LGBT+ Short Story Collection

Green and Gold

We ran up the hill as the sun reached its peak in the sky, finally rolling down in fits of laughter. I was dressed in a simple, green play dress, and Marigold in a matching yellow one. It was a beautiful spring day, a soft breeze rustling out braids and the sun creating a soft, warm glow across our faces. We loved it.

As the sun began to set, we found ourselves lying at the top of the hill, staring up through the leaves of an apple tree.

Randomly, Marigold turned towards me. "Hey, Jade?" she asked.

"Yes, Goldie?" I replied, "What is it?"

"We'll always be friends, right?"

I sat up, looking down at her. "Of course,"

"Promise?" she said, holding out her small pinky for me to take.

"Promise," I stated, grasping the pinky with my own.

I gazed down at the army in front of my palace, as the memory played in my head. It was one of the best ones at I shared with the leader of the fray out in front of me. I smiled, moving past our childhood years and into our preteen days.

I giggled, Marigold's hand wrapped around mine, leading me into the garden of her house.

"Where are you taking me, Mary?" I laughed out as we rounded the corner.

"You'll see," was all she said. When we got nearer to the edge of the garden, she covered my eyes with a cloth and told me to trust her.

After a few minutes, she stopped me and took the cloth off of my face. What I saw was beautiful. There were hoards of marigolds clumped around greenery that surrounded a small clearing. In the middle was a red and white checkered blanket with a small basket in the middle of it. A picnic in the middle of a gold and green garden.

"What's all this?" I asked, turning in a circle to get a good look at the whole place.

"Just a small birthday gift away from all the crazy people in your family. Do you like it?" she said. I turned to see her staring at the ground in apprehension. I ran at her and picked her up in a bear hug.

"I love it, Mary!" I yelled, spinning her around.

An hour later, we're lying on the blanket, looking up at the clouds. Most of the food had already been eaten.

"We'll be best friends forever, right?" I asked, turning my head to Marigold.

"Of course," she said, turning towards me.

"Promise?" I held out my pinky.

"Promise," and she hooked her pinky into mine, a smile stretching  across her face.

I exited the main room of the palace, battle armour adorning my body, a sword by my side. The best picnic I had ever had. As I walked out in front of my army, preparing a rallying speech, another memory made its way to the front of my mind: the one where we fell in love.

I laughed as I dragged Marigold through the servants' quarters of my palace, my right hand grasping the upper part of her left arm. I had a surprise planned for her and I was too excited to contain my happiness.

"We're almost there," I said to her, dodging a maid carrying laundry from the laundry room.

"Where are we going?" she asked, mimicking my motions.

"You'll see," was all I said.

We reached the destination a couple minutes later, a secret room off to the side of the palace that only we knew about. We called it our Secret Room, but today it was the Surprise Room. Normally, it had art supplies, toys, and books lying around, music coming from a stereo nearby. However, then, it looked different. All of the art, toys, and books were cleaned up, and the stereo was silent. The only new thing in the room was the guitar sitting in the center on a chair.

"What's this?" Marigold asked as I sat her down on a cushion in front of the guitar.

"A surprise," I stated simply, picking up the guitar and sitting down. I took a deep breath and began to play a little melody. Then, I sang. I sang of how much a loved her and how much she meant to me. Of how amazing she looked and how she sounded like the best love song in existence. I sang for her until she had tears in her eyes and I was choking back some myself. I sang until all that was left was the soothing melody of my guitar.

"Jade," she said, happy tears still streaming down her face, "That was beautiful." Then, she jumped up and smashed her lips onto mine, a little sloppy, but meaningful just the same. I kissed back as we sunk to the floor in a happy puddle.

"Do you promise that we'll be together forever?" she whispered lovingly to me, her pinky coming out towards me.

"Promise," I whispered back, my own pinky connecting with hers.

I stood with my arm raised as I faced the enemy army, my own poised at the ready. I stared at the general of the army, the familiar golden eyes boring into my own green ones, tears coming out of my emeralds. There were no tears coming out of hers, they had become hard throughout the years, and no longer held any of the warmth that I sang about in our Secret Room. I threw my arm down and my army advanced.

The fighting lasted for hours before we finally met up. She ran at me with her sword raised. I brought my own up to meet it, and we clashed. Our fight caused most of our troops to pause in their own fights and watch as she tried to slash through me and I tried to stay alive.

Neither of us won, the other's sword going through the other's body at the same time, the both of us dropping to the ground in unison. I watched as the spell that had been cast on her all those years ago began to fade away, the color coming back to her face and the light returning to her eyes.

"Hey, Goldie," I coughed out.

"Jade," she spluntered, blood running down her cheek, "Now we can be together forever, right?"

I nodded, relaxing into the blood-stained grass. The blood from our wounds was quickly soaking through her long blonde hair, not yet reaching my short brown locks.

"Do you promise?" she asked weakly, her pinky going out like all those many times.

"Promise," I said, curling mine around hers as the life left our eyes at the same time.