Chapter 2 - Snowdrops and Roses

My bedroom was quiet and dark except for a tiny part of light that was shining through the gap in between my curtains. For a guy like me, this was the sort of thing that got on my nerves at nighttime, but as it was morning now, I didn't particularly mind, I mean, I wasn't planning on going back into a deep sleep anytime soon, though as I lay there in bed staring up at the ceiling, my mind was still groggy from having woken up about twenty minutes earlier and all I wanted to do at the moment was have a little doze.

I shifted onto my left side and pulled the covers almost over my head, blocking out the scant amount of light flowing into the room because all I needed was a lie-in since it was a Sunday and as I lived by myself, I felt that that such thing was necessary, however, I also knew that there were certain jobs I had to do throughout the day so I made sure not to spend too long in bed. I let out a yawn and wrapped my arm around my pillow, letting my body sink further into the mattress.

Just then, I heard a ping from my phone and I sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes. Who the hell was messaging me at this time in the morning? Letting out another yawn, I picked up my phone off my bedside table and tapped the screen twice to turn it on, and the first thing I saw made my heart like butter. A text from Gracie…

Good morning, gorgeous. Xx

Mmm…that was a very nice thing to wake up to…

I grunted as I adjusted my position just a little bit more so I was comfortable and I typed back into the message box, my eyes still a bit bleary with leftover sleep.

Good morning, beautiful. Hope you're feeling better than you were yesterday. Xx.

To my surprise, Gracie replied to my text within about twenty seconds.

Yeah, I am, thanks. By the way, I don't think I was very specific with where to meet up today. I know I said town, but where I really meant was…our local church's graveyard.

A graveyard? That was quite an abnormal place to meet up, but then again, yesterday, Gracie did tell me that she had sensitive things to talk to me about. Maybe it was something to do with that. I didn't pressure her into talking about any of this right now because I wasn't that type of boyfriend. I just wanted her to take her time and lean on me if she was really, really upset.

At that moment, I paused my repetitive scanning of Gracie's messages and sat still in bed, for I heard the faint ringing of church bells outside. My eyes rapidly moved to the time on my phone in the top right hand corner.

09:01 am

Eh… I didn't know if I wanted to get out of bed yet. It was the weekend, and if I abandoned the warmth of my bed now, then that was it. I didn't feel inclined to feel that same sensation until a whole twelve hours later where it was considered appropriate, so I snuggled down further and it was then when I decided to ask Gracie a question.

Hey, Gracie. When is an appropriate time to meet up? I've got all the time in the day, but it depends on when you're free. Xx.

Hm… I'd say about half past twelve to one o'clock because I've got chores to do all morning while my parents sit on their arses watching TV.

As I looked at that last message, I couldn't help but feel a pang of concern. Chores? While her parents weren't even supervising, no less? That wasn't very good, but I didn't pry, instead I replied, Okay, that's fine. Should I leave first or should you?

I think you should leave first. I may have a few things to take care of at the last minute if that's okay.

Yeah, no problem. I'll see you this afternoon, love you :) xx.

Love you too. Xx.

Phew. For a few moments at different times, I had thought that Gracie was mad because I'd done something to her that I didn't realise I had done, but the relieving thing was that she was still putting kisses at the ends of her texts and still telling me she loved me, so that was cushty. The sound of the church bells was ringing about the town and at this point, it was as if they were trying to get me out of bed because I didn't know why, but gradually, they began to get louder, thus making me feel bad that I wasn't getting up and seizing the day sooner, so I swung my legs over the side of my bed and started to get dressed.

Once I was fully clothed and all the sleep had been rubbed from my eyes, I ran a brush through my hair, momentarily noticing that it was a little straggly and greasy. I supposed I maybe had to take a shower later on in the day, but as soon as I gave my hair a little ruffle, I felt more confident that I looked decent. All was quiet as I sauntered downstairs to knock up a good breakfast and I felt quite relaxed, but as soon as I looked out of my living room window, I heaved a great sigh. It was raining. Brilliant. That meant that it would possibly still be like that until noon. I thought that maybe the sun would come out soon and dry up all the water, but in fact, by noon, none of it had gone.

