Copyright © <2014> by <Casey Horan AKA C. R. H. Books>

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

 All rights reserved.

Many years ago in the high mountains there thrived a small village by the name of Orian. The villagers were not terribly rich, nor were they poor, but they survived off the travelers who came from east to west in search of new hopes. Several of the travelers would stay in Orian, realizing that their hopes and dreams would not be met on the other side of the mountains, or due to the poor conditions in the winter.  The only wonderful gift that the village actually had to offer was that of its brilliant white rose, which bloomed every spring.  The flower gave new hope to those who had lost it, and revitalized the spirits of those who went on to the west. 

Of all the wonderful nurseries in Orian there was one which could keep roses in bloom for the entire year, which belonged to a girl named Sophia.  Sophia had lived in the village her entire life, and her mother and father had grown roses for as long as she could remember. Unfortunately Sophia’s mother had passed away two winters ago when she was 18 and her father had left for the west when her mother first became ill. The man said he was going to get medicine, and had stayed in contact with Sophia for the first three weeks of his journey, but once Sophia’s mother passed away her father stopped responding to her letters.

At first Sophia locked herself up in her nursery, refusing to let anyone in to her life, or share her sweet smelling roses with the rest of the village. But time heals all wounds and Sophia bloomed into the person she used to be.  She would hum a sweet melody under her breath while walking her flowers into the square to sell. Those who knew her well would say that she had made a complete recovery from the hardship that had fallen on her.  Those who did not know her would say that she seemed the sweetest girl in the entire village.

One December twilight a tired young man came in to Orian looking for a nice warm bed.  His name was Ethan, and he had been heading west to find knowledge and understanding to bring back with him to his village.  Unfortunately had started his journey too late, and would be unable to pass the mountains until spring. “Excuse me.” He said glancing at a slightly pale girl selling flowers. “Do you know where the Inn is? I’ve been traveling all day and I need to make arrangements to stay in this town until the snow melts.”

Sophia looked up at him with her soft hazel eyes and said, “The inn is that way” pointing down the square, “But I doubt that they will have a room for you.  There were many travelers this winter that waited too long to cross the mountains, it’s a miracle that you’ve made it all this way without catching some kind of illness.”

“No rooms at all?” Ethan was agitated, what a terrible time to have the Inn be full, considering that he would need a place to stay for at least an entire month. “Do you know of anyone who would house me for the winter? I have money.” He began to take his wallet out to show her how well off he was.

“Please, you don’t have to do that.” Sophia touched his hand to put his wallet away. “If you go to the Inn and there is no room for you then you can come with me to my house, I have an extra bedroom and as you said you can afford to pay your way through the winter.”

“Would you walk with me to the Inn?” Ethan couldn’t tell if she was offering to do this for him out of kindness or out of destitute poverty, considering that she looked rather poor and a little dirty. Perhaps it was a bad idea for him to have informed her of his wealth. As they walked he could hear her humming something under her breath, it was a sweet tune.  After a few moments of listening to her sweet voice Ethan decided that he wanted the Inn to be full so that he could stay with her. He didn’t get the impression that she would over-charge him for his stay, and she wasn’t as plain as he first thought.

“What are you humming?” the curiosity had finally gotten the better of him.

Sophia stopped for a moment. “I didn’t even realize that I was doing that…it’s a song my mother used to sing to me.  I’m sorry if it was too loud for you.” She bit her lip a bit, “That’s the Inn, right there. You should go in and get a room.”

“You said they would be full.” Ethan’s bags dropped to the ground. “I think I’d prefer if I stayed with you in your extra room.”

“Don’t you want to at least see if there is a place for you?” Sophia went to pick up one of the bags, “It is possible that there’s a space for you.”

“You said that I could have your extra room didn’t you?” He grabbed the bag before Sophia could get her hand around it. She stepped backwards a bit. “Or were you lying to me, and I’m not welcome to use your extra room.” He looked hurt.

“No, you’re welcome to my extra room.” Sophia smoothed herself out. “I simply thought that you would like to make sure the Inn was full, but I’d be happy to house you for the winter. I only ask that you pay for half the groceries.  And that you cut the fire wood when I need it.”

