**trigger warning: distressing scenes, swearing, sensitive topics (please see disclaimer for more details)**

[ l o s t n e g l e c t e d f l o w e r ]

♥ gabriel ♥

I ENDED UP crashing over at Arlo's house. There was no way I was heading home after yesterday's event.

Some curly haired blonde chick had shown up in the drawing room and shit had blown up between Arlo and Prince. I was a bit too tipsy to follow what was exactly happening but I believe some sort of agreement had been made by the end of it all.

Honestly, I found it kind of hilarious considering Arlo had been the one requesting others not to fight.

I wasn't quite sure how legitimate their truce was but it was enough for Prince and Arlo to survive sitting near each other at brunch this morning.

"It's a shame Tal had to go home early yesterday. I was planning to demonstrate to her just how quickly I could neck a shot," Prince boasted, cutting a piece of his hashbrown with his cutlery.

I rolled my eyes. We all knew Prince couldn't handle alcohol even if his life depended on it.

The chefs at Arlo's house were incredible. This was genuinely the best fry up I'd had in a while.

I did however stiffened at the mention of Talisa.

Ever since I'd left my flat a few days ago, I'd wondered if I'd been too hard on her. It was just that the revelation of her being behind the duplication of the keys caught me completely off guard.

I'd tried to keep my calm but that girl knew how to push all my buttons. Inventing a story about swapping substance for vitamins? I was almost impressed at how well she could lie.

It was alright though.

I planned to check in with her later today and make amends. Louisa and I had decided it was best for us to keep our distance until Lisa's situation improved a bit.

Ever since I'd testified in court, a huge weight had been lifted off my back. Naturally, I was still struggling to process the news of Rae's passing but I could tell I was moving in the right direction.

I hadn't realised how much resistance I was putting on myself by evading Louisa. Things had become a lot better for me mentally the very moment we drew up a fresh sheet of paper.

Of course, I didn't want to jinx it but things were looking a little brighter.

"I know I slept in for so long but my head is still pounding like drums," Arlo complained, rubbing at his face. He groaned loudly when the sound of the doorbell rang through the hall. There was no way in hell I was getting up to answer it. My legs still felt like jelly from last night.

Prince eventually gave in and dragged himself to the front door, given that all the staff had been sent home for the weekend. There was a sudden switch in his temperament a moment later. Why on earth was an extremely hungover Prince suddenly laughing and joking around?

"My boy, I haven't seen you for too long! The last time must have been at the hospital. What have you done with your hair? It looks awful."

I choked on my orange juice at the sound of Nanna's voice.

"Yeah, I know," Prince complained. "Underqualified barber cut it too short. Next time, I'll come to you instead?"

"Of course," she humoured him. "I must say, I believe it would be quite difficult to do a worse job."

From the table opposite me, Arlo's lips pulled upwards at Nanna's remark.

"-Now, take me to my irresponsible grandson please. He must be somewhere around here."

I glanced at the door to the kitchen that was tucked around the corner. Unfortunately, it was too late to run. "Nanna? What are you doing here?"

Nanna strolled in wearing a plum coloured dress, with her grey hair pulled into a tight bun. Immediately, she began to chide me in front of the others and tutted loudly. "Of course, I'd be me. Who else? Considering you didn't show up to pick me up from my knitting competition like you promised, I had not choice but to get a cab here."

"I'm sorry, Nanna. I completely forgot."

She did have a point.

I had promised her last night that I'd be there when she finished, thinking I'd be back home from Arlo's house before noon.

"Thankfully, the cab driver knew how to use this stupid location finding app. I was worried something had happened to you."

Pulling a chair out at the dining table, she sat down and joined Prince, Arlo and me. Irritated, she gestures towards Arlo with her wrinkled hand. "Honestly, I'm not an expert on technology but what's the point having a phone if you don't answer any calls, right?"

Quietly relishing the moment, Arlo's blonde hair moved up and down as he nodded, "Very well said."

I shot him an annoyed look and he nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders.

