One shall know that life was not meant to be easy, but that doesn’t mean one cannot survive. He knows how hard a life is for a peasant, and he live it well. Theodore loved flowers so much that he also loved the bees and butterflies, but here he is sowing the seed of wheats that didn’t have flowers.
“Mom, Dad, I’m done with my row!” says the young boy with huge spirit, he had worked many rows of the field in full speed and is smiling as if asking for compliment.
“Good job, son. Now you can play with your friends.” The father said after patting the boy’s head, leaving traces of dirt on his hair. He didn’t care about it and happily run to the valley where he usually plays.
Upon his arrival, the sky is still bight, with carpets of tall green grass everywhere. One could see a big oak tree in on the midst of the green grasses, standing alone, faraway from the other trees. He took steps nearing the tree before realizing he almost stepped on a small patch of ox eye daisies.
“Oops, almost stepped on you.” He said while touching the small petals, letting out a sweet little giggle. Before he realized there’s another shadow nearing.
He raised his head and beamed while waving his hand when he saw who’s coming.
“Philip! Are you here with the lambs?” he asked with a smile, but the boy called Philip just stare at him without saying anything.
“Uh, Philip?” he asked again, this time with a little bit of hesitation. But this time the other boy opened his mouth.
“Oh, sorry Theo. I just spaced out a little. What are you doing?” he answered awkwardly.
“I was about to go to the old oak tree but, look what I found!” he said happily while showing the little patch of flowers.
“Daisies? Betty likes them.” Philip said with a wondering face.
“Who’s Betty?” Theodor asked, but the answer made him almost freak out.
“A batch of cattle came in from neighboring country, there’s a new sheep called betty that keeps chewing flowers from the garden. We ended up feeding her some wildflower, including daisies.” Philip answered.
“Never show that monster to me.” Theodor answered with a bead of sweat trickling from his forehead.
“Of course, why would I? but if you like something, better keep them near you.” Philip said with a weird smile. Theodor pondered a little before looking at him again.
“Would you help me?” he asked, looking with pleading eyes.
“Alright, alright. Where should I dig?” he asked while scratching his head.
~*~*~
After the long session of digging the two of them successfully moved the small patches of daisies near the old oak tree.
“This time they live further from your sheep’s feeding area.” Theo said with smug expression drawn on his dirt smeared face.
“Smart brat.” Philip said while ruffling his head, they laugh as the sun started to tilt towards the west.
They could hear rustling noise coming from the field behind them before they saw familiar red locks popped out from the midst of green grasses.
“Alfred!” the two of them exclaimed, startling the boy hiding in the grasses.
“You found out.” The boy named Alfred pouted, as he jumped out to tackle Philip, only to end up being pinned against the earth.
“Well, I guess there’s really no way I could beat you in the terms of fighting.” Alfred says while trying to break free, but Philip remained there staring at him, unmoving.
“Uh... Philip?” he says awkwardly but the boy keeps staring like a statue, sending chills down his spine.
“Oi Philip! What’s wrong with you?!” he shouted, waking Philip from his petrified state.
“Alfred? Oh, sorry.” He said as he stood up and pulled Alfred from the ground awkwardly.
“He’s been like this since noon.” Theodor said. Inviting the thoughts of the two other lads.
“Did you hit your head on something?” Alfred asked Philip questioningly. Only to be greeted with a simple “No.”
“Don’t you think it is weird? I mean, Philip might not be the chatterer but to suddenly act like this. Did you eat some weird mushroom from the woods?” he asked again.
“I know them much better than you do, I didn’t even eat any mushroom today.” Philip answered, causing the corner of Alfred’s mouth twitch with annoyance.
“This sassy brat really thinks he’s smarter than everyone, huh.” He muttered before smiling brightly like nothing happened. Causing Theodor to get a little panic.
“Maybe he’s just tired, he said a batch of new cattle were brought from the neighboring country.” Theodor tries to stop them from starting a fight.
The two boys stopped and agree that that’s probably the case, they then looked at the patch of freshly planted daisy near the root of the tree.
“Another one of your doings?” Alfred asked.
“Theo’s Idea.” Phillip answers blandly as always.
Seeing that Philip starts to act normally again, the two boys choose to throw the questions to the back of their heads.
“Did you plan on taking all the flowers here?” Alfred asked Theodore with hesitation.
“Good idea! We could bring patches of flowers here and made it bigger, and this area will turn into flower field!” Theodor said with sparkles in his eyes, making it hard for the two fellows to say no.
