Authors Note: This is the result of a try-out due to a Spring/Easter challenge on another forum. Note: this won't be a happy story.
The usual disclaimer: the team is not mine but Pebblehut/Pax' . But I do enjoy 'borrowing' them for my personal satisfaction.
Spring's Revelations
oOo
It had started so wonderful, sparkling. As if winters' cold covering had retreated finally, the first cautious rays of the sun boldly warmed the barren soil and invited the crocus to raise their soft purple and yellow heads.
It had been as precious as a snow drop in early January, as rare as an edelweiss, only to be plucked after a long journey, over slippery paths, along the edges of looming cliffs, carefully trotting through treacherous passes. Always bearing in mind the result would be worth all the suffering, the sacrifices, the agony.
He realized he had never finished his journey. He had taken the first few steps but to reasons now clear to him he never proceeded. He never had the guts to go on. He never went further up the mountain, never explored new passes, never experiencing the breathtaking panorama of a new blossoming valley at his feet again.
oOo
Now he knew he had been a fool not to go on. The journey would have brightened his existence, light up his heart. It would have poised his soul, it would have given him access to unequaled wisdom.
Every time Nature started blossoming again after the hard preceding months, the gray disconsolateness of the barren trees, all life sheltered shying away from winters' cold breath, every time the sun regained strength, the days started to lengthen. Every time he was reminded of his foolishness.
It was as if all the flowers, birds, beginning leafs were all telling him what he only realized until it was too late. How he, through remaining were he stood and not continue the journey started, lost the chance to get something so pure, rare and genuine. Not to mention downright beautiful.
He had let others get ahead of him, stealing away the precious gift he had wished to have. He not realized he could have had if only he had gone further. Why he shied away, took the decision to halt half-way had always hunted him as a mystery. He labeled it cowardliness, fear of the unknown, the anxiety of loosing the sole reason why he had commenced his journey whenever he took the wrong path, or slipped on the gravel slopes.
Only to discover that he actually lost when his feet weren't moving at all.
oOo
It was thrown in his face when the mailman delivered the sealed white envelope with it's distinct gray lining. Once it had presented itself in his mailbox it became clear he never would have the chance to change the course of fate anymore.
The moment he open the envelope to read the card hidden, his world fell apart. His breath stopped and his mind numbed. The simple words stated in the simple dark shade, the agony it portrayed through it's simple grammar, screamed into his face he had been a fool. A fool to abandon her, to let someone else take her. He laid the card on the table and his head sank into his hands and he wept. Crying tears of loss, of unfulfilled endearment. Tears of realization he had missed his chance to be happy with her.
oOo
Never again her smile will warm her surroundings
Never again her voice will reach out to touch our mind
Never again will we be moved by the beauty of her hands
Never again her kindness will fill our hearts
Never again
--
In Loving Memory of Susan Thomas
oOo
Note: About the envelope: that's probably a Dutch thing. I don't know how this is in the US, but in the Netherlands notifications of death are always send in a cream-white envelope with fine gray lining. These letters have priority within the Royal Mail: they're easy to recognize and receive special care.
Whenever one of those envelopes is in your mailbox: you know someone is no longer amongst us.
oOo
To Be Continued...