Lavender field

Published 2025

All Rights Reserved

The Lavender Field:

The lavender field was forbidden, but it called to me all the same, just as it always had.

Mother had told us since we could walk to stay away from it, giving no explanation as to why. I had always heeded her warning, looking at the field only from a distance, be it the courtyard or my bedroom window. Today, years later, curiosity would call me to do much more. None of us had ever tested the waters, breaking the rules in such a way. It’s not that I wished to hurt her but more the strong need to explore. I have spent my days out learning every bit of our land from the home to the forest but never the fields.

Now, as I make my way through the grass, the summer sun beaming down upon me, I stare out into the field, their strip of purple barely visible. I decide that today, I’m going to do it. I’m going to go up to the field. Looking around, I’m happy to see my guard and nanny both are paying me no mind. Slipping away, I race up to the field.

The flowers stretch for as far as the eye can see, a much larger field than I was expecting to see. Unlike other flowers, no bees fly about these flowers. The only sound is that of the soft breeze that flows.

Strolling up to the light purple flowers, I grin.

We have many types of flowers but never purple, other than these, the ones we aren’t allowed to see.

They are so beautiful.

Wanting to know what they smell like, I step closer and inhale. It has a light floral scent. A crisp and clean smell. I look around at the untouched field, taking in all of the sights. I know I can’t stay long and there may be a chance I shall never visit again. I wonder why Mother kept this from us. Surely if it were harmful, she would get rid of it so why keep us away?

Then I think of the flowers beside the house, gorgeous white roses. They hadn’t lasted the week before my little brother trampled them racing around with our dog. Mother was heartbroken and Father was furious. Perhaps she simply wishes to keep them in good condition.

Underneath the warm sun, I yawn, feeling tired. Closing my eyes, I decide to take a bit of rest here. The warmth of the sunshine upon me only adds to my peace. I would never hear the voices frantically calling out my name. I would simply fall into a deep and deadly sleep..

Unknowingly, this mistake would cost me my life.

It would take them two hours to find my body upon realizing I had vanished, searching desperately through the house, shed, barn, and garden before making their way to the fields. Mother had spoken the truth, the flowers were dangerous, lethal in fact. These were no ordinary flowers. They were poisonous. As I slept, their venom would seep into my skin as I lay upon them. I would never wake, dying in my sleep. In his grief, Father forced the family to move but not before he burnt the field to the ground.