His grey eyes flickered a bit in the now dark firelight outside the Inn. “Then it’s settled, take me to the house I’ll call home for this winter.”

The walk took longer than Ethan had expected, but the house was well placed on the top of a small hill overlooking the village. There were two good sized bedrooms, a living room with a fireplace and a fairly large kitchen. “You can have the master bedroom.” Sophia said leading him in through the living room. “It’s on the left over there, and my room is on the right. You have your own washroom so please don’t use mine.” She stopped outside the bedrooms and opened his door. “It’s getting rather late so I will see you in the morning. If you’d like a hot soak, use the stove, not the fireplace, to warm the water. Goodnight.”

Ethan looked inside the bedroom and saw pictures of Sophia and two other people he only assumed were her parents.  The room looked like it hadn’t been cleaned for some time, but it had a good feel to it and the dresser was empty so Ethan began filling it with his belongings. He looked for a lamp and then for matches, but couldn’t find any. He left the room and began looking through the living room when he stubbed his toe. A fountain of profanities spewed from Ethan’s mouth as he tried to calm himself down. A door opened and out of it came a light, “What on earth are you doing making so much noise?” Sophia’s cool voice asked looking at Ethan as though he had just tracked mud though the house.

“I couldn’t find matches, so I came out here.” Ethan fell on to the couch holding his foot, “But I couldn’t see.”

“Here,” She darted out of the room for a moment and returned with a matchbook, “I keep them in my room. This can be yours, but don’t squander them, matches aren’t cheap.” The small matchbook landed on his lap perfectly. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to go to bed sir-“

“Ethan. My name is Ethan, I don’t think I mentioned it. And you are?”

“Sophia. And I’m tired, so please Ethan, no more noise.” She turned around and headed back to her room. Ethan took a match out and struck it, then let it die. “Don’t waste the matches!”

Startled, Ethan dropped the matchbook. “I thought you went to bed.”

“I did, and so should you.”

Ethan picked back up the matchbook,  turned on his lamp, and started for his room. He turned to Sophia’s door. It was closed. He stood there for a moment contemplating weather or not he should go in, but decided against it.

The first few days that Ethan spent with Sophia were the most uncomfortable of his life, she rarely spoke and spent most of her time in the garden.  Ethan was used to people who could carry on conversations, people who had been well versed on many subjects, like he was.  All that Sophia seemed to know was how to tend for her flowers, which didn’t interest him at all. Although he had briefly caught the sent of the flower, its lack of color failed to peak his interest. When Ethan tried to speak of art, or of culture, Sophia would bring up how beautiful she thought her roses were, and Ethan couldn’t help but get bored. 

Sophia on the other hand found everything that Ethan said to be interesting and inspiring. She hung on every word he had to say, and didn’t even notice when he was poking fun at how simple she was.  To Sophia Ethan was a window into a life she scarcely saw. Through the window were many beautiful things that she didn’t understand, but longed to get to know better. Sophia thought of Ethan often while she tended her garden, changing the hum of her song from something her mother used to sing to her, to a song her mother would sing her father. 

Ethan would often go in to town while Sophia gardened, sometimes to shop, sometimes to talk to the other villagers, but always to flaunt his status. Never before had he been around such plain and common folk, he felt that if he didn’t inform them of how low they were, he would start to become like them, and that thought frightened Ethan to his core. He was always thankful that his residency in the village was only temporary.  One of Ethan’s favorite things to do would be to go into the shops and buy things like lamps, or cooking pots, or extra blankets and tell the other townspeople “I’m not buying this for me, but for my dear caretaker, Sophia. She works so hard after all, and deserves to have the simple things that I so often take for granitite.”

It made Ethan feel like a better person to know he was indulging Sophia, after all, once he left she would go back to her poor life. The only thing that Ethan didn’t understand was why the other villagers looked so unhappy with him when he was getting Sophia all those nice things. He didn’t understand that he was belittling her with his unnecessary charity.

Of course Sophia didn’t see Ethan that way; at first she thought he was getting her things as a thank you for her kindness. Once Sophia came home to find that Ethan had bought her a new dinning set however she felt the need to speak up.

