Mid-Week Flash Challenge - Week 36

This week's photo prompt is all over the internet, particularly on wallpaper sites, so trying to track down the owner has been unsuccessful.

The photo draws the senses, which is what my tale reflects.

The General Guidelines can be found here.

How to create a clickable link in Blogger comments can be found on lasts week's post here.

Bed of Roses

Ella stood in the pouring rain, letting it soak through her clothes and touch her skin. It felt like the tears she was unable to shed. She embraced the wetness having run dry inside, numbed by the course of events that had left her standing alone on the patio.  

With her head stooped, eyes down, initially unseeing as her senses reached out to the falling rain, they came into focus on the flowerbeds that lined the small garden she had been tending for years, in particular the red roses she had poured all her love into.

Their perfection shone through the wall of water, droplets hanging off them like luxurious jewels magnifying their deep red colour. Ella craved their texture, wanting to feel the silk of the petals against her skin.

She walked over to them, getting as close as she could, letting her hood shade them from more rain. She pulled a hand out of her pocket and reached out a finger to trace the line of the flower. She immediately felt the energy lift in her as though the life force of the rose had been transmitted to her. Ella took a deep breath.

She was reminded she could make a choice to rise above the betrayal that had followed the revelation of her partner’s duplicity. She could recognise her mistake in accepting that duplicity, and even attempting to embrace it so that she might not lose more. Ella knew she could choose to stand tall and remain beautiful through all weather, and learn to be resilient like the rose. But she also knew that like the rose she was more fragile than she appeared; that although she might appear to have thorns, they were flexible and easily pushed aside.

All Ella could be certain of was the beauty of the rose, and when there was nothing else she still had that to hold onto. It reminded her that not all was lost: she still stood as sure as the rose and had refused to succumb and be cowed by the storm.