Tulip | Secrets of Earth | Book one

Chapter Two

Tulip walked out of the small, red-bricked building trying to keep her balance. It was like she was walking for the first time in her life. She starting hearing more soft whispers, but couldn't find their owners. Tulip gave up looking for the owners of the whispering quickly and started to walk along the worn, dirt path. She didn't want to be near the strange guard longer than she had to be.

The village was as exotic, new, and as unfamiliar as the guard had been. The buildings were small and made from wood. The roofing made from straw, hay, and dead grass. The people were all about the place going on with their daily chores. Mothers dragged their children along. They wore tattered dresses and worn bandanas. The boys and men wore pants and shirts that were just a shredded.

There was a slight buzz of excitement along with the ongoing unidentifiable whispers. Tulip kept hearing her name along with tales of history that Tulip wasn't familiar with. She walked by a thin lady, in a tattered dress and apron, talking and making a face at her, but she couldn't hear a thing over the whispers, that were starting to grow louder as she kept walking along the dirt road.

She kept going on until she found herself at the edge of the small, dusty village. There was a large meadow in front of her. Untamed. Full of plant life. Suddenly Tulip couldn't breathe. The sight was just too amazing. The meadow was wide and beautiful. With flowers everywhere, and a few trees here and there. The grass was very tall, as though it was untouched since it started to sprout from the ground. The whisper, however, seemed to grow louder from the meadow. But no one was in the meadow.

"That must be where they're coming from!" she gasped. But she was quieter than the others in the village. She took off running. leaving the dusty, little village and it's unheard noises of the dusty people behind. Her heart was racing. No, soaring. Tulip felt it in her head as if it were about to burst from her skull, but she kept running. The field had been calling for her. And no one else.

Tulip didn't feel tired after running some length of the giant meadow. She only stopped at the blurred sight of a wilting flower. She pitied it but didn't know why. She felt as if she had known she could have saved if she was there sooner. She kneeled down beside it. She touched one of the dying petals. There was a dim flash of green light. Tulip gasped and fell backward in shock. When she looked back the flower it was slowly perking back up. Becoming vividly blue.

"You are Tulip!" the flower whispered, "Don't let people get you down. Just listen to us. Listen to the history we tell. Listen, and over time learn to control your powers!" It was so brief and simple, the little speech the pretty, blue flower gave, but it was very convincing.

Tulip got up from the ground, dusted off her dress, and walked to the heart of the meadow. She sat down, using her hands to steady herself to the ground. She shut her eyes and focused. She started to listen.

"Who you were no longer matters!" many shreds of grass cried.

"Travel the world to listen to many and know the ways of Man like we do!" shouted a nearby tree.

"Focus on growing a flower of a tree, and after a lot of practice, you will grow things unimaginable, effortlessly!" a nearby dandelion chanted.

Tulip was stunned at the words that the plants spoke. After that, there was too much chatter to decipher. She stood. Looked at the meadow ahead. Looked down. She placed her hand out with her palm to the Earth and closed her eyes to concentrate.

She felt a tingle of excitement jump from her fingertips. When she opened her eyes and moved her hand to the side. There was a tulip where her hand had covered the ground. It gently blew in the wind.

"Good work, dear," it said in the most loving voice Tulip had ever heard, but of course it was the only loving voice she had ever heard. "I may look like a tulip, but I'm showing you who and what you are. Be proud of it. Now my voice, on the other hand, is that of your mother. Not your birth mother, but your creation mother. I am Mother Earth. Your father, Time. We will allow you to live for eternity." The flower seemed very confident and serious. Tulip was well aware that she was different once she found out plants talked to her. But she wasn't sure how it affected her over everyone else she had to see.

Tulip was a little excited. She looked to the sky full of white fluffy clouds. She wanted to impress her newly found mother and father by showing them how quickly she could adapt. She looked back at the ground, but away from the little flower. Tulip thought of a tree. She didn't know what kind of tree she was thinking of but she knew she liked it. She placed her hand out like she did when she grew the little, pink tulip. She kept hold of the tree in her mind. And before she knew it there was a little cherry tree with little, pink blossom already growing upon it.

Tulip smiled at her work. She liked the little blossoms upon it. They were bright and young as was she.

"Hello. I am a cherry tree. Aren't I lovely?"

Tulip giggled. She enjoyed being able to hear the plants. They were very kind and lovely. She decided to try and make the tree bigger and taller. And once again she placed her hand out and focused on the tree. Tulip enlarged it in her mind, and as she did the tree grew larger and taller just as she imagined it.

When she looked at the once little tree, she was even prouder. she was a quick learner and she was really happy with herself. She felt something brush at her feet. There were bright, little flowers that weren't there before.

"Plants must grow depending on my mood," she concluded. Without another thought, she took off running once more. She kept going and going. Even when the sun started to set, pulling it's beautiful rose-tipped fingers to the ground, she kept going. But then she stopped suddenly, catching the sight of the fading line roses. She marveled at the sunset. It was the most wonderful, the most beautiful, the most amazing thing she had witnessed that day. She fell to her knees and let out a sigh.

"This, my dear, is one of the many joys you will have to keep with you," said a little flower that grew next to her.

"I... I feel... I really don't know how I feel right now."

"You are amazed at the beauty of the sunset, since it is your first in your new life, my dear."

"Wow!" Tulip was too stunned at the sunset to find any other word to describe it. It was all she had to say. Other than that she smiled brightly. Her eyes glistened in the sun's setting rays. It was a beautiful sunset. Even when the sun's fingers turned darker from their rose color to a lovely lilac purple.

After she watched the most wonderful sunset she had ever witnessed, Tulip took off once again. It was a cold night. The cold felt wonderful. Tulip felt as if she was gliding more than running. She looked down and saw ice beneath her feet, not grass like earlier. She noticed her dress changed too. Even in the dark, it was a visible difference in the moonlight.

The dress she was wearing was blue with a white line. And it was shorter. But she was wearing pants too. They were also blue. But of a lighter shade.

She slid on the ice. She looked up to find that there was grass ahead not ice, but she kept sliding across going faster and faster.

She jumped. Spinning in the air. Landing on her feet and kept gliding on the ice.

"That was awesome!" Tulip Shouted. Skidding to a stop.

"It's only one of your many forms," A flower said just sprouting from within the earth.

Tulip smiled. Many forms? Wow, I must- no, I need to keep going. Maybe I'll get another form. She sprang into action and started to slide slowly trying to control her new ice skating form. But Tulip slipped and a wall of ice shot up in the air.

"Whoa! Did this form do that!"

"Yes, this form is Ice. You can control ice."

"Cool!" She laughed at her own pun. But the flower did not. It just vanished back into the earth.