The Late–Blooming Rose
Chapter 1
I’ve been a ghost for ten years now.
Some streamer found a cherished photo of
mine and started a “Find Ethan” campaign
online.
When I saw him again, he was about to get
married.
I just wanted to disappear…
But when I actually did, he ended up living a
lonely life.
He died clutching that half of the photo in his
hand.
<
The night I died, a fire broke out in the mental
institution.
Because of the building’s layout, many
patients couldn’t escape and perished in the
blaze.
After death, I’ve just wandered the halls of
this hospital.
At first, I had some buddies with me.
But they slowly disappeared.
Now I’m the only one left haunting this place.
I can’t get too far from the hospital, so I just
sit by the window, day after day, killing time.
I’ve watched so many sunsets, way more than
forty–four.
And so, ten years passed.
The mental hospital slowly fell into decay.
The weeds grew taller and taller around the edges. Thorns twisted around the crumbling
walls, and wild roses bloomed in swathes over
the ruins.
The neighbors said the place was haunted,
that there was a man–eating ghost, and they
warned their kids to stay away. They said the
ghost would snatch them up if they didn’t
listen.
That’s total bull!
L
I’ve never eaten anyone!
And I definitely don’t snatch kids!
One day, a girl showed up out of nowhere,
talking to her phone.
“Hey everyone, I’m Brooke, and this is the
infamous Blackwood Mental Institution. It’s
been abandoned for ten years, and they say a
fire killed twenty–seven people. Rumor has it
the youngest victim was only eighteen. The
head doctor got arrested afterward. Tonight,
we’re gonna see if there are actually any
ghosts here.”
I hovered over her shoulder, squinting at her
L
I got it!
She was streaming!
Some people around here livestream stuff to
make money.
She suddenly shivered and continued, “Even
after ten years, you can tell it was a big fire.
The walls are black, and the burn marks are
intense…”
She wandered around, talking, until she got to
my room. She scanned the dark space before
her eyes landed on a corner of the wall.
Brooke crouched down and pulled a
blackened metal box from a hole in the wall.
عصا
was bonning mad
<
I was hopping mad.
“That’s mine!”
“Mine!”
“Don’t touch it!”
But she couldn’t hear me, and she even
opened the box.
“Ah!”
My secret was out.
She was so mean!
She picked up the half–burned photo and
held it up to the camera. “Wow, this girl is
really pretty. She looks so young, I wonder if
<
I huffed. “Don’t think complimenting my looks
will make me forgive you! And I was an adult!
I wasn’t that young!”
I even had a boyfriend!
Comments started flooding in.
[Could that be the eighteen–year–old patient
who died?]
[Underage victims have lots of anger, don’t
mess with their belongings!]
[Too bad, dying so young.]
[Heard this hospital was strict back then,
that’s why so many couldn’t escape.]
[Wait, there’s someone next to her, you can
<
Lvvait, there’s someone next to ner, you can
see a black shoulder, looks like a guy.]
[Maybe it’s her boyfriend?]
[Crazy people can be in love?]
[Being liked by a lunatic, imagine the bad
luck.]
I felt a pang when I saw the comments.
I wasn’t crazy, I just… had autism.
My dad said that if I got treated, I could have
a boyfriend when I got better.
I could love.
I wasn’t crazy.
<
Brooke frowned at her phone. “Anyone talking
trash can get out of my stream. Calling her
crazy? You’re so normal, your whole family’s
normal.”
Maybe Brooke wasn’t so bad after all.
She flipped the photo over and saw two
words written on the back.
“Ethan Bell.”
Ethan was my first love.
He became my tutor when I started skipping
classes in junior year.
He was nineteen that year.
A
حط لمنحمله
Jont
–
<
My dad said he was a great student, went to
the same high school as me, top of our class.
He was a genius at Yale, skipped three
grades, and had his Master’s locked down by
his junior year.
“Want him to tutor you?”
I didn’t say anything.
Whether I agreed or not, he was going to be
my tutor.
Before Ethan, my dad had hired lots of tutors.
But I always did my own thing during lessons:
painting or whittling, lost in my own world.
The tutors always quit in the end.
L
When Ethan came, I ignored him too.
I figured he’d talk smack about me behind my
back.
Give me nicknames.
They all thought I was stupid, that I couldn’t
speak up, so they always did that stuff.
But he just droned on about the material,
whether I listened or not.
I understood most of it.
At the end of class, he pulled out some
worksheets.
“These questions are about what we covered
today. Do them if you have time, and I’ll go
<
I didn’t do them because I wasn’t interested.
I doodled all over his worksheets.
He said, “That’s a nice frog.”
It was a monster!
How could it be a frog?
So annoying.
“Did I say something wrong?”
I ignored him.
He lowered his eyes and started on the
problems.
く
Ethan had long eyelashes. When he blinked,
they looked like butterfly wings.
Ethan was always calm, and didn’t care if I
ignored him.
“Do you understand this question? Tell me if
you don’t, and I’ll do it again.”
He tapped the table.
I ignored him.
“Since you understand, let’s do the next one.”
If I didn’t understand, I’d glance at him, and
he’d do it again.
I thought it was funny, so I’d glance at him
in after he was don
صند:
く
He stayed calm even after the fifth time.
So weird, did he never get mad?
I spoke to him for the first time a month later.
“What’s a freak?”
Why did my classmates call me a freak?
Ethan froze for a moment, then asked, “Who
said that?”
I didn’t tell him.
He asked, “Someone called you that?”
I nodded.
Then he drew me a picture
Then he drew me a picture.
He asked, “What’s this?”
“A snake eating an elephant.”
Ethan smiled slightly. “But a lot of people
think it’s a hat.”
So dumb.
He said, “People are always negative about
things they don’t understand. They think
you’re different, so they’re biased. The bias is
the freak, not you.”
“But I am different.”
“You’re just special. People are all different.
It’s okay.”
No one had ever told me that.
He asked, “Want to know the story behind the
picture?”
I nodded.
“Do the worksheet, and I’ll tell you.”
Fine.
Ethan brought me a book.
I felt as special as the Little Prince.
Ethan was even more special.
The Little Prince lived on a planet where you
could see forty–four sunsets a day.
<
“Ethan, I want to see forty–four sunsets a day
too.”
“If you get into Yale, I’ll take you.”
I hesitated.
I didn’t like school or people.
But maybe the outside world wouldn’t be so
bad with Ethan.
After graduation, Ethan took me to Yale.
I watched forty–four sunsets in the school
auditorium.
Ethan had written the program using code,
built the model.
<
He said he wouldn’t tutor me anymore.
“Why?”
“You’ve graduated.”
“Ethan, I like you.”
Graduation was over, but my feelings weren’t.
“You’re young, you haven’t seen the world.”
I got it.
Ethan wouldn’t like a freak either.
“Ethan, I’m not stupid. You can just say you
don’t like me, but don’t deny how I feel.”
