Jackson stretched as he woke up a few days later. He hadn’t had any dreams the night before, so he was relieved that there weren’t any petals stuck in his throat that morning. He opened the door to his porch when he was met with a cold gust of wind. He quickly slammed the door shut, rubbing his hands together like an old habit from when he was alive. He grabbed his coat before attempting to go out again. He figured he should take a walk since even though it was cold the day was nice and sunny. He knew he had the time to since he was ahead on making tea bags. So he locked the door behind him as he began to walk into the woods that separated his home from the village. He didn’t realize how long he had been walking until he reached the village. The village was a welcome sight for him, even though it brought up painful memories. He had lived in the village for a long time before escaping to the mountains. His heart was hurt a bit when he realized most of the people who lived in the village before he left were probably long dead by now. However, he continued on. The village looked pretty similar to how it had looked before, or at least it did on the outside. He knew the homes were probably technologically updated inside. After walking through the village a little bit longer he decided to head back to his home, but not before visiting the cemetery to pay his respects to his lost friends.

He was making his way back up the mountain when he heard a cry in the distance. It sounded like someone needed help. Jackson froze, listening for the sound. Once he heard it again he was quick to run to the source of the noise. He didn’t know what he was expecting when he reached the sound, but he certainly couldn’t foresee what he walked in on. There was a person waving around a large stick, trying to fend off a wolf pack that they were in the center of. “Back! Get back!” The person, that he now knew was a man, yelled. The wolves got closer to him, making the circle around him smaller and smaller. Jackson couldn’t see the man’s face due to a mask he was wearing to protect himself from the cold, but his eyes showed how scared he was. Jackson decided to help the man out. He burst from the bushes he was hiding behind and grabbed one of the wolves by the scruff of its neck. He quickly pulled it out of way, but he made sure he wasn’t really harming the animal. He placed himself in front of the other man. “You okay?” He asked over his shoulder. The stranger nodded, looking slightly relieved that he wasn’t alone. Jackson turned back to the wolves and bared his own teeth, making clear that he wasn’t going to back down. The wolves snarled at him, but it was clear that Jackson was the stronger opponent. The wolves backed away slowly before fleeing the scene. The man behind him let out a breath. “Woah. You must be really intimidating for them to run off like that.” Jackson turned around and smiled at the other man. “I like to think I am. So what brings you to the mountain?” The other man takes a breath to answer but instead he lets out a hiss of pain. The man’s hand goes straight to his side and when he pulls his hand back it’s covered in blood. The man audibly swallows. “Is now a good time to mention I don’t like the sight of blood?” He asks before he collapses in a dead faint. Jackson manages to catch the other man before he falls to the ground. He picks the man up and decides to take the stranger to him home.

Once Jackson was home he struggled to open the lock, but once he managed to unlock it he rushed to his room. He jogged as softly as he could and laid the stranger on the bed. He quickly ped the stranger’s jacket, not focusing on anything else but treating the wound. It looked like the stranger had been clawed at on his side. Luckily the wound didn’t look too deep so some bandages and some ointment made from crushed petals would do the trick. Jackson treated the wound and finally went to make his new guest comfortable. It was a bit difficult since the other man was as limp as a cooked noodle, but he managed to get the other man out of his coat and boots. Jackson wasn’t sure if he should take the stranger’s mask off. On one hand, the stranger could just be wearing it because it was cold out. On the other hand, the stranger could have been hiding his face for personal reasons. In the end, Jackson decided the man would be able to breathe a lot easier without the mask on. With that Jackson reached up to gently take the mask off.

When he took the mask off he nearly screamed. His brain registered that the man that was sleeping was handsome, but he couldn’t focus on that at the moment. His hand shakily reached out to touch the stranger’s face. There was no way this could be real. He must have been dreaming. How could something like this happen? But once his fingers met the cold but soft skin of the man on the bed Jackson had to run to the nearest bucket. Luckily he kept a bucket in the corner of the room for occasions like this. He gagged and wheezed as hundred of flower petals were forced from his throat. There were too many flower petals. He felt like he couldn’t breathe as he continued to hack out big clumps of flowers. This hadn’t happened to him in a long time, but he was actually starting to cough up full flowers instead of the usual petals.  By the time he was done his face was drenched with sweat from the force he had to use to get the flowers out. There were tears streaming down his face as he tried to pull himself together. He was finally able to take a few deep breaths. He kept repeating to himself that he was dreaming. This wasn’t reality. He was just having a hard time waking up this morning. He pinched at his cheeks to wake himself up, but when he looked back at the bed he felt like he was going to throw up more flowers.

Because there on his bed was the prince that haunted his dreams every night.