Forget-me-not

the wooden floorboards creaked from the weight, a circle on the floor like we were kindergarteners once again. never missed the 'get to know you circles' . 

i spaced out for each of the conversations answering the question, it soon came to my turn and i had to leave my mind.

"hey," the lady said in a soft tone of voice. "it's your turn." i blinked and looked around, everyone was staring at me like i had two heads, i felt self conscious under their gazes. "what's the question?" i asked quietly. 

"what's your favorite flower, dear." she said, mimicking the same soft tone i spoke in. i nodded slowly and fixed my position. i knew my answer already. 

"forget-me-nots" i said. the lady cocked an eyebrow. "can you tell us why?" i thought for a second, i was trying to think of things to say other than 'they're pretty' or 'they make me happy'. i finally got my answer.

"the knight and the lady." i said. "what?" a girl said in a high pitched tone of voice. "what's that?" another boy said hoarsely. "the myth." i said a little louder. "the myth of the knight and the lady? with the forget-me-nots?" i said more softer. the lady looked around and rested her hands in her lap. "i don't think anyone knows the myth." she looked around again and i did as well, everyone looked at everyone and shook their heads. 

"tell us!" the girl with the high pitched voice said. i sighed and began the story. 

"a while back, thousands and millions of years ago, there was a lady, and a knight. the knight would protect the village, and the lady would take care of the village's children." i said as i looked down at my hands in my lap, i looked ahead and made eye contact with the kid across from me. "one day, the lady was going on a walk with the children on the forest trail, one of the children fell into a fast creek, and was starting to go down stream, the lady and the other children ran down and followed him to the place where he grabbed a log. the lady was in distress, she tried grabbing the child with her fingertips but she couldn't..." i looked at everyone's faces, they all were in suspense. 

"luckily," i continued on. "the knight was walking through the forest on patrol, and happened to hear the yells of help, he ran over to the scene and pulled up the kid, the kid thanked him and the lady did so as well, "thank you, brave knight." she said." there was a smile on everyone's face, i couldn't help but smile too.  

"the knight was awarded the same night, he was only focused on one thing, the lady in the crowd, clapping with all the children by her feet. after everyone headed to their cottages, the lady walked home while humming a tune to no one in particular. the knight was shy, but he managed to stammer out a few words-" i was interrupted by a boy. "wait, a nervous knight? how can a knight that protects the village be nervous?" he said in a whiny voice. "well," i started. "when it comes to love, even the toughest of knights can be nervous around their true love." the boy fell silent and i continued. 

"the knight stammered out, "excuse me, miss?" the lady stopped humming and turned around. "oh! dear knight!" she said happily. he went down on one knee and took the lady's hand, she gasped with a smile on her face. "will you have the pleasure of being mine?" he said, not meeting the lady's gaze. "yes!" she said happily, she was quite a happy lady. i stopped and took a moment.

"now a few days later, the knight and the lady were wandering through the forest where they first met, the knight picking small wildflowers throughout the time, one was a delicate and small blue flower-" a happy girl interrupted me. "the forget-me-nots!" she said with a toothy smile. i nodded and continued on. "they found where the creek would've led the young boy, a big lake, the knight saw this gorgeous flower and bent down to pick it up, he fell into the lake and thanks to his armor, he started to sink." i heard gasps throughout the circle. "the lady tried to grab a hold of her beloved, but her fingers couldn't reach his hand, he picked the small and delicate blue flower and threw it to her and hollered, "forget me not!" and he sank to the bottom of the lake, in distress, the lady cried by the lake, all day and every day, she would pick the small flowers she called 'forget-me-nots' and would throw them in the lake." i said as i looked around. "the end." i said.

the circle was silent. "wait so..." i heard the whiny voice boy say. "he died?" i nodded. "what?" the happy girl blurted out. "that's actually the end? no ghost visit? no anything?" i shook my head. "that was such an amazing story..." the lady said. "thank you for sharing it with us!" the lady clicked her tongue and continued on, i smiled to myself, the lady and the knight... what a lovely story.

mmae_ee

VT

13 years old

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