Kiss From a Rose

Matt stirred the next morning feeling around in search of a warm body but finding none. His eyes opened to find the place Ember had occupied last night to be empty.

He sighed he had a feeling she would leave but he was hoping she wouldn't.

As he got up stretching he noticed that the ruby she had given him last night was still where he had put it. Next to it was a gray rose and a letter.

He picked it up opening it. It read:

"Sorry I had to leave I had to be somewhere as I'm sure you already know." "Please don't take me leaving that I don't appreciate what you've done for me." "Last night with you Matt was one of the few happy moments in my life." "I shall treasure it always but I need to stay away from you and you need to stay away from me." "I'm bad for you Matt being around me nothing good will come out of it." "But promise me no matter what you'll keep the ruby close to you and with you no matter what." "I would never forgive or live with myself if something bad happened to you."
Ember

Matt sat back down confused. "What bad thing is she talking about?" He asked himself as he reread the letter.

"Whatever it is Ember thinks that she's the cause of it." He said getting dressed. "I wish I had her number or knew where she live."

Then he remembered the pills bottle. Matt picked up his dirty pair of jeans and went through the pockets pulling them out.

"Ember McClain I'm going to find you and find out what you're hiding from me." He said.

Matt arrived at the pharmacy just as it opened at 9. He got out as the cashier turned the sign to OPEN and unlocked the door.

"No one is ever here this early." He said going around the counter. "You must need a refill desperately."

"Actuality it's for my girlfriend." Matt said handing him the bottle. "She needs them terribly she hasn't been filling well without them."

"Give the computer a few minutes to load up." He said. "Kay it's done loading."

Matt watched as it cliched a button then went to through records if people who were prescribed medicine from the store.

"Okay." He said looking at the bottle. "Ember McClain." He said typing her name in.

Matt watched as his face changed into a look of confusion. "Let me try again." He said retyping her name in and getting the same response.

"Is there a problem?" Matt asked.

"Must be cause her name is nowhere in our database." The cashier said.

"What?" Matt said. "Are you sure?"

He restyled it again getting the No Matches pop up again. "I'm sure she's not in here."

"How can that be?" Matt asked. "This is the main and only pharmacy here so why isn't she in there?"

"My guess is either she got them from a pharmacy out of town or that's not really her name." The cashier said.

"Not really her name?" He whispered. "Is that really possible?"

The cashier nodded. "Seems like your girlfriend isn't who she appears or says she is."

"That's what Ember if that's even her real name said." He thought.

"Can you at least tell me what kind of pills she was taking?" Matt asked. "I'm just curious."

"Sure." The cashier said.

He took the bottle back looking at it before scanning it under the scanner. Files and folders scrolled quickly through the computer before it stopped and beeped the message Match Found.

Clicking it the cashier read the information before turning to Matt with a grim look.

"No offense if I were you I'd be happy that girl is gone from your life." He said.

"What does it say?" Matt asked.

"These pills are usually prescribed to those who have severe mental illness." He said. "Things like bipolar disorder, mutiple personality disorder, etc."

"Well she was always talking about morbid subjects like death and the occult." Matt said. "She even brought a dagger out and carved a symbol on my chest during sex." "Last night she was really upset and she had the words you're nothing cut into her arm in big bold letters."

The cashier thought about it. "Sounds like she either has depression, aggressive severely and some kind of personality disorder."

"Are these people dangerous?" Matt asked.

"They're a danger to everyone mainly themselves if it's left untreated." The cashier said.

Matt drove back to the complex Ember used to live at. Going to the third floor he walked to the end of the hallway. Just as he opened the door...

"It's you again." The frizzy hair woman said holding a basket of laundry under her arm. "Still trying to find her?"

"Actually I'm trying to find information about her." He said. "When she was here did she ever say anything about where she lived before or about herself of family?"

"I told you before we rarely talked and when we did she would always say some shit about dark topics." The woman said. "But there was one thing."

"What?" Matt asked.

"One time she said was her past was coming back and it wouldn't leave her alone." The woman said. "She also said its starting again and how she wished it would all just burn away from her memory."

"Thank you for the information." Matt said.

"No prob." She said. "Though I think you're wasting your time good luck on your search for her."

Matt nodded as she walked by he then picked the lock and went inside the apartment. Turning on the lights this time he went into the bedroom looking for anything.

Despite looking fur a good twenty mintues he found nothing. As he was about to walk out he noticed something sticking out a crack in the wall.

Walking over he pulled it out revealing it to be a newspaper clipping. Turning it over it showed a house in flames and in big bold letters it said...

"McClain House Fire Accident?"

Matt sat down and pulled his phone out typing this in. He clocked on an article that showed the same house.

"As investigation of the MCClain house fire continues police have found new evidence that the fire was intentionally set." "Investigators found traces of a flammable substance along with a single burned match where the substance originated from." "The fire claimed the life of Robert McClain who is survived by his daughter Ember McClain."

That wasn't all thought Matt scrolled down seeing something that made a chill go up.

"The coroner reported that Robert McClain hadn't died from smoke inhalation but there was trace amounts of sleeping pills found in his stomach along with something else."

Matt scrolled down and gasped seeing what else the coroner had found.

Robert MClain had injested a razor blade that had been baked into a cake.

"Someone killed him." Matt whispered. "And Ember was the only other person in the house at the time."