The Flowers of You

Sylvia's story had finally ended and my new day had only begun. Though I could barely feel my right leg, I exerted as much effort as I can to slip it out of the debris. After a few minutes of painful muscle contractions, my leg successfully escaped the crushing debris but was left with a numb feeling. The numbness of my leg did not bother me but surely, I must have it treated first before I move on to what else I must do.

I limped all the way to the Greenberg town square in search of a proper clinic or hospital to have myself treated. For two whole hours, I limped on my way just to arrive by the entrance with sweat and exhaustion exuding from my body. The people were too disgusted by me when I walked past them, but it did not bother me at all for that was a common and natural response.

As I traversed through the lively crowds, Arnold was seen sampling the delicacies of another restaurant but soon stopped his joyous eating once he had seen me and my condition.

"My goodness! Alastair!" He ran up to me with such a shocked expression, "Please, allow me to take you to the doctors, surely, your condition will only worsen if you continue to walk on your own!" I am always fascinated to know of his kindness and care whenever he sees me in a dangerous situation.

I accepted his help and arrived to the hospital faster than I would have on my own. Thankfully, I was treated well and the doctors had told me that I would have a full recovery within a month.

As Arnold stayed at my bedside, I asked him to carry out an errand for me.

"Arnold, may I ask of something?' I asked him.

"What is it, friend?" He responded quickly.

"I would like for you to go to my home. In there, you will find a set of drawers underneath my bed. In one of those drawers lays a draft of mine that requires to be finished right now." I requested him.

"Very well then, I will return as swiftly as I can but please, rest well and do not rush yourself to work so suddenly." Arnold left immediately without saying another word. It was quite humorous to see the jubilant Arnold act so worried and anxious for someone like me.

After what seemed to be only half an hour, Arnold returned with the draft in his hand and a sour look upon his face.

"Are you…going to do it again?" Arnold asked with concern in his voice before he gave me my draft. It seemed that he knew of my poorly tied noose and broken beam.

"No, my friend, for I have decided to live once more." I smiled in my response and lifted my hand up to receive my draft. Though his worries were slightly comforted, he still expressed concern on his face.

Once Arnold had given me a small slab of smooth wood to write upon, he left me alone to complete my work. I looked at the draft and all the pages I have written so far. I did not feel a bit of embarrassment from reading them unlike in my previous works for I had felt as if no matter the outcome, I am satisfied and happy that I have written with all of my heart into this book.

During my time in recovery, I added the last few portions of the story and finally gave it to Arnold for publishing when he had come to visit me on the weekend. Not only did I spend my time here in work, but I was also able to draw up a conversation with the nurses, patients, and doctors whenever I could even if the interaction fell shorter than ten words. Nevertheless, every day I spent in recovery was accompanied with new friends and jokes.

Once my recovery had finally ended, I was able to pay off the doctors for their services and ended up with quite a large sum of money from the revenue of my book's release. Instead of using the money to fix my broken ceiling, I decided it was best to use it for something else.

First, I bought a flower for Richard who had long departed from me. It was a small violet which I personally think he would have enjoyed. After purchasing the flower, I bought a horse for myself and rode off towards my home. I tied the horse well by the fence that used to guard my garden and walked towards the calming river one last time.

"Thank you, Richard, for even though you thought of yourself as something dangerous to me, I could not forget how you pushed me to face my failures again and how you let me know the importance of my own self." I kept my speech short and laid the violet down onto the river so that it may drift off to wherever Richard may be.

I was grateful for the one who only I could see and hopefully, he may be with someone else constantly being a bother like he always was. Walking towards my home, I thought it best that it might be time to let the old beauty go. The quaint insides welcomed in for one last time and bid me their farewells once I had left that old place for one last cup of tea.

I mounted my own horse once again and drove off onto the path towards Ville de l'envie. It did take quite a while to get used to the whole concept of riding a horse but eventually, the horse was kind enough to work with me in my pursuit. In the end, we were able to arrive in Elizabeth's hometown in one day.

