Falling Under by Gwen Hayes

further inspection, he added, “You don’t belong here.”
    His words felt like a cut across my chest. Everything was so contradictory. “You don’t want me here, then?”
    “Is that what I said?”
    “You talk to me in circles.”
    “I suppose I do. You are no better, my little lamb. Tell me, why are you here?” He ushered me back into the maze and away from the bone party, stopping in a large corner by a fountain alight with candles.
    “I don’t know—I thought you did. Am I dreaming? What about school? You pretend you don’t know me. And what about the burning man?” The questions came out on a rush of air. I must have sounded like a lunatic.
    Haden, if it was really Haden, responded to my barrage with, “The burning man?”
    I exhaled loudly. “You answer questions with questions.”
    “You don’t like me.”
    “I don’t know you.”
    “I don’t think you’ll like me any more if you get to know me either. This place, it blooms from your presence like a flower to the sun. But it isn’t good for you. I wish one of us was strong enough to keep you away.”
    I stepped towards him, not consciously, but yet there I was. “So you do want me here.”
    “Theia,” he warned, “you were made for something else. This is not your destiny.” He sat on a bench that I could have sworn hadn’t been there a minute ago. “Falling under the spell of it will only bring you heartache.”
    “I’m not dreaming, am I?”
    “Do you think you are?” I rolled my eyes, and he chuckled at my reaction. “Sometimes the answers are more questions. Sometimes down is up.” He reached to the foliage and plucked out a black rose, though I hadn’t noticed any flowers on the bushes before. He inhaled the scent and then held it to me.
    I placed my fingers gingerly on the stem until I noticed there were no thorns and accepted his offering, not sure that I should have but unable to resist all the same. “Thank you.” He hadn’t let go of the stem and we both stared at the flower between us. A strange sensation overtook me and I spoke without thought. “I can feel your heartbeat, Haden.”
    He loosened his grip on the rose. “It’s hard to imagine you don’t belong when the pull is so strong. You may have to be the stronger of us.”
    “I don’t know how to be strong. I don’t know how to be anything.”
    He clucked his tongue and dismissed my comment. “You know more than you think.”
    “I’d like to know where we are.” I sniffed the rose, startled that the scent wasn’t like any flower I’d smelled before. Instead, it bore a spicy fragrance with vanilla undertones. It smelled like Haden.
    “Maybe it doesn’t have a name.” He flashed his trademark grin. “Maybe it’s different things to different people.”
    “I think it’s a dream.”
    “Maybe for you it is.” He reached for my hair but stopped himself. “Maybe you should wake up.”
    And then I did.
    I sat up, stunned at the sunlight and not as stunned as I should have been to find a long-stemmed black rose atop the pillow next to me.
     
    Donny handed me her blended mocha drink. “Hold this, will you?” She bent at the waist and fluffed her fingers through her hair. Whipping back up, she reminded me of a supermodel with perfectly tousled mink tresses. “God. My mom switched shampoo and my hair is so flat now, it’s driving me nuts.”
    “Your hair looks fine.” We were waiting for Amelia at our usual spot in front of the Main. My mind kept traveling back to the rose and to Haden, trying to make sense of either and failing miserably.
    Amelia eased down next to me and plucked the mocha from my hand, handing it back to Donny after she’d taken a drink. “Don’t forget we have Madame Varnie after school today.”
    “Ugh. Can’t we get our wisdom teeth removed instead?” Donny answered, and then she sat up straighter. “I spy, with my little eye … fresh sneetch at nine o’clock.”
    Right before she said it, the left side of my face