🌟operatic horror show🌟

okayyyy i know i definitely haven't share this bit before! edwin is seven years old here, i think. thanks for asking!

~

Mister Gardener nodded, his straw hat flopping. Sun shone through its woven holes, casting a hatch pattern across his face.

"Are you really sure?"

Mister Gardener nudged Edwin's shoulder. He stumbled forward.

Past the gate's threshold, Edwin didn't find the sort of magic he expected. The garden held no bread-and-butterflies (like Alice in Wonderland) or whispers on the moor (like The Secret Garden), but its flowers grew so prettily that he couldn't be disappointed. Hydrangea bushes sprouted side-by-side. Roses stretched toward the sun. Lilac and peonies competed for space, interwoven buds of purple and pink.

Edwin rubbed a rose petal, soft as a lamb's ear. Despite its lack of fantasy creatures, the garden still felt magical. Who would've guessed that a man, so deep within in the Payne estate, could learn to grow a rainbow?

"I didn't know this was here," Edwin said. He spotted a trove of foxgloves growing beneath a hedge, their pink bell blooms dotted with white. "Is it for parties? Or does Father come out here by himself?"

~

oh but of course! you got String Quartet No. 4 in C Major, Sz. 91: III. Non troppo lento by Bartók!