“Ethan, I do appreciate all that you have been getting for me, but what I have is fine, I’ve had it all my life.” She placed her hand on one of the silver etched china plates. “It’s very pretty, but I just don’t feel right accepting these.”

Ethan laughed a little, “Please, it’s the least I can do. Besides, I’m sure that if you weren’t so busy with your garden you’d be out spending my room and board on exactly the same things. It’s nothing really, I greatly enjoy the chance to get out of the house.” He walked slowly to Sophia. “And you said yourself, that you like the things I’ve been getting you, so I see no reason for you not to have them.”

She shifted her eyes from the plate to Ethan as he began his approach. “You see Ethan, I would rather have money to buy wood and food, and make repairs on my house, than have nice plates to eat off of.” Their eyes locked, “So if you’d like to go and buy the groceries or fix the cracks in the walls I’d greatly appreciate that more than these plates.” Her voice was trailing off a bit; she had never held eye contact with him for so long, it was intimidating.

His hand touched hers on the plate. “I didn’t know that was what you wanted. Please keep the dinning set, but I’d be glad to do repairs on your property.  You should have said something sooner Sophia, winter’s almost over and there are so many things that should be fixed.” He glanced at her hand, realizing that he was holding it. He dropped it. “I could get started tomorrow.”

Sophia moved her fingers around his. His gaze sifted back to her, and her hazel eyes which had not strayed from his for the entirety of the conversation. “I’d like that much better.” She moved his hand up to her cheek. She brushed his palm against it, and softly pecked her lips on his hand. “Thank you.”

Ethan had never thought terribly romantic things about Sophia before, but in that moment he thought she was the most beautiful woman in the world. He wrapped his other hand around her back and slowly drew her in, and pressed he lips against hers.

In the few weeks remaining of the winter Ethan had Sophia’s home completely refinished.  Sophia believed that he was doing all the work himself, but in actuality he was only supplying money to those who could do the job right. He spared no expense, and by the end of winter Sophia had her own hot water heater and thick glass windows. Every crack had been filled, and her fireplace expanded. Ethan was proud of the work that he paid for, and Sophia was happy that Ethan had put so much effort into her home.

It wasn’t until the snow had melted that Sophia remembered Ethan’s stay was not permanent.  She had just cut several Roses to sell in the village when she noticed that Ethan had packed his bags.

“What are you doing?” Sophia asked him placing her roses on the ground beside her.

Ethan looked at her a little bewildered. “I didn’t expect to see you.  You usually work later in the day.”

“Are you leaving already?”

“You knew I wasn’t staying here forever. I thought it best I go while you were working, no hard goodbyes.”

“No hard goodbye? You were just going to leave me to wonder what happened to you, worry about you. Ethan…I would rather a hard goodbye than none at all.” Her eyes were beginning to water. “Besides, I thought once you find what you’re looking for in the west you could come back here.”

“Naturally I’ll be coming back here, it’s the fastest way to get home.” He brushed his fingers through his hair. “And it will be good to see you again when that happens.”

Sophia brightened up a bit. She bent down and grabbed one of her roses. “Take it, please. Take it and promise me that you’ll come back to me.” She held it out so tenderly to him. Ethan began to reach his hand out, but instead of grabbing the rose he placed his hand around Sophia’s.

“I may come back, but not to you.” With that he turned and made his way out of the town for the west.

Sophia who had been holding the rose with care to avoid pricking herself on the thorns now had blood trickling down her hand. How was Ethan to know that when he grabbed her hand he dug the thorns into her skin. She didn’t cry, she just let the blood run down the stem on to the white petals beneath it.

Sophia became obsessed with her garden after that point, refusing to eat, refusing to sleep, and refusing to live. Those who knew her watched her wither away until she became too sick to live. When she died she was buried in her beautiful rose garden, and something happened. The once pure and innocent white petals on the rose turned red to reflect the love and compassion of Sophia.  With time all of the roses in Orian took on the blood red color in Sophia’s garden.  Ethan, having found what he had been searching for, stopped one last time in the small village on his way home and commented on how beautiful the red rose was. He even bought one to take home with him, having forgotten the girl he knew so many years ago.