As I got off of my horse, I thanked him for his service and let him stay in a proper stable to rest whilst I find Elizabeth. It took me quite a while to find the house of Lafitte since all of the directions I traveled through were solely based on my memory alone. I walked up towards the front door of a familiar house with both excitement and anxiety coursing through me and knocked on the door quite loudly. A shuffle of footsteps was heard from the other side of the door and thankfully, I was greeted with a familiar face.

She was angry at my appearance and even more so when we realized we could not recognize each others' languages. At first, we communicated with our hands making gestures to guess what our agenda was but unfortunately, all I could gather from her expressions was how flexible her hands were. Anais stomped her foot upon the wooden floor and marched back into the house leaving the door open. Since she had not signaled me to come in, I thought it best to stay outside the front door.

After a few minutes, she had returned with a pen and paper in her hands and had given those items to me to write or draw my message upon it. Resting the paper upon the wall, I drew an almost incomprehensible stick figure which was supposed to be Elizabeth. Obviously, no one could infer from the drawing that it was Elizabeth and in doing so, I wrote her name atop of the stick figure and put a little question mark at the end to tell Anais that I was searching for her. With a distressed expression, she took the paper and pen from my hands and drew a house right next to my drawing. She crossed the house with a big x to tell me that Elizabeth was absent from her family home. Next, she drew another stick figure to accompany mine and drew an even bigger question mark underneath the couple.

It was then that we realized neither of us knew of Elizabeth's whereabouts. I bowed my head down to tell her of my gratefulness for her time but she responded with a powerful slam of the door. I could not blame her for her rude behavior since it was only natural for a family member to react that way in front of the very person who has hurt their relative.

Knowing that Elizabeth might be searching for me according to Anais, I mounted my horse from the stable and departed back to Greenberg in hopes of searching her there. Again, it took about another day to arrive in Greenberg's town square. I left my horse in a stable again and ran as fast as I could to Elizabeth's room. Knocking on the door gently this time, I anticipated her response once again.

However, I became confused when I heard the sound of a door creaking as it opened while the door in front of me remained closed. Surprisingly, the door behind me was the room occupied by the landlord.

"Have you come here for your friend, young man?" The old man asked me from behind, and I turned around as fast as I could to respond to him.

"Yes sir, I have not seen her in quite a while and it seems that I might not know where she might be. Do you know where she might have gone, sir?" I asked.

"Yes, I do. When she moved out so suddenly, I asked her where she could be going in such a hurry yet all she could say to me was that she was going to the far valleys of the south." The old man spoke.

I thanked the old man for telling me and made preparations for the journey to the southern valleys. Since I have never traveled there in my entire life, I could only rely on the rumors and hearsay of what may come. I bought food that would last me for three days, a thick coat in the event of the place being as cold as the people say, a canteen for water, and a bigger bag to store my other clothes and needed items. Though the road ahead of me was dangerous and unknown, knowing that Elizabeth might be there is good enough reason for me to risk everything I have and the idea of mending the broken cord between us was enough to invigorate me further.

I mounted up my horse again and ventured into the great unknown. My horse and I journeyed through forests, followed the path of a river, and witnessed the many other natural beauties of this world. It fascinated me to know that such beauty laid in front of my eyes yet I pretended to not notice them at all.

Through three days of rigorous traveling, a village was seen atop a hill. Since my horse had grown quite tired from the trip, I tied his leash to a tree that bore a beautiful green lot of grass for him to rest and possibly eat. I prayed for the best for my horse since I practically know nothing of what they really eat. I prepared my bag and coat and began to hike uphill towards the village.

The journey on foot was more dangerous than riding the horse tenfold. Throughout the hour, I had many experiences and moments where I thought that I would have ended up with another injury to my legs. Thankfully my fervor had kept me going, and more and more did I continue to travel uphill to see Elizabeth one more time.

