?Summer was finally here and Marley couldn’t wait to dig her hands into the soft dirt in
front of her grey stone house. A rosebush excitedly climbed up the front of the house, working
its thorny hands into any available crevices. A flower caught Marley’s eye and she reached
towards it, marveling at the beauty of it. A confused expression crossed her face as she tried to think of a way to describe the flower’s color. It was unlike any that she had seen before.


She breathed in the scent of this beautiful flower and was overpowered by a feeling of
remembrance. Like she had been in this same place once before.

The slam of a car door interrupted Marley’s trance. She slowly stepped away from the
flower bed with the mysterious flower, and into the arms of her best friend.

“Sarah!” she exclaimed. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”

“I’ve missed you so much,” Sarah said while returning her hug. “Your place is
gorgeous!”

The friends continued to catch up about their lives as Marley led Sarah into her house.
She threw one more confused look at the flower. If possible, it seemed to shine an even brighter
color as they walked past it. As crazy as the thought sounded, it was almost as if the flower was
welcoming Sarah and Marley.


Later that day Marley showed the flower to Sarah, commenting on how impossible it
seemed to describe the color of it. Sarah looked at Marley with confusion.

“It’s just a daisy,” Sarah said. “Yeah, it’s beautiful but nothing that unusual.”
Marley stared at Sarah with disbelief. “But..you mean that you don’t feel anything unusual
coming from it? Almost like, I don’t know, like you’ve seen this flower before, but in a different
time?”

Sarah chuckled at Marley and patted her on the back. “I see daisies all the time, it’s
nothing unusual. Maybe you’ve been stressing too hard today, a lot has happened after all.”
Marley nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that must be it. Lets head inside and have some dinner. I
think I’ll turn in early tonight, maybe then my crazy imagination will calm down.” Both girls
laughed and linked arms as they walked back towards the house. If they had thought to look
back, they would have noticed the brilliantly colored flower fade just a bit.




Marley dreamed she was outside her house once again, staring at the unusual flower. She
did not understand how it could possibly be a daisy. There was nothing ordinary about this
flower. Some force seemed to compel her forward, closer to it. She bent down to feel the
softness of the petals, and stare at the brilliance of the colors. She felt safe near the flower,
almost like she was being held in the arms of someone who loved her. As soon as this thought
entered her mind, she felt strong arms being wrapped around her. She wasn’t frightened because
somehow she knew that this person meant no harm to her. She turned around and stared into the
eyes of a handsome guy, not much older then her. What caught her eye though, was his
uncommon clothes. Almost like he was from a different time. Everything seemed to stand still
when he leaned in to whisper in her ear.

“I told you that I would always be here for you,” he breathed. “No matter what time
separates us, you will always hold my heart.” With that, he kissed her forehead and stepped
away, fading into the trees nearby.



Marley woke with a start and lay in confusion for a few minutes. She had never had such
a weird dream before. Especially not one that felt so real, so familiar. She sighed and got ready
for the day. There was no way a flower could have a past and she wasn’t about to let a mere
flower cause her so much confusion when there were things to be done.

As soon as Marley and Sarah finished breakfast they decided to dive into the attic. There were so many things in there from the past owners that Marley had yet to clean out. Armed with
gloves and dust cloths, the girls cautiously climbed the rickety stairs to the attic. It looked like it had been ages since anyone had been up there.

“This would be the perfect setting for a horror movie,” Marley thought. She could
already see the headlines: “Young girls attacked by crazy monster hiding in attic.” Marley
chuckled at her overactive imagination. No wonder she was having weird dreams. The door of
the attic creaked loudly and dust rose up around Marley and Sarah, momentarily clouding their
view of the attic. Once the dust cleared, they were able to get a good look at what had been shut
up in the attic for many years. There was only one small trunk in the corner of the attic; the type
of trunk Marley envisioned Rose bringing with her onto the Titanic. In other words, it was an old looking trunk that held a beauty of its own. Walking softly so as not to stir up more dust, Marley and Sarah advanced towards it. There was no lock on it, so they had no difficulty in opening the lid. The straps of the trunk crumbled a bit as they were undone and a few mothballs floated into
the air once the trunk was opened. Inside the trunk lay a small book, a dried flower, a picture of
a young man and girl, and a fading wedding dress.

