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Exactly fifty-two thousand miles of imagination away, on the tippy-top of the grassiest little hill in all of existence, there sprouted an ambitious little flower. She had a graceful, green stem that glistened with morning dew and four long wavy leafs for arms. Her pinwheel-shaped petals of purple-ish pink floated in the breeze like the ripples of a river. She tasted the fresh air with her pollen-covered tongue and inhaled a large helping of Springtime at its peak. The wind seemed to be playing a soft song as it blew melodies over and around her grassy little knoll. "What a beautiful home I've grown into!" she at last declared. 2
“That’s what you think.” snarled a nearby strand of grass. 3
“What do you mean?” she asked, “Everything’s so peaceful and pretty. There’s not a cloud in the sky and the color green stretches off into the distance as far as the eye can see.” 4
“There, you just said it yourself.” 5
“Said what?” 6
“This hilltop is beautiful because of all of us matching, green strands of grass.” 7
“Of course it is. I still don’t understand what you’re trying to say.” 8
“Listen here Missy… you may think that you’re sitting atop the place where rainbows come and touch the ground, but to everyone else you’re the sore thumb that’s going to keep that from happening.” 9
“Really?” she pondered in disbelief, “Why?” 10
“Just look at you.” the grass said, “You’re not like us. Just wait ‘til everybody wa— Oh… uh oh. Now you’ve done it!” 11
“Who is she?” another strand of grass from the other side of The Flower piped in, “Or should I say, 'What is she?'” 12
“I’m…” 13
“She’s nobody” the first grass said interrupting her. “And she doesn’t know anything about anything.” 14
“Well she looks like she’s doing it on purpose.” 15
“I think so too.” chimed in another strand of grass from further off, “Somebody tell her she’s doing it all wrong!” 16
“Oh gross!” began yet another strand of grass amidst the crowd, “Somebody get her out of here!” 17
The arguing grew louder as more and more strands of grass woke from their slumbers and discovered her threatening presence. She held her leaves up to the side of her head and tried not to listen to what they were saying about her. 18
“What does she think she’s doing here? Doesn’t she know she’s not normal?” 19
“She probably thinks she’s so lucky to have sprouted up right in the middle of our perfect little hill.” 20
“Oh the nerve! And she’s just so ugly…. it’s ruining everything!” 21
The wind began blowing fiercely past The Flower and all of her pride seemed to have bottled up into the pit of her stomach. “Ok!” she screamed, “I think I have an idea that will make everybody happy again….” 22
She plucked a petal out of the top of her head. It hurt. She felt a sharp stinging sensation burning in the spot where she had pulled it from. She looked it over slowly and finally said goodbye to her misbegotten curse of abnormality. She released her grip and the wind whipped it up and away…. never to be seen again. She did it again with the next petal, and then again and again until she was just a leafy stem with a pollen covered tip. 23
“Keep going” the strands of grass seemed to all say at once. 24
And she rubbed her hands over her face until it also fell away into the wind to never be seen again. Then one by one she ripped off her arms at the socket and watched as they waved their goodbyes to her as they swiftly disappeared into the sky above. 25
She was now nothing but a skinny green stem. The grass had won and she was now one of them. 26
“Finally” one of the strands of grass sighed. 27
“Welcome to our lovely group” said another. 28
Smiles of acceptance splashed around her but she remained silent. She felt different, like she had betrayed herself. She felt cold and tired (and not to mention sore). She did not feel like talking to any of them. She had been beaten. 29
Along with the strong wind, looming rain clouds had swarmed overhead. A light sprinkle quickly graduated to a hard downpour. The Flower looked around and decided that nobody could tell anyway…. so she began sobbing. She cried tiny little teardrops that slid down her stem as brisk raindrops mixed in and disguised them as rain. The day slowly bounded on as the rain kept spilling down. She cried and cried until she cried herself to sleep. 30
The next morning came as quite a shock to The Flower. There was an outline of a ruffled shape eclipsing the rising sun in front of her. She blinked her drowsy eyes and winced a little until finally it became clear. A double-pentagram of perforated pale blue petals shimmered in the morning mist. A new flower had grown not even a whole two feet away from her overnight. It had four fluffy leafs for arms and a stout but sturdy green stem that held its head up with prestige. 31
“Wow!” she remarked as her jaw dropped in admiration, “Your petals are really gorgeous.” 32
“Thanks!” he said, and he flipped his head around in a circle so that the sun shone through between them making a strobe light effect. 33
“Oh no not again!” shouted out one of the nearby strands of grass. 34
“I thought we had this taken care of” added another one. 35
A very loud and VERY angry strand of grass cleared its throat and began lecturing, “Listen you, F l o w e r, you… we don’t have room for your type ‘round here. This particular hill is strictly reserved for only the cream of the crop. You’ll have to accommodate or move out. We simply will NOT settle for anything less than utter perfec—” 36
The New Flower stretched his leaf over towards the loud strand of grass and took a quick and firm hold of its throat. “That’s enough out of you!” he barked. “And that goes for all of you! If anybody else has a problem with me being here, speak now and I’ll be more than happy to come and squeeze it out of your scrawny little necks!” 37