"How was your birthday, young man? Did you enjoy celebrating?"

As the trio engaged in small talk, I guiltily realised my phone was on mute. I had a tonne of notifications from various people. Locking the screen, I rejoined the conversation.

"Are your parents at home? It would be impolite for me to note greet them before I left," Nanna questioned, putting on her glasses to inspect the minimalist decorations within the house. I knew she was a fan of baroque architecture and probably hated the modern vibe of his kitchen.

Arlo stirred his coffee and shook his head, "Not at the moment. We had dinner together last night and then they left before my friends came around in the evening. They should be back soon though."

Nanna nodded slowly, a pleased expression growing upon her face. "How very considerate. If only my own son and Helen were like that. I must have done something wrong in my last life to have such a lazy son and daughter-in-law."

One thing about Nanna was that she never told other about family affairs. Like myself, she valued privacy. However, once she was comfortable and trusted a given individual, there was no way you could hold the woman back.

I groaned as she launched into a vivid retelling of my trip to Brighton when my mother had said there was something wrong with Dad's pacemaker. From my peripheral, I could sense Arlo giving me a curious look. In the past, I'd never really brought up my parents so this was probably groundbreaking to him.

Mum's explanation of why she did it was simple. She said she missed me and wanted to see me.

I wasn't heartless. Of course, from time to time I missed her too. But it was pretty damn hard to go back to the people who had kicked me out, rendering me homeless when I needed them the most.

That was the reason I was so quick to offer Talisa my flat when she was having problems at home.

I understood what it felt like to not have a place of warmth to go back to every night and didn't want someone else to feel the same.

Shortly after I moved in with Nanna, my mother had offered for me to move back to Brighton but I'd refused. Eventually, we grew distant and fell out of touch even further. That was about it.

Before Nanna told them my entire life story, I interrupted them and suggested that we head home. Prince and Arlo seemed disheartened at their conversation with Nanna being cut short yet they quickly forgot about it when she offered them some pain au chocolat that she'd baked in the morning.

"I had a feeling you children would like them. Too much drinking and not enough eating at these parties."

***

Over an hour had passed by the time I returned home and freshened up. Tired, I lay on my bed and began scrolling through my messages. My dark brown eyebrows bent into a frown at the sight of a voice memo from Talisa. She only ever sent me those when she was too drunk to text.

Last night, I had been pretty stunned when she played the piano. It was clear she was extremely talented at the art judging by how easy she had it look. Her fingers glided across the keys as they were angels floating around in heaven.

Although the piece was slow, it seemed incredibly complex. I didn't know shit about music but it was almost sad. Did that mean it had minor keys?

Who was I kidding? I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. It was a shame she'd left so early. I'd planned to tell her how well she'd played.

Sighing, I hit the play button listening to her cutthroat, direct but slightly slurred voice.

Hi, Riel. Yes, I'm speaking because I'm too drunk to text right now and no, it is not the most hilarious thing in the world. Now that we've got through that, let me move on to the apology bit. I can't believe I'm doing this but you may have had a point earlier-

All of a sudden, Talisa stopped talking and I faintly heard a much deeper voice speak.

But how am I going to break it to Talisa, Lou? I really don't know how she's gonna react. Can't let her spiral. I don't think you understand how much she hates you.

"Oh, shit."

I cursed loudly and sat up straight on my bed. To my dismay, the voice memo went on further revealing a third voice.

And she has good reason to do so. Maybe, we shouldn't tell her yet. I think our priority should be getting her the help she needs.

"No, no, no," I muttered, grabbing my car keys and rushing down the stairs as it continued to play out loud. "Nanna! I'm popping out. I'll be back in a bit, okay?"

Help? As in rehab? She's never gonna accept medical support. Lisa's the most stubborn person I've ever met. Once she sets her mind to something, that's it.

Within five minutes, I had completed the worst parking of my life, roughly throwing my car in a bay by the curb. I quickly sprinted up the flights of stairs, taking two steps at a time.

On edge, I banged on the door a bit too loudly. "Lisa? Are you in?"