Once I had arrived at the top, the locals of the village were surprised by my entrance and became concerned since my journey upwards was not quite convenient. The locals welcomed me with warm greetings in a language that I could not understand. Of course, Elizabeth could speak in many tongues, I should have known that she would have chosen to live in a foreign country.

I tried my very best to communicate with the locals by speaking slowly and using hand signs that didn't make proper sense. Fortunately, the moment they heard the name "Elizabeth" they began to understand why I came here.

The citizens pointed towards the edge of the town where a distant and lonely house was built. I thanked the locals and immediately proceeded in the direction they pointed to. There was no road that connected the distant house to the rest of the town but a vast field of flowers divided the two.

There were too many breeds of flowers to name as I walked through, yet, the pleasant aromas that the flowers exuded were able to mix together well into the air making a grand majestic scent that no words could possibly describe. There were Apple Blossoms, Daisies, Chrysanthemums, Tulips, Honeysuckles, Asters, Carnations, and Hyacinths that were all scattered throughout the field each having their own distinct areas.

It was only a minute's walk to arrive by the entrance of her new house from the other side of the field. The house appeared to be as small as my cottage, if not even smaller. The walls were made of stone that has seen better days, and the hardwood of the doors and window frames seemed to have aged. Though the appearance is simple and quaint, I could not help but feel an immense fear coursing through my body.

Maybe it was wrong of me to pursue her, an intruding thought had spoken. Nevertheless, I prepared myself once again to see her face one more time even though it may be my last. I knocked gently upon the old door and waited for her response.

Nothing had come from the other side, not even the slightest sound of the floorboards creaking. I knocked again as my excitement turned into anxiety, what if she's not here as well? No, it can't possibly be so since the locals had never suggested anything about her leaving. Two hours have passed and I continued to remain in front of the door. My thoughts had waged war against each other as one side proposed that I should leave already while the other side proposed that I must continue to wait for her.

To end the madness inside of me, I decided to turn the doorknob slightly to see if it was locked or not. As the knob turned easily and opened the door, I found myself in a dusty room where all the appliances and furniture seemed to have not been used in a long while. Disappointment and misery had befallen upon me for Elizabeth was nowhere to be found once again. However, to my surprise, a small letter was left on the dining table that laid right beside the door. Within the letter's contents, Elizabeth's handwriting was clearly seen and it was all written in the language that I speak. I was overjoyed already with the discovery of this letter and began reading its contents:

"My dearest Alastair,

For the past two years that we have known each other, your fanciful stories and welcoming personality have always warmed my heart to the point where I had found myself wanting more of you. It is true that I want you all to myself, and I realize that it would have been wrong of me to keep you as my slave. It was selfish of me to never let you be by yourself but I also know that it was cruel of you to leave me without saying goodbye. I realize now that I only cared for my own happiness as I tried to keep you to myself and even asked of you to share your body with me. Lust had overcome me and has left me now, and I want to tell you, as you are reading this, to cease your search for me. I want to love you, know you, and hear your heart beating as I put my head against your chest, but I also do not want to risk your happiness for the sake of my pleasure. Maybe this might be the true meaning of our love, Alastair, we should have put each others' happiness above our own yet here we are, feeding off of each other with such tender selfishness. I miss you dearly, Alastair, but I must have you know that I am no longer here as the woman that you knew me to be.

I do not know what else this new life has in store for me, but I pray that I might be a bird that will sing to you or even a vast field of flowers whose beauty can keep you company. I love you, Alastair, and I pray that as you finish reading this, you will continue to live on happily and gratefully for everything.

I give you my final regards,

Elizabeth Lafitte"

It can't be…Don't play a joke with me like this, Elizabeth, please. This is just too cruel.

