The Meadow

A Story by Ashley

This was inspired by the cover of Pride and Prejudice (The movie with Keira Knightly)

The grass scratched softly against her calves as she walked through the open meadow, her feet sinking in to the soft earth while she picked the flowers that had freshly bloomed. She didn’t have a basket or anything to place the flowers in, she just held them in her hands, relishing in their perfection and color. She breathed in the warm summer air, and basked in the warmth of the setting sun while she continued to pick her bouquet of flowers.

She felt something change when she picked a lone white rose in the midst of colorful daisies. Twirling the lonesome rose in between her index finger and thumb, she looked up towards the setting sun, now only a semi circle of orange against a purple and pink background. There was a black spot in the semi circle of orange, and it appeared to be getting closer to her.

Something inside her screamed to run toward the dark figure. She dropped the colorful daisies, clutched the rose and before she could control herself, began to run towards the setting sun and the dark figure. She felt free running in the open meadow. Little giggles escaped her lips while her skirt stuck to her legs, and her hair flowed behind her like a flag of blonde.

The closer she got to the figure, the happier she began to feel. It was almost as if the figure was exuding happiness into her. As she got closer, she also noticed something else, another reason she might start to feel happy. The figure began to resemble him.

She began to sprint harder towards the horizon as she realized who it was. Her face lit up and she started to yell, “Evan! Evan!” while her hands waved above her head. She couldn’t believe it. He had come back to her, and she was more then welcome to let him back in.

Soon, she was able to see his face clearly, and she couldn’t help but grin at him. Only, he didn’t grin back. Since she was now able to see his face, she noticed something unsettling about it. Maybe it was how his eyebrows were furrowed, or the way his fore head was creased in concentration, or maybe it was the way his lips moved to the words “I’m sorry.”

She immediately stopped in her tracks where she was, nearly tumbling over from how fast she had been sprinting just a second ago. He began to slowly move back into the setting sun, becoming more distant by the moment. Her hand clutched the white rose, her hands now feeling the effects of the thorns, while she attempted to hold back tears.

By the time the sun sunk behind the horizon, he had disappeared with it. She sunk to her knees, releasing her clutch on the white rose, while releasing a flow of tears. A lightning strike lit up the dark meadow, showing nothing but dead grass and one white rose with blood dripping from one of the petals. With a clap of thunder, she lay on the ground in a fetal position, numb as the rain hit her face.

She woke up in her bed, realizing that it was only a dream. Lightning cast shadows along the wall she was facing, and a loud clap of thunder soon passed, with the sound of rain pounding against her roof. She figured that was what had woken her up, and she sighed while reaching for the switch on her bedside lamp.

She turned on the lamp, and grabbed her glasses from the nightstand so she could see the alarm clock next to her. She didn’t notice the alarm clock at first though. Instead, she noticed the picture of Evan and her, when they had taken the trip to NYC. Instinctively she reached over to the cold, empty side of the bed, expecting him to be there to comfort her, to explain her bizarre dream about how he wouldn’t come back. Only there was one problem, he wasn’t there.

She clutched at the perfectly lined sheets from no one laying on them, and sunk her face into them, dying to smell his scent of soap and cinnamon, but that had been long washed away. She began to cry into the clutched piece of fabric, praying to God, asking why he had taken him from her so soon.