“I’ll approve if you’re ready to share our spaces with the bees.” Philip spoke frankly, Alfred doesn’t look very happy about the idea, but Theodor cut him before he could say anything about it.
“Of course, why not! I like bees, and they’ll help us spread the flower field faster.” Theodor said with excitement leaking from his eyes. Alfred can no longer think of refuting the ideas.
“Well then, let’s do it.” Alfred said with fake excitement, he can’t ignore the pure enthusiasm of his friends.
After a few hours of planning, they rushed to go back to the village before the day shift into night. Little did they know it was the last time they saw a shepherd boy named Philip.
~*~*~
The next day Theo heard knocks on his door followed by the appearance of Alfred and a Shepherd man holding on a little lamb.
“What is it? Did something happen?” Theodor ask while rubbing his sleepy eyes.
“Is Philip with you?” the Shepherd asked with a concerned face. He got a bad feeling about this.
“No, he’s not here. We parted our ways yesterday, remember?” he answered, still confused but he can sense that something is definitely wrong.
“Ugh… Theo, whatever I tell you next, don’t panic.” Alfred told him with a pale face.
“What is it?” Theodor doesn’t like the sound of it. He started to get nervous. Alfred holds his trembling hands before saying.
“Philip disappeared last night.”
Silence fell in the room; Alfred can feel the trembling hands he held getting more and more uncontrollable. Theodor burst out from the door and sprinting straight to the old oak tree barefooted. The only place he could thought of when it comes to Philip. He could remember the image of a boy blowing a flute on the branch of the big old tree.
But he got even more panicked when he found out no one is there.
By the time Alfred and the Shepherd arrived Theodore has stopped trembling. Alfred started to panic when he found out Philip is not there, but what made him more concerned is the scratches on Theodor’s two feet. Theodor used to be the softest at heart, easily cried upon getting hurt, but he’s strangely calm.
“Let’s look for him at the woods.” He said calmly, before taking his shoes from Alfred’s hands.
“Wait, Theo! We need to tend your wound first—” Alfred tried to stop him but was cut off by the shepherd.
“We’ll do that after we find Philip, small grass cuts are not more dangerous than a night at the woods.” Says the Shepherd.
But the search around the outskirts of the woods resulted to none, the three of them moved deeper to the middle part of the woods, where they found pieces of torn clothes stained with blood, around there they found fresh footprints of wild animals, only one thing comes to mind; Philip is dead.
“Philip is strong enough to take down a wolf, there’s no way he’ll lose that easily, r…right?” Alfred asked with stutter.
“it’s hard to say, he could take down one or two when they’re in the grassland, but this is the woods, there could be a pack of the—!” the shepherd words were cut by the howling sound.
“Run!” he says while pulling the two lads on a run back to the village, they could notice another track other than that of the animals, this could be a good thing, or a bad one. But one thing for sure, there will be no longer a Philip in their life.
Theodor looked back to the woods, as if he could see a boy standing with slightly mangled body, staring at him with a smile.
You sure about that?
~*~*~
Theodor woke up after he heard banging sounds on his flower shop’s front door, the nightmare that haunts him for years had him bathed in sweats, but today is especially different. “What’s with the last part?” he thought to himself as he greeted Alfred who’s about to smash his door to smithereens if he didn’t open it quickly.
“What is it, Alfred?” he asked impatiently while looking at the fist shape dent in his wooden door. He then looked at Alfred who has “This is serious” written all over that face of his.
After a few seconds of silence Alfred pulled his collar and drag him inside after slamming the poor door. Theo is stupefied.
“I saw him!” Alfred said with a loud voice, but it’s still the same confusion in Theodor’s face.
“Who?” he asked
“He’s Alive!” Alfred said again.
“Yes, Who?” Theo asked again.
“He’s actually here!” Alfred says while shaking his friend like a madman.
“Alfred, calm down!” Theodor snapped.
“How can I calm down you dimwit! He’s actually alive!” Alfred snapped back at him.
“Yes, I know, but who is it?!” he asked impatiently.
“Who else?! It’s Philip!” Theodor fell silent.
“Who?” he asked again, with nervousness painted in his face.
“Philip is alive, and he’s here, in the capital!” Alfred said, as he tried very hard to contain his excitement. That time Theodor realize that he’s not joking, a surge of unknown excitement broke his nervousness away.
“Philip is alive.”
~*~*~