Yours Truly 2016 / Cascadia College / Bothell, WA | Page 39

The Sight of Flowers
in the Morning
Nataliya Gorkina

Hydrangea. This was the first word that
came to mind. Hydrangea. I was unsure as
to why, but nonetheless, it was on the tip
of my tongue. Without meaning to, it came
out of my mouth, in a whisper, “Hydrangea.”
Closing my eyes, I enveloped my senses
in absolute darkness. Wherever I was, it
was quiet. In fact, it was so silent I could
hear myself breathe; I could hear my own
heartbeat thumping in my ears.
Laying on my back, hair splayed in the
dirt, I remained still and silent. It felt as
though if I dared to move, I would break
some sort of trance and spill the whole world
into disaster. Anxiety pooled in the pit of my
stomach, twisting my guts in knots. My eyes
only scrunched up tighter, refusing to open
no matter if I willed them to or not.
After an immeasurable expanse of time,
I let my eyes open once again. Letting out
a shaky breath I didn’t know I was holding,
I fixed my eyes on the first thing they could
settle on. All around me, surrounding me,
were the leaves and flowers of a hydrangea

plant. The leaves were enormous! Surely
these leaves were bigger than my head!
Mouth agape, I reached out above me to
brush my long fingers against them. To my
slight disappointment, they felt like any
other leaf.
The flowers themselves were a delicate
baby blue. Just as any other bush I’ve seen,
the tiny flowers clustered together to create
a puff-ball of cerulean. The flowers weren’t
evenly colored, the petals ranging from
somber azure to brilliant cobalt. In general,
they were darker around the edges of the
petals and came together in a much lighter
shade. The leaves, too, had a similar effect.
They were almond-shaped, and a lively
grass green—not too dark, but not too light.
The leaves cradled the flowers, and moved
down to make up the bulk of the shrub. If
I was not on the inside, I could never have
seen the stems criss-crossing the wondrous
landscape.
Pushing my aching body up into a sitting
position, I groaned out in pain. Since when

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