Page 4 of Where Darkness Falls

All is quiet.

I dare to peek one eye open and find a dark silhouette standing before me.

“There you are,” says the voice.

I scream.

Then, everything goes black.

“MAEVA,”someone shouts.

I jolt awake.

The pounding of my heart rings in my ears, feeling like it could explode at any moment.

I run a hand over my brow, and it is still slick with blood.

I look at my hand, expecting to find the dark crimson color seeping through my fingers, but to my surprise, the liquid is clear.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

I’m sweating.

It’s not blood…not blood.

My light strawberry, golden hair is matted to my face from the perspiration that currently drenches me from head to toe.

I was running from something… or someone?

Wasn’t I?

There was someone screaming for me to run…

I drag my hands through my hair once more, breathing heavily.

I was being pursued through the woods.

The woods.

As panic sets in, I look frantically at my surroundings, only to find I’m not in the woods,but a floral shop.

Natural gray light filters in through the large windows where passersby can glance in to see the arrangements. The windows are rectangular with a crescent moon added to the top panels of their design, which provides a rather rustic but cozy look to the shop. The gold trim surrounding each window pane seems to enhance the gray light that we have in place of sunlight, which helps to brighten up the space.

In my haste to look for impending danger, I subconsciously place my hands on either side of my body, feeling the rough edges of something…textured?

Glancing down, I find a grainy mahogany bench beneath my palms. Trailing my fingers along the patterns woven naturally into the design, I study the details of the rich wood.

“Maeva?” a worried voice whispers.

I’m so startled that I jump up, overturning the bench in my haste. I glance toward the owner of the voice only to find Cara—my best friend and adoptive sister—standing a few feet away, looking at me with the same concerned look she usually wears. Instinctually, I reach for her hand, praying that she is truly here in front of me. She smiles kindly as her soft hand lightly squeezes mine.

Real,I mentally remind myself.This is real.

Releasing her hand on a sigh, I glance around the space once more now that the fog of sleep is wearing off.

The center of the shop is lined with beautiful mahogany tables overflowing with arrangements that have been pre-made for purchase. I’m surrounded by beautiful arrangements of flowers scattered throughout The Violet Lily Shop. An array of deep purples, blacks, crimsons, and mauve pinks overwhelms my vision. Violets of a deep purple are arranged with beautiful black snapdragons and calla lilies. Another arrangement of Arabian Night dahlias is carefully accented with Midnight Mystique hyacinths and Moulin Rouge sunflowers. The Queen of Night tulips are usually paired with beautiful Night Rider lilies with a sprinkling of rust colored Baby’s Breath.

The rest of the shop is a bewitching assemblage of beautiful crimson and pink roses, mauve peonies with onyx centers, wine colored and black-tipped flowers with thousands of tiny petals—properly named Black Beauty. Black hollyhocks, dark irises, and hellebore sit on beautiful displays for the customers to select a bouquet of their choosing. Each bouquet is handled with the gentlest care and attention to detail to create the perfect set for our clients before being gently bound by a deep violet-colored ribbon and twine.