When he opens his eyes he is met with the sight of cherry blossoms floating in the wind. There is a gentle breeze flowing by him, and he thinks the petals falling on his face woke him up. He registers that he is laying on someone’s lap. He looks to see whose it is, but when he looks up to the lap’s face it is covered in a pink cloth from the eyes down. He hears a chuckle that is vaguely familiar. “Good morning sleepy head.” He hears, and he feels a hand running through his hair. He sits up, taking in his surroundings better. They are sitting on a grassy hill, and at the bottom is a large looking palace. He turns to the other man and notices he is dressed in fine silks, his waist-length hair fluttering in the breeze. He pulls at his own hair to realize his hair is just as long as the other man’s, but he notices his clothes aren’t as fancy. The other man looks concerned. “Is something wrong?” He shakes his head, for some reason he doesn’t want to worry the other man. Suddenly the scenery changes. Gone is the grassy hill and the cherry blossoms. They are replaced by a maze of bushes filled with white roses. He looks around, not sure where he is supposed to go. But he hears the laugh of the other man. He follows the sound. He sees the other man, or rather he sees the back of the other man. He hears the laugh again, along with the man saying, "Try to catch me Jia Er!” For some reason a feeling of happiness bubbles within him and he runs towards the voice. It would seem the other man was trapped in a dead end. The other man turned around, his face no longer covered by the pink cloth. The face he sees makes his heartache. It’s the face of the man he loved. The man he would always love. Suddenly the roses turn black, and thorny vines wrap themselves around his love. The other man screamed, reaching out to him. He was frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but watch. “Jia Er!” His love screamed before being swallowed up by the bushes. Suddenly everything faded to black.

Jackson sat up straight on the couch as he woke up. He tried to take a deep breath but his throat was clogged. He leaned over the side of the couch and heaved. He continued to gag and choke until gardenia petals started to come out. His eyes filled with tears as he violently coughed the last few petals out, leaving a small pile of the petals at his side. He sat back up, finally taking a few greedy gulps of air. He placed his hand on his clammy forehead before letting out a sigh. He hit his chest a few times to make sure all of the petals were out before getting up from the couch. He slowly stumbled over to his bathroom, flicking on the light that was much too dull for his liking. He blinked a few times, adjusting his balance before he looked at his reflection in the mirror. He leaned over the sink, turning on the water so it was as cold as it could go. He splashed his face a few times, waking himself up from the dream he had. He looked at himself in the mirror once more, staring at the drops of water that dripped from his chin. He sighed once more. “I should be used to this by now.” He thought to himself, wiping the water off of his face. He ran his fingers through his hair, thinking about how he got to this point.

When Jackson was growing up he was like every other little boy. He liked to run through the fields of his home, exploring the woods behind the farm he grew up on. He liked to swim in the river, and he would fish with his father from time to time. But as Jackson grew older he wanted more. He wanted his life to make an impact on people’s lives. So he decided to leave the farm to become a royal guard. He should have been content with that but, of course, he felt the need to be the best at everything. So when someone had told him of a way that he could become a guard for the prince, he foolishly went along with it. He had no regard for the future consequences of his actions. So when the vampire he found in the woods asked him if he was sure he wanted to be a vampire he agreed without hesitation. Sometimes he wishes he could go back in time to beat some sense into himself. He wishes he could go back and talk his past self down, give him insight into what he was agreeing to. He was agreeing to stop aging. He was agreeing to watch his family die. He was agreeing to forever roam the earth alone since he would always outlive his companions. But past Jackson didn’t care. He wanted to be worthy enough to protect the prince. Well, he got his wish. Of course, he never could have predicted that he would fall in love with the handsome man. Jackson, even all those years ago, knew he could never be with the prince. So he suffered in silence. And when the prince was ripped from him by death’s cold hand Jackson had screamed to the heavens to take him as well. But he never was. And now 276 years later his heart was still broken, the roots that had settled around it made sure it could never be put back together again.

Jackson, however, refused to suffer uselessly. He refuses to wallow in self-pity because at the end of the day he had made the decision to live forever. He had decided about 100 years ago to do something useful with his curse. He always coughed up gardenias, which were already medicinal in nature. But the petals always came up stained in his blood, which he had learned was a cure-all. So he threw himself into making medicine for the villagers that lived at the bottom of the mountain. It was simple for him really. There was never a shortage of gardenia petals since the prince haunted his dreams every night. He would always wake up to a large pile of the blood-soaked petals needing to be coughed up. He would then dry the petals down so they could be used for tea. This morning was no different as he folded up the cloth he had laid out the night before. He walked out onto his porch, looking at the shelve of petals that he had left to dry a few days ago. He looked back to his home, recalling how long it had taken to build it when he decided to move to the highest point of the mountain. He was happy in his little log cabin since he was only disturbed if someone in the village was sick. He thought that with the advance in medicine people would stop coming to him. But since no one in the small village had money for a doctor, his business was just a lucrative as it was 100 years ago. Not that he charged for his tea since the long journey up the mountain was payment enough. Of course, since he had been running his business for such a long time, people suspected Jackson was some old hermit. Of course, the villagers weren’t wrong, but he would never let them know that. Jackson emptied the cloth he carried into a large basket he kept next to his drying table. He then collected the petals he deemed dry enough and spread out a new batch before walking back into his home.

If Jackson was human he probably would have been making breakfast at this point. But what was the use? He didn’t need to eat human food to survive. Sometimes he would eat though, just to imagine for one moment that he hadn’t made the foolish decision to become a monster. But that always backfired since pretending to be human always made him think of the prince, and the mere thought of the love of his life made him choke on more petals. Jackson had also fed the day before on a mountain lion so he wouldn’t need to feed for a few days. Jackson sat at his kitchen table for most of the day, filling tea bags with his petals and a few sprigs of mint for flavor. The rest of the day was uneventful since this part of the years was when everyone was fairly healthy. When it was time for him to rest he laid the cloth out on the floor and laid on the couch. He looked through his bedroom door at his bed. When was the last time he had slept on a nice warm bed? It must have been before the hanahaki roots had started to twist around his unbeating heart. He started sleeping on the couch when he realized that even when he slept on his side in bed he would wake up on his back, which made coughing up the flower petals a harder task. But he kept his bed. Just in case he figured out how to get rid of the hanahaki.

Of course with modern medicine, he could have had the roots cut out of him. But something always held him back. He didn’t know what it was exactly. Part of him thought the fear of being exposed as a vampire kept him back since his heart didn’t beat and the roots were far more developed than any human’s. But a smaller part of him, a secret part of him, knew he didn’t want to lose the last piece of the prince he had. Sure, his love for the prince was causing him to suffer greatly, but he never wanted to lose the feelings he had for the prince. He didn’t want to think about the smiling face of the prince and feel nothing. He didn’t want to remember the good times they both shared without the warm feeling that accompanied it. Even if he continued to cough up a tree’s worth of flower petals daily, the memory of the prince didn’t deserve such coldness. So he to his side, made sure that the cloth was in just the right place, and closed his eyes.

It was time to be reunited with his love.