I didn't even know if she was inside the flat. I was going off instinct. Where else would she go?

That was when I heard the sound of glass shattering from inside. Alright, she was definitely inside. I exhaled slowly and put on the calmest voice I could muster, "Talisa, can you open the door for me please? What's that sound?"

Why did I not take the spare key with me? How could I be so stupid? That had been a mistake. It was unlikely to be the right call to drive back home.

Patiently, I awaited an answer but none came. Getting frustrated, I tried again. "Lisa, you've got to tell me what's going on in there. I can't help you if you don't."

That was when I finally got a response. I almost wished I didn't. Hearing how broken and deprived her voice sounded made me feel sick to the core.

This wasn't Talisa.

I had no idea who I was speaking to. "Help? I don't want your help. I'm the one who helps you, Gabriel."

"Please, Talisa. It's okay to need help. Just open the door, Lisa."

A despaired laugh sounded, making me feel utterly crushed. "Hell no."

It felt like I was walking on a razor sharp tight rope. I was terrified of saying the wrong thing. All I needed was for her to open the damn door.

"Okay then," I started, trying to keep my voice neutral to not startle her. Talisa wasn't herself right now. It was impossible for me to work out what she'd taken either given she was quite familiar with majority of the substances out there. "How about you just tell me what I can do for you. I'll do anything. What do you need?"

She laughed bitterly, a broken sound. "Anything? Well, we both know that isn't true."

I fell at a shortage of words. Slowly I began again, trying my best not to aggravate her. "Talisa-"

"Stop it!" Talisa yelled, getting infuriated. "I-I know what you're trying to do."

She was sobbing at this stage.

My heart squeezed so tightly in my chest at her paranoid whispers. The cried echoes through the hallway and carried an agony so strong that I never imagined it could have come from such a strong, unshakable personal like Lisa. "We both know you don't actually care. You don't give a shit, Gabriel. You never did."

"That's not true, Lisa-"

"It is true!" She screamed amid tears.

A lump formed in my throat as I wracked my brain for what to do. This was getting out of hand.

Pulling at my brown hair, I frantically typed the phone number for emergency services but didn't press the call button yet.

Pressing my hands against the door, I gently tried to work out if I could force the door open. "Of course, I care about you Talisa."

"You don't. You don't." The second time, she repeated it with more conviction but still spoke with a craze encasing her words. "You only care about her and I'm not her, for gods sake! If I could get you to look at me the way you look at her just one time, I could die in peace. But that's not gonna happen, is it? Because I'm not her. I'm not. I don't matter to you."

A wave of fear rang through me as I listened to her voice. "Talisa, you do matter to me-

"Stop lying!" She barked before breaking down into tears even further. I could have sworn she mumbled quietly under her breath, "I've done that to myself enough for the both of us."

I wasn't sure if I could take care of this alone.

Keeping my attention on her, I hit the call button but kept the volume right down and said nothing. Hopefully, the paramedics would track my location and send someone out here soon.

There was no way I was giving up on her. That wasn't even an option.

"Just open the door and we can talk about this properly. I do care about you, Lisa. I promise I do."

Hearing her fall apart like this hurt like I'd been set on fire, every cell in my body combusting into flames. How on earth had it got so bad? Sure, everyone knew Talisa had a soft spot for all things wrong but I, like many others, had assumed she could handle it.

She always did.

"Please don't lie to me, Gabriel. It'll just make things worse. Don't give me hope when we both know it's not there."

There was a pain in her voice that bought tears to my ears. I quickly wiped them away with the sleeve of my shirt. This wasn't the time to get emotional. I had to be logical and take care of her.

"J-Just open the door, liubimiy. Please. Let me see you. Come on, please. It's just me," I asked quietly, my hand pressing against the door.

I waited.

And waited a bit longer in silence.

After a while, there was a click and the sound of a door being unlocked.

Relived but aware that the job wasn't over, I gently pushed it open.

At this point, I was the one on the verge of a breakdown but quickly pulled myself together.

