They Always Ask Me What My Tattoo Means

They always ask me what my tattoo means. I never tell. That's the beauty of a secret, the mystery, the twist of the unknown. It makes us yearn even more to find out what deep knowledge it contains. Gossip? A secret affair? A secret within a secret so dark no one will ever know about it? Even I, myself don't know what it means.

  For my people, flowers are the most important living creatures in the universe. These flowers are unlike anything you have ever seen. Colors that are indescribable to the simple human brain. The beauty-unseen because of the rarity of these flowers. Every one of my people has their own species of flower. Had. We were careless to our planet. Careless, just as you are with yours. At some point, every planet has this conflict. Most don't realize their mistakes or don't want to acknowledge them until it's too late. All the flowers are dead now. Only we carry the memories of each and every one of them.

 The day I saw her, I was leaving. Your planet didn't have much time left and I had to find a new one. It was twilight and the plaza was empty. Only she stood, at the very center of the paved street, watching the pink clouds slowly crawl on the yellow sky. She tilted her head all the way up as she tried to distinguish the various shapes of the clouds. Her long, bushy, lilac hair swished back and forth caressing her shoulders and her back as the wind gently played with it. It was longer than I remembered-all the way to the back of her knees. The tattoo on her shoulder glowed faintly as she took pleasure in the nature around her. I could distinctly see the flower it represented-one I haven't seen for the past couple of centuries: a lily... our Lily...

  My twin was kidnapped when she was just a child. I've been feeling guilty ever since. I saw it happen, I saw one of your people take her! She didn't fight for some reason. She just looked at me and smiled, revealing her pearl-white teeth. Her lily tattoo glowed as the human lugged her into his spaceship.

  Now I see her again and I can't comprehend, I can't believe it's her. I feel like I'm in a dream. I can't move. I forget to breathe. She feels my presence and she turns around, showing off her pearls once again. Just as I remember them.

  I stare at her and she looks at me. She starts walking towards me, almost floating, her bare feet lightly kissing the ground with each heavenly step. I just stare. She breaks into a run and I still stand there wondering how she doesn't hurt her feet on the not always so flat stones. She throws herself at me, enveloping me fully with her bushy hair, unceremoniously stuffing some of it in my mouth. I manage to catch her-she is very light even with all that hair-and she laughed in delight. A tinkling, warm laugh. I gently put her down and then hug her again. 

  We start talking and she starts walking and I unconsciously follow her. I tell her all about my life and how we all missed her. Half an hour later I snap out of my fascination and happiness and I realize we are in an alleyway. I stop in my tracks, baffled. Lily looks back at me and laughs lightly before walking up to a rusty door pertaining to a similarly rusty and old looking house. She swiftly takes out her keys and walks in. I slowly follow. 

  We enter a poorly illuminated hall just about as wide as the span of my shoulders. The white light flickers occasionally and steep stairs lead up into an area of darkness. It smells damp and otherwise awful. We get to the top and Lily opens the apartment door.

  She takes a match and lights a candle that she reached for somewhere in the dark doorway and lightly tiptoes in. I hesitate but go in. There are bookcases upon bookcases chock full of books. There are red, green, blue, black, striped, and dotted books. Books of all sizes. She goes around and chooses a couple while I stare, open-mouthed. She turns to leave and heaves the four or five books into my arms and goes back into the darkness, her hair swishing as she moved happily around the apartment.

  She comes back with a white ferret. I stare at it and then at her and then at it again. I am almost one hundred percent sure I am in a dream. Lily tells me her name: Daisy. She slips on a jacket with large pockets and put Daisy into one of them. She frees me with my load asking me to carry just one book.

  I read the title: Alice in Wonderland. I ask her why she chose that one in particular, though I immediately realize the answer. She relates to Alice-thrown into an unknown and confusing world.

    I tell her about the spaceship, that it's leaving soon, and that it probably won't wait long for us before taking off to Planet Z673. It is that we located just three days prior and one that the Wise deemed best fit for our nation, at least temporarily. We begin our walk, her directing me back to the plaza and me drinking in the last of "Earth" as the people here call it.

We walk through a field of wild flowers right to where we see matted grass. The pod materialises after electronically testing that the people in front weren't humans. We look at each other and holding hands, step into our escape pod. We sit on the comfy seats and slowly start to rise up. I look one last time at the landscape and see the fires starting at the edge of the forest. We fly abruptly up and into the galaxy.

  My tattoo, one that changed by itself so many years ago, is that of a rose reaching for a lily. I used to think that the tattoo was a mockery of my mistake, of my slow reaction, but now I know I was wrong. 

  They always ask me what my tattoo means. This time, I told.