Chapter 5: A Chaotic Morning

[ALEXA]

"Ah, this wind is unsettling," I say to myself, and I starty pedaling my bicycle. The streets are a bit wet from the rain, and the wind this morning is enough to make me shudder. The trees starte to turn yellow and begin to fall; Winter is coming. Luckily I am wearing a rather thick shirt and a warm sweater. The weather is cloudy and this morning seems darker than usual.

The semester is almost over, and I want to finish it with the best grades to make my parents proud, then graduate. I don’t go out with friends much, and I don’t want to waste time going to the movies or going to the disco either. I am nobody, and I don’t want to be somebody, either. I just have a project to build my own little house right down the street from my parents' alley.

My parents don’t have any clue about my project yet. I purposely planned to build it at the end of that dead-end alley, because the place is rarely passed by people. I want to make it a surprise after I graduate.

Before going to campus, I take some time to stop by.

"Morning, Lily.." I greet with a smile. I named my house 'Lily', because she will be predominantly white, with lots of white roses in her garden. But...

I stop in my tracks and I gasp for a moment.

"My roses!!!!!"

All my roses in the garden have died. I have taken care of them from seeds, until they bloomed, a lot.. like.. A LOT. But now they are all dead.

I sit down on the grass and touchone of the flowers, which is languidly bent down. Yesterday everything was still fresh and healthy, and there was no storm or anything last night.

"Oh my God, what's wrong with you?" My eyes are watery and confused. Why did it suddenly die?

I call Uncle. Was Uncle here last night?

No answer. Maybe still sleeping.

6.15. I would have an appointment with Mr. Leo at 7 o'clock.

"Ah, later.. There's still enough time."

I turnand survey my house. I built it from wood and plywood, because from what I learned in my campus, that's the easiest way. I often asked my uncle to help put up the big logs when he wasn't busy, but I did all the planning and design myself. I started this project since I was in the 5th semester, and it takes a really long time because my body is weak, but I will finish it.

The house is almost done, and the roof truss has been made. I enter the door and look inside Lily's interior, touching the vinyl frames. Everything looks neat and it meets my expectations. I don’t really care who will occupy this house later, is it me, my sister, my parents, or just my dolls. But this house will be my pride in the future.

I enter the empty bedroom. There are only four rooms in this house: the lounge, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom. I'm not planning on making a living room.

"This is not an era of neighborhood visits," I say to myself with a smile, remembering how my mom's sofas are always dusty because there are never any guests in our house.

I look up, seeing the morning sky which is already quite bright because there is a sun peeking out among the clouds. I'll ask Uncle to start laying the roof tomorrow. He said he had a reliable handyman to help, and I had already bought asphalt tiles for the roof.

Mom, I will make you proud.

My thesis is finished and I only have to finish a few elective classes this semester. My target is almost reached. My parents were able to send me to this expensive university because they worked so hard, and this is all I could do to make them proud.

"Lily, you look good, but I hope you will not collapse at anytime soon," I mumble to myself.

I come out of the bedroom, out of the house and into my pathetic flower garden. I pluck one of my dead roses and kiss it. It smells bad. The leaves and the color of the flower petals are dull, starting to rot. How could it be possible for the whole flowers to die overnight like this?

"Did your roots find rose poison, Baby?" I ask.

I look around. No other plants die apart from these roses. I stand up and half run outside, peeking over the neighbor's fence. I think they have red roses.

"Ah.. Everything is still fresh," I say, confused.

Suddenly my cell phone rang. Uncle!

"You called me earlier, Alexa?"

"Uncle, all my roses suddenly died! Did you come here yesterday? Did you know that the roses died?"

"Huh?" Uncle sounds very surprised. "I was there yesterday until 8 pm. The roses were still all good."

I shudder. Now every single rose has fallen to the ground and is starting to turn black.

"I was surprised too, every single rose died this morning," I say weakly. I have to show this house in perfect condition in about two or three months. Should I buy new dozens of blooming white roses?

"I will come there later or tomorrow, okay? I’m quite busy today. Maybe tomorrow. We'll think about the garden again when the house is finished."

I hung up. 10 minutes to 7 o'clock.

"Geez!" I scream as I rushto get my bike and speed towards the campus. Luckily it's not too far away.

Mr. Leo is a lecturer who is known to be very discipline, and he can get angry just because of a late appointment.

I put my bicycle in the campus parking lot right next to the cafeteria, and my heart seemed to stop. "What the..."

I see a row of white roses along the side of the cafeteria which is all dead. Why do all white roses die?

There are also bougenville flowers around the bicycle parking lot, but all are still fresh. Only white roses die.

But it's already 7 o'clock, and I can't just stand there and do nothing.

"Think about it later, Alexa!" I scream in my heart and immediately run towards my locker. My mind is full of confusion of what happened this morning and of many final assignments for graduation, as well as my late appointment with Mr. Leo, and I feel like dazed.

"Bruck!" I bump into someone and drop him to the ground, along with all his books and his plastic glass of Americano.

He is now right there on the floor. His clothes and hair are wet and dirty from the large coffee glass he was holding. Oh this is really bad.. He is.. Justin! God, he's like a Prince in this University, and I don't want to get into trouble with him.

"Excuse me!!??" He shouts angrily. My heart is beating very hard.

"I'm sooo sorry! I didn't mean to, I was in a hurry and confused this morning, I.."

"Use your eyes when you walk!" Justin says harshly. He staggers to his feet and glares at me.

Lots of other students are watching us and laugh. Laughing at who? Me? Justin? Who knows. Due to the rush while being dazed and confused, I was completely oblivious. I help him pick up his books. So cheesy, right? If this was a drama series, he would stop me, hold my hand and kiss me.

Damn it, Alexa. What the hell is that in your mind?

Justin is the most arrogant and annoying guy on campus. He is much liked by students because he is handsome and rich, and he is also loved by lecturers because he is the chairman of DSA and is good at making faces. But in a billion years I will never expect him to be affectionate with me.

"Sorry, Justin. I'm really sorry."

Justin's eyes glared at me with anger, looking at me from head to toe with disdain. "You’re such a hick!"

I'm used to such kind of mocking. The pretty girls on campus wear trendy clothes with bangs and short skirts as they commute by car. I always have to wear pants and a sweater or cardigan because I often feel cold when I’m on my bike, and I do look like a geek. Or a hick, just like what he said.

"Ah, it doesn't matter.." I say quietly, to myself, when Justin walks away, kicking his spilled plastic coffee cup.

My heart is a little torn. Why is this morning so painful? But I also feel so guilty for bumping into Justin until he fell and spilled coffee like that. I think he must be very embarrassed that so many students laughed at him.

I run to Mr. Leo's room and get ready to start my long day. I hope he hasn't come and won’t be mad because I’m late.