The Garden That Chose Her
Stories wait beneath the flowers
The Garden That Chose Her
Stories wait beneath the flowers
Image created by the Author using Microsoft Bing AI & Resized using Microsoft Paint
In the middle of the night, the garden came alive with secrets only she could hear. Tiny voices whispered in her ear like a faint rustle of leaves blowing on a windy day, but when she sat up in her bed, everything faded away. All was quiet. Eva thought she was dreaming.
But the minute she lay back down, the whispers began again. For nights, she tried to ignore them as she tossed and turned into the early morning hours until she finally fell asleep.
Then one night, she decides to confront them.
“Okay, I am here. I hear you. What is it you want?” she says, as she sits up in bed.
Suddenly, she hears a faint noise in her right ear that sounds like a violin playing a sweet melody or a cricket singing to its mate.
She feels a cool breeze blowing across her left shoulder, like she’s standing outside. When she looks up, she’s on her front porch sitting in a lawn chair, admiring all the beautiful flowers and making a wish beneath a starlit sky.
A soft light shines down onto the flowers, making them sparkle in the darkness, and there’s an unusual glow that seems to be coming up from the ground.
She gets up to take a closer look and feels like she has stepped into a magic forest. The colors of a rainbow surround her, and with each step she takes, they change — from red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
She doesn’t even realize she’s walking in the flowerbed until she hears a voice that startles her.
“You finally came.”
“What? Who is saying that?” said Eva.
“It’s okay. I’m Violet, a fairy who lives in the ground beneath your flowers. We’ve been waiting on you for a very long time.”
Eva blinked and rubbed her eyes. “I must be dreaming.”
Violet flew up and landed on Eva’s shoulder. “No. This isn’t a dream. You’re not dreaming. You’re finally seeing.”
Eva pressed a hand to her chest and, with a look of confusion, she asked, “But why me?”
“We’ve watched you for years,” she said. “You care for us even when you think no one notices, and you talk with us like we are your friends. Your kindness has opened the doorway to the Night Garden — A place that exists for only you, where we can guide you with wisdom and knowledge.
During the night, we will tell you our stories. During the day, you will keep us alive with the stroke of your pen, writing them down for all to read. And in return, we will show you secrets of the world that only a handful of people even know.”
Eva felt alive, as if a spark had just been ignited. “Secrets of the world?” she whispered. “What kind of secrets?”
Violet’s wings fluttered. “The kind hidden in plain sight,” she said. “The kind humans stopped believing in long ago.”
Then a purple tulip bent its head down. “Every flower remembers the past. The ones who cared for them, and they linger to hear their footsteps, once more,” it murmured. “To touch the old magic, to hear those forgotten songs, and listen to the stories from yesterday.”
“And now,” Violet continued, “We can finally share them, and you will be the magic wand that keeps us alive and singing.”
“But how? asked Eva.
“The world needs storytellers who still believe in wonder. People who can write and bring stories to life on the page — Making others believe in magic,” Violet said.
“That I can do,” says Eva. She sits up in her bed, grabs a pen, and writes down the first line.
The story has begun.
©️Brenda Arledge
This was written for First Line Fiction by **Arpad Nagy using [Prompt #19.](https://medium.com/first-line-fiction/first-line-fiction-comprehensive-prompt-list-6b15902df1c6?sharedUserId=kitkid518) **In the middle of the night, the garden came alive with secrets only she could hear.
[embed]First Line Fiction Comprehensive Prompt List For quick and easy reference.medium.com
Follow my Cats on Facebook for Daily Drama 😂🐾
Image created by the Author using Microsoft Bing AI & Resized using Microsoft Paint
💕 My kitty-cats get bored when I write, so **toss them a treat **if you like. 😎
Tagging a few writers ⬇️
John Hansen PAL, Rosina Surovi Khan, Demme, Chitrangada Sharan, Sunita Chakraborty, Stephen Dalton
메타데이터
- post_id
- a565205f1a53
- slug
- the-garden-that-chose-her-a565205f1a53
- url
- https://medium.com/first-line-fiction/the-garden-that-chose-her-a565205f1a53
- canonical_url
- https://medium.com/first-line-fiction/the-garden-that-chose-her-a565205f1a53
- author_url
- https://medium.com/@kitkid518
- status
- ok
- fetched_at
- 2026-07-09 13:13:48
