ROSES (A Short Story)

Well, I am rose. No no, don’t misunderstand me. It’s not a fancy name, not the proper noun with capital R and all, just the common one. Ya, that’s right, I am just a rose. Just.

There was once a queen. She was the most beautiful woman who ever lived. She was born out of every man’s fantasy. And she was more than that. Her name was Rose.  

Ya ya ok, I was a red one and I guess I was beautiful, but that is a thing of the past. I was born, if I might say so, in a rose farm. Then I was cut from the plant, packed and shipped. The next thing I knew was that I was stuck in a gold colored basket with twenty nine other roses like me. They sell thirty rose packages on the net you see. There were numerous smaller white flowers also, all stuck in the basket.

Her kingdom was in peril. The green monster had raised an army of a thousand monsters. She knew that the only way to save her kingdom was by marrying the king of the Land of Gold. And that was exactly what she did. She became the queen of the Land of Gold. The mighty king had exactly twenty nine other queens. They all had numerous servant girls also, always dressed in white…

I was then sold, basket and all, and sent to a new place. It was a small room. The girl who received me, sorry us, jumped with joy. She kept looking at us to the extent that it would embarrass us. Didn’t she have something to do? She took some pictures also. Crazy girl. We were apparently sent to her on some weird day specified for love called the Valentine’s Day. We were the ‘message of love’ of her boyfriend.  

She was not limited by time. She crossed her time and flew past ages. The twenty nine other queens went with her, so did her servant girls, always dressed in white. She chose a moment in time and stopped at a small monastery. And the head lady there welcomed them, and loved them all. Who could not love the Rose queen, the queen of queens, most beautiful of all? The times were bad and she chose to spread the message of love. That was what she was destined to do, that was why she was.

And I started rotting, oh shit!! So did the others. There was sadness in her eyes, the crazy girl. Didn’t she know that this was bound to happen? Humans, I must say!! She plucked the other roses out of the basket, thrust into a plastic bag and threw them in the dust bin. That’s pretty much it. But it didn’t end there for me. I was tucked up inside a book, and kept aside. All I could hear was a loud sigh from the girl. I guess I will spend the rest of life or whatever you may call it stuck up here. Phew!!

But the world around her was rotting. And there was no hope for love. She knew this and knew that nothing would change. All the other queens died one by one. Their work was done. There was nothing more to be done. But she could live forever. There was no death for her. That was her blessing and that was her curse. She was the queen of queens, most beautiful of all, born out of every man’s fantasy and more than that. So she found her way in a book and became a story. And she lives forever…

I live in the sigh of the girl and I live in the pages of books.

I take many forms and I refuse to fade.