//------------------------------// // Last Breath at Eternity's Gate // Story: Tending to the Heart's Forgotten Garden // by Botched Lobotomy //------------------------------// Hey, it’s been a while. I think this is going to be my last diary entry. When Sunset suggested it, I needed this. A few years later, I didn’t need it any longer. It feels strange to be thanking a book, but...thanks. Whether it’s the paper I’m writing on I’m thanking, or the Wallflower in the future (I hope it’s you, I’d probably die of embarrassment if anyone else was reading this): thanks for being patient with me. But I think it’s time for change. The school was just what I expected. As in, I expected it to be completely different, and it was. It’s not even a school anymore, just a building, a big, empty building that the sign in front says they’re trying to turn into a sports centre. Well, I left some money in the donation box, and went round to check it out. The whole thing’s overgrown, of course. The only reason it wasn’t when I found it first, the only reason I made a garden there at all, was because the stone was there. Its magic kept the woodland clear, and now, without it... Well, I found it, that’s what matters. They’re going to have a hell of a job turning the place into anything. The whole building’s covered with ivy (oops), and it’s spread to most of the trees nearby, as well. Makes the forest much darker than it used to be, and that gives off a bad impression, thought I know it’s healthier than ever. Pushing through the undergrowth, I found the rocks I spent so many years attending, covered now with lichen and half-buried in the leaves. The spot I found the stone is in there somewhere, but I didn’t try to find it. Not sure if I could. Why bother? With so many memories in such small space, I didn’t feel like digging up the bad ones. So I sat there, and opened up the sandwich that I’d brought, and listened to the forest, louder and more vibrant than the distant drone of cars, full of life and energy. I saw the ivy, thick and lush, grown so strong in twenty years I hardly recognised it. I saw the school, where I’d met Sunset, where so many little, happy days were passed, and smiled. I finished my lunch. I drank my water. I turned to go...and there it was. I’m not sure how I missed it coming in, nor when I sat in admiration of the forest, but there, as I was leaving, a sunflower blocked my path. Big and bright and beautiful, its petals opened wide to soak the sun, tall and strong and impossibly bold amongst the ivy. There were no others around, the trees were broad – it had been planted, it must have been; the only explanation for this small miracle. I ran my hands along its leaves as gently as I could, poured the last of my water out at its base. Bent to smell the slightly bitter scent, admire the loud and yellow petals. If no one comes and cuts it down (and what reason would they have to?) it should be there still, blossoming in the summer sun. When autumn comes, the leaves will die, petals shrivel – but the seeds will drop, and maybe, in a year or two, if that sports centre ever gets proper funding, some kid will come along and find a grove of bright sunflowers, stretched out beneath the ivy. A mark of what has been, and what can be, bursting at the seams with possibility. Blooming in the ivy: a spot of brilliant joy. Sunnybuns 23:12 Do you want to try that again? 23:12 Hmm? 23:13 I believe you had a question for me last night. 23:13 Ah 23:14 Do you want to call? Sunnybuns. Call duration 0:38. 23:56 Hope that was better than last night 23:57 I’m going to give you hell about last night for the rest of your life, I hope you understand that. 23:58 Awww 23:58 Can’t I just say “I love you” and get a pass? 23:59 That might help. A little. 23:59 A very little. 00:00 I love you, Wally 00:00 Love you too, Sunnybuns. 00:01 :[ 00:02 What the hell is sunnybuns 00:02 That better not be what you have me saved as 00:03 Sorry. 00:03 No you’re not 00:04 No, I’m not. 00:04 How long has that been a thing? 00:05 Since you told me to. 00:05 Here: Two souls. Beginnings. Inescapable connection. 00:06 I cannot believe you 00:07 Love youuuu ;) 00:08 Ugh 00:08 Love you too 00:09 Forever, always? 00:09 Of course <3 00:10 Forever and ever.