Roots were
Already Reaching
Inspired Fiction Vol. 29
Featured Single
Can I Call You Rose?
Thee Sacred Souls
You left your jacket draped over the chair yesterday afternoon. Long after you walked down the stairs, the scent of crushed leaves lingered in the hallway. I found myself sitting on the floor, breathing in the shift in the room's atmosphere. It is strange how a person can vacate a space but leave their weight behind in a scent. I did not move the jacket. I let it claim that corner of the house.
When we spoke earlier, I noticed how you crossed your arms right when the conversation turned toward tomorrow.
You are terrified of blooming early, of letting anyone past the perimeter you have spent years cultivating. I did not push. I simply poured the tea and waited for your hands to relax.
The Act of Taking Root
"It takes bravery to let something take root inside you. Roots do not sit politely on the surface. They dig, they claim their own space."
There is a bag of potting soil sitting on my balcony. I tore the corner open this morning, feeling the damp earth between my fingers. I brushed the dirt from my palms and thought of the way you looked at me. I pressed my fingers into the soil, hollowed out a small space, and covered it back over. That is all it is, really. Making room, and trusting something to grow.
The streetlamp outside is flickering, casting shadows across the floorboards. I am sitting in the dark, turning the thought of you over in my mind. The night feels quiet against the windowpane. I leave the balcony door slightly ajar. The breeze slips in, brushing past the curtains. I am just leaving a space open.
The dirt on the porch steps
I knelt beside it, pressing my bare thumb against the damp ground where your hands had just been, feeling the warmth still there beneath the surface. You had not spoken a word, yet the roots were already reaching downward.
Footprints in the Garden
"The quiet work of staying, even when the soil is difficult."
"She has been tending to this garden long enough to know which roots are worth keeping."
The Altons
Over and Over
"Not a single decision, but the same one made again every morning."
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