Sarah pulled out the wedding dress admiringly while Marley stared at the picture of the
young man and girl. They appeared to be a couple, the girl staring lovingly up at the man’s face.
Marley’s heart raced faster as she stared intently at the guy. He was the same one from her dream! But how could that be possible? She had never met him before in her life. Marley turned the photograph over, looking for clues on the back of the picture. “Emilia Smith and Jacob Martin, June 29th 1875. Together in life, together in death” was inscribed on the back. Marley frowned in confusion. Her last name was Smith but surely that didn’t mean anything. And what
did it mean by “together in death?” Was the photo put there after their death?


Sarah went to fix dinner downstairs while Marley investigated the rest of the contents in the trunk. The wedding dress didn’t appear to have been worn; if it had been, then the owner had taken great care of it. Marley wondered if the girl in the photo had once owned the wedding
dress. If so, then why would it have been left up in an old attic? She shook her head to clear her
wandering thoughts and turned her attention to the small book. It looked like an old journal her
grandmother had kept as a child; kind of a leathery cover, with yellowed pages. Marley opened
up the journal to the first page. It read: “This journal belongs to Jacob Martin. If any of my
siblings attempt to read this then they will see some serious wrath. (Yes Mary, this means you).”
Marley chuckled and settled in to read the old journal. If the guy really was the one from her
dream, then maybe she could figure out what he wanted, or if he wanted anything at all.


July 3rd 1875

Dear Journal,

I have decided to keep a record of some happenings that have occurred lately.

Mostly, I want this to be given to my beloved Emilia if something should happen to me in the near future. That sounds so dramatic, does it not? But one will only understand once they’ve read all of my records in here. I have no idea where to start. Possibly the beginning, but that would go back to far before I was born.

And if you are reading this, then you realize I do not have much time to detail such events. Although, maybe I am completely wrong and I actually do have several decades in front of me before I depart this world. That would be entirely alright by me. Oh dear, I think I’m rambling again. Emilia always thinks it’s so
adorable when I do that, but between you and me, I think it’s just proof that I’m crazy. Okay, to the beginning. Well, it was a dark and stormy night...okay, sorry, this really is serious. I’m just nervous I suppose. Almost like writing my fears and thoughts out will make them real.

I’m kind of a loner, I like to do things by myself. I try not to depend on people too much, because I honestly think that I do fine on my own. I guess that’s why
Emilia and I get along so well, because she’s so upbeat and friendly all the time. A ray of sunshine that one is. Well, I was walking through the woods near home
the other night. It was one of those foggy cold nights that you feel you can disappear in. Like if you walk too far into the fog, it will swallow you up. I had spent most of the day doing farm chores and trying to decipher a particularly difficult math problem. Needless to say, I just needed to walk a bit.


I followed a path my dad had made a couple years back. It had begun to be overgrown with weeds and other woodsy plants. At one point, I took a wrong turn and ended up in a clearing that I hadn’t seen before. Now, I know this sounds completely crazy, but in the clearing I saw these hooded people doing some kind of ritual. It’s hard for me to explain what was happening. Even I’m not entirely sure what occurred. All I know is that one moment the clearing was shrouded with a cover of darkness and fog, and the next it was illuminated by..some flower. At least, it looked like a flower. It was unlike any that I had seen before; it was glowing with some weird color.


The people seemed to draw power from the flower. Each person took a petal and pressed it to their forehead. Once this was done, the people seemed to glow and then fade. I quickly stepped back into the shadow of the trees, thankful that I hadn’t been noticed. Who knew what these strange people would do to someone who crashed their ritual?


So much for my calm walk; my brain was going into information overload.

