Finding my Wings

~6

        “Oh my god is this real? Like really, really real?!”

        Inside the mansion had been a repeating rendition of the luxury that was obvious with every nook and cranny of each room. But a certain pair of sliding glass doors opened up to a certain backyard that wasn’t just a backyard but a masterpiece of a garden. It was like I was Alice and this was the wonderland I’d stumbled into. I didn’t belong here, but I couldn’t not love it.

        Hedges lined the stone paths wrapping around a trickling water fountain. Beautiful flowers bloomed in neat, organized chaos next to the green lushness of the finely trimmed grass. I couldn’t resist touching every bud, every petal, and every curve of the fountain. It was all so beautiful, so much so I would never be able to take it all in, never in a hundred years.

        I’d forgotten about Tristan lingering under the shade the nearby tree that reached its highest boughs to the blue sky. He was like an aristocrat enjoying the beautiful summer day. I let myself for a moment imagine what it would be like to touch his slightly exposed collar bone. He was truly a god descended from the heavens to torment me with his appealing but suspicious behavior.

        “Do you like it?” he finally asked. It was then I’d noticed he’d been looking at me in much the same way I’d been at him. I looked back down to the perfect tulip bud nestled in my fingers before answering.

        “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” That was so incredibly true at this moment.

        “There’s more to it. Would you like to see?” He smiled devilishly. I nodded without thinking and followed him making his way along the stone paths and stopping in front of an ornate, but elegantly small gate. He rested his hand on it and pushed it open.

        “Oh. Oh wow.”

        Roses. This place was filled with the beautiful scent of roses. They bloomed in large bushes, along the wooden posts, and reaching high on trellises to create a natural canopy above a simple dining set. Roses of every color, every shape and size. I could feel the unwanted presence of tears in my eyes.

        “I can’t…this is…wow.” My feet moved hesitantly forward. With every step, the scent enveloped me more. I felt like I could wrap into it and drift into soft folds of the delicately curved petals. My eye fell on one in particular. A perfect red beauty that poked it’s head out as if to greet me.

        I could only feel like a piece of floating trash that just so happened to fall into this world so unlike that I’d become a part of.