Ghost In Red

—    

"Hey, Syd! Can you come here for a minute? I just want to ask you about something!" OJ called out to me as she went somewhere at the back of my house. I left Kitty to go where my girlfriend was and hear what she wanted to ask me.    

"What is it?" I asked as I went near her and saw she was looking at something. It's my rose garden.    

"This. What is this? What are these?" She asked me while pointing at the flowers in front of us, and I raised an eyebrow as I looked at her curious face.    

"Are you blind? Roses. Flowers. Plants. Leaves. What else could those be?" I answered the obvious, and she just rolled her eyes. Those really are roses.    

And now, she pointed at the plants with both hands.    

"I know these are roses. But who are these?" She replied and asked another pretty stupid question, and my eyebrows met in confusion. Why would she ask such a thing to me about my roses?    

"OJ, I don't name my roses. There are too many of them." I answered and tried to touch one white rose, and the girl seemed like she realized what she had just asked me.    

"No, what I mean is… Are these yours? Is this your rose garden? Did you grow them yourself?" She asked a series of questions while tracing her hands from the red roses to the yellow ones, and I nodded my head in response.    

"Yeah! Why? Why did you ask? Do you think they're pretty? Then, thanks." I replied, and she gasped, "Wow! And yeah, they are stunning, Syd, and colorful. I didn't know you liked flowers. Roses, particularly."    

"Well… now, you know," I muttered, and she cleared her throat. I turned to look at her and saw she smiled, a knowing one. And I could sense she was about to ask me something more.    

"Okay. Now, here's another question." She began, and I was right. Then I told her to go on.    

"Spill it."    

"How long have you been growing these flowers?" She asked and touched the blue roses with her left hand. And I tried to remember when was the first time I had these precious things.    

"Umm… actually, these are from my mom's garden at our old house. She has been growing them since… since I was born. No, even before I was born. Then I just took some seedlings of different colors from our old house and brought them here when we moved. She loves them so much. And they really are looking so pretty." I answered and looked at how adorable these things were. Honestly, I used to ask my mother why they were in different colors. There are red roses, yellow, blue, white, and pink. And all I thought was she was painting them one by one to look colorful.    

"Ooh, cool! Awesome!" She remarked in awe and crossed her arms on her chest, and I smiled.    

I was about to walk inside the house through the closed backdoor, but she cleared her throat again, and I gave her a look, saying, "what?".    

"One last question about these roses, Syd. And this is the most important." She said, and I turned to face her and saw her grinning.    

"Okay. Go on." I told her, and she deeply inhaled.    

"Are you the one who keeps giving me a bouquet of colorful roses every year on my birthday so damn early in the morning? Like… literally every six o'clock since my… uh, tenth birthday. Aren't you, Sydney? Tell me." She inquisitively asked and intently looked me in the eyes.    

Damn! She knew! She remembered.    

I didn't answer her yet. Instead, I looked at the flowers and thought, "How the heck did she realize that by just looking at you all?"    

"Okay. You don't have to answer that. Thank you, by the way. They are really pretty, indeed. I love it." She said, making me look at her, and I couldn't hide my smile when she chuckled.    

"Uh… well, damn! I'm surprised you… you noticed. And yeah, I deliver them myself." I stuttered and rubbed my nape as she got me busted.    

What can I do? It's the only thing I can give her that doesn't cost anything for her birthday. And she didn't know it was from me until now. Who the hell would think I would be giving her such things, especially her, right?    

"Hah! Oh, Sydee! You, girl, you are so damn… sweet. And the heck? Why the heck wouldn't I notice, huh? You regularly give them to our gateman, and Mimi gives them to me and says it was for me from an anonymous person. And the only note it has is… Happy Birthday. That's it. No other words, or even a name, saying where it came from or who gave it. Mr. Gubbles only says it's from a masked person in a hoodie and mentions it's from my friend. You are such a weirdo, Roswell. Do you know that? And every damn year, I always expect that I will be waking up on my birthday with a bouquet of roses with all these colors, twenty-four of them. Gosh, I still can't believe it. I had a mysterious admirer, stalker, like you. That's insane!" She narrated and laughed in disbelief while I amusedly stared at her.    

"And I'll keep on giving you one," I said, making her look at me with a grateful, sad smile slowly creeping on her face.    

"Aw, thank you so much, Syd." She replied and opened her arms to put me inside her warm embrace. I hugged her back with tenderness, and I fought with my emotions not to break down again.    

