned to the chaos of the party and retrieved her drink. Despite the heat generating from the dozens of people around her, Daphne suddenly felt very cold. She quickly threw back her drink in hopes that it would warm her up, physically and mentally.

What happened next was...was...

The noise of the party was muffled, as if she was underwater. That was because she was somewhere. Not here. A bedroom? She'd been on the first floor. She didn't remember walking up any stairs.

She was still so cold. She looked down. Maybe she was cold because she skirt had been shoved up to the bottom of her bra.

Shoes—one was missing. The bass was so loud. Or was it the throbbing in her temples? She moved to get up and was swept away in a wave of nausea.

"Where do you think you're going, baby? We're just getting started."

Her shirt was off. Her glasses were crooked.

Daphne felt the weight of something—someone. Someone on top of her. Blue polo shirt.. Brown hair. Crooked smirk. Green eyes.

"Get off me! I—I don't want t—"

11:13 p.m.

"Good evening and welcome to this week's episode of 'A Love to Last for One Season'! I'm your host, Diego Mentira. Let's meet the lovely ladies that will be competing for the heart of our lucky bachelor! Contestant number one, come on out!"

The spotlight shifted to Daphne. She shielded her eyes with a hand and clumsily walked down the runner to meet her love interest.

When her eyes had finally stopped smarting from the light, she recognized him.

Brown hair. Crooked smirk. Green eyes.

Daphne sat up with a wild look in eyes. She took huge gulps of air as her heartbeat resounded in her ears. She wasn't sure whether she'd screamed in her nightmare or in reality. At any rate, the sweat on her sheets and night-shirt was real. She quickly shed her damp sleep attire. Jack whimpered as Daphne walked to the bathroom on trembling legs. For once, the cold of her apartment was welcome. Especially on her bare, perspiring skin. She splashed tap water on her face, hoping to distract her mind from flashbacks and cruel distorted reality. She looked at her complexion in the mirror. The moonlight slightly exaggerated her features. The bags beneath her eyes looked deeper, darker. After a taking a few quaking breaths and feverishly putting on another pair of pajamas, Daphne returned to bed. Despite her previous perverse reveries, sleep swiftly returned.

12:01 a.m. The first day of autumn

Daphne opened her eyes and was startled when no light entered them. She blinked in bewilderment. Her apartment was never this dark. She moved to wave her hand in front of her face and winced at the sudden pain in her shoulder. Her hand, both hands were tied above her head. She looked down and only saw more darkness. She tried to kick her feet. They were restrained as well. She struggled to listen out for a sound. She didn't hear Jack breathing. There was no rumble of car engines outside or hum of her apartment refrigerator. The only sound that filled her ears was the increasing cadence of her panicked breathing.