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“Silk.” She’d planted silk roses, below her window…in the fall. It made no sense, but then again Esther made no sense to me anyway so why not just roll with it. They were so red, almost blood red. They remind me of…reaching up to touch the scar over my eye, I tried to ignore the burning irritation of it. But the memories were fighting their way to the forefront. I didn’t want to fall into that darkness again.
Ah…
May 12th 1781 - Guanajuato, New Spain
“Just one?” The woman asked as she cut the flower for me.
Smiling I nodded as I lifted the single pink rose from the bouquet, then as I reached into my trousers for my money, I found nothing but a hole in my pocket.
“Carlos, it’s only one flower. Go.”
“Are you sure—?”
“Do I look hungry to you?” she asked and I grinned, knowing that she was poking fun at herself.
Instead of replying, I offered her my gratitude as I turned and made my way further up the tapering cobblestoned alley. The red and yellow walls of the surrounding apartments flagged my sides and I soon came to a stop outside my door. I glanced up to her balcony, unable to stop myself from smiling. I would have stood there dazed if other people hadn’t started to come up. Walking up the stairs, I entered my apartment and immediately went to my balcony and stepped outside. She was so close…one small leap and I’d be with her.
“Soon, beloved,” I whispered as I placed the rose on the rail of her balcony.
“How soon?”
I looked up to find her leaning in the doorway. Her wavy, dark brown hair fell to her shoulders and as she looked at me with those beautiful eyes of hers, she wrapped her arms around herself and stepped outside. Taking the rose, she lifted it and inhaled its scent.
“How much longer, Carlos? Let’s go. Let’s run away now.”
I opened my mouth to speak when I heard a deep voice call out. “Ana? Ana, where are you?”
Her eyes widened and I rushed back into my apartment watching as she spun around so quickly that the rose slipped from her hand and fell to the street below.
“Are you okay?”
Snapping out of it, I backed away from the flowers.
“Malachi?”
At the sound of her voice, I turned to find her dressed in dark, tight jeans, brown boots, and a thick, red knit sweater. Her hair…I don’t know what she’d done but moments ago it was everywhere and now she’d turned it into a mass of beautiful curls that rested just past her shoulders.
“How long have I been standing here?”
She frowned as she moved closer to me and leaned in. “Were you having another recollection? You only touch your scar when you’re getting like that.”
She’d noticed? For the most part I forgot it was there.
“I’m fine. You ready?”
She nodded. “Sorry it took me so long.”
I glanced down at my watch…I’d been standing there in a daze for more than half an hour. This is why I hated being aware of the time. The moment I knew it, I knew how long I’d just lost fighting my own mind.
“Malachi.”
“Yes.” I looked to her. “On second thought I’m just going to have coffee—”
“Oh no, you don’t. You promised food, there will be food. Come on…wait were you planning on walking there?” she asked as she glanced down at my clothes.
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll take my bike. I only run on the threat of death.”
