1 Prologue*

'Here goes nothing.' Lucas Johnson was standing in front of a tattoo shop, clutching his precious black bag with a black rose on it. He was nervous since this would be his very first tattoo.

He opened the door, and the bells on the door jingled, surprising him slightly. A woman standing at the information desk looked up and smiled welcomingly. Lucas did his best to return the smile and approached the woman.

"Hi, I'm Lucas Johnson. I reserved a meeting with your tattoo artist, Jane Smith." The woman then looked down and flipped a few pages on a clipboard.

"Ah, yes. You've requested a black rose in the design provided by Ms Dawn Wood?" Lucas gave her a quick nod, his smile a bit sad. "I believe I've seen you when she came to give Ms Smith the drawing, is it true?" — Lucas nodded in answer. — "Well, then, you must be the person that Ms Johnson told her. I'll just check if you can enter."

She lifted the phone and dialled the number of Jane Smith's room. "Yes? Who's at the front?" Jane answered.

"It's Mr Lucas Johnson, with the design by Ms Dawn Wood. He said he reserved with you."

"Oh, right! Let him in. I got everything prepared, so you can just send him in, with the drawing."

"Okay." With that, the receptionist handed him the drawing of the same rose and told him to go to the room at the very end, the one that has a mint-coloured door.

Lucas nodded and then entered the room to find a woman sitting on a black chair. On her wooden desk was a photo of Dawn and her, which made Lucas arch his brow in suspicion.

"She did forgive you, huh." He said, letting her register his presence.

She turned around with a small smile. "That was at the school field trip."

He slowly nodded and then said, "Did you write a letter for her?"

"I did. Since I have an appointment when it happens, so I'll put it in later."

"I wrote a letter, too. At first, I thought of writing it as an obituary, but I think it would be better as a letter instead."

Jane nodded and changed the subject. "It's quite weird that you're talking to me again. By what you've said when we had last met, I predicted you wouldn't speak to me at all afterwards."

She then returned to being the professional tattoo artist she is. "I'll just trace the drawing on your arm. When I begin the tattooing, you can tell me more about what had happened with Dawn. I still don't know about the details, so I think it would be nice if you elaborate it for me, since you were her caretaker and all."

He sighed a bit while handing her the drawing. "Sure, she told me to do that before she died anyway. So even if you hadn't told me I would have told you."

Lucas then sat down on the chair and rolled his sleeve up. "Also, I want you to tattoo it here, where my scars are. It's from self-harm, by the way. After her death, I suffered through a lot of mental disorders, including depression and nervous disorder."

"You're not going to do it again after this?"

Lucas gave a quick nod and said, "Yeah, Dawn wouldn't have wanted me to do it. Also, don't change the colour, or else the meaning would vaporize and that's the last thing I want."

"Right, since the black rose means the loss of a close person or your significant other."

"Yeah, and to me, Dawn was more like a girlfriend than a friend."

While getting the design on the place where Lucas wanted it to be, Jane informed him that she almost finished the tracing. "I'll tell you what she said as her last words when the story reaches that place."

By that time, Jane was all prepared. "Okay, I'm gonna start now, so begin when you're ready!"

Lucas let out a deep breath to prepare himself. "This story begins about three years ago. It was the final year of high school and nearing prom season. Dawn couldn't come to school a few weeks before the preparation for prom began. Her parents had reserved an appointment with my uncle, who was her doctor. That was when she found out she had cancer."