Garden of Evil

Chapter Thirteen

*10 YEARS LATER*

So much has happened in the past ten years. I had my hyphen removed from my surname. Thats right. You can call me Magnolia Leichenberg. I realised that I didnt need to keep my maiden surname to remember who I am. That whenever I look at myself in the mirror, whenever I look into the eyes of the man I love, and whenever I spend time with my loved ones I know exactly who I am. The proud wife of Senecio Leichenberg and one of the top police detectives in this city. Oh yeah. You heard me. Shortly after Rosies funeral, the police department called me and told me that they had heard about my part in her case. Someone put in a good word for me and we all know who that could have been. The only person we know that has friends in the force. Cyprus Miller, you always had my back even when I didnt deserve it. They recruited me for training and before we knew it, I became one of their police detectives that got inducted into their Hall of Honour if thats what its called. I cant recall. I blacked out when I received the award and honour. A 49-year-old police detective that can run circles around these criminals isnt something you see every day. At least I get to come home to my loving husband who greets me every day as if its the first time. He has not only graduated top of his class from Harvard Law, but also became one of the name partners at a top law firm. Sandton, Pierce, Leichenberg Law Firm. Hes doing extremely well and being 51 years old hasnt slowed him down a bit. Hes got enough stamina to be a twenty-year-old again. Oh, and speaking of stamina, not to make it weird, but we had another baby. She is nine years old now. A student at Primary School and she knows the full story about what happened ten years ago. She reminds us of Rose every day with her wit, her intelligence, her wisdom beyond her years, and her respectfulness. We named her Alyssa Rose Leichenberg. We even have our former neighbour Katys daughter Laurel, who is 20 years old now, tutoring Alyssa as well. Laurel lives on campus, which is about twenty-five minutes from our home, so she tutors only on the weekends. It also is best to not interfere with her student schedule to help just on the weekends. Alyssa says that she loves hearing about what Rose was like. We dont talk about Poppy and Aster too often. She rarely asks about them as well. They are 16 years old now and despite the fact that we dont visit them often, the psychiatrist sends us a progress report every week. Telling us how they are doing, if they were involved in any fights, if they have been learning from their mistakes, and how their behaviour has been, etc. Of course, it would be separate reports because Poppy is in the womens prison and Aster is in the mens. Senecio looks heartbroken every time we have to talk about them or has to look at their progress reports. I share the same feeling because it all hurts the same. Even though they literally took away a sibling of theirs, we cant find it within ourselves to hate them because they are still our children. Keeping that in mind, it doesnt mean that we forgive them for what they did either. Ten years doesnt change that and from the progress reports, they havent exactly made any progress at all. Being a police detective, I can easily gain access to where they are and speak to them at any time, but they need to learn their lessons for taking my daughter away from me. Until they have fully learned from what they did and show signs of true improvement, they will never meet or even know that Alyssa exists. Thats all Im saying about that. They might be our children, but God forbid they lay a hand on another one of my children. I will kill them myself. Senecio would even help me bury the body. We made that agreement once Alyssa was born. Cyprus has been working at his book shop overtime every night. He managed to open four more book shops and they are all doing very successfully. Alyssa feels weird talking to Cyprus because she can see that he sees Rose when he looks at her. The same violet eyes as her mother, except the fact that she aahs her mothers blonde hair as well. Rose had her dads hair. So, when he looks at her, just as we all do, he sees a glimmer of Rose in her eyes. Even in her laugh. Her laugh is identical to Rosies. It breaks our hearts and is music to our ears simultaneously. Rose would have been proud to call Alyssa her sister. Laurel loves telling her stories about Rose and their adventures together at primary school. She even taught her how to chug half a litre of cooldrink and burp the entire alphabet as they used to. Which we do not appreciate but we love seeing them bond together as they have been. Even Laurel has said to us that sometimes when she is tutoring Alyssa, she forgets that it isnt Rose because of how similar they are. This