"Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I've tasted of desire. I hold with those who favor fire...She was gone. The girl I had loved was taken by the glowing orange flames that surrounded her. The way the fire danced around...
Maddy arrived in Clearwater over a week ago and since then she's made new friends, visited old memories, and found out secrets that might lead her to the truth, but she still hasn't visited the one person she wishes to see most.
After school she walked down the block past the old red two story building with the cold fall breeze blowing through her fresh newly dyed hair. She had a small brown bag over her shoulder filled with some crystals and a deck of tarot cards someone had given to her as a gift, along with a few strands of lavender and wisteria flowers she picked from a nearby garden on her way there.
She knew the girl she was visiting hated when people bought her flowers but since Maddy didn't buy them she knew it would be fine, plus lavender is too pretty not to be picked. After a short walk she arrived at a place she never thought she would be. She placed her hand in her bag reaching for her cards as she walked through a creaky rusted black gate into a garden of stones as she read the sign above, Clearwater Cemetery.
She walked along the rows and rows of crosses and gravestones as she imagined all the bones that were under every step she took, and all the lives they had lived. Maddy walked to the back of the cemetery not knowing that what she would see would shatter her.
In a more secluded area of the graveyard was an old tree with a single grey stone under it. She walked towards the tree stepping on the fallen leaves sounding like lightly crumpled pieces of paper as they crackled and crinkled, into dust. The tree was surrounded by others but this one was unique. It towers over the girl standing under it six or seven times her height. The trunk is coarse, like the lines and wrinkles on an old woman's face. She ran her hands along the bark, feeling the flaky uneven texture of this old oak until her fingertips met the wet dewy grass surrounding the tree.
She sat down in front of the tombstone reading the name she never thought she would read on stone in her lifetime. She tore her eyes away and noticed the wild strawberry bushes in the background. Such sweet things in such a sour place. Tears dripped down the girl's face as she remembered who was six feet below her. After a while of letting out cries she calmed down as she sat in silence listening to the green and yellow September leaves blowing on the oaks arms above her.
As much as Maddy knew the girl she once knew would never come back , she wished when she looked over her shoulder she would see her ghost standing there. And just for a second she thought she heard the sound of a twig snap, but when she did turn around she knew it was too good to be true.
She took out the blue and white painted cards and placed them gently on the dead leaves in front of her as she pulled out some of her crystals to leave for the girl she loved. The girl placed her labradorite, tiger's eye and carnelian stones on the soil under Scarlett's name.
Maddy being the history and crystal enthusiast she is, knew that since ancient times putting tigers eye and carnelian in someone's resting place would protect loved ones in the afterlife with a magic armor for when it was time to face the unknown. And although Scar might not have believed in the spiritual world it gave the girl placing them there a little peace of mind.
She closed her eyes, kissing her hand and placing it over the scripture on the grave while she let out the last tear her eyes could give. Following the tear she picked up her deck and got lost in memories of her and the girl beneath her while shuffling the cards.
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She placed three cards on the ground and before flipping them over to reveal her fate she took a deep breath. The first card she flipped over was The Tower card representing the past. The card had a huge pine tree with lightning striking it down which indicates a sudden change. Makes sense considering Maddy's whole world broke down and crumbled like the tower.
The second card the girl flipped was The Fool card. A pretty straightforward one, making Maddy question what she was being fooled by or who. Are the hints to Scarlett's murder right in front of her eyes, or was she being foolish enough to not see what happened through her perfect girlfriends mind?
Maddy placed her hand on the last card and took a deep inhale because she knew this card represents what the future holds, and that scared her. Death. The last card she turned over was the Death card. To Maddy, death already happened , and too much of it. While staring at the grim figure on the card she held gently in her hand. A new thought of death came to her mind. Not the death of her girlfriend or her relationship, but her own.
The girl under the towering twin old oak trees wouldn't admit it but ever since Scarlett "killed herself", she was thinking about following in her footsteps. Although at moments she wanted to, she was afraid of actually going through with it. So the girl under the tree got lost in her thoughts as she envisioned herself swinging from the long branch above her head, swaying through the September wind, she loved so much.
She always loved green
loved the colour of nature, of life.
She grew to love that colour too
watching her brush her fingers
through the grass
pluck sour strawberries
from their stems.
Now her tears glint in the sunlight
as the green trees begin to glow.
They both lie here at this tree
except she's ten feet below.
_______
Author's Note:
This one is really short and really sad when you realize why it says 10 feet below instead of 6:(
