Wilted Beauty

A curious lavender flower stretched it’s remarkably green leaves toward the sun. It grew at the corner of a street, out of the sidewalk. It was the only thing beautiful about this area. Everything else lacked color and life in general. The only beings in sight were standing to the right of the flower, in front of a run down nail salon that had gone out of business long ago. The two teen boys wore dark cloths and their faces were kept hidden by their black hoodies. “Yo, man hurry up, imma be late. You got the fifty bucks or not?!” said one of the two. “Yea man, here.” Said the other. He handed the rolled up bills to the boy and received a small white package in return. Without another word, the seller turned and ran around the corner.



“He’s late, again! This is the third time this week!” said the manager of a video rental store, located in a slightly better area than where the lavender flower blossomed. Just as Jerry finished his sentence, Miko came storming through the entrance. “Miko!” Samantha, the employee Jerry had been speaking too, screamed delightfully. “You’re here!” “Miko!” roared the manger. “You’re late, again! What’s your excuse today?” “I’m sorry,” replied Miko, “my mom had a flat tire. I won’t be late again, I swear, man!” Jerry frowned. “This is your absolute last chance Miko! I can’t have you come twenty minutes late every time. I mean it’s come to the point where we schedule you an hour before we expect you!” “I swear it won’t happen again!” “This is your last warning!” spat Jerry, while stomping into the stock room. Miko turned to Samantha and she smiled at him. “That man needs to loosen up.” “Yea,” replied Samantha, “but ‘ya know he does have a point.” His _expression hardened. She quickly changed the subject. “But it doesn’t matter anyway. So what have you been up to? I haven’t seen you in over a week!” He smiled at her. “I’ve been busy doing stuff.” “Stuff? Miko! Are you still dealing?” He grinned. “Nah Sammie, I’m clean. What about you? How have you been?” She smiled. She loved it when he called her Sammie. “Good, I got a new car. It’s a Honda Civic, red, automatic, ’98!” Miko’s eyes lit up. “Fo’ real man?!” They carried on their conversation about cars and other topics while they worked. A few hours after Miko had arrived, while in the bathroom, he had discovered that the rolled up money he had received was actually only ten ones. At six that night, right before his break, he asked Samantha if he could test drive her car. “Imma drive up and buy some food at Wendy’s!” Samantha hesitated. “I dunno. I just got it yesterday… do you even have your license?” “What you don’t trust me? I'm just goin’ around the block, come on Sammie.” Her heart raced, she couldn’t resist his charm or persuasion. “Fine.” she sighed as her love to him overpowered her love to her new car. “Aiiighht! Thanks Sammie, I owe you.” he replied as he went up to her and gave her a big hug. Her heart skipped a beat and then he was gone.



Once in Samantha’s car, Miko raced towards the street, where he had made the deal a few hours ago. He didn’t have to go far, his guy stood in front of the old fire house by the bus stop. Miko pulled over, felt for the knife he always carried in his back pocket, and got out. “Yo bitch!” he yelled at the boy. The boy looked up, apparently too slowly, because Miko was already charging at him with his knife. “Wait! Wait!” screamed the helpless addict. “Imma get you your money!” Miko’s eyes had significantly changed since he left his job. The eyes in which Samantha always lost herself, where she had found hope in herself and seen his ambition; those same eyes were now cold and ruthless. He almost forgot what he was doing when he thought about this, thought about what Samantha would say if she saw him now. He quickly caught himself. “Oh yea, when?” he yelled while holding his knife to the boy’s throat. But the boy did not respond. And as bad luck always sneaks up at the worst possible moment, this boy’s body decided just then that it could not longer accept the abuse it had to endure for so long; the drugs had finally defeated him and he lie dead in Miko’s arms. It is at this point were it is important to acknowledge that Miko never intended to hurt the boy; he only wanted to scare him. And as he looked down at the boys corpse he saw the bruises on his arms and neck, the bruises Miko had created and he knew then that he would be at fault. It is at critical times such as this one, when the human brain neglects logical reasoning. The first thing Miko thought to do was dump the body, but he was sane enough to think that if his body was found it would look even more like murder. His only hope was to mislead the cops. He ran to Samantha’s car and found her jacket, a girl’s jacket, clearly marked with the words ‘Woman’s Soccer’. He grabbed it, ran to the body, and covered it with it. Then he got back into the car, turned the key, hit the gas, and sped off, back to work.



Samantha had just finished dealing with some ignorant customers, when Miko walked in, a little paler than she remembered him. “Are you okay? Please tell me my car is okay!” “Your car is fine.” Miko replied, forcing a smile on himself. “Jerry is mad, you’re twenty minutes late!” she said, not returning his smile, as he handed her keys back to her. Just then Jerry walked in. “That’s it Miko! You are done. Goodbye. Adios. See ya!” Without attempting to argue, Miko left. On his way home he realized that he wouldn’t see Samantha anytime soon and realized how much he would miss her. And with the large load of regret inside him, he managed to use a little of it to regret not saying goodbye to her. He began to replay the events of the day in his mind, regretting every minute of it. Over and over again he reviewed every detail. And then, just as he was in front of his house, it hit him. He stopped as the chills crept down his spine. The jacket. Her jacket. Samantha’s high school jacket! It had her name on the sleeve! How could he have been so dumb! All varsity high school sport players get jackets with their name on it! He had to tell her. He turned around and sprinted back, taking a shortcut. What was he going to do? He ran a little faster. The normal ten minute walk seemed like hours. But he was almost there, just a few more blocks. But then he heard it, a shot. He was sweating from running, but the blood in his veins froze. He shook himself out of it, it could have been anything, and he had to keep on going. He reached the video store, only to find Jerry there in confusion. Samantha was gone. “Where is Sammie?” demanded Miko. Jerry gave Miko a blank stare. Then after some time he replied: “They came, the cops came. They wanted to speak to her in private. And they took her outside and tried to handcuff her. She was screaming and she managed to get away. She ran. I don’t know where she went.” There was a long silent pause. Then Jerry, who had been staring at the ground while speaking, looked Miko dead in the eyes. “This is your fault! I don’t know what you did, but I know it was you! Now get your ass out of my store and do what you can to help her!” But Miko was already gone. There were only two directions you could go from the store. One he had come from just now, the other he had come from when he arrived at work that afternoon. As he approached the spot where the events of the night had begun, he heard sirens. He got closer and saw ambulance and police lights in front of the nail salon. He got even closer. “We had to, she ran.” He heard the cop tell the ambulance driver. He pushed his way through, ignoring the protest of the officers. And then he saw her. Samantha’s body lay motionless, her chest bleeding, next to a wilted flower at the corner of the street.