Claudia walked into the flower shop after school, after figuring out the Federico and Ezio were in detention AGAIN (three days, for pete sake). There was something she wanted to get there. And since she had skipped lunch to save the money her mom have given that morning, she knew she could buy it.
The bell rang lightly as she came through the glass door and into the warmer room where plants were set up in pots and crates. The woman who ran the flower shop was a girl who graduated last year, Faustina, and she stood boredly behind the counter with short blonde hair ruffled over her cheeks. It was pretty humid in the building, for good reason of course, so Claudia wanted to leave before her hair could get frizzy.
Faustina was taking a sip from a bottle of wine on her desk, her eyes red. But when she saw Claudia enter, she pulled herself together enough to go business. "Is there somethin' I can help you with?"
Nodding, Claudia asked, "I want to send some sympathy flowers. A friend of mine just died not long ago."
"Everyone dies, kid, get used to it," she stated, taking another swig from her wine. "Why's it even matter anyways? I'm sure the family'll provide the flowers for the funeral anyways."
It was a good point. She was sure Kadar's parents would take care of his funeral. But there was still Malik. "Then what about someone I know at the hospital, he lost someone close to him."
Rubbing her temples with her thumb and index, she sighed heavily, "You don't quit, do you, kid? Fine. What were you thinking of?"
"I don't know," Claudia admitted, "I heard flowers have meanings, and I don't want to send him the wrong message."
Faustina walked out from behind the counter and looked through her stock. "What are you trying to tell him?"
"I want to tell him he's not alone, that I'm going to be here if he needs me," she answered. There her eyes caught sight of some white lilies. "How about these?"
With an awkward cough, the answer came, "Um, a white lily means virginity and basically means 'it's heavenly being with you'."
"Eh... right. Sorry." Claudia stood from the flowers and rubbed the back of her head.
The flower shop attendant stepped over to another table and shifted through some flowers. "How about I give you two roses. A red and white one. That means unity, if I'm not mistaken."
"Roses? I thought those were girls only," Claudia thought aloud.
"I'd like to point out, my grandfather had red and white roses at his funeral, and we were given the same colors in sympathy bouquets," Faustina pointed out, "they aren't 'girly'."
Claudia nodded, "Alright, I understand. How much for them?"
"Three dollars," she said, clipping the stems. "Of course, if you want a vase to put them in then I'll have to add that to the price."
"Just the flowers," honestly, Claudia got the sinking feeling that a vase might cost too much for her ten dollars to afford. Besides, she wanted to save some of the money to pay for the flowers for Kadar's funeral, despite what this girl said.
"Alright," Faustina wrapped the roses' stems in tissue paper and took the three dollars before walking to her desk and taking a swig from her wine.
Claudia wrinkled her nose in discussed. "Aren't you underage?"
"Can't smoke around the flowers, now can I?" Faustina argued. "This is the next best thing I got."
"But why do you drink?"
The long look came back to Faustina's face, and she answered. "I loved my grandfather, I didn't want him to die..." Her gaze intensified. "When you see your friend, make sure he doesn't drink. It's a nasty habit..."
Claudia nodded and walked out of the shop. Thankfully, her mom saw her on the sidewalk and stopped the car.
"What are you doing out here," her mother asked. "And where did you get the flowers?"
"Mom, can you drive me to the hospital?" Claudia asked. "I... I want to visit someone."
Although her mother seemed to bear a look that seemed to spand far beyond her years, she nodded. "Alright. Get in the car."
When they arrived at the hospital, Claudia checked in as a visitor and walked up to the room where she had been pointed to. Thankfully, her mom decided to stay in the car. She wasn't sure she really wanted her mom hanging over her shoulder anyways.
She opened the door and stepped inside, roses loose in her grip, as her eyes fell on the occupied bed. The patient lying just over the covers appeared to be asleep. Right away, her eyes fell to a stump that took the place of his arm, and her heart sunk low. "Oh no..." She whispered.
No one had really heard about Malik's condition, and now that she was seeing it, she was glad it wasn't something being spread around. He looked just awful, almost pitiful. It was depressing to her just standing in the room, seeing him so bed. But that was with his back turned away from her.
Walking around the bed, she stared down at his tensed face, his hand clutching up where it rested by his head. The tear stains on his cheeks. Claudia looked away for a moment to unwrap the roses and place them in an empty vase on the endtable (she assumed it was for vistors to leave flowers). "I'm sorry..." she paused and decided not to speak, since it would be speaking to herself.
I'll write a note and leave it with the flowers.
A pen was tied to the clipboard at the end of his bed, and she fished around her pocket, remembering the papers she had taken from her mom's office early today. She had intended to do some vent art or something, but they remained blank. She drew a piece from the folded bunch and flattened it out on the clip board before she begun to write everything she wanted to tell him.
When she finished writing the note, she placed it beside the vase (she would have put the corner under it but figured he'd knock the vase over to get the note) and put the clipboard back. And she stood there for a few long moments before she glanced down at Malik, still ridged where he laid. Her hand was hesitant, almost afraid that even touching him in the slightest would shatter him like glass (that and she really, REALLY didn't want to wake him up). Slowly, her hand held onto his, and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
His low grunt of a responce surprised her; she withdrew her hand before hurrying out of the hospital room. Somehow, she was a little shy about staying around while he was awake.
It was the warmth in a hand that snapped Malik away from his nightmares. But before he could open his eyes, he heard the door close, and there he lay, staring off into the distance, knowing he was left alone once more.
Slowly, his eyes traveled to the nightstand, where the vase, empty before, held two flowers, and a note lay folded in half. Someone was here...
His hand reached for the note and he pushed it open with his thumb. There, on white lined paper, he read the following:
"Malik, I heard of Kadar's passing, it struck a blow to me. I wish I hadn't forgotten him over the summer, that this didn't happen to him. He was still so young. But the fourteen years he was with us should be a gift. I send my condolences for your loss, and I keep you and your family in my mind through this difficult time. When I had come into your hospital room, I hadn't expected you in such a state. It saddens me greatly to see you in this pain. It's funny, when I heard of your brother's passing, I soon got you in my mind. It was stuck there and wouldn't go away. I wanted to know if you were going to be okay. And I wanted to let you know that I'm here if you need someone you can talk to. Kadar wouldn't want you to be upset. He would want you to find happiness somehow and keep going on. I'll be there at his funeral. And I'll come back to visit you as soon as I can; hopefully you'll be awake next time and I will be able to talk to you in person. My deepest regards..."
He realized a moment later that the writer didn't sign it. With a sigh, he placed the letter down on the nightstand again and let his head fall back into the pillow. His thoughts drifting from face to face that he knew. Who could have written the letter, he wondered. The long, curvy handwriting didn't match that of anyone he was familiar with.
Then his gaze fell on the flowers. Two roses stood in the glass vase. One deep crimson, the other milky white. There was once a book he recalled his mother owning before she sold it on Ebay. It was on flowers and symbolism. What did that mean again? Unity? He was finding it difficult to remember the pages he had seen so long ago.
Yup, Claudia feels the need to send a sympathy card and flowers to Malik. And Malik's a little confounded by the fact he had a visitor. And yes I did just add another multiplayer character in the mix. Faustina is the thief in Brotherhood.
