Withered

Withered(Kinesha Kurniadi) It was a fine Saturday morning at the residence of the Hastings. The entire member of the wealthy family was enjoying their breakfast. Mr. Hastings has been out for a business trips with his partners and today is the day of his return. It had always been a tradition to wait for his return, and Mrs. Hastings intends to keep it that way forever.
It was already 11:30 a.m. and Mr. Hasting was nowhere to be found. He’d usually be home at around 10:00 a.m. after every business trip, and he’s one punctual man so being late was never an option. Mrs. Hastings stared at the clock, worried that something might have happened to her husband on her way home.
She shrugged it off “It’s probably just the traffic,” she thought while drinking her earl grey tea. The kids were starting to get impatient; they were done with their meal.
“Hanna, please bring both of them to their room, I guess the stories would have to wait.” Mrs. Hastings said to the maid beside her. “Bye Mom! Thanks for the delicious meal!” One of them shouted as he jumped off the chair that was too high for his small body. Mrs. Hasting waited and waited, growing more worried of her husband. Suddenly, a maid came rushing in with tears stained in her cheeks.

“Mr. Hastings, he’s lying on the front porch unconscious, there’s a pool of blood around him” she choked the words out.
“Call 911!” Mrs. Hastings calmly commanded to the butler, this trait of hers was one that everyone in the household admired. The ambulance and police soon came, and the house became crowded with people. Both of the children had been ushered somewhere safe as Mrs. Hasting thought that they were too small to see the horrible sight.
“Mrs. Hasting, nice to meet you,” A man in black offered his hand to her, “My name is Detective Park; I will be here for the investigation. Mind if I take a look around the house?” He said offering a warm smile.
The investigation went on for almost 2 hours; Detective Park went around the house looking for traces of evidence and also interviewed some people. Mrs. Hastings sat down on her plush most of the time, the situation was too hard for her to handle. Her husband might pass away, he might not make it. This was the first time she felt so much in pain. He might go away any second. She pushed away those negative thoughts the second she realized it was bringing her down; she wasn’t going to just sit down and do nothing. Something obviously caused the incident to happen. “How is the investigation going on Mr. Park?” Mrs. Hasting called out as she peeked out the window. There was a group of people working on the crime scene, and a barrier was already set around the marks Mr. Hastings left.
“Um, oh it’s going fine but sadly we’re still lacking of crucial evidence. The interviews weren’t going on that well.” Mr. Park sighed as he wiped his dripping sweat, “But worry not, Miss. We’ll find out soon.” His smile calmed her in a way; it was one that would have been used on a toothbrush commercial. She then went back inside and sat down her chair once again, she hated feeling so hopeless and useless. There was nothing she could do about this, all she could do was wait and pray for all the best. It hadn’t even been 10 years since they’ve been married, and it would be really sad if her beloved one was to go away this soon. The feeling sank down her chest, and a tear escaped from her eyes. She quickly wiped it away and went out for some fresh air around the garden.
As she walked down the spiral stairs, her phone rang. It was from the hospital, “Mrs. Hastings am I correct?” The person from the other end of the line said, “Yes it is, go on.”
“I’m truly sorry to tell you this Miss; we weren’t able to save your husband.” She dropped her phone; it was too much for her. Mrs. Hasting picked herself up, and then she laughed. No, it couldn’t be right? He’s just 36; he’s strong enough to go through it. Right? Yes, he promised to never leave me. He would never.
It was beautiful, the garden was. The flowers were blooming, it was spring. She thought everything would be perfect; everything had always been perfect for her. She was the only daughter of a famous business man, and he was paired with her when she was 16. Everything always happened as planned, never once did anything surprising happened to her. This event was very hard for her to handle. Does she love him? Surprisingly, yes. After years of constantly bickering and loathing each other, they grew fond of each other. She thought that love was temporary and they would probably get bored of each other after dating, and she used to wait for the day he would come and break things off but that day never came. They got together, and had a wonderful marriage. Some of the flowers withered, a sign that spring is ending. They will die, and soon the season will change. Just like humans, they each have their own time limit and cannot fear the inevitable, death. They are going to be replaced by new ones, and just like an insignificant flower they will be easily forgotten. Even the great and wealthy Mr. Hasting withers. Now he’s gone, really gone. Accepting the fact itself is really hard for her, now she’s a single mother with 2 kids below the age of 10. Will she be able to go through this?
She stood up, determined to help the detective with the investigation. The man who killed her husband must be found. She wanted revenge. She walked back from the garden to her study room. Apparently, Mr. Park is already there waiting for her.
“Hello Mrs. Hastings, I heard already. I am really sorry for your loss. Mr. Park is a really great guy.” Detective Park said as he sipped his cup of tea, “Mind sitting down? I need to talk to you about the investigation.”
Mrs. Hastings reluctantly sat down her chair; it was funny how he was the one asking her to sit down when they were actually inside her office. “So, how is it going?” She said wiping away her tears, she was still in denial. “I just want to know what happened, that’s all”
He walked to her and patted her shoulder, “Please calm down, Mrs. Hasting. We’re doing as much as we could.” Mr. Park offered her some tea, “Here, drink this. It’ll calm you down.” He smiled assuring her.
She drank the tea, and slouched down her chair. She giggled; it was making her feel weird. “I guess this is what happens when you lose someone you love.” She whispered to Mr. Park’s ears. He smiled and watched her dance around the room, she was going insane. After what seemed like a while, she stopped and dropped on the floor. Mr. Park smiled and carried her out using the back door, a shovel in his right hand. He chuckled,” That was surprisingly easy.”