What I had seen could not be possible. It was absolutely batty to believe that people could draw power from flowers. I walked home quickly and vowed to stay as far from that weird clearing as possible.


Come morning, that plan flew out the window. I knew I had to figure out what was going on. So, I quickly finished my chores and set out to check the clearing. Somehow, I was able to find it without too many problems. During the day, the clearing hid it’s secrets well. I walked over to where I thought I had seen the people last night. I found a circle of withered petals and a fading remnant of the flower I had watched the people take power from. It was nearly dead, but it
still contained enough power to make me realize why the people were having their strange ritual. The flower made me feel like I could take on anything. I shuddered to think what could happen if this fell into the wrong hands. Although, maybe it already had. How was I to know if the people from last night were the
good guys or the bad guys?


I quickly glanced around, making sure I was alone. I saw the corner of something sticking out from under a rock to the right of the circle and knelt down to pry it loose. It seemed to be some kind of book. Inside were spells about how to control the minds of people, advice about the benefits of the strange looking flower, and other disturbing bits of information. This was definitely not cool. The last page in the book read “one of these flowers appear maybe once every hundred years. The powers contained within it are immense and must be handled
carefully and with caution. The powers of it will last for one month if used and preserved correctly.”


I didn’t know how long the flower had been used, but the people would not have left the book there if they had not planned on coming back. There was only one thing for me to do. I placed the flower in my jacket and calmly walked back home.


I figured everything would be fine. I placed the flower under my bed and kind of forgot about it. Until the next day. A person came by the house asking to talk to me. I knew I was in trouble as soon as I saw the robe he was wearing. He told me to return the flower by the end of the week or I would be sorry. He never asked if I had it, he just knew.


And that’s where I stand as of today. I cannot give the flower back because I know the horrible power it holds. I go to the circle tonight, but I go empty-handed. If I do not come back, I hope this record is found and that Emilia is told I did not leave her. This is something that I know I must do, because I have a feeling something terrible will happen if I don’t. I’m leaving the flower by Emilia’s window, so she will know how much I truly love her.


Emilia, I’ll come back to you. Don’t give up hope.


Marley frantically flipped through the rest of the pages in hopes of discovering what had happened to Jacob. They were all blank. Marley stared thoughtfully at the journal. Jacob obviously had not made it back from the ritual or he would have continued writing in his journal.

But what had become of Emilia? Did she know what had happened to her love? Marley looked
once more into the trunk, hoping for a few more clues. In a back corner of the trunk there was a
fading newspaper clipping.

“Town Searches for missing teen,” it read. Marley did not have to read the rest of the
article to know that they had never found Jacob. He had given himself up for a cause that the
people he loved would never know.


That night Marley dreamed she was alone crying in her bedroom. A wilted flower lay on
the bed in front of her. Somehow she knew she was experiencing what Emilia had felt after her
love disappeared. She was lonely and did not understand why Jacob had left her.

The dream changed and Marley was once again in front of her house, staring at the
unusual flower. Footsteps sounded behind her and Marley turned to see the same boy from her
dream the other day heading towards her. This time, she knew that this was Jacob. He stopped in
front of her and pointed towards the flower.

“You must right this wrong,” Jacob said with sadness in his eyes. “Prevent this event
from happening again. Only when I know that my hometown is no longer in danger, then can I
return to my Emilia.”

I nodded at him, knowing what I had to do. He turned to go, giving me a smile that seemed to hold the burdens of the world.


Sarah helped me bury the flower that next morning. I thought of the couple I had seen in
the picture from the trunk, of Emilia and Jacob. I hoped Emilia would get her wedding now.
Maybe Jacob would finally feel at peace and be able to let the past go. Marley could only hope
that someday, in the far future, the next magical flower would be quickly destroyed. Who knew
what could happen if the wrong hands got hold of it?


That night, when Marley went to sleep, she dreamed she was in the middle of a meadow.
There was a young girl and boy in the middle, the girl wearing a white wedding dress. They
smiled and waved at Marley before walking off into a mist.