#clockwork-stories

Though my memory is fading still,

These crumbling walls now liken to a key,

Unlocking memories against my will.

Faded steel now flaked with fading green,

Like vines controlling entrances run wild.

It makes my heart beat, a repaired machine,

If love is for children, I am a child.

  I can see myself gliding through the halls,

Through the cherished home which gave me wings.

Love hidden behind the old girl's walls,

And through the world the Latin motto sings.

  And all though my time has gone and past away,

In my heart my love for home will stay. 

 We were never in love

                 But oh god,

There was one boy, the boy with black hair- he didn't tell me his name, I never asked. He always came.  Whenever I ran I knew that he was always a few paces away from me and even if I left in the dead of night he would always be there. He never told me to go back, never complained or left my side, no matter how far I traveled or how fast I ran.

"Come on," I whispered desperately as I poured water on the dying plant. "Come on my old friend, you can’t leave me- not just yet!"

I didn’t expect an answer…I didn’t get one.

The drooping leaves lay there, mocking me in their final hours- not that they had actually done anything.

"You have so much to live for! Look at all this air you still have to oxygenate! It’s all still here, all this carbon dioxide that’s slowly killing me! You can’t leave me behind, old friend!"

Silence.

"Who else is going to decorate my room! No other plant will ever match your amazing ability to be a plant!”

I slammed my hand on the table causing the plot to bounce. 

"DAMMIT! Don’t look at me like that!" I cried, small tears glazing over my eyes. "Think of the seeds! They need you- the fertilizer won’t be enough for them! You can’t leave them uprooted with no where to go! THINK OF THE SEEDS!"

I was in hysterics by now but I knew I had done all I could…yet it hadn’t been enough. No matter how much water I added it just slid down the leaves matching the patterns of my tears. 

Again there was only silence to greet my loneliness until the thought hit me and I looked down upon the old plant, lying there as if it were only sleeping.

Silence.

"What the fuck am actually I doing?" 

Prompt- “A houseplant is dying. Tell it why it needs to live.”