With a burst of glory she arose and blasted forth her petals and her gaze to see what had changed in the world while she had been away. She looked in every direction to inspect all of these things and what she found was nothing outside of what she had already known. She remained still for a moment, something was different... it had to be! And yet, nothing appeared to be. She felt different though. She looked above to follow that single stream of light and it was glowing so brightly. She leaned down into the ray, and let it fall on her petal. It was just so beautiful the way it sparkled through the dew droplets and playfully danced on the matte material. She loved it! She loved everything about it! She moved ever so slightly further into the ray... up, up her petals and onto her face. The warmth was indescribable... It felt like a smile. It was in that moment that she finally realized that it wasn't about what she was missing at all.... it was simply about appreciating what she already had right in front of her. and with that thought came a billowing gust of wind... her petals shook, the ground rumbled... and with an ear shattering noise coming from every direction she ducked down and scrunched as small as she could. The ground all around her was being ripped apart. Torn and thrown and beaten and churned. She could feel herself being pelted from every side with flying materials. She scrunched up tighter and prayed as loudly as she could, though to her it sounded like she wasn't making any noise at all... and then-- Silence.
What happened? she wondered, What was that? Am I okay?
Silence.
Am I alive?
Silence. The air was still.
She moved up slowly, she didn't believe she was in pain but her entire body felt like it was on fire. She opened her eyes but she couldn't see a thing. Everything was simply solid white.
A few minutes passed and her eyes were able to make the adjustment, and to her surprise... she was not dead. She was not blind either. She was in the sun!! She was free! the thorns were completely gone! Oh how she had dreamed of this day, and now it was here! She spread her petals out as far as they could reach. She arched her back and pressed back her leaves and simply basked. She basked for hours, and how good it felt! She had never been happier!
As she stretched out and looked around to explore her new world; to her astonishment, all around her spread here and there throughout the place where she had been were hundreds of little flowers, flowers just like her! They had been there all along. And now that her eyes had been opened, and she was able to see with the light all of the things she had not known in the darkness... she knew, she was never alone. She knew, she would never be alone again. She knew, she had found the answer to her prayers; something had taken the thorns away. The gardener had lifted the darkness.
The End
