Authors note: I understand that I haven't written in a long time. A very long time. (I think.) No, I'm not dead. Just having a distinct lack of time to actually think about writing. That's what the pressures of your final year at school and deciding what you want to do with your life can do to you I guess.

I wrote this a while ago, and it is very short, a lot shorter than I'd like. And it's kind of personal to me, and how I was feeling at the time. It's mainly symbolic, so I'd like to think of it as being something you have to read more than once. But yeah. I'm not sure if I even have people that read my work on here anymore. Oh well.

Enjoy.

The Flower Field

Time stopped moving the night the world fell apart. The days that followed becoming a continuous cycle of lights and darks. Yet the universe continued to move, holding on tightly with clenched fists that bled, refusing to accept this tragic fall.

We spent the day in the open flower fields, alone and away from the rest of the world. But we knew somewhere there were figures of people close by, still swaying to the monotone rhythm only they could hear; like ghosts unaware of their own decease.

A twisted innocence enveloped us as we played like young children- shrieking like wild dogs. We walked hand in hand below a bleeding sky, leaving a trail of death and decay behind each tender step. Two dark souls in search of redemption. We bent down and plucked the roses from the sodden earth. Taking in their sweet aromas, and weeping our last hopes into the petals. Standing silently behind, I saw you cast your flower into the river, and watched as it floated away from us along the surface of the water.

Warm crimson filled my hands as I clasped tightly at the stem of my own crumpled rose. I was blind and death as the silver streaks ran down your face, overwhelmed only by the pleasant smells of the field. In our moment of serenity, you said, "Time is an eternal wound."

Rain clouds gathered and huddled together, bleeding down onto the earth like falling hearts and washing away our fears. I thought I could see it, captured in the dark pools of your eyes. You were no longer afraid.

I kissed you under the shelter of a nearby tree. Damp locks of tangled hair stuck to your face and perfection never looked so clear as I tried to make sense of this haunting. Together, we waited until the shower had passed as the sun crashed down, leaving a dark sky of glowing stars. The bitter smell of loss and despair rising from your oblivious body. The wilderness sang in a choir of horror and romance, like a crowd of burning children in a playground.

With sudden anger you grabbed at me and pried open my eyes. The moon illuminated the earth with a dull glow and we stared at each other with open eyelids. Behind your fragile body lingered a group of faceless spirits. They danced with elegance and brutality, peering at us through empty eyes as they cried your inner tears. Their pale bodies exposed to the tranquillity and violence. I stared at them in awe, amazed that I had never noticed them before, realising that they had been there all along. Lingering behind your weakening body. Lying in wait until the time came when they could grab at you in the darkness.

The ground fell apart, and the gap between us was much greater than I ever imagined. Birds flew overhead in search for a better world. The field was set alight in a burning fury. Flowers turning to ash as the flames grasped at them with outstretched arms. Crushing their beauty.

Through the smoke the spirits danced around you. Their naked forms blistered and the smell of burning flesh was nauseating. Curious, you followed them, disappearing through the flames and the smoke, unaware of the destruction you caused.

The heat became a suffocating blanket that surrounded me. In the distance desperate cries filled the air. The beautiful flower field became a war ground filled with the corpses of the ashen plants. I set out in search for you, ignorant to the reality that the pendulum had already ceased swinging.

I ran through a yard of stone slabs. Each one covered in moss, the engraved lettering just a mixture of bumps and meaningless dates. The wind changed direction, sending a chilling shiver down my spine. Realising I couldn't do this alone, I continued, walking in circles for an eternity until I eventually found you sat under a tree.

Desperate, we ran back to the yard and stopped at the sight of untouched grass. Together we gathered any unscathed flowers, and sat silent and uncomfortable as I set the stone into the ground. I carved letters into the stone, unaware it was your name that I was writing, and turned to watch, as you became a transparent creature evanescent before me.

Rain clouds crashed together once more, and cried down onto the earth. The horror was washed away, and I moved back to familiar grounds. The spirits were still and silent at the entrance of the flower field. They stood with bowed heads and scorched hair that dripped crimson into the soil. Their bodies now frail and disfigured with scolds and tears on their naked flesh.

The field was a blackened gaping wound, and in the middle of the ash and mud lay a naked corpse. My heart jolted for a moment, the fear now becoming a reality. The spirits only remained stood still, even though I longed for their ritual dances of beauty and terror. I stayed in that moment for a long time. Unable to leave the field, until the sky began to clear so I could see your naked form properly.

In all the deafening silence I could see the smile fixed upon your blue dead lips. And through bleeding fingers you held a drowned rose in a tightly clenched fist.