The House of Flowers

I shivered as a cold wind gusted down my spine and sent ice through my vein. My lips turned upwardds un a soft smile as I stepped into the bustling town. I caught wind of the fragrance of pine wafting towards me from the smartly decorated tree in the heart of Valor. Sweet bread, decadent pastries, and other treats clogged the air with eternal glee this time of year. “What are you tarrying for? I thought you wanted to find your dearly beloved, ” said my traveling companion Count Sebastian Edelweiss. He also happens to be an unwanted suitor who believes it is not dishonorable to try to intervene in a happy engagement such as me own. I re-mount my horse and follow after the arrogant Cpunt. If that adrrogance was replaced with humililty I just might have married him, but he lacked the certain something that allowed my fiance to also be my closest friend. As dusk slipped into might seamlessly weaving itself into the prussian blue sky, I wonder what had become of my Geranium Cidell. My fince had gone missing twenty-four days ago along with a string of unrelated mishaps ocurring around town. A stolen delivery here, a pentagram written in cow’s blood there, the usual for a small town such as this. No had seen seen him apart from one of Count Edleweiss’s servants, who claimed they saw a man enter the abandoned mansion the Edelweiss family owned. It was in disrepair and the townsfolk who lived along the barren outskirts of the town near it rumored the mansion to be haunted. I didn’t pay these silly notions anymind; I would find my husband-to-be and bring him home before Christmas.

My companion and I stood in front of he lofty victorian style home, humbled by its magnitude. The mansion was painted an almost comical grape purple, and its long spindly spires rose high into the sky, piercing it with its jagged end. The tarnished and decaying door and the rotting floorboards were the only welcome we received. “I implore yu one last time, Valencia Borisov. Do not enter that house! I don’t even know what dangers luk inside, and I own the house.” “Getting cold feet, Edelweiss,” I smiled ruefully as I twisted the oncee ornate gold knob. Count Edelweiss ohuffed before following me inside, deciding that his pride overrode his fear. As we entered the decrepit manision an immediate wave of thick myshy air was upon us like bees to honey. I inhaled the dust clouded air and heard the Count throw a coughing fit from the filthy air. I wobbled precariously like a seasick sailor on the rickety floorboards that threatened to swallow me whole. The count and I continued to teeter dangerously across the foyer into the great room. God was on our side, for we did not fall to our deaths. the great room was dark and dreary with nothing but the starless night and the mooshine spilling in from the window to illuminate its molded curtains and grotesque hearth. Count Edelweiss stopped, eyes wide as saucers, nad mouth agape. I at first percieved this to be because of the abundant filth, but as I followed his unbreaking gaze I saw a vase of pale blue flowers. A bouquet of rosemary flowers and forget-me-nots sat on an old and rotted table, still fresh as the day they were picked. “Death and memories,” Count Edelweiss translated. It was like our eyes had been opened aafter seeing the coded flowers; we began to hear the low groaning of a lonely spirit and his unearthly pale skin lluminated a corner. Another spirit brushed past my arm sending chills up my spine that could’ve frozen my heart. The rumors had been true.

We walked hesitatly, careful not to disturb the spirits. As an undertaker’s daughter I had much respect for the dead and eavesdropped on enough priests to know what to say to appeas a lingering spirit. Upon escaping the grat room we breathed a sigh of relief. A blood curdling scream tore gashes into the air. The sound was so inhuman and utterly drenched in despair that I had to cover my ears to stop the throbbing pain in my head. Ears still covered, I began to run towards the sound with the Count on my heels. It led us through a dark and lonely cellar. The floor of the cellar was dimly lit by candles, and as I followed the candles with my eyes I stumbled upon Geanium kneeling in the middle of the room that was small and reeked with the stench of filth.

The posh Count covered his nose becuase of the odor, but I embraced Geranium like I had wihed to for the past 24 days not caring if he hissed or that his were dark grey rather than their usual bright hazel color. All at once a strange pressure forced me to the other side of the room causing me to collide with a wine shelf. A low gutteral ominous chanting filled the room before I could understand that they were coming from Geranium. Count Edleweiss grabbed Geranium and silenced his chanting whaich was no doubt a hex. “He has been possessed. Lured here like a fish following the bait that constantly invadedd his dream! ” he yelled to me as he continued to wrestle with Geranium ssteering clear of his hands that possess ed unhuman strength. I watched them struggle for 3 crucial seconds, in that same time I made an iron resolve withing myself. First, I will accept that Geranium is possessed by some demon that dare toy with my love. Second, I will accept that fear was a luxury I could not afford, and that I will snap out of my stupor. Lastly, I will accept that I will be bringing my fiance home, alive, for Christmas.

I lept into action with the overwhelming awareness that the demon could not be held off by Count Edelwiess for long. I grabbed a shard of the broken wine bottles around me and slit my arm as deep as my pain tolerance would allow. Blood for attention. The ruby liquid transfixed the demon as I began my own chanting. “The blood of the Lord shall wash you white as snow. Demon, depart from this man in the name of Jesus Christ!” Tongue for confession. I screamed this over and over matching the climbing decibels of the demon pitch for pitch. Demons shall be tamed. Geranium’s body fell limp in Count Edelweiss’s arms and I breated a prayed over him thanking God for him miracles. By a Holy name.

I took my fiance’s body out of that house with my own two hands despite the Count’s protests. I didn’t pay him any mind; I was not helpless. He continued to protest as I drew my matches from my pocket. A fire, bright and fierce, licked the black sky with its vessels of red embers. We watched the Edelweiss mansion burn and listened to the screams of the dead as they departed our world for a second time. One day I would look back on these ruins with joy for its destruction only to discover the pale blue forget-me-nots standing amongst the charred rubble, fresh as the day they were picked. Only memories remained here, and I would never forget.