It had been sitting in the back of your mind all day. A soft buzzing at the back of your head. It hummed over something important. Something you forgot. It only grew in volume as you racked your brain, trying to discover the message that was hidden beyond the noise. Soon, the noise had grown beyond the simple thought. It grew to take over almost every thought as you typed away at your dayjob, getting nearly nothing done all day as you tried to remember what you had forgotten. You soon drowned in the sea of noise to the point where everything else around you muted. And you were just stuck with the ever so present buzzing.
Suddenly, it all went away. It was as though the world had shifted back from whatever strange plane you had been in to reality. You had suddenly realized what is was that you had forgotten:
your anniversary.
The momentary sense of clarity was immediately shrouded in panic. Oh god, how could you forget?! It only ever happened every year. And such a state of forgetfulness had only ever happened every other year. And every year it had slipped the mind, the weight of guilt grew a little bit more. Your significant other always went all out for your anniversaries. They always made you feel special and there were times when their efforts were met with nothing but an apologetic smile and an excuse.
Not this year though. With the little time you had left, you attempted to plan out the best possible anniversary present in what little time you had. A trip. A trip that may not take place today but at least now you had something tangible to work with. Although admittedly, there was nothing too terribly fancy about a piece of paper with some slightly faded ink from your printer at work. You needed something to liven it up, to build up to the reveal of a nice getaway for just the two of you.
Flowers. Flowers were the perfect thing to conceal the trip tickets.
After clocking out, you rushed over to the store, praying you could get there in time before the place closed. Luckily, you had. There was something undeniably cozy about the whole place. It wasn't cramped though it wasn't huge. It was nice. The assortment of plants that they had on display was impressive, almost overwhelming. There was no way you were going to find the perfect flower for your significant other by yourself. Walking up to the front desk, you politely asked if there was any way that anyone could help you. You apologized for the inconvinence this must be, knowing full well that they all probably hated you for coming in. Expecting reluctancy or rejection you were plesantly surprised that the person before you snagged an arranger from the back.
They showed you around the store making suggestions as to what sort of items you wanted in your bouquet. You weren't exactly sure what your significant other might like, you just wanted to make sure that their favorite color was somehow incorporated into the design. The cashier completely understood and the two of you contiued to bounce back and forth ideas until you were finally content on the design. You were politely told to wait a few minutes while it was being prepared and that was absolutely fine, It was to be expected. You're just glad you managed to sneak out of work earlier than usual to get here.
While you were waiting, you decided to take a look around the store. You roamed up and down the isles, getting lost in all the plants around you. They all seemed so foreign, and they all most definitely were. It was hard to believe such beautiful flowers could be growing so close to home. As your wandering brought you closer to the back of the store, you noticed a shoe laying on the ground. It was rather strange considering how well kept and polished the store seemed to be. A shoe seemed very out of place in the whole shop. You didn't get to ponder the thought long before the arranger caught your attention from the front, carrying a large bouquet of flowers that were absolutely stunning. You were sure to tip ever so generously as you paid for the arrangement and went on your way. That place seemed to be nice.
However, you failed to notice quite a few things while you were roaming around.
You failed to notice the eyes that were glued on you like a hawk as you romaned around. After all, it wasn't usual that they had customers so late in the day on a Wednesday. You hadn't noticed that behind the counter, away from prying eyes was a gun suspended from the roof of the counter. You hadn't noticed any other weapons littered around the store and how ready the employees were to use them on you on your anniversary. It never crossed you mind that the random shoe belonged to someone like you except they hadn't made the right decisions. How could it? How could you notice that the bouquet arranger came back with a tiny drop of blood on their clothes from having to deal with said body? How could you notice that the flowers waiting into the back were a bit more than flowers? How could you even begin to suspect that there was anything nefarious going on with the cute little flower shop you had just discovered down the road?
Of course you couldn't. And neither could anybody else.
