Death Blooms

by Yolanda Olson

“If Penn and his friends hadn’t pulled me off, that would have been the end of Max Boothe,” I add, smiling at him.

  “Well, I would imagine that prison orange doesn’t look good on you,” he replies, rolling his eyes.

  Aiden nudges me, then rests her head on my shoulder. “You two been getting along alright while I’ve been gone?”

  “We’ve been hanging out,” I reply.

  “And?” she asks, glancing up at me.

  “Fucking,” Penn offers.

  I look up at him. I’m actually shocked that he would admit that in front of her, but she doesn’t seem bothered by it. If anything, she says the most Aiden thing that she’s ever said.

  “It’s about goddamn time!”

  I steal an embarrassed glance at her and she starts laughing. Penn chuckles and lowers himself down onto the pavement between my legs and glances over at Aiden.

  “I have a feeling that was your plan the entire time. That’s why you talked so much about him, isn’t it?”

  Aiden moves away from my shoulder and grins at both of us. “Gray needed someone to love him the way he deserves and even though you’re a weird little fucker, I knew he liked you, so why not? Just call me Cupid.”

  I shake my head and roll my eyes.

  I can’t recall a time in my life when I’ve ever felt this genuinely happy before. Granted, me and Penn have a long way to go, but I have a feeling that Aiden will be there helping us along, every step of the way.

  Part Four

  The Grand Design

  (Present Day)

  Epilogue

  I still haven’t decided if we deserve to live yet, but I know that what I’ve done here will make me incredibly happy—in life or in death.

  “You know, when I first started down this road of making custom pets, I never though it would go this far,” I tell it, leaning on the table. “I don’t know why I decided to do this. I guess it was a way to not feel lonely anymore and make some extra cash in the process. Then I met Aiden—sweet, little Aiden who could destroy damn near anything with a single punch. I thought that would be enough because of how much she’s always loved me, but then I met Penn and I experienced a different kind of love. It got to a point where I knew that the two of them co-existing, each holding half of my heart, would never work the way we all wanted.”

  I take a deep drag off my cigarette and sigh before I continue. “I never wanted this to be the way it was, but when I almost lost Aiden to that last fight of hers … fuck, the world fell out of focus. Even nights spent in Penn’s arms, with as amazing as it always felt, left half of me empty.”

  I can hear it struggling against the restraints and I chuckle. “You can’t get away from me no matter how hard you try, so just let me finish what I have to say.”

  A moan.

  A loud grumble.

  Silence.

  It makes me sad to know that I’ll never hear her laugh again, or the sound of his moans when we’re fucking each other, but the mouth is always the first thing I take care of.

  I can’t stand the screams once a project realizes it’s going through a transformation and I only made that mistake the first time.

  I sedated them to the point of death, then carried them one by one up to my workshop, knowing full well what would become of them.

  The strangest thing is how calm I felt once I began to suture them together. The blood flow was much more than I expected from him, but I chalked it up to his thin frame. She didn’t produce much blood and I think that’s because of how much she had lost in the fight.

  And now, she never has to fight again. No one will ever hurt her because I’m saving her.

  He woke up first, but he didn’t understand what was happening until she struggled against him. That’s when they both realized that they would be mine forever; joined in a thing of beauty that I know will eventually love me more than I can bear, but I look forward to suffocating in the moments we’ll share together.

  “I didn’t think this would work. Did you know that? Did you believe in me when I started working on you? See, you’re special because you’re mine and no one else’s. You’re one of a kind and the most beautiful thing I’ve ever created, and we can be happy if you just give this a chance.”

  I finally turn around to face it again and smile shyly. One part is taller than the other, but those are the pieces I’ve been dealt to work with.

  I reach a hand down toward it and lose myself in the moment. I can’t help but kiss those beautifully full lips again. The way the big blue eyes widen in terror as I get closer makes me grin because it will just have to learn to deal with life this way.

  I walk around to the other side of it and bite my lip happily. A pair of familiar, narrow brown eyes are watching me in disbelief—in unimaginable terror and I purse my lips for a moment.

  “Don’t look at me like that. This is all your doing, you know. I was happy with just you but then you pushed me toward him and I … I can’t be without either of you. I need you both. One to love the side of me that no one else will, and one to love my body. It’s best this way and you know it.”

  I let out my breath in a rush and toss the cigarette to the floor, crushing it under my boot as I walk to the end of the table and pull the sheet off of it.

  The stitching is healing nicely, and my own personal pet seems to be complete. I didn’t make any major alterations to it, only joined them together so that I could have both halves of my heart in one vessel.

  It’s so beautiful that it’s fucking maddening.

  “Maybe we don’t deserve to live,” I say quietly, as I pull the sheet back up to its waist.

  “Do you think we should die together? I really would like to give us a chance.”

  The half with the blue eyes shakes its head vehemently and the half with the brown eyes begins to sob.

  I let out a chuckle and walk over to my workbench, glancing up and down the number of tools I have at my disposal, wondering what would be best to fix this situation.

  But there’s nothing here that can help us. Nothing that I’ve run my fingers over that would give me or it any more comfort and I decide in that moment to give us a chance.

  “We can do this,” I whisper to myself. “We can be happy this way and I’ll never need anything or anyone else, because I have everything I’ve ever wanted now.”

  With a happy sigh, I walk back to the table my pet is on and undo the straps.

  “I have to teach you to walk again,” I say sitting it up. “Then after that—the possibilities are endless.”

  About the Author

  Yolanda Olson is an award winning and international bestselling author. Born and raised in Bridgeport, CT where she currently resides, she usually spends her time watching her favorite channel, Investigation Discovery. Occasionally, she takes a break to write books and test the limits of her mind. Also an avid horror movie fan, she likes to incorporate dark elements into the majority of her books.

  You can keep in touch with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.