The First Petal
Chapter one: I Want To Go Home.
Ringo needed to exercise more. The Danika flower shop wasn't up to thirty feet away from her school and yet she was still panting like a mad dog.
Breathless, she let out a cry of both victory and suffering as the roof of the shop came into her view.
The scent of lavender and roses filled the air as she walked into the dinky looking shop. A woman holding a flower pot approached her and they embraced.
"Watanabe! I'm glad you made it," she said and clapped her back.
"We have a lot of work to do today. The lillies and carnations need to be turned into new pots, the rose bushes need trimming, we're out of snapdragons so we need to plant new ones. But don't throw away the old dead ones. You think you can handle that?"
Ringo nodded. She has been working at the store for the last five months, she had gotten use to Keiko's demanding character.
Taking off her school sweater, she got to work in the garden. The garden she grew up to love and cherish.
She found peace and serenity with the flowers and shrubs that grew here. She could identify different types of flowers by heart. Anything and everything that had to do with flowers was her specialty. She lived for them, and would die for them.
She spent three hours working on the garden before the clouds became too heavy to contain themselves and it started to rain. Disappointed, Ringo wrapped her scarf around her head and headed back home.
Pit pat pit
Her shoes tapped against the concrete. The rain had stooped pouring leaving the world in a wet daze. The bushes shone and the air was moist. Ringo loved the smell of wet bushes, it smelt like nature.
~TWANG~
The sound of a shamisen stopped Ringo in her tracks.
There, sitting in the sidewalk, was the source of the sound.
A woman of about 20, dressed in the top part of a yukata and a skirt with white socks. She had long snowy blonde hair that was braided into a ponytail and an eyepatch over her left eye.
As soon as Ringo's presence was known to her, she turned and gave her a smirk. The type of smirk you give a friend when you're both in hunt for mischief. A smirk that made Ringo uncomfortable.
"U-um," Ringo started "could you please..."
"HONEYSUCKLE! POPPEY!" She yelled and pointed her long fingers to her.
"Wha?"
"IRIS! ORCHID!" She leaped up and grabbed her shoulders.
"CARNATION!!!"
"What is she saying," Ringo thought "she's mad! Spewing out names of flowers like that! What do I do? Should I play along? I'll play along and maybe she'll let me go."
"L-lillies. Red spider lillies," she said.
The woman seemed pleased. She smiled and twirled in circles before pointing a finger at her and yelling out to no one in particular.
"I found one! I found one!" She yelled
"Can I go home?"Ringo asked in a small voice. The woman froze before she turned to Ringo.
"Of course! Hold still," she said.
Ringo sighed. She felt relieved that the strange woman would let her go. She would be home soon and-
*slice*
Everything was falling down but Ringo was still standing. The last thing she saw was the woman smile at her decapitated body.
"Welcome to the INSIDE,"
