All the pretty flowers
Alice had been with Frank always. She knew that. She wasn't sure how she knew that but she did. She swung her legs happily under the bed as she examined the paper flower in her hand. A young boy always came and gave her paper flowers with sweets inside. She didn't have anything to give him so she always returned the paper flowers.
There had been flowers during her first kiss. Her Frank, and she knew that he was hers, had been playing with her in the garden. They were chasing the pixies she had found. He didn't want to play that game but he did anyway, just to make her happy.
Whilst they were playing he found a beautiful pink flower and he gave it to her. She didn't have a flower to give back to him then so she kissed his cheek and he turned the same colour as the flower. She liked flowers.
The second kiss came when he was going to Hogwarts. She wasn't allowed to go until the next year and knew that she would miss him. Whenever her mother would miss her father then she would kiss him on the lips, so she had leaned up and pressed her lips to the blushing boy's for half a second before running off. There had been no flowers then but she knew that, like her father, he would return with some.
The third kiss was in her second year at Hogwarts and there had been a flower that time as well. She had been outside with Frank counting off the petals on the daisy when he leaned over and gave her a chaste kiss on the lips for a couple of seconds.
The fourth kiss had been in her seventh year. They had gone down to Hogsmeade together and he bought her a flower from one of the children raising money. He had placed it in her hair behind her ear and told her he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. There had been a ring then as well.
The fifth kiss had lots of flowers, growing over an archway where she and her Frank said 'I do'. It had been the best day of her life and it had the best flowers.
The sixth kiss was blurry. She knew there was pain and three others standing over them dressed in black with white faces. Red jets of lights leapt from the strange people and hit them. She had been so scared. She couldn't remember why though. Her Frank crawled across to her and kissed her gently through the pain. Her eyes had settled on the flowers in a broken vase, burning softly away. Even then there had been flowers.
The seventh kiss came when she woke up. Frank had been there with her and she knew she was safe. He had been happy when she woke up and kissed her happily. The room had been filled with flowers then too and she knew everything would be okay.
So Alice gave the young boy who visited her the paper flower, hoping that he would know what she meant. She wanted the boy who brought her the paper flowers to have someone like she had her Frank.
She smiled as he held it protectively. Love was meant to be protected.