He remembers the day they met

He reminisces upon the dying grass and her hair flowing in the wind

Her hair like a vibrant fire, her eyes like sparkling emeralds

A flower rests in her hand, opening and closing repeatedly

Her sister shrieks, and he steps from the shadows.

He remembers their friendship

A true friendship he never thought would end

But then there was the other boy, the one that teased him

There was the other boy, the one who flirted with her

But she promised she would never love him back.

He remembers their fight

He called her a name that still haunts him

Her screams of outrage ring in through his mind

But they had each chosen their paths

She loved the other boy now.

He remembers what he did wrong, a mistake he regrets more than anything

He begged for forgiveness, but there was nothing he could do

All that remains of her is a child

The child looks too much like the other boy, a painful reminder

But equally painful are the emerald eyes: her eyes.

He pours all these feelings out into a silver doe

A single doe that holds within it everything he has ever known of her

It is pure and beautiful

A doe, just as she was.

Lily.

"After all this time?"

"Always."