Red; love and passion. Orange; warmth and confidence. Yellow; friendship and new beginnings. Green; health and life. Blue; peace. Purple; royalty. Lavender; grace. Pink; happiness and gentility. White; innocence and purity.
He had loved the forest ever since he was small. He visited every single day on the way home from school with his beloved Mother. Now at the age of 16, he was no different, although he now came alone.
He loved nothing more than watching the dazzling sun rise through the curtain of trees every morning before school. Then watching the array of colours dance across the sky in the evening. He was simply amazed by it all.
Today was no different. He had awoken this morning and made his way straight to the forest after doing his usual morning routine. His favourite spot was deserted like always; the open field with flowers in every colour imaginable. He sat cross-legged in amongst a patch filled with blue and pink flowers and quickly crafted himself a crown. The thoughts of his upcoming day diminished into nothing but daydreams as his fingers wove quickly.
~
He sat in the same spot as this morning, a crown no longer resting on his thick wavy hair. Instead it lay in pieces on the school courtyard ground, where it was grabbed and shredded almost instantly. The boys at school always had a problem with his flowercrowns, but to this day he still had no idea why. His Mother used to tell him it was because they were jealous; as a child, of course he always believed her, but now, he wondered if that was ever truly the reason.
As he sat pondering, he felt a drip on the back of his hand. Still deep in thought, he didn't notice at first, however the lone drip soon turned into a stream flowing over his hand and onto the grass below. Strange, he thought, it wasn't raining anywhere else in the field. Only then did he glance down to see that what he thought were raindrops were in fact droplets of blood. Oh. Strangely, the blood didn’t bother him. He figured its presence was due to the fist that collided with his face just a short while ago. The same fist that ripped his crown to shreds. The same fist that did this every single Friday. And as usual, he didn’t fight back. He had learned the hard way that you should never retaliate, it just made them angrier. His mother always taught him that violence was never the answer. She was always right in his mind. The blood soon stopped; it never lasted longer than 5 minutes anyway. The boys had a special technique that meant their hits never left a visible mark. They didn’t want to be found out. They needn’t worry.
He never had to hide his wounds from anyone; there was no one, not anymore. You see, he was a nobody. No one ever paid attention to him, they barely knew he was there half the time. He had no friends in school and well, his teachers thought of him as a lost cause. He didn’t have friends whatsoever. In fact, any time he wasn’t in school he could be found in his current position; sat alone amongst the rainbow of flowers, quietly crafting crowns for himself.
~
The familiar slim figure waltzed in and out of the trees in the distance, slowly getting closer. He was in utter disbelief. How was this even possible? His eyes never left her as she elegantly glided past him, her long blonde locks trailing in the breeze behind her. On her head a flowercrown made by blue, lavender, pink and white flowers all intertwined together. Mum.
He shivered.
She disappeared in between two trees. Instinctively, he sprinted after her small frame, never quite catching up. It was as if she were a ghost. That couldn't be true, he thought, ghosts aren't real. He continued to persue her figure, dipping and diving under branches, his eyes always keeping contact with her back.
Suddenly she stopped right in front of the lake. Her back still faced him, although he knew for sure it was her. Her naturally platinum blonde hair falling just shy of her shoulderblades, the familiar white lace dress they buried her in flowing to her knees. There was a slight white haze surrounding her, making her look like an angel, although she already was in his eyes.
Leaves crunched under his feet as he slowly edged towards her; both pairs of piercing green eyes meeting as she turned.
When he was within reaching distance he extended his hand towards her, wanting to feel her touch; his fingers falling straight through the ghostly glow of her own. As if by magic she slowly began to fade, starting from the ends of her limbs until only the outline of her lips were left. They mouthed one final thing before she completely disappeared.
“I love you.”
He awoke with a start, back in the field, blood smeared down both of his arms.
That’s when he finally broke. He pulled his knees to his chest, burying his head in the small space and sobbing violently. His words were barely audible through the cries.
“I miss you.”
