Death when near can be sensed but however for me it floats by, just floats. It does not, cannot register…

I sat in my usual place, next to the thorn bush that hung half way over the babbling river, in between a dense forest and a rolling wheat field. Animals chattered amongst themselves in the leaves. And the wheat swayed side to side over and over again. We, meaning my parents, never thought to explore those parts, we were content in our own little section of the world. As a child my father and mother brought me to this exact place. We sat for hours picking berries, drinking from the cool water, but we didn’t once come for that. We came for the roses. Their pure white color, and oddity, stood out against the clear blue of the water. Thus making it the most beautiful thing I had ever seen as a child. Always before we left, we picked some of the most beautiful ones then took them home. My parents always loved the roses, they reminded them of my each other. Now I go to this place even though I don’t have my mother or father with me. The roses haven't bloomed since their deaths…
I popped out of my fantasy when I heard a rustling a nearby bush. I shot up, but then failed to keep my balance, and started tumbling towards the river. I fell into the cold water, where the minnows were now fleeing. Shivering, and soaking wet, I saw what gave me such a fright. There he stood, laughing hysterically. He was beautiful even when he was mocking me.

I rolled my eyes, stomping out of the water. He smiled, and gave me a peck on the cheek. I blushed bright scarlet all my blood rushing to my face. We glared at each other, eye to eye. I could tell he was snickering at my hysterical appearance. I probably looked like a wet cat, grimacing at my drenched hair. I raised an eyebrow, he chuckled, I scowled, and then he just couldn’t take it, and burst into a loud howl. He was practically convulsing with laughter. I tapped my foot with impatience on the dirt, and starred at an ant pile. There were hundreds of ants bringing food into their mound. When he finally stopped laughing he had to wipe his clear blue eyes, which had started teared up. After he had calmed down, which took quite a while, he said something I really didn’t expect.

"I love you." He chuckled like it wasn’t a big thing. Silence. That was the first time he had said that. The expression on my face was shock, and my mouth popped open a bit, a and I froze. I saw the sky, not a single cloud. I saw the clear river, and the rainbow of colorful fish swimming in it. I saw the murmuring forest, and the whispering fields. I saw all the splendor. And then I saw it, the first rose. It was such a radiant white, I almost thought it was the sun. It was the most unimaginable hue, a color I had only dreamed about. It was so pure, it was the color of an angel. I looked at his face, he was staring at me with concern. I smiled shyly.

"hmmm" I sighed contently. We sat on the bank for a while, I starred at the angel white roses, the clear blue water. The scarlet berries, the earthy green forest, and the golden wheat field. I sighed contently once more. I saw something just out of the corner of my eye. It was in his bag, I crawled over and was just about to look inside, to see if it really was a golden band, when he grabbed my wrists, and pinned me to the dirt.

Out of nowhere, he pinned me to the dirt, and gave me a disapproving look, then he smiled widely. He shook his head, like I was just too much to handle, and chuckled happily. A look of courageousness crossed his face. He pulled up the nerve to reach into the bag and pull out the ring. My eyes widened to the size of the moon. He held it up into the sun, and let me have a look at it. I saw a tear running down his cheek, he offered me the ring, and I thrust my hand out, almost knocking the ring out of his hand, he smiled then slipped the band on my finger. We went home after much blissful, joyous, crying. We would meet tomorrow, and announce our engagement, it sounded so wondrous.

All through the night I tossed and turned, too excited for sleep. I sat staring at the stars out of my window. Soon enough I would be staring out the stars of another window, his window, our window. I finally fell into some sort of a sleep, from which I awoke at mid morning.

I walked briskly towards our usual meeting place gawking at the dozens of roses that had bloomed overnight, along the worn path through the forest it was if they just needed a little love. I sat waiting, eating berries. Then I heard a weird sequence of noises. A round of shots, an animal screaming awkwardly, then galloping horses, and more screaming. I was confused, then all of the sudden, one of the screams was human. He called out my name.

I stood still till my name was screamed again, then I was running but the screams were farther away than I thought. I was racing towards him, tears like acid, marked the dirt. Perseverance and endurance was I had left. Soon that was gone too. I fell, tumbling into the shrubs, thorns marring my skin. Thorns, now bloodying my skin, scaring it. What had I tripped on?... An abundance of rose buds, stained red, clustered together. Beautiful, angelic, poisoned with red blood. The roses had driven me into the scaring thorns, they were not beautiful. They were what was keeping me from him. The roses were blood red, not crimson, or scarlet, they were the color that was seeping from my skin, blood. I stood up, with no hope left.

I cautiously round the corner. Then I see him, he was a heap of screaming, flailing red flesh. He was quickly falling silent. His body arching, and writhing to a deaf beat, only to be heard by the coming dead… It was different this time, compared to my parents deaths, I loved him. Not that I didn’t love my parents, but he was the one I was to spend my life with, the one who I would grow old with, the one who would never stop loving. I was sobbing, couldn’t see much, but my mind kept seeing his red stained body every time I closed my eyes to blink, along with the red stained roses. How could this happen?... Each intake of his breath shuddering, scraping, grinding, unsuccessfully bring air to his cold lungs. He lay there. His heart taking its last step… It felt so different.

I took those last steps, fell at his feet and exploded into more tears. They were not joyous, like yesterday. They wept for his life. Tears falling on his chest. I noticed there were some roses that he had gathered stained red, just like him, by his side. Only to be meant for me. All he sudden he grasped my knee with his frigid hand, and whispered painfully,

"I'm not dead yet."I almost believed him… He then collapsed, and the roses started to wilt.