That Morning

Maria woke up feeling great today without even taking a sip of coffee. She slept for a total of 8 hours and is feeling completely well-rested, and ready to start her day. She knew from the moment she woke up she would want to treat herself and go to her favorite flower shop to buy beautifully smelling flowers. She goes about her morning as follows: A shower, which she spends in cold water because the heating stopped working that morning, however, that didn't deter her. She then proceeds to have breakfast, which ends up with her breakfast being burnt because she accidentally set the stove on a high heat instead of low, she also burned her hand in the process because she touched the steel panhandle without any protection, however, she still was smiling throughout, even when she had to bandage her hand because of the burn.

She leaves her apartment to go to her favorite flower shop store, even though she was beginning to feel a bit down, due to nothing going right in her morning, her mood quickly went up when she entered the store and the aroma of fresh flowers hit her nose. Even with the loud commotion caused by the construction outside, she wasn't the least bit bothered. She was going to stop by the white carnations, as they were the first things her eyes locked on when she walked in, however, something was drawing her in from across the room, Frangipani flowers. The bundle of flowers had a beautiful white exterior with golden yellow dancing in the middle of the flower. As she drew nearer the scent intoxicated her, but what was strange was the flower itself. She couldn't explain it, but it felt like every nerve in her body was dancing, she was overjoyed and impelled to buy those sublime flowers.

As she went to check out her flowers, the cashier gave her an exhausted look as they looked between the flowers she was holding and Maria, herself. The transaction was a smooth process without any words exchanged except at the very last moment when she was handed the flowers neatly tied in a light candy red ribbon and one singular white twine.

"Those are beautiful flowers, I'm so sorry."

Those are the only words uttered by the cashier before they left and returned to the back. Maria thought it was ominous, but she kept it to herself, as for the flowers, they kept her so entranced that she couldn't think of anything other than the flowers in her hand. As she exited the store she couldn't help but stop and enjoy the flowers in her hand a bit more, from the window the cashier of the flower shop returned and stared at her, but she was blissfully unaware of that fact. It was like nothing existed except for her and the flowers.

Meanwhile, the commotion from the construction workers was getting to be a bit too rowdy. Not only were they carelessly drinking on the job, but they were also oblivious to the fact that there were a few loose wires on the floor near the woman still standing in front of a flower shop, smelling white flowers. Unfortunately for the woman, it started to rain and rain hard.

Maria felt a sensation much like she did with her shower this morning, cold. She should've been freezing, but why did she feel so warm? Never in her life has she felt like this, and she never wanted to forget this feeling, never again would she like to forget this sensation. Maria wanted more of the cold feeling.

 In reality, the woman was freezing, her body had become that of a person losing their life. The construction workers could only attempt to flee while watching the strange woman standing in the rain, almost lifeless. Woefully, the rain didn't let up and the loose wires right beneath her feet started to spark, they kept sparking until the cuffs of her jeans were in flames. The construction workers panicked at the sight, however, they were still under the influence, so they weren't in their right mind. They doused the woman in liquid and the flames quickly grew and rose to her bandaged hand.

Maria felt a sensation much like she did when she was making her breakfast this morning, hot. She should've been burning, but why did she feel so at peace? She never wanted to forget this feeling of floating, where time and space felt irrelevant, where anger didn't cross your mind. Maria wanted more heat.

Unfortunately, the liquid they doused her in was the alcohol they were drinking. They could only stare in awe at the spectacle their eyes were witnessing. Not only was the woman on fire in the rain, but the flowers in her hand just stood perfectly normal, as if it was immune to the heat. Slowly the woman would sink to the floor, lowering her body to the ground as she continued to smell and admire the flowers. Meanwhile, behind the glass of the flower shop, the cashier only looked at the sight before adding another bunch of Frangipani flowers to the shelf.

Maria slowly felt her nerves going into a calming slow dance, compared to before they were happily doing the swing. She couldn't describe the feeling entirely, but she knew she was ready to experience something even greater than this. She couldn't help but smile at the mere fact of finding never-ending bliss.

The construction workers watched as the flames engulfed the deranged woman, whose face was beginning to melt down, and the smile she wore on her face dissolved into mere slush, dropping ever so slowly down her face. Slowly, the woman began turning into ash, a fact their drunken minds couldn't comprehend as, 'physically possible'. The flowers also went into the flames, unscathed. They would soon dissipate in the air like pixie dust from a fallen fairy, leaving nothing on the ground. Soon, the remains of the woman would follow suit.

As Maria left the Earth all she could think of was, "how great that morning was."