I ran outside and searched every part of the house, field, and even the town to see where she could be hiding. My heart refused to believe that she had left me. A mix of sadness and anger had overcome me, perhaps it might have been grief, but I was all too focused on finding her that I did not care what I felt. I stopped moving in the middle of the fields to drop down on my back and break into a river of tears.

The aroma of the flowers was sweet yet my tears were bitter. I had to learn to accept that Elizabeth was truly gone and far away from me in this world, yet, this pleasant scent that the flowers had produced reminded me of her and how she would smile at me.

"I wish you had never left me in the first place, my love. Nevertheless, I will tend to these beautiful flowers as if they were your precious smiles." I whispered softly to the soil but my declaration was made loud and clear.

I sat up and basked in the beauty and glory of this diverse and breathtaking field. I promise you, Elizabeth, that I will live and be filled with happiness each and every day. I promise to live as if you never left my side. As I will care for these flowers of you, I will always be reminded of those past days of how we were in love and of how foolish we were.

"Why do you cry in the face of this beautiful field?" A familiar voice spoke to me suddenly.

My heart stopped and my body turned around immediately to know of the person who spoke. It was an angel that had appeared before me. With divine wings, she covered her eyes and along her body, there were feathers that covered the base of her neck and clothed her waist. Her lips and nose were familiar to me but without seeing her eyes, I could not tell if I was talking to Elizabeth or not.

"Who are you?" I asked the angel.

"I do not know." She replied then walked closer to me to sit by my side upon the field.

The feelings I gathered from this moment made me think of our first encounter. It was peculiar to think of this angel as Elizabeth and it would most likely be wrong to assume she is. Her head turned towards me with her wings still covering her eyes.

"You are still crying." She said, "Perhaps, you should tell me what has happened to your heart." She suggested, and I thought it would have been a good idea since Elizabeth was no longer here, it would be best to find some other way to get rid of these feelings.

"I traveled a long distance to find a certain person I love, but unfortunately, she is nowhere to be found." I explained.

"Why not continue to find her? She must have left some clues somewhere." The angel said.

"She did leave a letter for me, but she told me to no longer find her for she was nowhere within this world." The pain was less intense than before as I spoke.

"But how?" She asked as if she was amazed by a certain marvel of the world.

"Do you see that butterfly right in front of us?" I pointed to the insect that was flying over the flowers, "Just like that butterfly, she was given wings to fly high into the sky and soar above the world to explore many others." I explained to her as if she was a child.

"I have wings as well." She became gleefully fascinated with her own pair of wings, "Do you think that I can fly just like the woman you speak of?" Though I could not see the childlike wonder in her eyes, her wonderful smile lifted my spirits.

"Of course, but first, you will need to practice using them." I stood up from the ground after I had spoken to her.

I extended my hand towards the angel and she also stood up with her jubilant smile.

"If I were to fly just like the butterfly, should I take you to that person? We can find her together amongst the stars." She asked me like an innocent child.

"There is no need to find her. For I know that she must already be happy within the vast beauty of space." I declined her offer knowing I was already content with where I am, "All you need to do now is to just flap your wings." Changing the subject from Elizabeth, I told her to begin using her wings.

With excitement coursing through her body, the wings that had covered her face had been lowered, and quickly, it launched her up into the air. For a brief moment as the pollen and petals of the flowers were scattered around, the angel had finally shown me her eyes. It was in that pure and striking gaze that I had discovered Elizabeth was with me again in the shape of an angel.

With her body so incredibly far from the world, I was able to catch a glimpse of her minuscule mouth as she mouthed out the words, "Thank you for your time" to me.

With only a second of seeing her face, I did not cry again, rather, I was happy. I became joyful because I could see her smile once again as she happily flew into the Heavens above me. I was left alone again within the flower field but this time, I mustered up my own confidence to live on.

"Farewell, butterfly." I whispered to no one but the silence surrounding me. I had finally found a clear path for myself and hopefully, I get to look back with a smile to those days when Elizabeth and I were lost in our youth.

END