A long time ago in a village between the mountains, past the forest near the river there was a craftsman. He made many things such as; origami flowers, sculptors, paintings, anything a person could imagine. Name something and he could do it, some people thought it was witchcraft while others didn't know what to believe.
One day a young man in about his mid twenties who heard about the craftsman skills when he was a little boy and decided to see if what he heard was true. So he went to the village he only heard about in stories. As he looked around he saw people scattered around minding their own business. He continued walking straight towards a little cottage past everything else all by itself.
The small cottage was built of stone that framed the large wooden door. Ivy was clinging itself all around the house, the wild flowers grew all throughout the front path of the house giving a slightly welcoming vibe if you ignore the sign that strictly says "NO TRESPASSING". Shaking off his nerves he walks to the door cautiously taking careful steps his eyes roaming all over the property. Tap, tap, tap sounded his knuckles against the cold door.
"Who is it?" Shouted a muffled voice.
"My name is Sebastian. I am from Colt Village where I heard of your crafting skills." He turned his head back to the village and thought about leaving, but it was too late now. He heard shuffling from the inside and heard the click of locks. The door swung open rapidly and as he blinked he analyzed the little old man with a white scruffy beard, piercing green eyes, a long sleek nose that was slightly crooked showing it had been broken before.
"Who told you of me?" The old man glared at Sebastian as he huffed out the jumble of words. Sebastian's mouth opened and closed his words getting caught in his throat. The old man shook his head and waved him inside. "Come in. It's been a long time since someone came to my door with those words." He said with a sigh.
"Why is that?" Sebastian questioned with scrunched eyebrows as he slowly walked inside. The old man ran his hand down his face and around to his beard.
" Sit." He gestured towards a couch and sat down in his own seat perpendicular to the couch. "I'll explain I to you only if you promise me something." Sebastian nodded his head eagerly so he could hear the story. " I want no one to come to my door again, it's my time to live in peace and forget the past."
"Yes I'll do anything and if that's what you want I'll make sure it happens." Sebastian spoke quickly hoping to get his point across. Nodding his head the old man stood up and treaded towards a large wardrobe. Opening the door he shuffled his hands around for a bit until he sighed and pulled out what he wanted. Closing the doors he placed what he grabbed on the small table between them. It was a flower, but not just any flower; it was a vibrant orange origami flower. " What does this have to do with anything?" Asked Sebastian.
"If you would wait until I sit down I'd tell you." The old man snapped back and walked over to a waist high dresser with a teakettle on it. He reached up to the cabinet about above it and pulled out some cups. Pouring tea into both of them and he brought them over to the table. Taking a seat and getting comfortable he took his teacup and took a sip, giving a pointed look to Sebastian. Putting the cup down he finally began the story. " This flower was the last thing I made before I retired. It was about 25 years ago, this village was filled with my crafts mainly the flowers like this one; but this one is different. This one is special." He snapped his fingers and the flower moved slightly to the side, he snapped again and it started shimmering and the petals that were paper turned into real petals. "When it is paper it can't do anything, but once it's in its natural form as a real flower," he hesitated as his eyes glazed over with sorrow and unshed tears, " It can be dangerous. If this got into the wrong hands again I don't know what would happen."
"What do you mean 'again'?" Sebastian exclaimed staring at the flower as it moved around like it was alive.
"It got in the wrong hands before because I was careless and just cared about the money. It wasn't until I lost something special to me did I notice that I had to fix it." Picking up the flower gently he quietly whispered to it and ran his fingertips over its petals. "A man came to my house and challenged my crafting skills, we competed until I made these flowers. At first everyone thought I had lost and I wasn't as amazing as they thought. But then I snapped my finger." He looked at his fingers as he rubbed them together and then snapped them again making the flower shed the real leaves and turn to paper again. " People loved it and everyone wanted one just like it, so like the businessman I was, I complied. As they became more popular people demanded more, but I had refused; I was about to settle down with my wife and my child on the way. I didn't have time to make all those flowers anymore so I found an apprentice. I taught him everything I knew, but how to make these flowers. He was fine with it, but when I gave him to position full time and people started asking him for them he demanded to know. He was so persistent, it was as if he had gone mad and needed to know." The old man shook his head as a tear slowly slid down his cheek. " He knew he couldn't get to me easily, so he did the one thing no one else dared to do," He paused to take a breath, " He threatened my wife, to harm her unless I told him. I couldn't have him hurt her, so I told him. When he did it something went wrong and my wife was next to him still. He killed my wife and child." Tears started falling rapidly down his face. " Not too long after he had left town and I haven't heard from him since."
Sebastian sat with his mouth wide staring at the flower in shock. His mind wandered to the thought that something that looked so nice and beautiful could cause so much damage to someone's life. But it was a lesson learned that most beautiful things have the most impact in life whether it's good or bad.
