The nursing home was a lovely place really, a solid building with beige colored walls and large halls to let the occupants ramble and roam with room. There was a large communal living room with couches, chairs, a big tv. The kitchen was large and always smelled of steamed broccoli and tapioca pudding, little tables dotting the attached dining room, most of them by the window to gaze out at the garden one story below.

But that garden was not the only place full of life in the nursing home. In fact, contrary to popular belief, there was plenty of life in the home. The nurses themselves were most of it, each of them bringing smiled and light into the people who lived within the walls of the building. Their attitudes were infectious, laughter bouncing off the walls, smiles illuminating wrinkled faces.

Each of them were different, each of them unique. They reminded Wu of the plants that decorated his bedroom in the home. The flowers blooming every morning as the day shift clocked in, leaves unfurling to drink in the love of the people that filtered in through the front door. He took to naming each new plant after someone there with him.

The sun shone in through the window, filtering past the thin slats of the window blinds to cascades down onto the bright rainbow plants. A small field of green with pops of orange and yellow, pink and blue, purples every shade you could imagine. Wrinkled fingers traced over the plants, feeling waxy leaves beneath the skin, poking at the dirt to feel for dryness, the aged hands of a gardener.

Wu glanced up at the window, reaching with shaking hands to pull open the blinds, illuminating every plant inside as he took a moment to sit there, closing his eyes to soak in the sun as the plants around him did. A smile crept across his lips as he moved to grab the wheels of his wheelchair, turning them slowly to begin pushing himself out toward the hall.

The open hall was empty still this early, none of the other elderly occupants yet awake. He grunted softly, pushing the wheels to propel him toward the kitchen. As he rounded a corner, his eyes caught a nurse at the front desk. He waved, continuing on his mission though.

“Good morning.” He croaked, wheeling past the desk toward the kitchen.

“Good morning Wu, you’re up early.” She said, giving him a smile. She had long platinum blonde hair with big blue eyes and pale skin. She was one of his favorite nurses. He would make sure the water her flower first.

“The plants are thirsty.” He told her. “Gotta get them a drink.”

Wu didn’t give her any more time to talk as he rolled on by, the soft carpet turning to a hardwood floor as he entered the kitchen. He slowed down now, going to the table and reach up to the pitcher there. His hand clasped around the handle, pulling it into his lap as he moved to the sink, carefully setting it in to fill it halfway. Pulling it back into his lap, he turned himself around and rolled back to his room.

He moved to a smaller plant, the stems long and thin, buds opening to light purple flowers with a heady scent that filled the room. He stuck his finger into the dirt, feeling just how damp the soil was before he began to tip the pitcher, watching the water dribble down into the little pot of earth. “Good morning Natallia.” He muttered to the lavender with a smile, giving a gentle stroke to the little flowers before turning.

Next was his best friend, a woman almost as old as him, her room a few doors down. Her flower was open already, a bright and blazing yellow orange with little dots of red tracing around the petals. “Good morning Maia.” He grinned, moving to run his fingers over the leaves of the roman orchid before he checked the soil. “Still nice and healthy I see.” He hummed, moving on to the next plant.

Stout and spiny, he narrowed his eyes at this one. “Good morning Gabriel…” He huffed, reaching to lightly caress the deep magenta bloom atop the small barrel cactus, his fingers deftly avoiding the long spines around the green. His nail dipped into the soil, feeling it. “Hmm, just a touch..” He tipped the pitcher close, letting a small amount drip out before his attention moved on.

He slowly moved through his garden, touching up all the flowers he could. Roderich the purple lady slipper, Jacques the red begonia, Jan the pincushion flower, Viola the bluebell, Rainer the butterfly weed, clary sage Kaeja, comfrey Annika, crown imperial Michael, foxglove Lin Hui, globe thistle Katerijne, lavender cotton Ivan, nasturtium Margaret, every single one of them friends to care and love.

Eventually, he worked his way through all of them, smiling as he glanced at the sun again. It had climbed higher, moving up toward the roof. Wu hummed, moving to slowly roll out of his room and into the bustle of the hall. Everyone was on the move now, their bodies young and spry as if they themselves were many years younger.

Maia winked at Wu as he moved in the kitchen, placing the pitcher back. Her long curled hair pulled back into a low ponytail, the salt and pepper strands slipping down around her face as she mixed something in amongst a batch of brownie batter. Mischievous woman.

He moved to start going to the dining room, pausing as he looked out amongst the crowd. So many faces, all of them turned to each other, smiles wide and only some of them filled with teeth. He stared a moment, his eyes glimpsing the tall trees in the window beyond, settling on the deep crimson of the japanese maple.

