Flora – part 1

This is Flora. Flora hates a lot of things. Broccoli, getting up early for school, most teachers and the fact that she has to wear glasses. When she is being honest, she has hated almost everything since her brother died. Flora loved her twin brother Charly. But since he is gone, it is like he has taken her capacity to love with him. Flora and Charly used to do everything together and he made the things she didn’t like very much so much better. They would always brush their teeth together and he would make funny faces. So funny in fact that Flora would forget about her dislike of brushing her teeth. Charly would accompany Flora to her tennis lessons and cheer her on making her feel like a tennis star. But Flora hasn’t played tennis since. Not having Charly by her side has taken the fun out of it. Flora doesn’t know if she will ever have fun again. She goes about her day. But she isn’t really present. It’s like she is on autopilot and her soul is with Charly. Her parents try to make things better for her. They let Flora have ice-cream in the morning. She has more screentime. She can stay up a bit longer. But none of this matters if Charly is not by her side. None of this matters if he can’t hold her hand when she really needs it. Especially now she wishes he could hold her hand again, just for a minute. She would give anything for that. 

“Do you want a sandwich?”

Flora was so lost in thought that she didn’t notice the boy coming up to her and sitting down next to her on the bench in the school playground. 

“No, thank you.”

“Are you sure?

My mum makes the best sandwiches.”

“Then why don’t you eat it?”

“I have another one.”

She hesitates. But he sees that she is thinking about it.

“You won’t regret it.”

She takes it and he smiles.

“Cheers.”

They clink sandwiches. They eat in silence for a moment. It’s a comfortable silence.

“I’m Peter by the way.”

“Flora… This sandwich really is good.”

She manages a small smile. Flora didn’t think she had any more of those in her. The bell rings.

“Nice to meet you, Flora. Same time tomorrow?” It has been a long time since Flora was looking forward to anything. Now the thought of sitting on that bench again with Peter isn’t that bad.