"When you burn something beautiful, it stops being everyone else's… and becomes yours alone."- Azalea
Inside A Dimly Lit Room… The Only Source Of Light Being The Skylight Shining Through The Closed Blinds Of The Room's Window, Sat A Dark Haired Woman With Dark Grey Eyes, And Black Painted Nails, Wearing A Tan Sweater, long black skirt And Hooked Up To A Medical Machine…
As She Sat In Front Of The Window, She Begins Humming The Lyrics To A Song, "Hmmm, Hmm, Hmmm", Then Suddenly The Door Slowly Creaked Open, And Entered A Seventeen Year Old Young Man Slowly Walking Up To The Woman Sitting On The Right Side Of The Bed, Her Eyes Were Still Focused On The Window With Half Of Her Face Blanketed In The Rooms Dark Shadows With Only Parts Of Her Face Visible From The Streaks Of Golden Sunlight Shining Through The Closed Binds…
"It's time to take your meds mom" the boy finally spoke after what felt like an eternity of silence in a voice barely below a whisper… the woman's humming suddenly stopped, as she gestured to the boy to come sit next to her… The expression on his face changed slightly while he walked over to the bed and sat next to her… lying his head down on her lap while she played with his messy hair…
"How was your day sweetie?" Her eyes never left the window when she asked the question in a soft voice, yet there was something unusual about the tone of her voice. "The same as yesterday"…
"Each passing day is the same as the previous day, the world never changing."
"Shouldn't you be at school young man?", the woman asked… "I have to make sure you take your medications so you can get better mom"…
Then suddenly, her hands began shaking a little. The memory of the events that which transpired over the past months vividly replaying in her mind, "You can't fix something that isn't broken my son… or rather, you can't fix something that doesn't want to nor need to be "fixed"… "Have the other kids at "that place" been giving you any trouble?", "You don't have to worry about me… as long as your alright, what they do doesn't bother me any"…
Then finally, the woman's eyes looked down toward her son, while she continued to play with his messy hair… "Of course I'm going to worry about you, those doctors can't stop me from protecting you, no matter how hard they try", her voice sprinkled a sense of anger into the boy's ears… "can you please take your medication and rest for me?" The boy cried out…
"That's the problem with this world son… always trying to fix what they don't understand. What isn't to their standard for "normal"… "there is no such thing as "normal", no matter what anyone tries to tell you"
The boy just sat there, in silence… how do you respond to such a statement as that?. He just looked at his mother, at a loss for words.
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**Six Months Earlier**
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It was 1:34pm… the sun Dimmed In The Twilit Sky, Shining Through The Blinds To The Window In The High School Classroom. The teacher sat at his desk in the front of the classroom, reading off a english textbook with a lit cigarette in his mouth, and his shirt jangled up and a crooked tie… words left his mouth that hadn't met the ears of the sleeping students, even the students who leaned on one hand yawning, and coughing at the strong smoke blown into their direction.
At the far back of the classroom on the right side, Jason had sat there with his eyes glued to his phone the light from the top right corner of the back of his phone kept flashing… *Incoming Texts From Nurse/Aunt Priest*
(Jason… your mother grabbed a knife and started cutting herself, could you please come by after school?), Jason stared at the message for a few seconds before responding.
Looking off out the window to his left, at the bright orange sun… catching his attention, the girl sitting next to him suddenly stood up and walked out of the classroom in a hurry. Then another girl spoke out while watching the other girl rush out of the classroom, "Crazy Bitch"… Jason waited a few moments after the girl had left the room to also leave out, walking past the cloud of smoke in the air beside the teacher's desk.
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(2:00pm)
**Two Blocks Away From The Pharmacy**
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Jason was walking down the crowded sidewalk glancing over at various events transpiring, drug dealings, cop cars racing after criminals, a lot going on in a city like this. Right outside of the pharmacy, a strange man sitting on the ground outside his pupils in his widened were dilated, eyes red and hands twitching. "H-Hey kid! You got some change?" The man asked in a begging tone of voice.
