"Let's Be Friends Instead"

Disclaimer: These aren't really called red-spider flowers, nor do they "behave" the way the flowers in this piece do, nor were spiders even the first thing I thought of when I saw them the other day.

Every spring, the red-spider flowers climbed over each other for the privilege of falling. It was an honor to be the one to initiate that sense of wonder in people by falling down first or, failing that, to later catch someone's eye by falling down alone, poetically. The red-spider flowers were always quite vicious to each other, trying to crowd one another out even as buds, except for a day one April when two blossoms growing next to each other in a cluster decided that enough was enough; life was too short, especially for something as beautiful as a flower. And so, unnoticed among the red petal rain falling in the park that day, two flowers tangled their stems together and took a plunge in the name of friendship.