The Flowers Never Bloom

Her fingers trembled as the petals fell one by one between the gaps of her fingers. She stared at them, noticing their vibrant colours and gasped as the lurid canary shifted into a warmer violet, akin to her favourite colour.

Taking a step back, she stumbled over a large vine and pain shot up her back when it hit the grass? In a swift movement, she had turned, palms searching the floor to understand how something so soft could hurt so much as a dull ache began to spread over her back. Skin dug deep into the grass and met a cool substance, a material unfamiliar to her senses. Her fingers searched deeper and deeper; actions made jerky by her desperate franticness, pulling the blades away to reveal a sleek and silver surface underneath.

There was no soil, not even a grain to be found suggesting there was depth to this landscape she had grown to love. Lifting herself up on shaky legs, everything suddenly came to focus before her eyes, the uniform sway of the leaves on the trees, left, four breaths, then right. The fat roots surrounding the Great Tree now looked carefully bent and well hidden in the grass, making it look like nature had spontaneously developed this winding and hypnotic appearance. The birds chirped in time with one another, sometimes softer sometimes stronger but the sound never seemed to stop.

With an unknown and dangerous feeling in her chest, her legs carried her towards the ballroom entrance; the lights that hung over the doors now hurt her eyes and the music seemed too perfectly organised to be the same kind she had earlier though as unbound and beautifully chaotic. Her arms were out before she could think and she pushed the oak doors open, the loud groan announced her entrance as she stepped in but few turned to where she was, no one disturbed by the grass hanging from her dark tresses and her fingers clutching the petals of flowers. No one was alarmed by the emptiness of her gaze.

Her stride became more forceful as she approached the centre of the room, the King’s platform, no one guarded it for the King was beloved by all and surely no one would try to hurt him. She kicked away the platters of food at the base of the raised, marble dais and climbed onto the empty throne, spotting the King amongst his people, their laughter scratching at her ears.

She bent and picked up a large, glass bowl of fruit and tossed them out before raising it over her head and slamming it onto the ground before her.

The deafening crash silenced the ballroom, the music died down and everyone turned to where she stood. "For how long did you expect us to live a lie?! For how long were we to be imprisoned?!"

"Young lady, is everything alright?" The corners of the King's eyes crinkled with a smile, skin folding naturally unlike everything else.

She stepped down from the throne, her shoes making a tapping sound as she slowly approached the King. "Is everything alright?! Alright?! Nothing is alright! Nothing has ever been alright because everything is simply nothing! None of it is real!"

In her peripheral vision, she saw the moment people began to really pay attention, their eyes darted between King and subject as they muttered amongst themselves in confusion. She held up her palms, the petals threatening her sanity as their colours shifted back and forth. "What is the meaning of this?"

"This is nature, child. The beauty of life itself." He had the effrontery to laugh and many others followed suit, though few were nervous-sounding.

Then she lunged at him, petals falling to the ground and only thinking of his nature and his life that she wished to end. Perhaps she screamed insults or simply made a sound like a wild animal as she attacked, she wasn’t present enough in herself to be sure. There were guards on her before she had taken two steps, arms pulled tightly into a hold as she struggled against them. She must have looked crazy, hair flying everywhere and skin deeply flushed with anger, as sweat rolled down her limbs from exertion.

They began to drag her away and people stared but most shook their heads, like she was a mere disturbance in the utopia. What she hated the most were the looks of pity, they thought something was wrong with her, and they assumed that she was detached from reality. Suddenly, the crowd parted once more as Tauren, the chief advisor to the King and youngest in his court made his way towards her. His hair was perfectly styled, not a single strand outside of obedience. He held up his hand and the guards stopped.

"You have no right to so ungraciously disturb this gathering. Explain or find yourself in chains without hope of release." His voice was calm but she saw the hint of curiosity in his raised eyebrows.

The hold of the guard loosened and she stood up straight. "King Aleksandr of the Kingdom of Eden, you are the worst kind of villain and it is my prayer that your days of reign be cut short."

"She speaks treason." Hands covered in cake icing, an older advisor's features were contorted in annoyance but Tauren said nothing as she continued.

"Eden is all that I have ever known. A place of dreams, a place of wonder. The trees taunt you as they creep with their roots and ask for attention as you stumble. The birds call out in curiosity, asking if you've seen how blue the sky is today and wondering if you greeted the sun after it so beautifully rose. For many years my life has been simple, I do no work besides tending to the upkeep of this great castle in between a life of parties, gatherings and frivolity. Maybe, that should have been my first clue, maybe I should have dared to ask how life could be so perfect but who knows they are in a cage when it is designed to look like freedom? Look around you, step closer to the trees, and spend a moment asking yourself why birds chirp yet there is not a wing to glimpsed fluttering by in the corners of your eyes. Why the trees so beautiful and majestic, branches heavy with mouth-watering fruit, are under no circumstances to be plucked from. Worse, why has no one in this room ever seen the boundary of this utopia, of this perfection? We feel no adventure because no one tells us to explore."

Tauren let out a shaky breath and stepped towards her, his voice was low when she spoke. "Speak clearly, unveil the meaning of your riddles."

Her dark eyes landed on the King whose smile had slipped and who seemed to age before her, contempt covering his features and mirroring hers. "This glorious kingdom, built on valour, justice and truth is nothing but a fallacy. Feel the petals, their unnatural synthetic texture and tell me if they are yellow or red or violet or black like the dark reality we cannot see?"

He bent, fingers clasping the petals and once the pad of his thumb brushed over them, his whole form stilled. "I-I... how?"

She could only imagine what he saw for she couldn't trust anymore what her eyes beheld, so she shut them and heard from afar, the order of the King that she be taken away.

Tone timorous and defeated, she spoke. "I pray that death follows me out of this ballroom, that I will never see another sunrise, never fall asleep against a sturdy tree trunk or forget the world as the heady scent of a flower penetrates my nostrils. For I can no longer pretend that this is living when it is simply existing. Perfection is not reality and even I, in my naïveté, cannot fathom what reality may be. But I know it cannot be parties and orchestrated happiness and artificial beauty. For how can we love the flowers in a place where they never bloom?"

The mutters began then, spreading slowly as people slowly considered what she had said. Eyes still shut, she felt the guards tighten their hold and her feet began to slide across the lacquered mahogany as they dragged her away to freedom.