Oh…so I had to walk about town in muddy water and grass. Great. But at least I wouldn't be alone for too long whilst I was there. Luckily I would be met with Gracie after some time, so that was fine. Still though, I was trying to brainstorm ideas as to why my girlfriend wanted to meet up with me and in a graveyard no less. It was a very abnormal place to hold a…conference I guess you could say, but I supposed that I just had to wait and see.

…

As I gradually reached the familiar sight of the graveyard, I began to rack my brain and slowly start to realise why I was being told to meet up here specifically with Gracie. I held that thought in my mind for a few seconds as I approached the countless rows of gravestones dug into the damp grass. Most of the words on the front of each one I had trouble seeing due to the moss growing, however, there was one particular name that immediately caught my eye. I felt my heart rate increase as I moved closer to the gravestone and I sighed heavily at the name in front of me that made me happy because of the memories and sad because of the present.

In loving memory of Lavina Nadine Dimitrova.

Born 26th March 1985

Passed 24th December 2019 aged 35 years

A Romanian mother born, lived and died with a big heart.

Taking a deep breath, I crouched down to the ground and tenderly caressed the bump in the ground in front of the stone, wanting to provide as much love and gentleness into the gesture as possible. Even though my mum was buried and smothered with the cold, dark soil and couldn't feel a thing, I was willing to do this at any chance I got, which was a bit often. I would quite frequently talk to her up in the sky quietly and more or less be looked at weirdly by strangers who I didn't know had been listening, but over the years, I had learned to not care.

Just then, I looked to the left of my mum's grave and there was another gravestone next to it, looking a lot more clean and less mossy than hers. Perhaps it was more recent. Maybe about a week or a couple of months ago. I peered closely to try and decipher the name engraved into the stone, and when I did, my heart sunk.

In loving memory of George William Snowdrop

Born 29th August 2008

Passed 4th February 2023, aged 15 years

May you rest in peace until the end of time.

Oh, god… Now I knew exactly why Gracie wanted to meet up with me in this very place. To meet with her older brother's grave… Oh, I felt horrible. I mean, dying young was one thing, but thinking about the fact that nobody would want to visit your grave overtime, I supposed you'd get pretty lonely mostly. I looked around the clearing for a moment, noticing that there were crimson roses and thorn bushes growing around the side of the church, which I thought was fitting with the scene and their colour clashed against the dull shade of the church bricks.

Still though, I couldn't help but feel my heart melt whilst looking at both my mum's and George's graves and thinking about how much better they would feel if they had flowers surrounding them. I imagined that they would feel honoured that they were still being respected and loved despite that they weren't alive and breathing. Sighing heavily, I walked over to the rose plants, being very careful not to step on the bumps in the ground in front of the other gravestones.

For a moment, I stopped and looked at the stems of the plants thinking that they were safe to pick, only to find out that there were sharp thorns on them, each one about three centimeters away from each other. It was quite a pity that I didn't have any secateurs on me so my hands could remain uninjured, but I so wanted to pick some roses to place down by my mum's grave, so I took a stem between finger and thumb and pulled as hard as I could. Sure enough, I managed to wriggle one free and as soon as I did, I lifted it to my nose.

I knew full well that crimson roses were my mum's favourite flowers and over the years, both in Romania and the UK, I had grown accustomed to seeing and smelling them about my houses, but since she died, I had been wary not to approach them just in case their scent upset me and reminded me of the saddest day of my life. But now, I knew I had to be strong because this was a time where I felt it was necessary to pay my respects to my most loved person in the whole world, so I proceeded with picking all the roses off the plant, gradually starting to not care about the thorns digging into my skin and brought them back to the two graves.

Without a word, I placed the flowers in front of my mum's grave and stood quite a distance away, but near enough so that I could still see the words on the stone clearly, and for a moment, I glanced down at the bump in the ground, imagining my mum rising up from under the earth and speaking to me in a loving way, but it was such a pity that that such thing was not possible. Looking down at the damp grass, I noticed that there were more little flowers growing around the other gravestones.

They were small and white with their petals facing downwards like an umbrella, and I instantly knew that these were snowdrops and as I studied the remaining raindrops on their petals, something came to mind. I had to pay my respects to George as well. Even though I hadn't even known him or met him for that matter, he was still a core loved one of Gracie's, and I imagined that if he were alive, we would've got on really well. Tons of the little flowers were dotted around the graves and I couldn't help but feel ecstatic at how many there were around where I was standing, which made a lightbulb pop up in my head. I looked back at the gravestone again and back at the flowers. George Snowdrop…snowdrops! That was the perfect flower to pay my respects to him!