Her hair was damp with sweat and lipstick from last night was smudged across her face. Talisa was in the midst of a melt down and no matter how far I reached to try and get to her, she was too far away.

She was fading away.

It looked as if she hadn't eaten in days. Lisa always been tall and willowy but frankly, it looked as if she was withering away like a lost neglected flower that nobody paid enough attention to.

"Dammit Talisa," I said softly, shaking my head. This was a lot worse compared to the time I found her sitting in the shower during the cruise.

A thousand times worse.

I watched her full lower lip shake as she stood opposite me. Her thin arms were limp at her side in yesterday's navy blue dress and her once bright sea foam green eyes were drained of their signature vividness.

To a stranger, the sight of her frame leant against the wall beside her suggested she wasn't strong enough to stand upright herself. I knew from out last encounter that she wasn't.

She weeped, her back slowly sliding down the wall until she sat on the floor with her head tightly head in her hands. It was a truly harrowing sight, something you only ever saw in nightmares or horror movies.

In two steps, I'd covered the floor between us and sat down on the floor besides her, silently holding her as she fell apart.

As rocked from side to side, my arms around her tightened protectively scarred by the sight of tears silently streaming down her face. I heard her murmur something about her head pounding like mad under her breath.

"Shh, just focus on your breathing. It'll pass, okay?"

My hand rested upon her forehead, fingers drawing small circles repetitively. "Once this is over, you'e gonna leave me again. Abandon me like everyone else always fucking does."

"I would never do that," I whispered, my voice growing horse as I help her face between my hands. I hated how it felt like I was saying empty promises.

I wasn't.

I tried making my voice as honest as possible.

Once again, Talisa was whispering something to herself under her breath yet I couldn't catch what.

I leaned closer.

"It's okay. He's here. You're not alone. He told you to prove everybody wrong. That was Papa's last wish. Riel's with you. He's next to you. No, he's not. Not mentally. It's not true, Talisa. He just pitied you."

My eyebrows furrowed in concern.

It was as if she'd become insane, losing touch with reality completely.

"No," she said, crystal clearly. Her voice had shed the shell of a whisper and was now comprehensible.

Taken aback, my grey eyes searched her face desperately, "What?"

"No," she repeated, even more firmly and pushing me away from her with a surprising strength. "Get away from me."

"Talisa, what happened?"

She shouted louder this time, shoving me backwards with a force I didn't think she had. I stumbled backwards, caught off guard. "Get away from me!"

"Talisa, please-"

"No!" She screeched in panic, wide eyes searching side to side as if she could see something on the walls that I couldn't. I turned around to look at them. There was nothing there.

Her hand wrapped around a glass sculpture that was on the table protectively. "Don't come near me. I mean it."

A literal second later, Talisa seemed to forget that it was in her hand and accidentally smashed it against the wall as she span around. Fragments of glass cut sharply into her hand, drawing crimson blood that began to drip onto the floor.

I couldn't tell if she didn't realise or chose not to acknowledge it.

The vacant look in her eyes suggested she felt absolutely fuck all.

Nothing. Talisa wasn't there.

"You're going to hurt yourself, liubimiy."

"You're making it worse, don't you see?" She screamed, almost begging me. I was getting distraught at the sight of her, running out of the options I had listed in my mind.

"You don't understand how bad it hurts to know that you won't ever feel the same way for me. I hoped that at some point you'd realise your feeling for me. But no. That's never ever going to happen because-"

The purest form of pain swam in the ocean of water flooding her eyes. "-because you love her. Unconditionally. Nothing she could ever do wrong would change that and neither could anything I ever did right."

"The things that I've done for you, Riel. It's not even that you don't appreciate it." My heart broke even further at the sould shattering agony Talisa was in."You don't even notice."

God, no.

From behind her, I could see an elaborate knife block on the kitchen counter that Nanna had gifted me during my cooking phase.

I anxiously looked back her her. If she turned around, she'd see it.

Exhaling shortly, I nodded at her in an attempt to convince her to keep talking. Talisa took the bait and continued, "Don't you see how hard I tried? Every damn day and- it was all for nothing."

