Summer Blossom

Here I am again with my nightly thoughts, I guess leaving me isn't a choice for these thoughts and I am glad to know since this is the closest I can get to experiencing loyalty. I concealed my face using a pillow, letting out a deep breath. Nights like these ones recall all the pain and sorrows enclosed in the past and it hurts all over again. I'll just sleep through this and when I wake up, I hope it wouldn't hurt as much as it does right now. I set my pillow aside and turned to my left, getting a grasp of my phone to set up an alarm.

"Why is the brightness so high?" I mumbled, setting the alarm. "There we go, 5:30 a.m it is."

"Let me play some music, Ophelia by Lumineers would be perfect."

Let's hope that I'll wake up that early cause glancing at the clock right now, feels like I'll be on my way to getting late for the first day at university. I tucked myself into bed, putting my phone away from me and closing my eyes. The music playing was soft and nostalgic, reminds me of a love that had blossomed over the summer. In the back of my mind, I was singing along to it, availing on the beat and melody every second.

A few seconds before the song ended, a familiar phrase, a lyric of the song drifted from my phone.

"Eeth, over here! I found these flowers yesterday and they're so beautiful," a girl said, beckoning.

It was the summer of 2009 and I was in this beautiful neighborhood of McKinley Hill Village. It was so vibrant and lively, the people there were so united and connected. It is my usual routine to rush out the front door, meeting up with my other friends. At that time, we were heading to this private garden that the village recently constructed, it was filled with various flowers and plants, you name it, they planted it.

One of my neighbors ran ahead of us inside the garden and beckoned to me as soon as she found the flower she had been ranting about. This girl would call me every single day while sitting on the window just to tell me about this flower. Out of all the flowers that exist in this planet, she'll always rant about this one flower like there's no tomorrow, I guess you might as well call her an anthophile since she had develop love and passion for flowers over the years. I approached her to see the kind of flower she had found, she was so intrigued about it.

"Hey, so what are these flowers? Are these the ones you've been ranting about?" I asked, pointing.

"Yes it is, I'm so happy that they planted it here," she replied, smiling at me. "aren't they pretty?"

"Yes, they are." I agreed, glancing at her. "can we take these home?"

"We can, but they don't allow it," she replied, "I know, it's a bummer.."

"At least we have this garden," she added, glancing around it. "It's better than nothing at all."

"True, it's a beautiful place too." I replied, glaring at our friends who are teasing me.

For the rest of that day, we roamed the garden while she offered us a lecture about all the flowers that could be found in the garden, I clearly didn't know what she was blabbering about, but I lend my ears. It was getting late, so most of our friends were fetched by their parents and only the two of us were left. We continued roaming the place until we reached this one spot where you're being circled by a lot of plants. There were lanterns, seats, phonograph, and a massive space wherein you can offer someone a dance.

As soon as she saw it, she grabbed my hand and ran together towards it. I was intrigued to witness her getting so energetic and blooming. Once, we arrived in the middle, she looked around in hopes of finding a phonograph, there was one sitting right across us. She sprinted over to it and searched through all of the vinyls until she found her favorite song, our favorite song.

"I can't believe they have it," she beamed, glancing at it, "look, it's our favorite song!"

She took it out of the case and played it on the phonograph, dragging us back to the dance-floor. I was too shy to move until she paused and told me to man up.

"Sway your body, come on." she demanded, "it's our favorite song, energize yourself."

"You know that I don't like dancing at all," I replied, rolling my eyes.

"I know, but you do know how to dance," she remarked, her eyes pinned on mine "execute all your hidden moves,"

"Fine, for you." I sighed, started to sway.

She kept hyping me up as I swayed and twirled her around. In that moment, it had a magical feel to it and it wasn't letting go of me, of us. It was one of the things that kept me alive and full of hope. The night ended with a fascinating dance and walked toward home. It was cold, but it was nothing compared to how I felt while dancing with her, I came up with the conclusion of it being the best night of my life.

"Did you enjoy our dance?" I inquired, putting my hands in my pockets.

"I did, it's memorable," She replied, glancing at me. "Did you? Maybe you didn't."

"Of course, I did." I demanded, "Is that even a question?"

She giggled, "That's what I thought."

Once we arrived at our street, we went over to my front porch and sat on the grass while gazing at the stars. Our back was slouching too much, it started to ache, so we decided to lay down on it.

"Aren't they beautiful?" she asked, pointing at the stars. "they glow so bright and it's magnificent,"

"They are." I replied, glancing at her. "Just like you."

"Silly, don't compare me to the stars," she remarked, "nothing can beat their beauty."

"I have an idea," she turned to me instantly, "let's dance one more time, but under the stars."

"Let's make this night even memorable," she added, standing up. "a night we won't ever forget."

She reached her hand out, helping me to stand up. I rummaged in my pocket for my phone, playing our favorite song once again. I twirled and waltzed her around the grass. In her eyes, there I saw joy and excitement gleaming strongly.

We were enjoying the moment, the dance, everything. Until, the song we danced to started to grew louder and louder to the point that it became unpleasant. I looked around me, back to her, startled. No matter how I press the pause button, it wouldn't stop. She couldn't hear what I was hearing, she tried to calm me down, but I couldn't hear anything. My head started to ache so badly, I knelt down to the grass, covering my ears in hopes of it stopping.

It didn't show any signs of stopping and I laid down on the grass, feeling dizzy and nauseous. Black spots started to form around my vision, falling into the depth of unconsciousness.. I woke up to the sound of my alarm going off.

"What was that?" I said, sitting up on my bed.

"Who is she?"