The haze that settled on his eyes broke as a bowl tumbled to the floor, the clatter making his small body jolt in his chair as he looked to the ground. A hand reached down to grab the silver spoon, the man smiling and laughing sweetly as he spoke gently to the one who dropped it. The long brown hair, the tanned skin and green eyes, all of it was familiar, yet he couldn’t put a name to the face. Something about the man stirred an instinct in him though, one that made him want to smile with him, but also scold him and lightly smack him. He loved his man, but he was a pain, much like his cactus Gabriel.

The television clicked on in the other room, voices carrying through the air and taking his attention. He turned, starting to move toward that, his eyes going to the screen as images flashed over it. People were moving, running, dancing, jumping, and Wu watched their every action. He moved his body slightly as well, leaning side to side as the camera shifted. He smiled softly, his eyes dropping then to his own body.

He gazed down at himself, still wearing light pajamas in the wheelchair. Had he forgotten to change his clothes? He tried to push himself up out of the chair, his brow furrowing as his legs didn’t follow the directions he gave. He slowly lowered himself again, staring at the thin sticks of legs beneath his pants. Why weren’t they moving? What had happened? He blinked slowly, and something darted in the corner of his eyes.

Wu sat up straight, turning his head toward the object but found nothing there. A blank wall stared back at him, the beige a sea of bland as he blinked again, trying to figure out what exactly he had seen there.

He spotted it again, moving there in the corner of his eye. He gripped the wheels of his chair, spinning quickly, the bright light of the front door beyond the desk shining in at him. Outside. Fresh air, a cooling breeze, the sound of leaves rustling, he started to push himself toward it.

The desk passed him by, the hall quickly appearing behind him as he moved toward the door. He reached for the push bar, a loud clack and a jolt stopping his fingers short of it.

“Wu! What are you doing?” A woman asked, coming up behind him.

He glanced back, looking at the blonde woman who grabbed the handles of his chair. She looked right at him, waiting for an answer as he just gazed back, brows knitting on his forehead. “Going outside…”

She said something, but he didn’t seem to hear as he looked back at the rooms before him. Everything was dark, the light fading behind him as he was pushed away from the door. He squinted, hands trying to grip the wheels as he looked at where she was taking him.

Small and wrinkled bodies hunched in front of a tv, eyes glassy and unmoving, their bodies husks just turned toward the bright and flashing colors. Another clatter from beside him, his gaze snapping to the doorway of the dining room. Figures crowded tight around tiny tables, heads down and drooping over the tables, their bodies melting down from the heat that poured from the raging oven in the kitchen.

Fingers gripping at the wheels tighter now, the movement faltered as he tried to make it slow, tried to make it stop. The force behind him pushed a bit more, and his grip slipped, the wheels taking him beyond his control now. He shook his head, gripping the arm rest now. With a deep breath that made his head swim, he pushed himself from the chair, reaching out to the light from the window on the far wall.

Everything cascaded down then, the light a smear of bright as darkness swallowed him up and his body fell down to thump against the beige colored carpet. Noises all around him, none of them making any sense as he felt hands gripping his arms. A groan escaped his lips as he was hauled up from the ground.

It was the ground, right? Beige was beneath him, and when he looked beside him, beige again, looking up, beige, everywhere was beige, the color only broken by blonde and brown and blue, all of it just a smattering of things he didn’t know. Everything got blurrier the more he felt the hands on him, the more the noises ground against his ears, the same syllable repeated over and over again.

Wu.

Wu.

Wu.

Wu.

What did it mean?!?!

Tears slid down his cheeks as he was moved, the sea of sandy color rushing by until suddenly everything was green. He paused, his eyes focusing as he looked at it all. Greens of every shade, jade, forest, sage, olive, lime, pine, tea, emerald, fern, all of it bright and familiar. Within the curling leaves where twisting petals of every color he could imagine. Pops of purple, bursts of blue, cracks of crimson, outbreaks of orange, all of it he knew.

A hand reached out toward the plants, shaking and wrinkled, his eyes moving to it. Whose hand was that? He stared at it a moment, looking at the thin brown line of soil beneath the crescent of the nail. A gardeners hand, an old gardeners hand. The old fingers touched a leaf, his body suddenly beside the plants, his gaze looking at all of them.

He was surrounded. As he moved over each one, the names of them came to mind, tumbling from cracked lips and false teeth. Margaret, Ivan, Katerijne, Lin Hui, Michael, Annika, Kaeja, Rainer, Jan, Viola, Jacques, Roderich, Gabriel, Maia, Natallia. He was surrounded, the sun warm on his skin as he turned his face with the blossoms, all of them facing the sun disappearing in the window.