garden of secrets

(Garden of Secrets Contest: Writing Winner)

Gray Jabaji

a home is like a garden of secrets behind a locked door. on the outside, it looks like a pleasant paradise, the garden of eden, if you will.

but once you open the door, pull away the vines, and venture deep inside under the surface, it’s more than what it seems.

in the kitchen, you’ll find a poisonous belladonna lily saying things like “i don’t like your new look,” after you changed how you looked because you developed further. “you used to be so perfect.”

“there’s no way you can change the way you present yourself like it doesn’t affect others.” you peek into the dining room, and there’s a prickly bush. keeping you from growing with your favorite flower, but the path was open when you conformed to the rest of the garden. the bush says that it’s unfaithful to like multiple flowers whilst saying you have a favorite. the bush treats you awfully the second it knows your favorite flower isn’t the stereotypical rose. walk down the hall to the living room, and you’ll find a lily of the valley. a martyr, a safe space, a life-saver, or so you think the lily of the valley used to be your favorite, picking the brambles out of your skin after you reached for a thorny bush with an open hand not knowing the damage it would do. but it turns out that the lily of the valley has been poisonous and deadly the whole time the lily of the valley is just like the belladonna lily and the bush, but worse. the lily of the valley blows in the wind, acts like it’s the most beautiful in world, above everyone else. and that’s even worseit hurts more to have your trust broken and get your hopes up than to have them crushed in the first place. you go up the stairs and find the author, the luscious lavender, learning about themself as time goes on, turning into a more beautiful version of themself, making wishes for a difference. but the lavender doesn’t thrive in the darkness or the pain of others like the belladonna lily. the lavender has only known darkness, yet still doesn’t know how to live within it. the lavender doesn’t belong in the garden of secrets. the lavender does everything for others, calming people down, helping people rest well, making people feel better, giving their whole life, and getting nothing in return. all that the lavender wants is for a yarrow to come pluck them up and take them out of the garden of secrets and out into the true garden of eden. sure, their roots may get damaged, but it’s worth it. the pain is worth it. and let me be the one to tell you, the lavender has finally found the yarrow, hidden deep within the garden.