The first thing I remember is the wind moving through the grass.
Not the kind of wind that howls or rushes past you in a hurry, but the slow kind...the kind that drifts across the land like a quiet breath, bending the tall meadow grass in long rolling waves that ripple toward the horizon as far as the eye can see. I remember standing there with the sunlight warming the back of my neck and shoulders, the air carrying the soft scent of wildflowers and earth, and feeling and odd sense of stillness settle into my chest. the meadow stretched endlessly around me, a vast sea of green broken by scattered burst of color, small white daisies nodding gently in the breeze, patches of of pale purple thistle, and tiny yellow flowers that flowed faintly in the afternoon light.
The sky above was wide and impossibly blue, so clear it almost felt like a painted ceiling rather than something real. Thin strands of cloud drifted lazily across it, moving so slowly they looked almost frozen in place. there were birds somewhere far off, their distant songs carried softly through the air, and the sound blended with the whispering grass in a way that made the entire place feel quiet and alive at the same time.
If someone had asked me at that moment how long I had been standing there, I wouldn't have been able to answer. It felt like minutes, it also felt like hours. time in that meadow moved strangely, stretching and folding in ways that made it impossible to measure.
And beside me was Esme.
I remember noticing her first through movement rather than sight, the gentle shift of the grass as she walked through it, the way the wind caught the edge of her dress and lifted the pale fabric so that it fluttered softly around her legs. when I turned my head to look at her fully, I felt something strange settle somewhere deep inside my chest, something warm and unfamiliar that made my breath slow without me meaning for it to.
She walked barefoot through the meadow like she belonged there her steps light and unhurried as the flowers brushed against her ankles. her hair caught the sunlight in a way that made it shimmer with dark colors, like an endless starry night sky glimmering when the light struck It just right. Every time the wind passed through a few loose strands lifted and drifted across her face before settling again. she didn't seem to notice. She simply reached down to occasionally brush her fingers along the tops of flowers as she passed, letting the petals slide across her skin as though greeting them.
There was a calmness in the way she moved, the kind of quiet presence that makes the world feel softer simply by existing in it. I didn't know how long I had known her, not exactly. the strange thing was that it felt like both a short time and a very long time all at once. Like I had only just met her and yet had already spent years walking beside her in places just like this.
She turned slightly then, glancing over her shoulder toward me and the sunlight caught her face in a way that made her eyes glow softly. When she smiled it wasn't a large smile just a small curve at the corner of her mouth but something about it made the entire meadow feel warmer.
"You're staring again." she said.
Her voice was soft, but the wind carried it easily across the few steps of grass between us.
I blinked, realizing she was right.
"I'm simply thinking," I answered.
She tilted her head slightly, studying me with quiet curiosity. "About?"
I looked down at the flower in my hand without remembering when I had picked it. The thin green stem rested between my fingers as the small white petals trembled faintly in the breeze. I twirled it slowly as I thought.
"Nothing important," I said after a moment.
Esme stepped closer through the grass, the flowers brushing faintly against the fabric of her dress as she moved. When she stopped a few feet away, she looked down at the wildflower in my hand.
"that's not true," she said softly. "you always look like you're thinking about something important"
I laughed quietly under my breath, though I wasn't sure why. Something about her words felt oddly accurate in a way I couldn't explain.
"I was wondering if flowers get tired of the wind" I admitted.
For a moment she just looked at me before she laughed it was a quiet laugh, light and warm, the kind that sounded like small glass chimes stirred by a passing breeze. The sound drifted through the meadow and seemed to linger in the air longer than it should have.
"I don't think they get tired" she said after a moment. "I think they like it."
"why?"
She stepped past me then, turning slowly as she looked out over the endless waves of grass stretching toward the distant horizon the sun peeking behind the tree line and small hills curving.
"imagine standing still forever" she said. "never moving, never changing. the wind probably reminds them they're alive"
Her words settled in my mind in a way that made me pause. I watched the grass move around us again, the long green blades bending together as another gentle gust passed through the meadow.
Alive.
I didn't know why that word stayed with me at that moment, maybe because the meadow felt so peaceful that it was hard to imagine anything disturbing it. maybe because the quiet between us felt fragile in a way I couldn't explain. or just maybe it was because somewhere deep inside me, a strange and explainable feeling had begun to grow, a faint sense that something was about to change. at first it was subtle.
The kind of feeling you almost ignore because you can't quite place what's wrong. the sunlight seemed a little dimmer somehow, even though the sky above was still perfectly clear. the wind shifted slightly, brushing against the back of my neck in a way that sent a faint shiver down my spine.
Esme stopped walking.
I noticed it immediately she had been moving slowly through the flowers only a moment before, her fingers grazing the tops of them as she passed. now she stood completely still.
"Esme?" I said.
She didn't answer right away, instead she looked out across the meadow toward the far horizon, her brow faintly furrowed as if she were listening to something I couldn't hear.
"do you feel that?" she asked quietly almost weakly.
I frowned.
"feel what?"
For a few seconds she didn't say anything the wind moved through the grass against harsher than normal the birds continued singing in the distance, but something in the air felt different, off.
"I don't know" she said slowly, "it just feels...strange"
I stood a step toward her. and then that's when it happened, one second she was standing there, the sunlight catching in her hair as she looked toward the distant line of trees the next second her body swayed. At first I thought she had simply lost her balance. Her hand lifted to her chest suddenly, fingers pressing lightly against the fabric of her dress as confusion flickered across her face.
"Esme?"
Her knees buckled, I moved without thinking, the grass bent beneath my feet as I rushed forward, catching her just before she collapsed completely. Her weight fell into my arms as we sank together into the tall meadow grass, flowers crushing beneath us as I lowered her carefully to the ground.
Her breath was wrong.
Too shallow.
Too quiet.
"hey...hey...look at me," I said quickly, my voice tightening with panic I didn't understand.
Her eyes fluttered open slowly. For a moment she looked at me in a way that made my chest tighten painfully as if she were seeing something far away rather than the person holding her.
"Soren.." she whispered.
The way she said my name felt different.
Like a goodbye I didn't fully understand yet.
"I think..." she began.
But the words never finished her hand slipped weakly from my arm. her body went still in my arms. and suddenly the meadow was silent. I sat there in the tall grass holding her, waiting for her chest to rise again.
It didn't.
"Esme?" I whispered my voice cracking slightly.
No answer.
The wind moved through the flowers again.
The birds kept singing.
The sky remained bright and blue above us.
But the girl in my arms was gone.
I didn't know how long I stayed there like that, kneeling in the meadow with her body against my chest. Tie didn't move the way it should have. every second stretched painfully long, like the world itself had slowed down just to trap me inside that moment. My eyes blurred with unshed tears that I held back.
Seeing her peaceful face among the flowers that she touched so delicately where now her hands laid limp on the side of her body.
But as I looked up I saw something.
At first I thought my mind was breaking from grief.
Because standing in the middle of the meadow, where there had been nothing before was a door.
Not a building.
Not a wall.
Just a single door standing alone in the grass.
And beyond it.
something was glowing red underneath the crack of the door.