"It's not like that-"

"Oh, it is. I thought that once I won that bet on the cruise, you would be mine. Simple as that. But, I couldn't have been more wrong." Chuffed, a bitter chuckle left her mouth. "You know what, liubimiy? You may as well know the truth now. You were so close. So damn close. So close to working it out that I was getting worried, but you missed out the most important part."

Her thoughts were moving all over the place and I was struggling to understand what she was talking about. I assumed it was the anniversary cruise trip.

To be frank, I was preoccupied thinking of other ways to prevent her from turning around because stalling was certainly not sustainable.

Red liquid was still trickling like a leaky tap down her hand and onto the floor. Talisa bared her teeth and hissed out with her eyes glued onto mine, "My father tied a noose around his neck and kicked away the chair."

In my moment of thought, I failed to produce a convincing expression of shock. Within a split second, Talisa saw right through me and erupted in a violent, cynical laugh. "You've got to be fucking kidding me. The irony. The fucking irony."

I was terrified and praying hard that help would show up soon.

Come on.

"So you knew all along."

"What are you talking-"

The sounds of my words were dulled when Talisa broke out into a series of giggles, "Oh, this is rich."

Giggles I could deal with my inside my chest, my heart stopped when Talisa stopped talking.

She turned around and saw it.

"Don't you remember what I said? I said I'd be gone. Out of your hair. When we made that bet that day, I said that if I failed I wouldn't cause you any more problems."

I knew what she was thinking.

"In that case, we have a winner. A deal's a deal Gabriel and if there's one thing everyone should remember about me it's that I was always a woman of my word, even if you're not. Besides, I am more that happy with the outcome." The change in tone of her voice petrified me, as she grinned manically.

"I said I'd be out of your life forever and I meant it."

"Talisa, no."

My words were like a command and any sane person would have obeyed. It was a shame that we weren't speaking the same language.

With pupils dilated, she aggressively continued, "I knew it would come to this, liubimiy. I was perfectly happy with both outcomes of that deal when I made it. Why, you ask? Because a life without you is not worth fucking living. I guess madness runs in my family."

Instantaneously, Talisa lunged for the knife.

Before she had a chance to act and grab of it, I yanked her towards me and effortlessly tossing her over my shoulder. Powerfully, I pushed the knife block onto the floor. The sound of metal clinking rang painfully loudly around the flat.

I kicked it away with such force so it was completely out of reach.

Talisa screamed inhumanely in irritation as if she were a caged animal.

"Put me down Gabriel. Right now. For fucks sake! I said, let me go."

My eyes pressed shut at the pain in her voice as she shrieked in my ear. Her arms and legs thrashed against me as she struggled to get out of my grasp but I held my ground.

She weighed nothing, however the sensation of her bones against me were sharp. My fingertips could feel each and every bone of her ribs as I held her tightly but with care.

Now what?

Given it used to be my flat, I knew the place like the bakc of my hand. All of the main rooms would be far too big. With my free hand, I pulled at the third door along the corridor where a mop and other cleaning products were stored..

I grunted as she punched my back hard, still cursing angrily at me. It took a few seconds for me to effectively kick whatever I could out of the cupboard to make some space, whilst ensuring that the latch was shut from the outside. Gritting my teeth, I pushed both of us inside it and slammed the door shut with all my might.

Neither of us getting out was better than her being a danger to herself.

What was it with me and cupboards lately?

Talisa froze against me realising what I'd done. Her damp seafoam eyes narrowed as she scowled at me. "I swear to God Gabriel, I fucking hate you. With every particle in my body."

I didn't give her a satisfaction of a response.

Putting her down, I glanced at her from across the tiny closet and tried to regain my breath which was shallow and ragged. "Now, how about we calm down for a moment?"

i'm kind of rattled after editing that.

i actually wrote this scene over two years ago when i had a random vision for the story. clearly, i've been waiting a lot time to post it lol so i'd love to hear your thoughts!!