Blossom in the Dark: In the Dark

By Ally Vance

Every garden starts with a few seeds; mine began with a few drops of blood.

With every death my garden grows...that is, until I see her.

Love breeds obsession, and in the darkness mine began to blossom.

Shy little violets rarely bloom where anyone can see them, but I see her.

Soon enough, she will see me too...

 

A Prequel Story to Flower in the Dark.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ally Vance
• Release date: Aug 15, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201777456

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COPYRIGHT

Copyright © 2021 by Ally Vance

Editor: Sheena Taylor

Cover Design: Pretty in Ink Creations

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems without written permission from the author, except for the brief use of quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is completely coincidental.

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PROLOGUE

Zachary

Dad left today, he packed a bag and walked right out of the door. He looked right at me while I stood at the top of the stairs watching him, but apart from giving me a sad smile before averting his eyes, he didn’t acknowledge me or ask me to come with him. A part of me can’t blame him for leaving, but I wish he’d have taken me with him. Instead, he left me here alone with Mom and his precious flower garden, slamming the door closed on his life and his only son. I don’t understand why he didn’t stay here with me and just make her leave.

♦♦♦

Two Years Later

Walking through the door after school, I sling my backpack on the hook by the front door. I don’t even bother calling out in greeting—I can hear the sounds Mom’s making in the living room the moment I step through the door. I shake my head in disgust and hurry through the house to my father’s…my flower garden. Tending it is the only thing that’s kept me sane over the past two years.

I bury myself in work, laying groundwork for the new patio I’m installing, finally finishing what Dad never started. The paving stones have been sitting under the tarp for three years. I look over the flat, exposed earth, wishing I could sink beneath it and stay there, taking root in the dark before blossoming into something magnificent.

A loud grunt cuts across my thoughts, filtering through the open back door, and I shudder when it’s followed by Mom moaning. I should have shut it when I came out here. I dig my fingers into the soft soil, feeling the dirt kick up under my nails and embed itself into my skin. The sounds of fucking grow louder, and I grit my teeth in annoyance, hating that I have to hear this every day. I blame my father. I may still love him, but I hate him for forcing me to endure this.

Rage seethes beneath my skin and blackness crowds the edge of my vision, tunneling until everything is tinged with darkness. When everything clears again, I’m surprised to realize I’m no longer alone in the garden and the sound of my mom screaming behind me from the back doorway is almost deafening. I look down to see I’ve got the hosepipe wrapped tightly around her latest boyfriend’s neck.

Zach, stop it! You’re killing him!

I could stop, but I don’t want to. I pull harder, enjoying the choked gurgling sounds he’s making, and the darkening of his skin the longer I deprive him of air. He’s strung out, I can see the track marks on his arms as he tries to fight me off, but he’s sluggish, too doped up to put