A Single Rose

Ever heard of a happy ending? Not everything ends with a happy ending the way they do in fairytales. How the always end with the prince charming and the castle? Life isn’t like that. That is why they are called fairytales…



“Richard! Will you please hurry up? It’s a quarter to seven already and your father has already made reservations at The Pavilion at seven,” Richard’s mother said, walking briskly across the sandstone tiled floors of their driveway.

“You really didn’t need to shout. I can hear you perfectly well. You don’t have a deaf son, mother,” Richard brushed past his mother indecorously with an evident look of aggravation.

Richard’s mother felt a sharp pain of hurt in her chest; she instinctively covered her hurt up with a sharp tone. “Watch your language,” she looked at her son warningly and got into their black Jaguar.

“Rudeness is not tolerated in this household, Richard,” Richard’s father spoke up when his son got into the back seat of the car.

Richard’s mother observed from the rearview mirror that her son was cursing under his breath and glowering out of the window. She sighed inwardly; she always felt that her son was constantly distancing himself from her. As a mother, she wished her son would change for the better.

A single raindrop fell and hit the windshield. Then rain began to shower down, falling down vociferously on the cold, metal body of the car.

“Slow down, the roads are not safe in these weather conditions. Be careful,” Richard’s mother placed a hand on her husband’s arm as the veil of rain thickened.

Before her hand left her husband’s arm, a strong impact hit them from behind, causing their car to spin out of control. Tires screeched loudly and there was yelling. The last thing Richard remembered was his mother releasing a piercing scream of fear and panic before there was a sickening crash and everything went black.

He aroused several hours after the accident. His head felt heavy and there was a sharp pain throbbing in his head, it felt like white hot knives being slashed into his skull.

“You are awake,” a male voice said, somewhere above him.

Richard blinked, trying to focus as he looked up. A man with glasses was looking down at him. “Yeah,” he said tiredly, struggling to sit upright.

“You’ll be all right. You only suffered from cuts and bruises. We had the cut on your forehead stitched up and I am Dr. David,” the doctor said, placing his hands into the pockets of his coat. He gave a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Unfortunately, I have rather distressing news for you,” he continued to pinch the bridge of his nose.

Richard felt his blood run cold and his heart stop. He braced himself for the bad news that he was about to receive.

“Well, you father suffered from a broken tibia and several fractured ribs. He is a very lucky man to survive such a deplorable accident. Unfortunately, your mother did not make it. I am terribly sorry for your lost,” Dr. David said quietly.

Richard felt as if he had run into a brick wall. Everything felt hazy. He felt his jaw drop and he gaped at the doctor. “Wha—what?” he refused to believe the impossible piece of minutiae that he had just received.

“I’m very sorry,” Dr. David repeated and left the room, shutting the door behind him.



Richard looked forlornly at his mother’s open casket. His father had insisted for best for his deceased wife. A finely handcrafted polished mahogany casket with silver handles and lined with silk was purchased. Relatives and friends turned up to pay their last respects for the woman they had all loved and cherished.

His mother looked so peaceful in there. It was almost like she was smiling. Lying next to her casket was a six-foot deep pit, awaiting the burial. The weather was fine, windy and pleasant. It was almost hard to believe that he was at his mother’s funeral.

He watched sadly as they closed the lid of the casket. He had the last glimpse of his mother’s face before they moved it towards the pit and slowly began to lower it.

“Here, take this, give it to your mother,” Richard’s father handed him a single red rose.

Richard accepted the rose and slowly walked towards the pit. His hand was clenched tightly around the stem of the rose, thorns dug into the palm of his hand. He looked down at the casket and felt his heart break as he unwillingly set the rose free. It fell almost gracefully and slowly onto the top of the casket. He took a few steps back and looked down as they began to shovel dirt to fill up the pit.

He never had the chance to say sorry to his mother for all the things he had said before. He never expected her to be gone so fast. A single rose, a simple gift given with his true heart as an apology and as a wordless way to express his love for his mother, a gift that she couldn’t receive with her own hands anymore. Life wasn’t always a happy ending as it may seem…



Gabrielle Jee