Five Dead Roses

For every person who has stolen your heart, you plant a rose. For every person who has broken your heart, you leave the rose to wither and die.

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Dead Rose #1
You were twelve and Jason stole your heart when he walked you home on a rainy Tuesday afternoon. You never had a boyfriend before and you didn't really know what to expect. You were nervous. But Jason was a sweet boy. He helped you in class, bought you chocolates and wrote you letters. He was everything you wished for. Two months in and you were convinced you were in love. You even had this stupid fantasy of marrying him. But of course, he just had to ruin the fairytale.

Ironic how it was also a rainy Tuesday when he told you he couldn't love you anymore. You'd asked him why, tears and all, and he said he liked another girl who was prettier than you. He was too honest and you hated him for it. The next morning, you didn't water his rose.

Dead Rose #2
You were thirteen. You understood better what love was, and Jason wasn't real love. It was just two best friends holding hands and exchanging silly I love you. You knew that because every time Tyler smiled at you, you felt butterflies in your belly, you felt so light that you thought the wind would blow you away. You never felt that with Jason. Tyler became your second boyfriend. This time, it felt real. You loved how he would let you rest on his shoulder, and the softness of his skin every time he held your arms.

But Tyler wasn't as honest as Jason. At least Jason never lied. You caught Tyler having lunch with another girl, holding her hands! You thought that was a girlfriend's privilege. You were heartbroken, for sure, especially after he promised that you were the only girl he loved. You didn't want to hear his excuses, and you let his rose die.

Dead Rose #3
You were fourteen and high school sucked. You had only one friend and the other students shunned you for it. Except for that one guy, Chris. He never looked at you like you were a freak. Instead, he looked at you like he adored you. Eventually, he gathered up the guts to confess his feelings, and you were out-of-this-world happy. He serenaded you and wrote poems for you. He was by far the best boyfriend you'd ever had. You even had your first kiss with him. You loved the way his lips touched yours -so tender, so sweet, so heavenly. It was unlike anything you'd ever experienced.

In the end, however, Chris broke your heart too, just like the first two guys. But he wasn't a jerk. Your relationship didn't end because of another girl, it did because Chris had to move across the country. You had no idea how to date a guy who was thousands of miles away, so you two decided it was best to end things. In one way or another, he still broke your heart, so you had to kill off his rose.

Dead Rose #4
Chris took the longest to forget, and after you'd moved on, you swore to concentrate on your study and not let any boy distract you. But you were seventeen and oh, Jackson was a charming guy! Not only was he a gentleman and kind, he had the looks too. By being captain of the school's football team, he raised your status from wallflower to the hottie's girlfriend. And boy were you ecstatic.

The semester flew by and things were as smooth as ever. You finally thought, maybe his rose will never have to die. But as always, you were wrong. At the end of the year, Jackson's friends revealed that the reason you were even dating him was because of a stupid bet. Earlier that semester, the guys bet that Jackson would never be able to own you. You, the girl nobody ever noticed. It was the worst thing that had happened to you, and you broke down completely. You even lost your virginity to that bastard! You didn't think twice before throwing his rose in a cupboard, away from the sunlight and stealing the life it never deserved.

Dead Rose #5
You were twenty-four, a college graduate with a steady job and leading a happy single life. You weren't interested in finding a lover, not after Jackson. If someone was truly meant to be yours, you knew you needn't find him as life would lead him right to you. And indeed life did. You met Oscar at work, dated him for four years before he proposed. Nothing could go wrong this time, you were certain of it. He was your man, and you were his lady. The moment you both said I do and your lips locked as husband and wife, was the moment embedded deepest into your heart. Even until now, you could still replay the scene over and over again.

You had four preserved dead roses. All a reminder of the time and journey it took to get to your true love, so you would never take him for granted or forget to cherish him the way that you should. And the fifth rose -Oscar's rose, you took from your garden and planted it in a pot inside the bedroom you share with him. And you lived happily ever after.

Except you didn't. Why life would play and screw with you, you'd never know. But what you knew was the phone call that changed everything. Your husband was found dead on the side of the road, hit by a drunk driver. You couldn't handle it. The eulogy his parents asked you to write, his cold body in a coffin, the black dress you wore, the cries of relatives and friends, everything was too much.

But worst of all, was the rose you had to leave to wither and die.