The strands of grass were all dumbfounded and speechless. They took turns glancing back and forth to each other waiting to see if anybody had enough guts to try anything with The New Flower. 38
A few minutes of silence passed and he returned his attention to the stem that had once been a flower like him. “I’m sorry about that, but those guys have no right to dictate who’s allowed to grow here or what they are and aren’t allowed to look like. Freedom is more than just a make-believe story about magical creatures and fantastical situations.” 39
Her eyes sparkled with tears of happiness. She searched deep within herself for just the right words to say, but only more tears came. She wanted to reach over and hug him and tell him that he was beautiful but he beat her to the punch. He wiped his leaf beneath her eyes and the tears vanished as if by magic. He spoke gently as his eyes fixated on hers, “Thank you for seeing the beauty in something nobody wanted around. Even if just for that single moment, you showed me more truth and respect than any of those other strands of grass have probably ever even dreamed about being able to possess. Thank you. Thank you.” 40
She looked down at her slender stem and frowned at yesterday’s loss. The New Flower lifted her chin and a sudden smile overcame her despair. She looked into his eyes and thought of how amazingly beautiful he was. She opened her mouth to try once more to find the right words to tell him how she felt, but she was too slow. 41
“You’re so beautiful.” he exclaimed, “I almost can’t bear to be in your presence because I feel so insignificant in comparison.” 42
“Me? Beautiful?” she wondered, “Are you sure it’s me you’re looking at? I haven’t even got any petals left for you to admire. I’m just a long, thin, green stem… just like everybody else.” 43
“No, no, no…” The New Flower started to explain, “You’re not fake like everybody else. You’re not cold-hearted like everybody else. In fact, you’re probably everything everybody else isn’t… and that’s beautiful!” 44
“I… I…” she was lost for words again, but this time jumped on her chance to make up for it. She bit her bottom lip then smiled as she spoke, “Well in that case, you’re more beautiful than I’ve ever known possible for beauty to ever be.” 45
He smirked and playfully joined in, “Well, you’re still more beautiful than I could ever be!” and he stuck his tongue out at her. 46
“No way, I’m eons behind your beauty. It would take me a thousand eternities to catch up with you.” 47
“Well it’d take a million for me to catch up with you!” 48
“A billion!” 49
And he leaned over and kissed her cheek. 50
It started to rain again, lightly this time. Each drop felt as though an old feeling of worry or pain had just washed away into oblivion as it struck the ground around them. She and The New Flower embraced each other as the night teetered closer. One became the other’s pillow and they both slept the soundest sleep that they had ever before fallen into. 51
Daylight delivered like a rejuvenating melody. She stretched her body and yawned in a giant breath of dewy morning air. The New Flower was still waking. She watched as his eyes slowly widened and focused in on her. She watched them grow to the normal size and then begin to grow exceedingly large. She noticed his mouth hanging open in amazement and asked, “What? What’s wrong?” 52
“You, you, you, you, you have petals!” he stuttered. 53
“Huh?” she thought out loud. The Flower reached her leaves up to the top of her head and felt the long, silky, pinwheel petals adorning her once again. She gasped, “My leaves! And my pollen! And my petals! They all grew back overnight!” 54
“Wow!” The New Flower said, with his mouth still hanging open. 55
“I can’t believe it!” The Flower replied, “I had a dream last night that I could somehow be able to hold you and kiss you and show you all of the beauty you’ve shown me… and I think it’s coming true already!” 56
And she leaned over and kissed his cheek, then wrapped her leaves around his head and kissed him hard on the lips. “I think I figured out the answer to our debate last night…” she said with a smile as soon as she had to pull away for air. 57
“Oh really?” he smiled back, “What’s the big revelation?” 58
“We are beautiful.”59
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Author notes
—1,820 words
—Fantasy/Romance
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Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Wow this is very interesting. Thank you for entering my contest and I wish you the best of luck within it.
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BM'ed
WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU DELETE THIS YOU IDGIT!! THIS WAS FRIGGEN AWESOME! Uhg, that made my night. You need to write a book of short stories. I still got those chills...
Greg... You are the best writer I know. If you think anyone surpasses you at any of this?? Then I'll leave AP. I'm serious... You... This... I... YOU ROCK!
Book MARKED. -
awww how sweet and truly cheesy....I loved it.
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wow just wow.
first of all, I LOVE the opening line. It's great. Secondly, I love the whole message of being true to yourself and seeing the beauty within people.
amazing as always. -
ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! its beautiful.. the significance to this story is soo heart touching.. I love the connection you made it with the flowers and grass it is soo creative!!!
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