Red_Roses_and_Black_Dahlias_-_Macy_T

for her, where she could paint and blast music, knit and even graffiti the
walls if that's what she wanted. I’d gotten her an easel, canvas and different
types of paints for her birthday, and she loved them, so I knew she’d love the
idea of having a whole room dedicated to her art. It was also my way of
redeeming myself for all the times I arrested her for graffitiing on public
property.
After I finished moving all her clothes into my closet, I stared at both my
and her side in delight. It might seem stupid but seeing our clothes together
made our relationship feel even more real to me. It warmed my heart. I
smiled dumbly as I went back to her room to get the last few things left: her
favorite blanket and the wooden treasure box.
It sat on the now-empty dresser, the intricate designs looking elegant and
artistic at the same time. As I picked it up and let my fingers follow the
engravings, I found that I recognized it. Three flowers intertwined, a rose,
some jasmine and what I now knew to be a dahlia. That last flower was still
foreign to me until a couple months ago when Sofia brought a bouquet home
and I had to ask what kind of flower it was.
Ignorant shit that I was, I always thought it was only the name of the sadly
famous unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, but it turned out it was also a
type of flower. One Sofia was really fond of.
Having the box in my hands, I recognized the design as the same one Sofia
was painting onto that wall the last time I arrested her right before she turned
eighteen.
Turning around, my knee hit the side of an open drawer and I stumbled,
the box falling out of my hands. I cursed because fuck if Sofia wouldn’t kill
me for breaking the one thing she had gone back to retrieve from her family’s
house, and immediately picked it up. Thank God it wasn’t broken, and it was
locked so nothing spilled out. I inspected it intently for any damage until I felt
something at the back.
Frowning in curiosity, I turned it around and saw an inscription right
where my fingers had been.