Faded Flower

 

“Choose!!” The Judges yelled as they slammed their gavels.

“Nooooo!!!” She screamed, falling to her knees and covering her ears.

“You're out of time!” One Judge hissed vehemently as several shadow creatures circled Lily whispering ‘whore’ and ‘heathen’.

“Please stop...stop...stop!!” Lily begged as she rocked back and forth on the floor.

Gabe and the blurred image were again presented before her, but it was her own reflection that caught her attention.

Her waist-length hair had been shaved, leaving only her gray scalp covered with stubble. A large gash, nearly three inches long sat above her right eyebrow, large sutures pinching it together. The whites surrounding her green eyes were stained bright red with blood. Her once porcelain skin was ashen and gaunt.

Screaming at her reflection, she fell into an unconscious heap on the floor, the Judges and shadow creatures laughed as she faded to black.

Sitting abruptly upright, Lily's heart pounded as she tried not to scream out loud and wake Gabe. Taking long, deep breaths, she wiped the sweat from her forehead. As she mopped her brow, she felt the spot on her head where she'd seen the gash in her dream and was relieved that nothing was there.

It seemed so real.

Sitting up on the mattress, she looked at Gabe sleeping peacefully. Lily smiled as she admired his handsome face. She felt so lucky to have found and married such a wonderful man.

Still feeling a little shaky from the dream, Lily needed some fresh air. Looking at the trap door, she realized that the mattress was covering half of it and she might wake up Gabe if she tried to move it.

The sun poured in through the garden door, inviting Lily to visit its rays out on the tiny deck. After slipping her wedding dress back on, she quietly retrieved the key to the door hidden atop the cupboards.

Slipping out into the sunshine and closing the door behind her, she took a deep breath of fresh morning air. Feeling the crisp, cool sensation permeate her lungs, she smiled contentedly.

Standing out on the little veranda, she remembered the day her and Gabe met. They'd somehow known they were meant to be together.

Looking down at the ground, Lily realized that it was quite the fall. It surprised her how far she’d fallen and still made it unscathed.

Leaning over, she took a good look at the distance to the ground. As her weight shifted onto the railing, she heard a strange noise from behind her, a grinding noise, like metal and wood pulling apart.

Carefully, she reached her hand out to turn the knob of the garden door. Her heart in her throat, she heard the entire deck groan as she attempted to move closer to the entrance. Glancing at the metal railing, she could see that the entire deck was being held by a couple of screws to rotted wood.

Tears streamed down her face as she tried to inch her way to the door. Shaking as she turned the knob and pulled open the door, she breathed a sigh of relief as she moved to enter the tree house.

That’s when the last portion of the deck suddenly separated from the old oak tree.

With a sickening sensation, Lily screamed as the deck lurched forward. Flung over the edge, she clamored to get a grip on the railing. Dangling precariously, she looked down at the ground to see how far she had to fall.

It doesn’t look too bad, she thought. If I fall just right, I should be okay.

Suddenly, the garden door flew wide open to reveal a terrified Gabe.

“Oh my God Lily!” He yelled. “Hold on, I'll climb down and catch you!!”

“Okay...okay...” She repeated, trying to calm herself. Gabe would save her, he always did.

 

~

 

Inside, Gabe crawled to the trap door, but struggled to move the mattress over far enough. Angrily, he pushed it as hard as he could and flung open the trap door.

Just as he got his feet onto the ladder to climb down, he heard a horrendous crashing noise followed by Lily screaming.

“NO!!!!” Gabe cried out, terror filling his heart.

Jumping down nearly eight feet, Gabe ran to the other side of the tree. Nothing could have prepared him for what he was about to see.

His beloved Lily had fallen nearly fifteen feet onto her back. One of the metal rods had impaled her chest and another had sliced open the right side of her head.

Falling to his knees, he wailed as his soul split in two. Crawling to her, he didn't know where to begin to help her. He couldn't pull the deck off of her; the rod that went through her chest was still attached.

Sobbing, he tried to speak to her.

“L...Lily? Baby? Can you hear me?” He cried as his blue eyes blurred with tears.

At first, there was no response. Then slowly, her eyes fluttered open.

“Gabe?” She replied weakly.

“Yes, sweetie, I'm here.” He said, stroking her hair.

“I'm sorry...so sorry...”

“For what?!” Gabe responded incredulously.

“For this...and...” she said through tears, her eyes darting at the scene surrounding her.

“Oh God, no! Don't...honey...don't blame yourself, it was an accident.” He said soothingly.

“...for making you quit your dream...priest...church.” Her words trailed off as her mind drifted.

“What!” Gabe sputtered, aghast that she'd think such a thing. “Baby, no. I would give up everything, anything...just for you. You are my dream!” He sobbed uncontrollably.

“Gabe?” She whispered. “What...what was it...you said to me? The day I fell...hit my head...tree house...?”

He'd asked himself that question so many times. How could he not recall the sweet voice of an angel whispering in his ear? How could he not remember the heavenly words of an ethereal being? It was as though his memory of the moment had been swept away by a wave of amnesia.

Just as he was about to answer her, to tell her he could not remember, her body went limp in his arms.

“Lily!” Gabe yelled.

 

~

 

Lily felt as though her body was sinking into the ground. She felt light, floating, as though her soul was separating from her skin.

Pulling herself back down, she whimpered. “Gabe…I don’t want to go…” Looking deeply into Gabe’s eyes and into his soul, she whispered, “Gabe…please don’t let me go…”

Closing her eyes, her breath became shallow.

Just so tired, she thought, just going to close my eyes for a moment. So tired. Just going to rest… Her eyelids were so heavy, so tired.

Lily’s once sparkling green eyes fell closed.

That’s when she heard the tearing noise, a deep ripping, like thick fabric torn at the seams. Opening her eyes to see what the noise was, she was shocked to see herself—standing over her body.

 

~

 

“Lily!” Gabe yelled, trying to wake her up.

Looking up at the sky, Gabe prayed with his whole being. “Please...please God, don't take her. Don't take my Lily, not now, not yet.”

He waited, desperate for the angels, to come just as they had done so long ago, to save her again. But the breeze remained still and the energy surrounding Gabe never changed—they weren't coming this time.

“Lily?” Gabe whispered to her, his lip quivered uncontrollably. “Lily, please don't leave me.”

The pain in his heart was unbearable.

The blood had completely saturated the top of her wedding dress. Her long caramel tresses were coated with thick mats of red.

A dense fog blanketed her aura, her energy no longer lit up her face. She didn't glow with that inner fire anymore. The beauty that was born into this body was gone.

Stroking her hair, Gabe held her lifeless body to his chest and whispered into her ear. “I won't let you go Lily...I won't let you go...don't go...don't go...”