Ageless

April

Soon enough, the first day of spring arrived. It was late in the evening when she had first heard it.

Walking through the garden, the whisper of trees spoke her name. The roses shed dew drops like tears for their wilted cousin. The gardeners had missed one.

She plucked it from the garden, a sword of thorn pricked her thumb as she did. She held the lifeless bud in her palm and smiled, "your fight is over."

"But yours isn't." Death replied.

Lilly had been too tired to deny the fact that she was hallucinating. Her eyes must deceive her, but for a glimpse she could swear she saw a hint of red within the withered, brown, sheets of the rose.

"My time will come soon enough, old Rose." Said the Lilly.

"Not without him." Said the rose.

"What do you mean not without him?" Her eyebrow arose into a look of curiosity and disbelief.

The Rose whispered, "time is a delicate thing, most people don't get enough of it. You are kind, and full of love. Die within the arms of he whom you love, or don't die at all. Just as I shall die in the palm of she who loved me, instead of at the blade of a hedge trimmer."

Lilly felt bad for the rose. The red she thought she had seen soon faded to brown while the rose crumbled away to grey ash. The whisper of the trees carried it away.

"A beautiful death," Lilly said to herself, "the Rose is right."

•••

The next morning she was awake early with wide eyes. The morning was sunny and bright, full of promise. Come the evening, she would be placed on a train back to London.

She got up a she would on any average day. She pulled her hair up into a duchess bun with whisps of bangs swept sideways above her eyes.

Breakfast was simple, only being eggs and toast. The chef had insisted on eating more for the journey, but Lilly's stomach was preoccupied with the nervousness of seeing Wesley. She wondered how she would be judged and stared at her own eyes in the mirror. 

She had grown to be beautiful, the heir to her family fortune. She dresses herself in red, the same shade she had been wearing the day she met him.

Her confidence soon changed.

Lilly found herself pacing the halls of her grand estate, the maids following close behind.

"Miss Lilly," one said, "miss Lilly? Are you feeling alright?"

"Miss, I need to tighten the ribbons on the back of your gown, please stop pacing." Another exclaimed.

"Miss Lilly, the Master says to stop pacing," the blonde maid huffed following her, "he said you're creating a draft."

Her dear friend, the butler, appeared and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Miss.." he spoke. His voice was broken and older, but proper.

She stopped and looked up to his head of white hair.

"That red gown is too formal for a clock repair shop."

She stared blankly for a moment then looked down at the satin waves of fabric that fell from a tight waist.

"Oh.." she mumbled, "thank you Arthur."

Lilly walked back towards her bedroom and chose a different red dress, one that was more suitable for travel. She placed a black sun hat about her head and gave another trial of judgement with the mirror.

This was better.

She sighed and decided to take a walk into the garden once more before she left. It was brighter outside than she had thought. Every rose was of deep red whilst every tree blue in the wind. The white Lilly's in the pond stood out against the dark waters without wilt.

The sea of grass had been cut that morning so that it would not wave while the old white swing still dropped down from the great oak.

She took her seat and stared up at the clear skies which filled her mind with promise.

"I'll be in his arms soon. I can make him happy again." She breathed softly and let the spring air calm her nerves.

"I'm sure Mr. Copper is better off in the heavens than a dirty clock repair shop anyways.. I just hope I can get Wesley to see it that way. Maybe I'll get him to come back with me."

Or maybe you'll end up staying there with him.. Her subconscious whispered.