sauntering through the spiralled gates at midnight, hands held so tightly together as if the world would shatter if we let go - we always wanted to go home early. the red or green t-shirt over your lampshade creating an enchanting galaxy of this box room... the room was red when you first said ‘i love you’

we lay still on your floor, our tired legs still hidden beneath our mattress den, overlooked by a soft green glow as my mother demanded i come home. this was the second night we spent together. after our first date we sauntered through the blackness hand in hand and we held each other tightly in a field beneath the stars. i didn’t want to go home the next day and i hoped our walk through the sweet orange forest would last at least a little into the evening so i wouldn’t be able to go home in the dark - it did. my friend told my mother where i was and you held me at the door of our fort telling me everything would be okay

our red and green heaven kept us safe as we fell in love, my handmade drawings like ivy upon your wall while your vines enveloped my heart, quickly and intricately as if to never be unwrapped. the fern leaf we picked on our first walk together rested gently above the wardrobe as we rested together night upon night. you would always hold me after my bad dreams, before falling back asleep

8 months later and we only have a week left here. we walk softly through the now green forest holding our fern leaf. i place it in the offering bowl inside the witch’s den, with a small starry note that contained our togetherness and the significance of the leaf. we both kept a small bit for our diaries but we walked away leaving the fern to rest where we first merged souls - our joined existence will always be one with the trees and the soil