The Garden of Sedona

A languid flurry of encompassing light shone down on the open courtyard of Sedona, burning out the cherished gift of sight to curious travellers. False were the days of grandeur in this warm garden, illuminated by the poets of the age, but acknowledged by the lost stars reflecting along its moss encrusted paths. Each stepping was a differently fashioned, harshly weathered rock, scarred clumsily into the Earth. Snake-like vines twisted across the broken rocks, winding up the old ruins of ghostly buildings, still standing firm in what was once a symbol, a message to all around them of civilisation. From a birds-eye view, it exerted the look of a maze, the various crumbling effects blocking passageways in which souls have been lost, never to be found again, always to wander the petrified halls. Light became void as all spiralled to the epicentre; life was an alien, all but a single red rose, sprouting happily on a broken pillar, to preside over the area keenly with its outspread petals. It was of full body, crimson bloomed decorations, a healthy earthy stem supporting the radiant reds, even the thorns enticing in their hazel-esque colour. Shadows were like creeping waters, encroaching as a tide, constantly crashing on the shores of Sedona’s roots; the last of the foliage in this forgotten burial ground.

Arcane, black forests swamped all flanks of the area, with trees as tall as buildings encasing the enigmas inside. The tips curled at their edged, arching over to shadow the cool moonlight that sang an enchantment, enticing, enthralling mankind to open this chest of treasures. It was a pearl of all dreams waited inside, anticipating the chance to glisten its potential.

Coming from the pits of generosity, the night sky was an ambience of despair, melancholy, but with a flickering light of hope keeping the optimism warm at its heart, the single star of the north that guided travellers for many a year. Almost arbitrary in its plotting, droplets of stars flickered on like light switches, beaming all along the silky, velvet water ceiling, rippling like a crumpled cloth. Circular as the unborn bud of a flower, the moon showered its cool, glistening life on an unsuspecting crowd, soon to emerge from the west. A door of vines pulled away at the entrance to Sedona, a curious hand nosing out the path.

"Ah! Blasted vines! Always blinding my way to glory, but I shall not let a cut ruin my story…” sung the voice of Alexi, shrill from a sliced finger, but determined, and ambitious from the beginning. Kicking through the lower half of petrified vines, with a single foot fiercely pressing down the dead foliage, he stepped forth into the garden, crumpling more the pile of vines he broke, an unknown black substance sticking to the bottom of his shoes. He was dressed in a baggy jacket, a black shirt that either needed washing, or a fashion change, and blue denim jeans, matching their counterparts in style and care. Giving one glance at his now upturned foot and with an irritated grimace, brushes it once with his palm, and then pats the breast pocket of his jacket. His eyes gazed up into the switchboard that was the illuminated sky, gave a hearty chuckle, and took out a cigarette from a crumpled pocket, still inside the torn jacket. Were it not for the metallic, this could have been one of the many other tears and rips that adorned this brown, banal over-garment. He kissed the filter, held it lonely between his cherry lips, and took a vivid flame to the end, breathing in the long awaited toxins that filled him with a shameful joy. Shuddering, perhaps from the breeze, perhaps from the ecstasy, he slowly poured the fumes back into the Garden, and smiled, continuing his venture deep into the centre, striking down the barricades that lay before his step.

"Oh… So much chaos.. so much carnage.. what to do? I must continue forth, if I am ever to find my love to be true…” whispered the timid tone of a petite princess. Her voice rose clouds, angels grew extra wings, and even the stony grass beneath her flourished in a touch. Marie was her name, lips small and curled, hair golden and flowing, dress perfect and draping, eyes emerald and flickering, she made the light from the darkness, swallowing up the shadows with her radiant smile. Tugging together the two wings of her collar piece, she curiously trampled on the soft pallets of grass beneath her, gazing the small rose on the apex of the gardens, expressively admiring the lonely beauty through a smile.

"Heh, half-way down… These cancer sticks sure go fast, like the life of dignity I now know as past. But it matters not what happened yesterday, or what happens tomorrow, I am a man of today, and have no time to drown my sorrows." His voice rang with a subtle ambiguity that just forced others to yearn for more, a poetic enticement purring from his soul. Was it the area that evoked such effects; this mausoleum of Mother Nature? Maybe, but only one would listen to the tunes Alexi emitted tonight, and she was edging nearer to the words, like the trance of the Siren, drawing in weary sailors.

"Hello? Hello? Who sings such sweet words? A tune so light and timid cannot go unheard, for I am yet to find.. a one true love, a keeper of my mind." cried the desperate Marie, as she edged closer to the heart, the heart of the garden, and the heart of her feelings.

Spitting out the dead butt of a cigarette into the damp undergrowth, Alexi responded zealously. Gazing a glance to the singular pillar left within the maze, that tiny, timid, beautiful rose studying happily, as the events unfold to its red eyes.

"Another voice I can hear ringing in my soul? Is this the one that can fill the hole that is my heart, previously broken, destroyed, a fault of my part?” Alexi slammed his fist into the pillar; dust crumbled from the grooves of weathering, landing on the already gathered pile beneath. His feelings were hard to hide, damaged from battles of old, but like the waves of the mighty oceans, would crash past all to meet what they desired.

The centre of the garden itself was bare, excluding minute mountains of fallen debris and crumbled dust, easily spread by the soft winter breeze. Black blades of grass spilled from the base of the central pillar. Eager for light, the stone obelisk was engraved with various unknown signs, each having a meaning to someone, something, but all unknown.

Alexi shot his glance up at the towering perfection, staggering back to see what the top epitomised, but as he turned the blind corner, he fell straight into a solid figure moving at an exact pace as him, sending the pair to the floor respectively. Out of fear of embarrassment, he shot back up to his feet, and helped up the light-as-a-petal girl, and brushed her down, slowing as her face became apparent to his gazing eyes. One hand rested on her shoulder, and, like souls swimming in an endless sea, he was stuck in a trance by her radiance, leaving the young Marie to recoil out of distrust.

"Get away, vile, putrid, retched beast! Leave me alone, speak to me not, at the very least!”

"Miss Miss! Please be calm, I am a friend..  and I mean you no harm," pleaded the apologetic wanderer.

Jaw dropping out of shock, and shuddering from hidden delight, she tentatively stepped forward, taking out a pale hand, and drawing her fingertips along Alexi’s cold cheek. Was this real? Was the silky, sultry arrow of cupid piercing her heart? The scratches left soft indents on his chilled skin, which were soon hidden by his hirsute, bulky hand reaching up, and cupping hers tenderly. There they shared a frozen moment, where their eyes became windows to the others soul; what could be seen was not a flickering candlelight of lust, but a roaring fire of passion, burning soft hues of yellow and orange into their minds. Embers flew higher than the stars, and deeper than the seas, yet silence consumed them both, until one stepped closer, to reveal their true feelings this night…
"Alexi..? Long have I waited this day to meet you, to be with you, to hold you! It has been many a year I’ve desired such a moment, and now I can show you, the true potent of my lingering heart, so take me now, and let us never be apart!" Marie cried out her words desperately, and threw her heavy arms around Alexi’s neck, just waiting to be lifted up into the clouds, to join her heart and mind, and stay there forever with her love. Love truly was heavenly…

Alexi sat up. Sweat collected on his brow, and hearty breaths shot out from his lungs, his chest feeling ready to explode. His hand staggered along the side-desk for his glasses, and threw them onto his face as soon as touch them. A red neon light flickered in the corner of his eye. 07:26. Time for work.