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Larissa was in her dorm the first time it happened. She had been studying plants at the academy a few hours before. She wondered if thats what started it.
The school had just returned from Summer that same day, and she was greeted in her dorm room by her raven-haired roommate Morticia Frump.
It was a cold evening in early September, Larissa had already managed to get a cold, and she was suffering with a sore throat. At first she thought nothing of it, and climbed promptly into bed as to try an sleep it off.
“You okay ‘Rissa?” Morticia asked, a worried expression painted her face. Even though they didn’t always get along, there was definitely some care for the other, even if they didn’t show it all that often.
Larissa tried to respond, but can only nod, before launching into a coughing fit.
“You poor thing, let me go get you some medicine” Morticia got up and left the dorm in search of some medicine to help her friend, leaving Larissa coughing into her hands, gasping for air. She felt almost as if something was pricking her skin, like she was going to be sick. Swiftly, she got up and ran to the bathroom, gagging she shut her eyes and tries to ignore the pain growing in her chest.
When she looked down, she was shocked. The sink was filled with petals. She couldn’t quite identify what flowers they were but she knew had seen them before, but from where she couldn’t remember. Shakily Larissa went to the bookshelf and picked out a book on flowers. Impatiently, she flipped the pages, hoping to find what these things were, until she eventually came across the same flowers she had previously coughed up, yellow daffodils. A common flower, yet there were none growing on the grounds of Nevermore, this confused her greatly. She discarded the petals in a nearby bin and climbed back into her bed before Morticia returned.
After that, things for Larissa continued as normal. She would get up and go to her classes and her extracurricular activities with Morticia as normal.
The next time it happened was the morning of the Poe Cup.
It was late January, and Morticia Frump was up earlier than normal, preparing herself for the long day ahead of her. Larissa however, was still asleep, she had recovered from her cold months before and had by now forgotten about the flowers she had coughed up, she never told anyone that had happened, but since it hadn’t happened again there was no need to worry, right?
Larissa wasn’t a morning person, but Morticia was.
“‘Rissa you need to get up” Morticia said, which was responded by a groan from Larissa’s bed. This was the day she had been dreading for weeks. Stupidly she had signed up to the Poe Cup for the 5th year in a row. Her house, Ophelia Hall, always won, and at this point she found it boring. However when Morticia had asked her to co-pilot, she gave in and said yes.
Larissa got up and put her teams uniform on, then the pain began. At first she discarded the feeling and just thought it to be nerves, and then she found herself struggling to breathe. She could feel the similar prick in her throat, except this time she could taste the bitterness of blood in her mouth as-well. Without another word, she ran to the bathroom to spit out the blood.
When she looked in the sink to see what it was, she saw the same petals, except now they were covered in bits of blood. Larissa held the petals in her hands and watched the blood trickle down her wrists. She wanted nothing more than to tell Morticia, but now was not the time to worry her. She held onto the sink and washed the blood off her hands and discarded of the petals.
“Everything okay?” Morticia questioned. Larissa nodded, not wanting to open her mouth incase more flowers came out. Unlike the last time, the pain hadn’t stopped, it had gotten worse. “If you’re feeling nervous I can find someone else to co-captian the team” She sounded disappointed, and even though she knew it would be best to pull out the competition, she couldn’t stand disappointing Morticia.
After a while the pain stopped, and the competition went fine. Ophelia Hall had won again, and like they did every year, they went back to their dorm to celebrate together, at this point it was a tradition between them, where they would sneak in alcohol from Jericho and watch the fireworks from their balcony. This year was different.
“‘Rissa you haven’t touched your drink is everything okay?” Morticia asked, she nodded, knowing well that it wasn’t true. In truth she was worried about the flowers, why were they coming now? Morticia went inside off the balcony and came back with a blanket, carefully she draped the blanket over Larissa’s shoulders, and then the pain started again. This time it was worse than normal, more agonising, as if something was tugging at her lungs and stopping her from breathing, then the coughing began. Larissa covered her mouth, just incase any flowers came out, she couldn’t let Morticia see this, but it was too late. Morticia had already seen the blood dripping from her hands.
“Larissa what the hells going on?!”
After the blood, then came the petals, one after the other, first came the yellow daffodils, then the yellow tulips and then the yellow poppies. Morticia stood there in shock, she had heard of people coughing up flowers, but had thought it was a myth.
“Morticia i can explain” Larissa choked out between coughs and petals, then everything went black.
Larissa woke up in a room that wasn’t her own. She sat up and looked around, yet found it hard to concentrate due to a pounding in her head. She didn’t know how long she was asleep for but it must have been a few hours as it was pitch black outside and the fireworks had stopped. On the table next to the bed there was a bouquet, pink carnations, blue periwinkle and purple heliotrope. Larissa lay back down and stared at the ceiling, not wanting to close her eyes in fear that she wouldn’t open them again. Then she heard voices from the corridor, a familiar one, but she couldn’t quite place who it was.
“‘Rissa are you awake?” Morticia whispered from the doorway of the nurses office.
“Im awake” Larissa croaked out.
Morticia ran to her side and pulled a chair next to her bed.
“You had a nasty fall its a good job I was there” Larissa sat up and looked at her, why did this have to happen so suddenly?
Morticia held her hand in hers, happy to see her friend was alive, and then she started coughing again, and the familiar sting started in Larissa’s throat. She pulled her hand away from Morticia’s and covered her mouth in an attempt to stop the petals from returning.
“‘Rissa tell me whats wrong, I can help”
It was no use, she tried to speak but she could feel her heart becoming slower and slower and her breathing became more and more shallow with every cough.
“I love you”
Then the coughing stopped, and the room fell silent.