I instantly got to work picking them out of the grass and placing them gently next to the stone. After I had picked about fifteen or twenty, I stepped back to admire my handiwork. No sooner had I been doing so when I heard a female voice call my name. I turned to my left and I saw that Gracie had entered the graveyard. As she moved closer to me, I recognised the glassy, blank look about her eyes that I saw yesterday, which made my heart ache, but I smiled warmly at her, hoping to lift her mood at least a little bit.

"Hey, you alright?" I asked once me and Gracie were face to face.

"I…I guess." she replied, cracking the smallest of smiles, but a few seconds after that, she cringed. "Look, I'm sorry about this. You might think that this is the weirdest thing ever, but I…I just need a break…and an opportunity to talk to somebody special."

I felt my heart sink at Gracie's pained voice and I glanced down at George's grave. This was such an awkward moment right now, and all I could do was just stand there in silence and bite my lip, cringing at every second that passed and cursing myself for not speaking to keep everything positive on some level. At last, I plucked up the courage to speak, though not wanting to upset Gracie with my words.

"And would that special person be…George?" I asked, already knowing the answer.

Gracie nodded and swallowed. "Yeah… I've been thinking a lot about him and it feels like I can't stop." She took a shaky breath and moved closer to George's grave, so close that I couldn't even see her face anymore. "I'm sad but I'm angry. I'm sad because I know that…he's gone forever, and I'm angry because of what he's now done to our family."

I slowly walked towards my girlfriend, stopped beside her and gently tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, the gesture tender and caring. "Sweetie, what do you mean? What's he done to your family?"

"Oh, let's see. He's made my parents not care about me anymore, treat me like crap, and they ignore me when I try to make conversation with them! It's bullshit! It's like he was the favourite child, and now that he's gone, I'm just being chucked to the side and being forgotten about, like I'm just a single drop of water in the sea that they don't notice! I can't believe them! That's not how a family works!" Gracie's voice cracked at that last sentence and I saw her trying to keep her emotions in check, but instead, I saw her teal coloured eyes filling up with tears.

My heart welled up with sympathy and my instant instinct in this situation was to wrap Gracie up in a tight hug, allowing her to let all her emotions go in my warm embrace, and so I did. "Is this why you've been so sad and unenergetic over the past few weeks?"

Gracie sniffled and wiped her nose on the sleeve of her coat. "Yeah… I know that George wasn't prepared to die like that and I know he didn't mean to make my parents do this to me, but…I just don't get why they just leave me alone all the time."

I remained silent for a long time, unconsciously rubbing soothing circles on her back before finally speaking up. "I think they're still grieving, darling." I said, giving her a soft kiss on her forehead and wiping away her tears. "Hey, do you remember when I said goodbye to you for what felt like the last time after I'm a Koopa ended and you thought that I'd left you forever?"

"Yeah..?"

"Well, I came back, didn't I? And now I'm so, so happy that we're together. I feel like that's what's going to happen with you and your parents." I tightened my grip on her and tilted her head up so she looked into my eyes. "Right now, they're focusing too much on the things that aren't here when really, they should be focusing on the things that are here, which is the exact same thing I did when I thought I'd never see you again."

Gracie sniffled again and didn't say anything for a few seconds until she let out a hiccup and spoke up. "So…what you're saying is…my parents may not notice me and love me as much now, but once they've gotten over George's death a little bit, they'll come back down to Earth and realise that they're lucky that they haven't lost me too?"

My eyes lit up. She was finally getting it. "Yeah, exactly! I guess now you just have to be patient. They'll realise somewhen that they're lucky enough to still have you, but in the meantime…" I rested my chin on Gracie's head and pulled her closer into my chest, burying my nose in her neck and breathing in her smell. "I'll love you… Whenever you feel like you've had enough and you need to take a break, I'll be right here for you, holding you exactly like this…" And with that, I planted a long kiss on Gracie's temple and as I did, I still felt her trembling.

"Oh… Tha-Thankyou so much, Ludwig…" she lifted up a shaking hand and rested it on my cheek. "I honestly don't know what I'd do without you. I love you too…"

AN: Finally, my first upload for a main series story in ages… Hope you all enjoyed it. :)