It breaks my heart every time I can think of tomorrow. I only wish we could freeze time and be together forever. But if not, I'll be bringing her roses every time I visit her.    

—    

After a few minutes of emotional moments in the backyard, we went inside the house and found no one. And I just remembered that my homies are in Chicago right now.    

We stepped inside my room and noticed that it was dark, so my girl turned on the light, yet it was flickering at first.    

"Psst!" OJ called my attention, and I looked her way and saw she tapped the chair in front of my makeup table, fronting a mirror.    

"¿Qué es?" I asked her as I walked to where she was and sat down, and she stood behind me.    

"Here. I promised you I'd do your hair… you know, braid them. And here, you can see our reflection." She replied, and I do remember. And I never thought we would be doing now those things that we meant to do if she would finally be okay. It's so sad to think that we only have less than twenty-four hours left.    

"Okay," I muttered and stared at her reflection in the mirror.    

OJ smiled as she looked back at me while ruffling and combing my hair with her right fingers. Ah, her touch feels so... soft.    

"I've never seen you wearing bangs, Syd. I bet you would look badass gorgeous." She said and smiled while staring straight into my eyes through the mirror, and I tried hard to act cool and not be melted.    

"Really? Why do you think so?" I asked and stayed quiet but amazed when she used the tip portion of my hair from my back to cover my forehead, and it really looked like I had bangs.    

"See that? Damn, you're a hottie! You look so damn fine, girl! I swear. You should try it." She remarked, looking so blown away from what she had just discovered.    

"No! I look awful. You're the one who looks great with bangs. I absolutely have a painting of you with that hairstyle of yours back in eighth grade. It's beautiful because you always are… with whatever hairstyle you wear." I replied with all honesty, making her laugh and ruffling my hair.    

"Nah! I hate that. But I love to see that painting. All of them. Too bad we can't see them now because we can't touch them." She said and sighed as she began braiding my hair.    

I didn't say anything as it's going to make me think again of her leaving me so soon.    

"Hey, Syd! Do you know that if you get this straight, shiny blonde hair of yours longer, that Elsa-from-Frozen-braid would look so good on you?" She suggested, and I giggled, hearing her words. And she took a good look at me in my reflection as she's already done braiding my hair.    

"And what? I'm going to sing... let it go, let it go? Mmm. Oh, no, you mean… because I'm the Ice Queen?" I replied, making her burst out laughing.    

"No, silly! Yes, you might be the Ice Queen, but no, you have an Olaf inside of you. And that's what I like so much about you. I love it. I love you, the real you." She retorted and kissed my right cheek while her left hand held my left temple, while her right one was resting on my right shoulder.    

"Please, don't move. Just for a few moments." I asked her, and she seemed puzzled and looked at me in my reflection.    

I kept staring at the mirror, and she made a face of realization as she might have an idea of what I was doing.    

"Oh, you're taking a picture… using your eyes and storing it in your long-term memory. And then you are going to paint it someday. Awesome! Okay." She jovially said and wrapped her arms around my neck and planted Eskimo kisses on my right cheek.    

I chuckled and tried my best to capture the perfect moments with this adorable gorgeous goddess that doesn't quite understand the meaning of 'don't move'.    

—    

After a couple of minutes passed of her making fun of my hair and the way I looked, she asked me to take her to my attic to see my paintings.    

"You know what, Syd? You can make lots of bucks from these paintings of yours. And if I say lots… it's going to be many. A bunch of money, dude! Sell them. Put them in auction… or put up an art gallery. Damn, you could earn thousands and even more for just one of these. You just need to meet the right person to deal with. And then, damn, you could be famous or rich, or you could be both. Or, if you want to stay low-key, you can just not use your real name as the artist. These things here cost a fortune. Your talent is truly brilliant, Sydee." My girlfriend suggested while she looked at some of my paintings on the wall, and I sat on the couch while staring at the particular painting of her here.    

"Yeah! I know. I've been accepting requests from customers online and earn a decent amount of money from the pictures they want me to paint. It's one way to save for my college education. I also accept part-time jobs on weekends or tutor kids from our neighbors. And dealing with kids is the hardest part." I replied and noticed her rushing toward where I was, and then she sat on the floor before me. She gently grabbed my hands and placed them on my lap while looking at me with sad eyes and pouting lips.    

"What's wrong, Mi Amor? Are you okay?" I worriedly asked her, and she shook her head and began sobbing.    

Oh, no! What happened to her?