My Ash...

Ash... Yeah, Ash. That was all there was to it, Ash. Elie's mind raced, she had to do something to solve this predicament, and fast. Ash was her problem, so Ash was also the solution. 

Ash, who had always rolled in the grass, tumbling down hills and scraping knees. Ash who always told Elie that secrets were meant to be shared with the ones closest to us. Ash who had sang such a song that Elie might have just given in right then and there. Ash, who always smiled even when pain crept through. Ash, who had been broken so many times that suddenly breaking hearts was the only way to fix it. Ash, who'd never be by Elie's side again, who'd never reciprocate the love she gave. Ashley, her one true love, the one person she never intended to hurt, never intended to crush, but what had been done was done. And now the problem lay in the same spot the flowers, drenched in blood laid in Elies bathroom.

It was two years ago when Elie last spoke, really spoke, to Ash. They’d layn on the grass hill in front of a big glass greenhouse, sunlight pouring in through the windows, casting the flowers in an elegant glow. Ash was picking at the petals of a few daisies that laid otherwise still in the grass until the wind came. 

“Ash…” Elie bit her thumb, staring at the poor flower as if it’s petals were being decomposed rapidly right there in front of her. She let out a small whimper as Ash plucked another petal off and discarded it.

“What.” Ash snipped, her long, dark brown hair moving restlessly in her face everytime the wind blew, but she didn’t seem to mind, her focus was on the flower. 

“Why are you damaging that poor flower?” Ash looked up for a split second, her hard, cold expression softening as she heard Elies innocent quip, her hair, dyed blue by the one and only Ashley, coiled around her finger as she watched the petals intently. Ashley only looked back down at the flower and shrugged. 

“Jace.” She said and Elie knew immediately what she had meant. Jace, was the boy Ash had her eye on since day one, he was the new kid, moved in around the second week of their sophomore year and Ash had liked him ever since he’d asked her to eat with him. Elie knew she liked him, and knew that she hoped he liked her too, but she didn’t think-

“You're going to do something as childish as playing ‘he loves me, he loves me not’ and killing flowers just because you want to know if he likes you?” She asked, although there wasn’t an ounce of judgment, or repel in her voice, in fact it was full of curiosity, and that was it, one only it. 

Ash looked up once more at Elie about to say something before her eyes seemed to wander from her to something somewhere behind her, somewhere standing taller than both of them at the moment, so tall that Elie noticed Ash had tilted her head up, but she had kept it there for a little too long for it to be anything in a tree or moving thing. This gave Elie one thought, and one thought only; Jace. 

Elie turned around to see a boy with slick black hair and a sort of smile that said, “DANGER IS NEAR: Right in front of you”. It made Elie sick to her stomach but Ash liked it, and when he waved that ‘perfect wave’ that she liked so much, she was sold. 

“Hey Ash.” Jace said as Ash stood up and walked over to him. “Elie.” He said nodding and Elie looked away to roll her eyes before standing and following Ash.

“Jace.” As she got closer, Elie made out the unmistakable shape of a bat slung over his shoulder. “What’s with-”

“Jace. I didn’t know if you’d come.” Ash said, cutting her off and hooking an arm around Jace’s. “Cool, you brought a bat, what’s it for?” 

Elie took a look between them, their faces both twisted into devious smiles. It looked like some sort of follow the leader, the leader being Jace, since his smile was more wicked than Ash’s. As soon as he had gotten here, Elie noticed that instead of being the strong willed, take no prisoners girl she’d always been, Ash usually followed behind Jace, doing whatever he did. He was a usually calm and collective guy but after getting to know him, you’ll see the cracks in his perfect exterior, the little fine lines on a menu that no one deems important. Not at all like Ashley, who, from the very first moment, showed what she wanted, it was practically written over her face. That was probably why Elie loved her, for she always was like the pirates in fairy tales, she took what she wanted, but waited for the perfect time to do it. 

