Secret Garden

The rest of the week proceeded normally. Tomorrow was the first day of school and Vee was so excited. I was excited too. I couldn’t wait to see how many friends she would surely make. “Hey S-sundew. . . Can w-we go to my g-garden right n-n-now?”

The garden was her pride a joy. Vee has this fascination with all the plants in the forest behind our home. I don’t really care too much about them, but mother won’t let her go into the forest by herself, so I always take her out there. I helped her build her own garden out there and we visit it twice a week. This would be the third time, however.

“Of course Vee. Did you want to water them again?”

“No, th-that’s okay. I d-don’t want to over w-water them,” she gleefully said. She dashed to the back door of our house and I trotted happily over to her. The leaves in the trees were starting to turn and it finally started to get chilly out.

Vee jumped up onto my back, like she always would. She peeked above my head, eyes wide as she gazed at the wondrous hues of red, orange, and yellow in the sky.

It was just a few minutes’ walk and we were at the garden already. Many of the flowers had already bloomed and died, but there were still a few in bloom yet. The ones that were still flowering though were breath-taking. I was so happy for Vee that her garden was thriving. She usually picked out the most vibrant of flowers to add. There were bright yellows and pinks and deep reds and purples.
Vee hopped off my back and examined her garden. She went from flower to flower, eyeing them all. “P-poor little f-flower,” she would often say, holding the limping stem in her hooves. I smiled watching her, and finally walked up to her and patted her shoulder. I reminded her that the flowers would come back; they always would as long as she took care of them.
“Here Sundew,” she said while I was looking away. She climbed onto my back and stuck some daisies in my mane. I laughed with her and pulled her off my back, rustling her mane.
She loved all flowers of all colors, but the on plant she loved most of all was the Venus fly-trap. I remember like it was yesterday; I took her into the forest for the first time…
“Sundoo, what’s in the trees?” she had asked.
“It’s called a forest, Vee. And there’s a lot of neat things in here. A lot of cute animals of all shapes and sizes.”
“Oooh. What’s tat?” she asked, pointing to a small plant on the ground. I leand over at it, and she poked her head above mine.
“That’s a Venus fly-trap,” I said to her.
“It mine?” she asked, tugging on my mane, trying to get a better look.
“No, no, no. You were named after this plant.”
“I was named after a plant?”
“I was too, and so was Wheeler. This is the one you were named after. It’s special to you.”
“Wooooooow,” she exclaimed as she jumped off of me and sniffed the plant. She put her hoof on one of the trap’s mouths and it closed on her hoof. She giggled, “It t-t-tickles S-sundoo!”

She poked one of the open traps with her hoof and the trap closed around her. She giggled, “It t-t-tickles Sundew! You sh-should try it,” she invited me, voice muffled by fits of giggling. Truth is, I didn’t want to be near the things.

“You know how I feel about those things,” I told her as I walked over to the bleeding hearts. I loved those, they were the only thing I liked seeing out here besides Vee having fun. She continued to giggle until the trap let go of her hoof.
“Do you th-think we can f-find more plants?” Vee asked, shaking me out of my daydream.

“We can try,” I smiled to her. She gave a cheery ‘yay’ and jumped up onto my back. “Let’s go… this way!” I said and trotted into the forest, randomly wandering around.

We wandered around for about an hour until Vee finally shouted, “There! Sundew, I s-s-see one!”

I stopped, looked around, and saw a small white vine with white flowers and trotted over to it. The flowers themselves seemed almost pearlescent; their color glistening in the few strands of light that hit the forest floor. Vee jumped off and looked down at the little vine and smelled its flowers. “I-i-i-i-i-i-i-“

“Slow down, Vee,” I reminded her, sitting down next to her.

“It s-smells good, Sundew!” she kept smelling the flowers for a few minutes, and I happily watched her. She decided to try one of the flowers. Her giant grin assured me that it tasted as good as it smelled. The sky’s blue was quickly giving way to the evening’s orange. I had to break her heart and tell her it was time to go. “Aww, o-okay.”

“We’ll come back here tomorrow, I promise.” She climbed onto my back again and we trotted back home. “Tomorrow is your first day of school, are you excited?”

“Uh-huh. Kinda. I-I’m a little s-scared t-t-though,” she admitted, I could feel her slinking down.

“Like I said, you have nothing to worry about! You’ll make a lot of friends, I’m sure.”

“Do you h-have friends t-too Sundew?”

“Not really, but that’s okay because I have the best sister a colt could hope for,” I told her.

“And you’re the best b-b-brother,” she said, hugging my neck.

“Here Vee, let’s watch the sunset,” I said to her as we approached our cottage. I trotted over to the lake and laid down in the grass to watch the sunset. Vee jumped off and laid down too.

“S-sundew, I’m s-scared about s-s-school tomorrow,” Vee admitted to me.

“I know, I don’t expect you to be excited, just trust me.”

Several moments passed as we watched the bronze sun hide behind the lake. Eventually, I turned to Vee. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I w-want to be a g-gardener!” she replied happily. “I’d h-have all the p-pretty flowers in my g-garden too.”

“And what about your fly-traps?”

“They get th-their own garden,” she said adamantly. She hopped up on her hooves, gazing at the sunset. “Th-they’ll be r-right in m-my house s-so I d-don’t have t-t-to go out to s-s-see them.”

I smiled to her, it sounds like you have a dream, Vee,” I told her, ruffling her mane. “Don’t ever lose it.”

“W-what about you, b-brother?” She asked but I was in a daze. “What do you want to be?”

I stared blankly into the distance. “I. . . I want to be a good person.”