Anna's Garden

In Anna's garden all kind of plants were allowed to grow. There was no such thing as a 'weed'. They all had a right to be there. It was true that the little green, more stubborn plants had taken over in the beginning, but after a while they got along with flowers of all colours and the villagers started to call Anna's garden was called "Little Eden". Anna had small paths around her garden and when the local kids came in to explore the little local jungle, they were careful not to tread outside the paths. The baker in town had once seen Anna and he had told the tale to everybody in the village. Every time he told it you could see the fear resurface in his eyes and therefore everybody knew not to break any of old Anna's rules. A little boy named Sebastian was particularly fascinated with the garden. He came by every morning before school and came over after dinner so he could enjoy the buzzing bees while the sun set over Anna's Little Eden. Often Anna would join him. They didn't talk much. They would mainly just nod at each other and sit down and enjoy the life around them. Sometimes Anna baked cookies or a cake for when Sebastian came by in the evening. His mother knew that Anna took good care of her little boy and would repay her by sending Sebastian over with a bag of potatoes or apples or whatever they had a surplus of during the different seasons. The years went by and Sebastian grew up and became a young man. He was a dashing blonde boy with brown eyes, but he was too shy to do anything about the attention he received from the giggly girls in the village. As Sebastian grew up, Anna got older. Her bones became fragile and she spent more and more time indoors. The many paths in the garden became one. When people started talking about that it was strange, a young man like Sebastian sat out in an old woman's garden, Sebastian's father encouraged him to leave town to educate himself at a bigger farm. Sebastian was reluctant, but he was the oldest of five, so he knew he had to go in order to help provide for the family. It was a crisp morning in autumn when he had to leave. In the early hours before he had to go his mother handed him a bag of apples and smiled at him. He nodded and took the bag and walked to old Anna's house. He knocked on the door five times as he used to do as a child. He heard sounds from inside the old red house and footsteps slowly approaching the door. Anna opened the door. He was almost twice the height of Anna now and it startled her to see a big man outside her door. But when she saw his brown eyes she smiled. He smiled back at her and gave her the bag of apples. They both gave each other a small nod before Sebastian turned around and walked away, leaving Anna behind. He didn't come back to the village for 7 years and by then the winters had grown more harsh as the summers had grown warmer. Anna's old body caved in to the cold the third winter after Sebastian had left. Sebastian's parents wrote to him in a letter that broke his heart that they had scattered Anna's ashes in her beloved garden, . On his first day back on a glowing summer night he walked over to Anna's house. He sat down in the grass and listened to the bees one more time and remembered his old friend. He walked up to the front door and drive by a mix of the force of habit and nostalgia he knocked five times. As he knocked on the wooden door the fifth time a letter fell out from the side of door. In it was Anna's testament. Little Eden belonged to Sebastian, it stated. The day after Sebastian moved in. More paths were created as the years went by. And children came and explored Anna and Sebastian's old, wild garden. But one little girl in particular was fascinated by Old Sebastian's garden and every morning before school and every night after dinner she'd come and sit in silence next to Old Sebastian and enjoy the sound of the buzzing bees as the sun went down.