Jason looked down at the man, but not in a disgusted manner but in pity… (This man was once someone's baby they held in their arms in joy… and now he's someone who relies on doping to escape his struggles, it's sad but true) Jason thought before walking into the pharmacy, "No sir… I'm sorry"… upon entering the pharmacy, Jason walked around the almost empty pharmacy…
Getting in line behind a girl at the front desk, he noticed the girl in front of him who appeared to be the same age as he. Her hair was a dark grey with the top of her hair having a black color… she wore Black trench coat and black jeans with small rips at the knees, with black shoes… her fingernails were painted black… "Good Evening, How May I Help You?". The woman behind the desk asked the young girl…
"I need a refill on my anxiety pills"… hearing the girl's voice finally, Jason finally noticed. "It's the girl from school". "Name and date of birth?" The nurse asked while pulling out a sheet paper… "July 16th, 2008". Jason's eyes widened slightly upon hearing the girl say her true date of birth, "Is she-, if you're gonna come into a pharmacy you need to be 21 or with your parent" that exact thought crossed Jason's Mind…
"Now for your name Miss?"
"Azalea Holloway", the girl said while clearly clenching her fists in her coat's pockets… the lady's shoulders tensed up after hearing the familiar surname, "Oh!" The lady gasped as she went to the back room behind the door with a sign reading *Employee's Only*… "The hell was that about?" Jason thought.
Only a few seconds had passed since the lady had left to the back room, seconds which began to feel like an eternity after the girl turned her attention towards Jason after feeling his gazing toward her. "You're that boy from Mr. Howard's class Earlier… I'd appreciate It if you didn't stare at me like a weirdo, creeping me out" the girl had a sour expression on her face while speaking to Jason.
Jason's tired expression remained, his almost closed eyes didn't even move at the girl's words. "Oh my bad, I was just kinda surprised to see somebody from school here"… Azalea looked into Jason's tired eyes for a moment before saying, "you sit next to me in that pervert Howard's class right?" The girl said in a low toned but grim voice…
Jason responded, "I guess so…". ("Pervert?") Jason thought to himself while his eyebrows raised a little… ("I do hear rumors from time to time about how he sharks around the female students"). "Picking up meds for your mom?"
"Yeah… you know about my situation?"- Jason. "Who in our class doesn't?, a lotta rumors tend to spread quickly… you don't seem to care that much do you?" Azalea said.
Jason looked at the ground while he responded, "It's not that I don't care, but when you think about how people have enough going on in their minds and lives already, then what time do I have to fixate on what other kids think of me when they have no regard for what I'm going through?" Jason said in a passionate sounding voice…
Azalea's eyebrows raised slightly, surprised at the words she heard from Jason, he continued, "often times, there's far more to a person than meets the eye… but nobody ever seems to care to even try and understand what's going on in other people's minds."
Azalea looked at Jason for a few seconds trying to find the words to respond to someone seeming so withdrawn from the world around him…
The woman behind the counter had returned from the employee only room holding a brown bag with a white tag on the front, she handed it to azalea who quickly grabbed the bag and walked out the double glass doors… while Jason just looked at her as she left, before talking to the woman.
