Flash Fiction Anthology

The Prince and the Rose

Meet Jake. A forty-years-old undiscovered artist, struggling to become famous for doing what he loved doing so much-- painting.

A passion to which he dedicated so much of himself, his body and soul, his time and mind, that he did not notice that his girlfriend, whom he loved dearly but to whom he never gave a single drop of care and attention more than he bestowed on his countless cavasses, was pregnant, until she told him.

Yes, that's me. That, the baby news, happened to me last night, and yes, I'm on a plane without her, or better them, right now.

I know, that's not exactly something to be proud of. But announcing her pregnancy wasn't the only thing she did last night-- she asked me to finally marry her, too. Now, after ten years we have spent together... when I thought that she was perfectly happy with the life we lived, just like myself.

I love her, I really do, but getting married or having a child... none of these things had ever been high on my wishlist and she knew it. I was happy with the way things were between us, I had no need to change anything...

Still, I shouldn't have acted this impulsively, giving in to my desire to escape from that situation, buying myself a plane ticket and packing my bags within half an hour, telling her that I needed to think things through alone, and flee to Tahiti like my idol Gauguin did more that one hundred years ago.

Visiting the place had always been my dream and it felt like one of those 'it's now or never' things suddenly, but it was not a valid excuse. I should not have run. Fullstop.

Accepting a drink from a smiling flight attendant I sighed, again. Of course I would marry her, I loved her too much to refuse if that was what she wished for, it was just the unexpectedness of it all that made me bolt. Hopefully she will understand and forgive me...

I looked through the small round window into the encompassing blueness disturbed by long, thin wisps of fog. We were flying towards a cloud formation, it seemed.

I'd call her the moment we land... I promised to myself, watching the fast-thickening cloud uneasily. I didn't like it one bit, especially when it was accompanied by a sudden turbulence... Whoa! The plane seemed to precipitate and skip forward before the engines cut through the air again a few moments later.

But all the cabin noises changed suddenly, as if the clouds surrounding the aircraft on the outside muffled and distorted its monotonous, soft, calming whir and hum which had been making me feel so sleepy.

I placed my glass on a narrow plastic table and put my hands on the back of the seat in the row in front of mine, grasping it so tightly that my knuckles went white and cold sweat dampened my forehead even as the red 'fasten your seatbelts' sign pinged above my head, shining brightly in the now completely dark and perfectly quiet cabin.

Looking around, just before my stomach dropped following the gravity's pull before the rest of my body again, I realised that all of a sudden I was the only passenger. And then we crashed. Well, I did, as the empty plane dissolved around me mid-fall.

I landed on my bottom but unharmed otherwise at the beginning of a seemingly endless row of baobab trees. Great, a crash landing in Madagascar was exactly what I needed now.

I searched my pockets for my phone, not finding it, even as I noticed a young blonde boy approaching me, shaking his head seriously. Dressed head to toe in green, the ends of a long, yellow scarf floating around him... he looked so familiar.

I gasped, suddenly realising that this was not Madagascar at all. It couldn't be, as I had been flying above the Pacific Ocean just moments ago. This was an... asteroid. My theory was confirmed when I stood up quickly and took two steps to the side, noticing how the ground curved under my feet, giving me an idea of how very small this place, B-612, was.

"I had been gone for such a short time and look what had happened!" The Little Prince complained, pointing to the weird trees as high as cathedrals, the moment he stopped in front of me. "I don't know how I'll get rid of them now..."

"Well, maybe I could help you somehow..." I offered, running a hand through my hair, still unable to believe who this little man was.

But he scattered my last doubts concerning his identity when he said, sighing deeply, "It's not just them. It's my Rose too... she seems to have grown many more thorns since I left her, and she won't even look at me now, or utter a single word..."

"I have problems with my Rose too," I said, realising that even I would be punished with a silent treatment upon my return, and hopefully it would be the only consequence of my silly, selfish and irresponsible action. His Rose at least could not run from him, she was rooted to this asteroid, waiting for his return...

The full realisation of what I had done to the only woman I loved by my running away from her when she needed me most, knocked the breath out of my lungs. She wasn't bound to forgive me and stay...

"You are sad." The Little Prince observed. "Have you offended your Rose as well? You know, you should apologize before it's too late."

"I will." I pledged, nodding gravely. "But let me talk to your Rose first. She needs to understand that you could only come back to her, because you had left. That you love her even more for the fact that she let you go when you felt overwhelmed and needed to be alone for a while."

"But will she listen to you?"

"She will."

"Great! And then I can come to speak to your Rose with you..." he offered, leading the way to a rose bush growing under a  glass bell, at the foot of one of the baobabs.

"No, little man. Thank you, but she might not forgive you if you ever leave her again... You mustn’t forget, we become responsible forever for what we’ve tamed. We are responsible for our Roses." The half forgotten quote spilled out of my mouth before I realised what I was saying.

But, apparently, those were the most fitting words, an invaluable piece of advice for both of us right now.

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This story was written for Imagine this... Writing workshop, prompt n. 11. Yes, I'm above the word count again... 😁