Chapter Text
Framlingham. East of England. Not too far from the rainy London itself. The town is very peaceful and tranquil. A dream for anyone to live in.
Cecily lived almost in the centre, although her flower shop was quite far away from her home. She loved flowers, she breathed flowers and talked about flowers all the time, hence annoyed the others with it. Nevertheless, Cecily didn't care. It was, as odd as it may sound, her passion. So, it was clear, that her dream came true, when she got an opportunity to open the flower shop. Cecily felt complete there, it was her piece of heaven.
It was a rainy day, when Cecily was leaving her house, but the rain did not effect her mood. Smiling, like all the time, she locked the door and ran down the stairs, on the way, meeting Mr. Henry and his wife, Sarah.
The rain started to get heavier and heavier, so Cecily was not able to display the flowers outside. Despite the pour, the day turned out to be routinal: None of her clients missed an opportunity to buy a flower. Even Doctor Dorren, a witty man with a well-groomed moustache.
"Hello Cece!"- He greeted,-"As usual, you know, right?!"
"Of coarse, Doctor, of coarse"-Smiled she back and started searching for peonies.
Cecily took the change and wished Doctor Dorren a nice day.
The rain never stopped even at the end of the day. It already was time to close the shop, when a well-clothed woman came in.
"Hello! How can I help you?"- She asked.
The woman did not respond and kept on looking through the shop. Cecily was staring at her, something about this woman was not "human": her movements were sharp and rough, her eyes were absolutely dead-looking and even her body was wrong.
After a while, the woman proceeded to suddenly turn around, look at Cecily right in her eyes with a piercing look and asking:
"Do you have Monkshood?"
"I am afraid, I don't keep such an exotic flower here, sorry."- Cecily anwered.
"Saffran?.."- Cecily felt, her voice was getting angrier and more irritating. Cecily shook her head, initiating, that she didn't have Saffran either.
"Marigold?"
"Yes! Yes!"- Cecily was quick to find Marigolds at the back of the shop.
"Yellow, very good. I will need their seeds to be delivered at this address."- She handed her a small paper, where the adress of the house was written. Cecily took the paper and looked at it. She had no idea where it was.
"Mrs, excuse me, where is the..."- The woman was already out of the shop. Cecily ran out.
"Mrs, please, wait! How many do you need and where is exactly this house, may I know?"- Cecily did not realise, that she was standing in the rain.
The woman never said anything, but Cecily noticed something very weird: Her eyes suddenly sparkled with light green light. The mysterious woman turned around and walked away.
Cecily stood for couple of seconds at the same spot, then realised, that she was drenched and swiftly ran in, trying to get a glimpse of the woman through the windows of the shop. But she has already disappeared.
On the next day Cecily took a cab to get to the mysterious house.
"To this address, please"- She said, passing the paper to the cabby.
He proceeded to look at the writing very carefully. Couple seconds passed, the driver looked at Cecily and asked.
"Is this some kind of joke, little Ms.?"-He asked,-"Everyone knows, nobody lives in the mansion at this particular address."
Cecily was surprised, though asked him to take her there anyway. The drive was long enough to tire Cecily. At last, they arrived.
"Thank you. Here."-Cecily gave money to the driver.
The mansion was, indeed, there and it was, indeed, very beautiful. It had huge garden in front, there were bushes cut in very strange forms and unknown trees for Cecily were growing. Though, it was breathtaking to see such view.
Cecily walked couple feet towards the house and then suddenly saw the lady. The one that came to her flowershop.
"Oh, hello! Nice seeing you again! The mansion is absolutely stunning."
The lady stood there looking directly into Cecily's eyes.
"He'll come out soon."- She said and walked away.
"Ok, alright, great, thank you... Who? I am sorry, Mrs. ... Who will come out?"
The lady kept on walking, not paying attention to her.
"God... What kind of person is she?!"- Cecily thought for herself.
Although it was sunny, the wind was blowing and Cece was freezing. She started to distract herself from cold, by looking at the house.
It was dark greenish, with brown and grey bricks at the corners. The windows were all blocked by the curtains, also dark olive green, may I add. The door was huge, with weird initials on it, but Cece could properly see two letters: G. M.
"Garry ... Garry Mortimer? No... too strange. Gand... I don't think so and it's too stupid. McKinsley?"
Suddenly the door opened and Cece saw a tall, thin figure coming out. As the person was approaching her, Cece could see him in a more detailed way. He had long, black hair and "surprisingly enough" green eyes. Cece felt, that she has seen this kind of green eyes somewhere.
"Lazarus."- He said standing a bit far from Cece with his hands put behind.
"Cecily Monte, pleasure to meet you, Sir!"- She said smiling at him.
Lazarus's face didn't move. He looked up and down. For some reason, he just wasn't pleased. For a bit he kept silent.
"Erm... Sir, I..."
"Did you bring the flower seeds?"- Lazarus cut her off swiftly.
"I did, yes. There they are!"- She showed him the small package.
"Good"- He took the seeds and turned around to leave.
"That's all? Alright, you're welcome. Have a nice day."- Cece said loudly to Lazarus.
He then stopped and looked at her with his evilish eyes.
"What did you just say?"- He asked.
"I said you're welcome and have a nice day."- Cece replied.
Lazarus turned his body around, came up to Cece very closely and said:
"There are NO nice days!"
Cece was intimidated by him. Lazarus really was not the nicest person she has met. There was something so frightening and uncomfortable about him. Frankly, Cece didn't like Lazarus at all, but she felt, that she MUST answer back to a remark of his.
"What a silly comment?! Of coarse there are loads of nice days, like today."- Cece said bravely.
She was anticipating his reaction, and she didn't need to wait long.
"What makes today NICE?"- Lazarus tried to impersonate Cece implying to the word "nice".
"Well, everything about it: The Sun , the wind, this place, people, flowers..."- Lazarus was still standing up close and not moving, running his eyes into her's.
"Ugh... Why don't you like it?"- Cece continued.
"For exactly the same reasons."- He replied coldly.
"Seems like you're ungrateful for what you have, but anyway..."- This comment threw Lazarus aback, as you could see , his eyes lost the same coldness, evilness about it.
"For me, the day is lost if one hasn't laughed."- Cece ended.
"Nobody appreciated my gratefulness when I was."- Lazarus said.
"I have to leave now. It was a good chat. Goodbye."
Lazarus kept on looking at Cece with the package in his hands. "Maybe I will have to get more flowers!"- He said loudly and, in a way, agressively.
"Why?! You and flowers are incompettable... Even your choice! Yellow Marigolds... Symbolizing cruelty!"- Cece didn't know why, but she felt anger towards Lazarus.
And he, was losing his temper and at one point, it was over:
"WELL, GUESS WHAT? I AM CRUEL AND I NEED SOMETHING TO BE CRUEL AROUND ME TOO!!!"- He yelled.