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(3:00pm)
**Nurse Priest's House**
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Outside a home on the right side of the street, stood a black house above five steps, short green grass. Jason had walked up the steps with a brown bag in his hand, Jason knocked on the red door three times before hearing the shouting voice of Miss. Priest "It's open!"…
Jason opened the door, and inside the home was the living room to Jason's left with a black couch, a flatscreen t.v. And a coffee table with magazines, and newspapers on it… the t.v. Played the 3:00 news, "Earlier today around 11:00am, Mark Holloway had been found dead at the scene of a gang shootout." The newsman said…
Jason walked to the kitchen to the back right corner of the house, seeing Miss. Priest pulling a pan out of the oven. "Hey auntie", Jason said in a tired voice… "I picked up mom's pills", Miss Priest had turned around with bags under her eyes, her hair tied up in a bun, she wore a white apron over her black button up shirt and black skirt, with black leggings and black slippers on…
She hugged Jason while saying, "thank you so much… sorry I couldn't pick them up myself, it's been a stressful day, with your mother". Jason could tell by her eyes bags and her voice that she was tired… miss priest had suddenly fell into Jason, "oh sorry" she said squinting her eyes, Jason held her shoulders and walked her over to the couch…
She took a deep breath, before lifting her feet up on the couch and leaning her arm on the pillow of the couch as she rested her head on her hand. "I'll wait here, while you talk to your mother… I'm sure she's been looking forward to seeing you… I also have something I'd like to discuss with you when you're done." She said while yawning and closing her eyes…
Jason walked over the left of the house and up the stairs, turning right he walked down the hallway to the last room in the open door on the left, the windows were closed with streaks of golden sunlight shining through the closed blinds, hitting the face of the woman sitting on the left side of the bed with a tan sweater on, long black skirt and black painted nails and long messy hair…
Jason walked over to the woman, and placed the brown bag in the dresser next to the bed before pulling a chair up next to her, "Hi mama… I picked up your refill on your pills" Jason said in a low voice… the woman's eyes remained directed towards the window, her mouth began moving as she sung a song…
"Hmmm… hm, hmmm", Jason sat there without interrupting her… listening to her somewhat peaceful voice.
After a few moments, she came to a stop as she patted her hand on the bed telling Jason to sit next to her. He did as she asked, and laid his head in her lap while she began playing with her son's hair…
"How was school today?" She asked in a soft and caring voice, "the same as always… didn't really learn anything, I don't really see any point in going anymore." Jason replied. Rosé smiled, just when Jason asked "why don't you open the window mama? It looks dull in here without any light."
"Something's are better seen in the dark instead of the light… don't you think something's are more beautiful unseen?" Jason paused for a moment, thinking only of how his mother would often say such odd things, instead of replying he shrugged his shoulders…
"Auntie told me about how you've been hurting yourself… mama, why do you keep hurting yourself, I don't want you to get hurt, it's hard for me to sleep at night without worrying about you hurting yourself" Jason asked in a low toned voice…
"…"- Rosé
Jason looked up at his mother's face, "Mama?"
She replied, "I'm so sorry honey… I- please don't worry too much about me, your aunt has been taking care of me, so there's nothing for you to worry about." She said as she finally glanced at Jason's teary eyes.
She wiped the two tears dropping out of his eyes with her warm hands, feeling his breathing picking up while his face heated up, along with his breathing… "Hah… Hah"
"Why're you crying my love?" Rosé said. "I'm sorry… I've been bad"… "can you please take your medicine mama?"
Rosé replied, the smile on her face turned into a slight frown. "sure."
Jason sat up, and got the pills out of the bag, taking two pills out of the small bottle and put them in rosé's mouth while giving her the glass of water on the counter. "Please get some sleep mama… Aunty wanted to talk to me about something, I'll be back tomorrow… I Love You Mama." Jason said after kissing her on her cheek.
He left out the room, right before she responded before closing her eyes… "I Love You More, My Dear Son."
Jason had walked down the stairs, and over to the couch where his aunt had her eyes closed, with a plate of cookies, chocolates, and blueberry Muffins with milk on the table.
He sat next to her, hearing the heavy breaths she let out… the moment he sat down, she jolted up and let out a gasp, Jason's eyes widened a little as he said "I'm so sorry auntie… I wasn't trying to wake you."
"Oh no it's fine… um, there are some cookies and muffins and chocolates if you want…"
Jason picked up a muffin and took a bit out of it, "thank you auntie… it's really good"…
Lilly glanced at Jason's right arm, noticing a red bruise on it, "tell me the truth… did your father do that to you?", Jason paused for a moment knowing that lying to his aunt is pointless… growing up Everytime he lied or had a secret she always managed to find out…
"Yes"… Lilly stood up and walked over to a black and red cabinet, pulling out a box of bandages, the mirror inside the cabinet reflected her tearful face that she had used her free hand to wipe… she sat back down and wrapped long white bandages around his right arm after she rolled up his hoodie sleeve.
