The man who loved flowers
At seventy-third street he stopped and turned right. He walked as if he was in a trance. He couldn't wait to get to her, to see her face, her glowing eyes and her infatuating smile.
He smelled the tea roses he had bought for her and remembered the flower vendors words: "She's gonna throw her arms around your neck".
The sweet smell of summer, which came from the roses, and the thought of her giving herself completely to him made him calm.
He didn't even notice the people around him who were looking at him with the smile of spring across their faces, he didn't notice the people around him who were smiling and holding hands and he didn't even notice the lost child who was crying for her mother. All he noticed was the warm spring air, which surrounded his head like a lacy cloud. He inhaled the warm air and felt slightly light headed and thought once again of Haley James. He smelled the tea roses, their smell reminded him of Haley - oh how he loved that smell; so warm and gentle, filling his heart with contempt and calmness and he knew everything was going to be alright.
He stopped automatically at a red light, yet he wanted to walk right through it. He needed to get to her, he needed her.
A gentle warm breeze came towards him, bringing the smell of the tea roses with it. He closed his eyes and inhaled but this time he wasn't filled with calmness. His eyes flew wide open - confused and terrified: Something was wrong.
The darkness of the night fell upon him. It had come so suddenly that it took him by surprise. Everything around him was moving: The cars and the people. Tires were screeching, engines were running, cars were honking, people were laughing, people were screaming and it was too much for him to take. The sounds were too loud, he felt as if his head was going to explode. He just wanted it to stop.
He looked around and saw the cold black streets lighted by the pale moon and the fading stars.
He reached his hand down his pocket and felt the smooth silver, which send an electric shock throughout his fingers. He pulled it up and stared at it as if it could give him an answer for his eeriness.
It hit him fast and hard like a hammer, a revelation you could call it. The people around him, the few who noticed him, looked at him with confusion in their eyes. He ran away from them as fast as he could leaving only the quiet whisper of Haley behind.
He couldn't explain it, he just knew it: His feet were going to take him to his beloved Haley. He ran as fast as he could and stopped at an alley a few blocks away. The darkness was overwhelming, yet the people around him did not seem to notice.
He walked slowly down the alley. His feet were getting wet from the puddles. "Haley", he whispered and it echoed back at him like a ghost. He heard his feet splashing in the puddles as he walked further down the alley.
Suddenly he stopped. He was too afraid to move a muscle and literally froze. He began to pant and his whole body was in overdrive as he remembered: It was spring therefore it had not rained.
It took him a while to gather the strength to look down but he knew he had to. He took a deep breath and slowly let his eyes wander down to his feet: They were surrounded by a red fluid. He let out a small scream and jumped a little. His eyes were filling with tears, as he looked further up the alley, where the outline of a woman's body, laying on the concrete, appeared from the darkness.
He dropped the tea roses and the silver engagement ring he had been clutching on to. The tea roses and the ring feel to the ground with a hollow sound and the ring spun around only to fall down a drain.
He ran towards the body, which was covered in blood, and fell on his knees clutching her cold body close to his. Next to her a hammer laid.
Her face had been beaten so badly that she was unrecognizable, yet he knew that it was his Haley.
He cried and cried while he was cradling her back and forth and he childishly hopped that she would open her eyes and wake up again.
He was covered in her blood but he didn't care. To him it could just as well have been his own blood as he felt his heart being ripped to pieces.
"HELP ME", he screamed in despair looking out on the street and the grinning people walking by.
Only the ghostly echoes answered him back.
The people on the street didn't even notice them, 'cause they had the smile of spring across their faces. They walked as if they were in a trance and nothing seemed important to them because the warm spring air had surrounded their heads like a lacy cloud.