"How her wings flutter like"

[April 22nd, 2025]

"Aurora!" Dr. Matthias called her cheerfully from a distance before he entered the green-house.

"Uncle Matthias!" Aurora exclaimed before putting the flower pot in her hands down on the ground and walking towards him.

She took off her gloves and apron and wiped off any dust of her clothes before walking close enough.

"I wanted to buy some flowers." Dr. Matthias muttered before looking away at the series of different colored flowers she had in her green-house. Not only that, all the bushes, shrubs and trees outside the green-house made her nursery prettier than the usuals.

"Ah, am I invited?" Aurora chuckled.

"Oh, yes, yes. My apologies." Dr. Matthias took out an invitation card from the inner pocket of his coat. "I hereby invite you to the engagement ceremony of my daughter. Thank you for your contribution in providing her soon-to-be-husband another chance to live."

"I didn't do anything. You did all the work!" Aurora exclaimed.

"Without you volunteering for such a task, we would've never found a cure to cancer. You have turned the tables for humanity by contributing to science."

Aurora brushed her hair behind her ear as she cleared her throat.

"So, what flowers would you like?"

"What flowers should I get?"

Aurora smiled before picking up a few white roses and arranging them into a beautiful bouquet.

[December 26th, 2021]

He entered from the door of the ward to see her mother sobbing loudly.

Sean's eyes widened to various thoughts after he finally arrived in the evening.

"Where were you?!" Her mother exclaimed in absolute sorrow as tears uncontrollably dripped down her cheeks. "She is gone!"

"W-What… Do you mean?" Sean asked hesitantly.

"I-I think she overheard us or something. She's gone missing… We searched everywhere.. W-We… I…" Giselle anxiously murmured.

"Overheard what?!" Sean asked, not wanting to believe it.

"S-Surgery…" Lucy said before swallowing the lump in her throat.

He left for a day. Just a day. It was 2 hours to midnight. She had been missing since last night. He instantly took off. He had to look for her everywhere he could.

He looked for her in the hospital garden, on the rooftops, searched everywhere within the hospital premises but she was nowhere to be found.

He went out of the hospital into her house. She hadn't come there at all. He could tell by the looks of her room that her mother had last cleaned it.

He quickly took off from the house and ran out towards the park. He searched around the merry-go-round, the monkey-bars, the swings, the domes but she was nowhere.

He went to the hideout and checked each corner but she wasn't there.

He went to every nursery she used to visit. He went to every restaurant she liked. He went to hair salons, amusement parks, resorts… Everywhere. There wasn't a single place he left.

Less than 1 minute was left before midnight; Her last day.

It scared him, terrified him, petrified him to even think of losing her.

He walked along the sidewalks around the hospital in the slightest hope of being able to find her.

He saw someone walking tiredly in front of him in a torn hospital gown before his phone rang. It was 12am.

[December 27th, 2021]

"H-Happy Birthday." Sean muttered from behind. She didn't even look.

He fastened his pace to match hers.

"Aurora…" He called her but she didn't listen.

He grabbed her hand to stop her, to which she reacted by pulling it out.

"Who are you?!" She asked, backing off completely.

Don't freak out, don't freak out just yet.

He kept telling himself what the nurses had told him. Shock. It must be a shock. She had doubtedly diagnosed TGA; But it was doubtedly diagnosed because later she only seemed to have retrograde amnesia.

So if she had forgotten him, it might just be a shock.

"Uh.. Aurora. It's me, Sean." He said hesitantly.

She looked at him directly. The ends of her hospital gown were torn. Where had she been all this time?!

She was without her crutches too, walking really slowly.

Her eyes were red and swollen as if she had been crying. It must've really shocked her to hear about getting the surgery; The one thing she didn't want.

She looked at him for a minute before turning around to walk.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Away." She muttered.

She fastened her pace and started to walk. Apparently, her weak legs were in her favor today. However, Sean kept walking behind her. He was going to keep up with her till she could at least remember him.

She was walking slowly too, covering roughly less than a meter in 10 minutes. But he followed her nonetheless.

The lights were off and the alleys were dark. They were still on the sidewalk of the main road.

She stopped after an hour of endless slow walking in front of a crosswalk.

She looked at it while the crossing sign said red. She tried to take a straight further towards it.

"Aurora!" But Sean held her from doing so. "What are you doing?!"

She pushed him away from her grip and ran towards the crosswalk. Fortunately, the sign switched to green.

"I can't do this anymore!" In a torn hospital gown, Aurora screamed, standing in the middle of the road. "I don't want to die, please!" She pleaded to the man standing in front of her, unable to remember his face she stretched her arms across him indicating to keep his distance.

Sean tried to approach her so she could at least calm down but she panicked more, not being able to remember him.

"Please."

"Okay, okay. I'll stop." He stopped at the start of the crosswalk, thinking she might cross it in the meantime.

Ting! Ting!

The sign made a buzz before changing back to red. As his attention diverted there he failed to bring it back to Aurora. When he did, it was too late.

A bus was approaching her at a high speed…

[December 27th, 2020]

"Happy Birthday Aurora!" In a glimpse of partial fragmented memories, she came across the right one.

She was on the road… With Sean. But now she was at her house. Or it was just her memory.

"Aurora?" She snapped back to reality with her mother calling her name.

"What're you daydreaming about?" Her father asked. "Your friends might come soon! Hurry up and get ready."

Aurora nodded and left for her room where a rectangular dress-box was waiting for her to open it.

Apparently, Sean had already sent her his gift; The dress she was going to wear tonight.

She smiled involuntarily. He was a great friend. She opened the box. It was a beautiful pure white dress-shirt with a brown sweater and jeans high-waisted long skirt. Perfect for a winter night.

He sure knew her preferences.

She wore the outfit and to complete it, she wore her pure white beret.

Her hair hung out of the sweater from the beret into perfect curls. She was turning 17 today!

Her friends had arrived with dozens of gifts. It wasn't as thrilling as Christmas but at least it was something!

They all had dinner together and left for a friends night out.

Of course, it was a must!

They went to an arcade this time. Since the hype from Christmas had died down, now it was their time to shine, in the arcades that is.

"Happy Birthday." Sean whispered to Aurora while they were watching Giselle and Ethan play basketball.

"How many times will you say it now?" Aurora chuckled.

"For as many times as you can memorize it." He smiled.

"I will never forget a wish now, would I?" She chuckled.

"If you did then you'd have to walk over my dead-body, pfft! Deal?"

"I won't walk over your dead-body! Never!"

"Are you chickening out of the deal then?"

"Right… I won't ever forget a happy birthday wish." She laughed hysterically. "Alright! Deal!"