Between the Perennial Blooms || Paul Lahote

Fifty | Snowdrop

"And so she had lain on the earth, resting her entire body until she was absorbed by God."
—Clarice Lispector | 'The Book of Delights'

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Song Recommendation:
We Lose Sight of the Place We Once Longed For by A Cerulean State

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The first thing she noticed was the fire.

Big and bright, it writhed with tumultuous flames that seemed to sway back and forth as if intending to entice. It's heat engulfed her even from a few yards away and she could hear the crackling of the firewood as it hissed and popped at the base of the inferno. Meanwhile, above it, the columns of flame were grand, wild, untamable in a way she had never seen fire act before. For a second Bailey feared the bright mass of orange and red would burst forth and engulf everything in its path.

Then when she noticed the hundreds of ka'kanas dancing and howling as they circled around it tirelessly, she realized this was no normal fire.

Rather, this was something she had only ever dreamed of instead.

"I've been waiting for you," a familiar voice cooed from somewhere in the surrounding darkness. It seemed to grow closer with its next words and Bailey's heart — or what was left of it anyway — crumbled into a million tiny pieces at her feet. "I thought you'd never open your eyes you silly girl."

Spinning so abruptly on her heel that her neck jolted with an audible snap!, Bailey looked on with stinging eyes. She had always hoped and prayed she would experience this moment.

She just never imagined that it would turn out so bittersweet.

"No," she whispered under her breath, disbelief making her blood run cold. How could this be? Aloud, she answered her own question. "It can't..."

But alas, it was.

"Gran?" Bailey murmured shakily, unable to fully comprehend exactly what — or rather, who — was standing right before her very eyes.

In response, Edith Higganbotham only smiled wide and familiar. "Hello, darling. I've missed you."

"I-I-" Bailey choked on a sob. Her stomach plummeted to her feet and the ache in her chest became nearly palpable in its intensity as it pulsed and spread in tune with her heartbeat. "Gran," she cried out, her lower lip trembling so violently it nearly vibrated against her teeth. "Gran, I- I thought I'd never see you again!"

And as if to prove her words' validity, she dissolved into a subsequent fit of tears.

It had been so long since she'd felt her Gran's embrace, so long since she'd experienced that familiar wave of comfort envelop her from the very top of her head down to the very tips of her toes, yet as her weathered arms wrapped around her with that same strength they always had, Bailey felt like no time had passed at all. It was a familiar hug — one full of shared emotion and words neither one of them would dare say aloud. Finally, Bailey thought reverently. And though her Gran loved her, given the circumstances, she couldn't help but think the opposite.

"This shouldn't have happened so soon," her Gran murmured against her hair. She held her tightly as she cried and tried her hardest to soothe her, but Bailey was nearly inconsolable as she clutched to her middle like an infant does it's mother — the very same way she had clung to her all those years growing up. "I'd planned on waiting so many more years before we met again."