Warm sunlight paints a pathway to a place of escape. A place of my own that I want to dream in. Here I feel happiness, freedom, and as a trickle of honey-sweet light touches my face, I breathe in. Thoughts of tests, stress, fears and worries melt away in an instant. I don’t seem to care about these things anymore. And all I want is to see more.
Enchanting notes of illusion swirl into a pot of colours- shimmering in my tearless eyes. Colours of blue, pink, yellow and mint from the flowers that bloom in this little garden of mine, take me away. Down the winding path, I see an arch of lilac blossom, lining a little wooden door. I slowly push the door open with the palm of my hand, stumbling across the quietness of nature at its truest, and I smile, ready to take it all in. My little white dress flows as I sit down on the immaculate emerald grass, and look out at all my garden yet to be explored; untouched by danger and in peace. I see the blue sky dotted with the fewest of white clouds, and think about all the time that had passed since I last came here.
So many things had happened to me since then, but it felt like everything was the same here when nothing was.
A little bird chirps far off in the distance, and its voice trills with the hope for tomorrow. With the knowledge that somewhere out there it won’t be safe, but at least here with sugared coated protection, and its tiny soft blue and white family, it belonged. It had a place there up in the leafy canopy, snuggled in a nest of dry branches and the warmth of a mother. With the loving feeling once again touching my heart, I wonder at the garden flowering from the touch of butterflies and bees, everything working accordingly. The prettiest of daisies sway to the gentle song of the wind, and behind it I look at the other flowers supporting one another, not wanting to let one fall.
At a sudden glace, a flow of technicolour light shimmers into my eyes, but slowly it dissolves into more than a blur, and everything seems dizzy.
Blink.
I opened my eyes again. And it feels like I’m feeling life again for the first time; everything clear and fresh.
I no longer miss the music of the blue tit chirping in my ear, because I know somewhere it is with its family, and everything makes sense. The pure sky all around me. The flowers touching my skin. The enjoyment I feel being alone. The sun through the blossom casting shadows across the span of orchestral flowers. And as my true self unfolds, those worries once piling in my lost mind are now found. In the simple things, I catch myself where I least expect it, and I then realise that this garden was made for me in each and every way.
I blink again.
- Maia Ayadurai
- : Oundle School
- : youth_(12_–_18_as_of_31st_december_2019)
- : This is the first time this story has been published.