"I wanted to talk to you about this for a while… have- have you ever thought about coming to live with me? I mean, your mother already moved over here with me, and I don't like you staying to live with your father knowing what he does to you." She said as more tears kept falling out her eyes…
"Aunty please don't cry… I do want to live with you and mama, but what if I do come over here and he just follows and causes you and mama more problems? And I don't want to pile on more stress on to you"…
"You're my nephew, it's my responsibility to take care of you… you're still only a kid, who shouldn't be having to deal with this especially by yourself. And remembering what happened to your sister-"
Jason interrupted, "I know already auntie… I'm sorry, I'll- I'll think about it but just promise me you'll take more breaks and not stress yourself out too much." Jason said passionately. Lilly hugged him while saying "I promise." Jason smiled, as he grabbed two cookies and walked alongside Lilly to the door.
The two stepped on the black porch with three chairs on it and a small round table, Jason walked down the stairs and waved at his aunt as she waved back.
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**5:00pm, sunset underneath a bridge**
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The sun had begun setting, casting an orange color in the sky… underneath a low bridge just above a stream of water Jason walked on the sidewalk on the small hill, still eating one of the two cookies. The grass had countless red flowers on them, Jason came to a pause as he smelled smoke in the air, at the same time he smelled flowers.
He looked down at the stream of water and saw a girl with dark grey hair with the top inner parts black, black trench coat with rolled up sleeves showing tattoos on each arm of black flowers, it was his classmate azalea using a lighter and setting the flowers ablaze while putting them in the flowing water as she watched them go down the stream.
"That's azalea… why's she burning flowers?" Jason thought to himself. before he could walk off azalea had turned her head and saw Jason standing there looking at her. "You stalkin me now?" She shouted out while looking at him with dark eyes. Jason replied "actually I was just on my way home, and smelled those flowers and smoke… then there you were."
Azalea suddenly said in a softer tone of voice, "you doin anything this afternoon?"… Jason thought for a moment, about what he was just going home to… ("HEY YA DAMNED PUNK, WHAT TOOK YOU FUCKIN LONG TA GET HERE?!"), the drunken mess of a father that was awaiting him at home…
"Nothing that important…" Jason said. She spoke out while turning back to look down at the burning red and pink flowers, flowing down the stream "you wanna watch?". "If you don't mind". Jason walked down and sat next to her, watching as she continued lighting the flowers.
Jason asked out of curiosity for such an odd yet alluring hobby, "do you always burn flowers?", "Only the ones I don't want anyone else to see" she replied. "If you don't mind me asking, why do you do it?" He said while wiping crumbs off his hoodie.
She replied while a crease formed on her lips, "When you burn something beautiful, it stops being everyone else's… and becomes yours alone… then it becomes unique and your own form of art." A faint red blush crept on his cheeks after hearing her words…
She looked over toward him, noticing the blush on his cheeks… weirded out, she said "what's the matter with you?". "Nothing, what you just said reminded me of something my mom told me earlier… she said Something's are better seen in the dark instead of the light."
"Hmm"-Azalea
"I like that… your mom sounds, poetic" azalea said. She then handed Jason her lighter and a flower while she continued saying "try lighting one… you might like it"
Jason grabbed the lighter, and held a pink flower in place while he lit it and pushed it down the water… "damn, it does look good" Jason said… he then pulled out a bag holding three cookies in them and asked "want one? They're still warm"… azalea waited a few seconds before she grabbed one and took a bite…
"Thanks… it's good". The two sat in silence for a few moments before azalea broke the tense silence. "Is your mom alright?… just remembered earlier when you bought those meds for her. I told you about my personal hobby, so could'ja tell me something personal about you?"
Jason replied, "honestly, i don't think she is… sometimes she says strange things, yet I don't think that's a bad thing, especially after everything she's been through in her life on top of what's going on at home."
Azalea looked at the bandage on Jason's arm, her face scrunched up a little… "what happened to your arm?"… "oh, it's nothing to bad" Jason replied while avoiding looking at azalea's face… she gave a knowing look at the his arm, it was then when she told Jason…
"My parents and sisters- sister won't be home for the night… you can come over if you don't want to go home yet."
To be continued in chapter two…