morning Alyssa asked Senecio and I to take her to see Roses urn. We have a beautiful pergola built in the backyard with roses all over it. There are rose petals wrapped around the fence we built around the bottom of the pergola. We usually keep the gate locked and Roses urn in a large marble chest. We felt that she belonged in the garden amongst the flowers. That she might have been killed in a garden of evil but now she rests in a garden of love. Filled with all types of colours, scents, flowers, and feelings of serenity. With so much happiness and peace that you cant help but feel relaxed when you are out here. Until today, we never really took Alyssa to that area and showed her the urn. We felt that she was too young to understand, but just like her little sister, that little girl is wise beyond her years. For a nine-year-old, this girl negotiates almost as well as her father does in court. Yes, I have actually sat in on a few of his cases at court. Maybe one, or two, or twelve, who could tell? He dominated every single one of them. As we are walking in the garden, we both hold Alyssas hand as we go to unlock the gate. Its Roses resting place so we treat it with respect and love, as she always deserved. (Alyssa): The gates locked, mommy (Magnolia): I know, my baby I unlock the gate with my key as Alyssa was impatiently waiting. She walks in very slowly, and cautiously as she observes everything. Then she observes the chest. (Alyssa): Is my sister in there, daddy? We tell her that she is, and we just need to open the chest. We just kept it locked in this chest to keep her extra safe. Everything to keep her resting in peace means the world to us regardless of how crazy it might seem to the rest of the world. After opening the chest, which we havent done for years my body feels numb, and I suddenly feel a bit light-headed. (Senecio): Baby! Hey. Be careful. Hold onto me. Are you alright? (Magnolia): I think so. Its just (Senecio): I know We knew that the day would eventually come when Alyssa wanted to see her sisters urn. We just didnt think it would be this soon. I hold Roses urn in my hands and my heart aches so badly that I can feel it in every nerve and bone in my body. Then we sit together, the four of us on the bench underneath the pergola. Alyssa says that she wants to sit in the middle so we let her and then she asks if she can hold Roses urn. (Magnolia): Now be careful, my baby. It might not be breakable, but you wouldnt want to drop your big sister, my love. We want her to sleep peacefully, remember? Careful. Both hands. Here She holds the urn in her hands and is amazed by the marbled design. Her soul is even more impeccably magnificent than the urns design, if only Alyssa got to see that for herself. Poppy and Aster taking that away from her, from us, well never forget it. (Alyssa): WOW! Its pretty (Senecio): Say something to her, honey. She might not talk back but Im sure shes excited to hear about you Alyssa takes a deep breath, and you can see her close her eyes as to gather all her thoughts before speaking to Roses ashes. She wanted this moment to be perfect. Then she looks at the urn with the most excited facial expression ever. (Alyssa): Hello Rose! Im Alyssa! Im nine. Mommy and daddy say you are my sister. They say I look like you. Everybody does. I dont think so. I saw pictures. You are way more pretty. Oh! Im also at primary school. Daddy and mommy told me you loved school. I also love school! Its too easy! Senecio and I smile as she says that, looking at each other blissfully experiencing nostalgia every time our baby girl does things that her sister did when she was alive. Alyssa sits on Senecios lap as she carefully keeps Roses urn in her hands without dropping it. Rose always said that the work at school was too easy and that she never understood why the others hated it. (Alyssa): Mommy and daddy are here too. Say hi! (Senecio): Hi Rosie (Magnolia): Hello, my little girl (Alyssa): See? I told you! They are here! They miss you a lot. Like a lot. You should see where your magical urn is resting. Resting. Yes. You should see it She calls it a magical urn because of the way the marble pattern looks on the urn and the chest as well. We had shown her pictures in the past so thats when she started calling it magical. (Alyssa): Like, really. You must be in heaven because mommy and daddy built you one These are the moments we cherish. Even if you think its silly that we are watching our daughter have a conversation with her late half-sisters urn. Then you have never lost a loved one or know how badly you would wish you could speak to them, even though we have no idea if they can hear us or not. This is not a love story, but a story of life and death. Its a story about not taking any moments for granted and cherishing the time we have the ones we love.

THE END.