“Hey Elie, you coming?” She heard someone call, she looked up to see Ash and Jace had moved up the hill they’d just been sitting on and were now making their way to the greenhouse, Elie panicked, running up the hill after them, but they had already made it into the house by the time she'd gotten there. Elie rushed in, out of breath and kneeling over, she’d never been one for ‘exercise’. When she looked up, both Jace and Ash were staring at her, Jace held out the bat towards her, seemingly wanting her to take it. 

“What’s that for?” Elie asked, when she’d caught her breath. Jace’s smile seemed to turn even more wicked when she asked which was unsettling. He pulled the bat back and handed it to Ash. 

“Will you do the honors?” Ash’s smile grew more unsettling too as she took the bat. In a flash, glass sprayed onto the grass outside the greenhouse as Ash smashed the bat through one of the windows. Elie’s heart raced, she looked at Jace who just smiled as Ash continued to smash windows. Elie screamed as glass flew back and hit her friend. 

“ASH WAI-” Elie didn’t get to finish her sentence as a flower pot was thrown at her, she was knocked off balance and fell flat. When she looked up Jace had his hands wrapped around Ash’s waist and she was standing, out of breath, with a wide smile on her face. Something sick twisted in Elies stomach, it spread wildey through her body, worming its way through, tangling in her throat before it lurched up into her mouth and onto the ground. It stung, it pinched continuously as it repeated the same process over and over until Elie was coughing violently. 

Spread out on the floor in front of her was a mix of white flowers, some orchids, some roses, there were daisies, and tulips, but the variety of flowers would have been miraculously spectacular if it wasn’t for the bright red blood mixed in with them. An even sicker feeling filled Elie as she hesitated to look up, searching the faces of a cruel smiling man and a disgusted friend.

“You- That’s-” Ashley looked at Jace whose face quickly changed to a feign worried face as he looked at Ash. “You like him?” She said, pointing at Jace. But Jace only shook his head, pushing Ash towards Elie and tightening his grip on her waist. Elie cringed, doubling over in pain as the sick feeling from before rose to her stomach. 

“No. She likes you.” This time, when Jace spoke, his eyes were only on Elie and his smile was the worst thing she’d ever seen. 

Ashley’s already disgusted face grew even more disgusted, like someone was looking at the worst thing they’d seen in their life. Her fingers twitched around the bat and her eyes shifted around the room, mainly at the glass. She was planning something, Elie could tell, but she couldn’t move, she was frozen in place. 

Luckily, Jace placed a hand on the bat and started leading Ash out. Ash’s eyes were trained on Elie for a while before she sighed with a look that said ‘Never’ and looked away, walking out. Jace on the other hand, stayed for a moment, looking at her with a smile. He then walked towards her kneeling down and pressing a hand on Elie’s cheek.

“You knew this would happen someday,” He said, trailing his hand down to wipe blood that had dripped from her lip. “You knew you’d lose her because of your ‘love’.” He made a face and Elie’s eyes watered, she wanted to cry right then and there but he wasn’t done. “It’s happening now, so you're gonna have to deal with it. And you should probably fix this little problem while you're at it, the flowers are beautiful though.” Jace stood and walked out, a small smirk on his face. And Elie was left in that little greenhouse, crying. 

Two years later, Elie sat in her bathroom, spitting up flowers and debating on what to do next. She’d found out what was happening to her, a disease called Hanahaki. After a year of all sorts of flowers being coughed up everytime she saw Jace and Ash together, finally it seemed to be decided in her body that Orchids were the way to go. 

Two years of pain and suffering and Elie still couldn’t let go, she couldn’t bring herself to have the surgery to cleanse her of this torture. She just couldn’t. But she also couldn’t bring herself to tell Ash what was going on, she couldn’t say a word. Elie was a coward and she knew it, but as long as she still had her love for her best friend, she felt everything would be alright. 

In the greenhouse, the flower petals had already died and, or decomposed by this point, but the petals that lived in Elies heart would stay forever.