Dirty PetaIs

The cold wind blew through his rather thick jacket, he shivered ever so slightly and watched as a puff of air appeared and disappeared in front of his mouth every time he breathed. He sniffled and squinted his eyes, burying his hands deeper into his pockets. lt was dark and there were still ways to go before he arrived at his destination, hopefully, it would be warmer there.

There were a few others around him, walking at a slow pace. You would think it's smarter to run but everyone was practically frozen. He didn’t mind it though, for he had a type of warmth in his chest when he laid his eyes on a certain lovely being.

He didn’t go up and try to talk to him, he simply observed from a small distance. The way he smiled at his friends, his soft and carefree laugh, the way his eyes glistened. His every step was gentle and caused the snow to melt, and the flowers to bloom all around him. He was a ray of pure light, warming even the evilest creatures. He filled his thoughts.

Soon enough, he couldn’t bare only watching and thinking about him. He needed to feel his touch, his warmth against his own skin. He yearned for his name to pop up in his mind and for those sinful words and sounds to slip through his seemingly soft lips.

He started with simple gestures to get his attention, smiling when he walked past him, waving when they make awkward eye contact at lunch. When that didn’t work, he began doing more physical things. Every once in a while he would trip in front of him or bump into someone, but still nothing.

For his final plan, he decided to be physical with him. He brought up the courage and “accidentally” bumped into him, making him drop all his books and papers. No one bothered to help and in only a few seconds the hallway was practically empty, only the two of them and a couple wandering souls remained.

He attempted to help him pick his stuff back up but felt an awfully dark gaze against him. His ray of pure light scoffed and stood up, kicking his own papers towards the other.

“Why do you keep following me? What are you? A fucking stalker?” He felt his stomach plummet. He looked up at the standing figure, not recognizing him. His smile was nowhere to be found, his words and eyes were sharp like knives and cut deeply at the strings to his heart. There was an eerie and dark aura that surrounded the standing boy that made him want to throw up.

“Spit it out.” He said, still glaring down at the other. He took a deep breath and looked into his cold eyes.

“l’m Elias. l’ve had my eyes on you for l don’t know how long and if l’m being perfectly honest, l’m grown to love you.”

“Blunt.” He said, raising an eyebrow, “Not typically how people declare their love.”

“Your answer?”

“Leave me alone.” He snatched the papers that Elias was holding and walked away, leaving him alone on the floor.

“... l didn't even get your name.”

Elias didn't give up, far from it. He kept attempting to get his attention, time after time being rejected or pushed aside. Eventually, there was a week of complete peace. Elias stayed out of his sight the whole time, he almost thought Elias had given up entirely, but he was wrong. He persisted forward and appeared out of the blue at lunch one day.

“Thought you were dead.” He said with his mouth full. Elias approached into his backpack and took out a miniature bag, laying it on the others tray. He glared at it for a second and picked it up.

They were cookies in the shape of hearts. He smiled brightly, making Elias’s stomach flutter. He pulled out a cookie and looked at it front and back, then stared back at Elias and broke the heart in half.

“l'll give you the slightest satisfaction of knowing my name.” Elias's eyes lit up, and he jumped up.

“lt's Chise.”

Day after day, Elias would call out his name. Chise regretted telling it to him for every time he was spotted it was just

"Chise! Hey!”

“Chise, let’s walk together!”

“Chise! l like you.”

lt was tiring. Eventually, he decided to take advantage of Elias's constant attention. At first, they were simple tasks, grabbing his books, buying him lunch, doing his homework. The tasks eventually became harder and harder for Elias, he would pick fights with others and make Elias takes the punches, he would ask for money constantly and made him steal things just to satisfy him.

Elias figured it out after a while, he didn't want to believe it, it hurt. Even so, he continued to do his bidding until the day he learned of the disease.

He woke up one day with a horrible cough, barely able to breathe. His fit ceased and what he saw on the floor was a small pile of blood covered petals. He held his chest and shook as he stared.

"Hanahaki disease." The doctor said once he decided to visit him."

lt occurs due to unrequited love. There are flowers growing inside of your heart, eventually it will spread to your lungs and fill them up until you can no longer breath unless your love is returned, that or surgery to remove the flowers within. The downside is, when you remove the flowers your feelings of love will leave you as well."

He couldn't help but cry.

Day after day he would continue to be rejected by Chise. Day after day, petals and more petals were coughed up. Chise could see he was suffering but didn't know of Elias' condition until the day he left and didn't come back for days.

Chise waited...

and waited

and waited.

He was worried. He needed some word that Elias was okay during that time. His heartbeat constantly and his thoughts were filled with him. Only him. He hated it.

When Elias came back again, Chise was relieved to see that smile on his face, but he was different. Elias laid his eyes on Chise for a split second, but he didn't react. There was no sparkle in his eyes, no high pitched "Chise!" came from his lips, nothing. Elias averted his gaze back to his friends and walked past him, like he wasn't there.

His head told him not to pry but he couldn't stand the fact that he wasn't constantly bothering him. lt felt weird. He was so accustomed to the boy standing next to him and smiling even after all the things he would make him do.

"Elias!" Chise called out when he saw he was alone.

"You're back, h-how are you feeling?" He didn't receive an answer.

"L-listen, l'm sorry about how l treated you. l hope you can forgive me and give me another chance." No answer.

"l just want to say, l realized, Elias, l lov--" he was cut off when Elias started nervously chuckling.

"Sorry, what's your name again?" He said, his eyes blank.

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/07/a-smoldering-bouquet-of-roses-photographed-by-ars-thanea/