Chapter 7

Dia is riding on Koni while Pete pulls on the reins by foot. As they travel through Flowerbud Village, Dia takes in the fantastic new sights. She could have never seen those sides of Flowerbud from the windows of the sanitarium. Flowerbud Village is a small settlement with lots of diverse personalities. Everyone lives happily despite the old world and old fashioned way of living. The buildings are traditional yet beautiful with acres of land separating everything.

The village may be small, but the empty plots of land and the season of fall makes it look enormous. The leaves are turning from green to golden browns and reds. She could never see such beautiful sights in her hometown. Everyone in the village is social and welcoming, unlike the cold and busy life in the city. The air is fresh and crisp, giving her a feeling of comfort and happiness.

It doesn’t take too long until Pete and Dia reaches their destination. Dia smiles as she takes a look at Pete’s farm for the first time. There is fields of all types of fall crops growing in the property. In the distance, she hears the sounds of farm animals. Pete opens the gate to his home and leads Koni and Dia in. At the stable, Pete helps Dia off the horse and gives her a chance to look around.

Dia gasps as the sights and sounds of the farm. To the west, she can see Pete’s cows grazing on the grass happily. She only seen such things in television before. She can also see hens pecking at the dirt looking for worms to eat. Just beyond the fence outline Pete’s property, she can see the ocean waves roaring in and out. The rest of the village is to the north.

“Is this where you live?” asked Dia.

Pete nods, “This is my farm. This is where I work, rest, play, eat, and live.”

“Wow, it’s such a big place! You work here all by yourself?

Pete nods, “yep! I spent quite a few years here. Had nothing but a tiny house and some space to grow a few things. But now this place is my own kingdom of animals and plants.” He then walks towards his cows and says, “I still need to do a few chores. Just wait here for me, okay?”

Dia frowns and crosses her arms, “not much of a date if you’re going to be working.”

“It won’t take long, I promise,” Pete responds with a smile.

With nothing else better to do, Dia sits on a nearby fence and watches Pete work. Pete takes a bit longer than he promised, but Dia doesn’t complain. She finds watching him feed and milk the cows relaxing. It is something new for her to look at instead of the sanitarium walls. After he is done with the cows on the field, he tends to his hens. Dia giggles as Pete runs around the pasture collecting the hens one by one. She feels like she is watching a comedy show. Pete then finishes with his sheep. Dia is mesmerized as she watches Pete bond with the fluffy animals.

There is a bond of trust and love between all of Pete's animals that live in the farm. Dia has read about the bonds with animals and humans all the time. A cat that purrs around it's owner's leg, a hawk that comes to it's master at the sound of a whistle, and even animals in the circus. But this is the first time she sees this bond with her own eyes. As she watches, she finds Pete's dog looking up at her. She is startled at first, but she then sees the friendly look in it's eyes. She reaches out to touch it and the dog licks her hand. Quite a friendly gesture that puts a smile on her face.

After Pete finishes with his chores, he goes into the house and prepares for his date with Dia. He comes out with a blanket and lays it on a clearing for them to sit. He lays a picnic basket filled with blueberry pie and other berry themed treats for them to enjoy. Dia is thrilled, she has never been on a picnic before.

As Dia and Pete enjoys the picnic, Dia asks a lot of questions about Pete’s farm life. Typical questions like, “is farm life difficult?” “How much time you you work every day?” “What is the farm like during other seasons?” She asked all these questions searching for the answer she wanted to ask but she’s too shy to ask directly. She wants to ask, “why do you only visit once a week?”

Dia has no idea how hard and time consuming it is working at the farm. She feels that Pete must work extra hard just to make time to see her as often as he does. She doesn’t hate the time she spends at the sanitarium, but times like this makes her feel so much happiness and joy.

The sun is beginning to set, and Pete needs to bring Dia home. Pete offers her to help her back on the horse, but she had one last request before leaving the farm. She wants to see the inside of Pete’s house. Like any woman, she wanted to see if Pete is a clean person. Pete allows her to enter his home and look around. She notices that it’s a fine home, but needs a feminine touch. His choice of furniture is fair, but much different than her life in her house back in her home town.

“Not a bad house. But it could use a splash of blue and green. Maybe a few decorations,” criticized Dia.

Pete Laughs sheepishly and responds, “well, I’m not at home too often. But I do try.”

Dia looks back at Pete. She blushes as she has something embarrassing on her mind. She fidgets with her hands as she asks, “you know, not once did you ask about my. . . Condition.”

Pete nods and answers, “trust me, I want to. But I respect your privacy. I rather get to know you as a person, not what makes you different.”

Dia sighs and continues, “I can tell that you like me. And to be honest, I like you too. But I think that it’s unfair that we feel this way, but you don’t know what’s wrong with me. I’m scared that if you learned the truth, your feelings will change.”

“That’s not true! exclaims Pete.

Dia turns away from Pete slowly. Her heart is beating hard, almost as if it can burst at any second. She is terrified, but she decided that she wants to do it now. If the truth will scare him away, she wants it to happen now instead of waiting for her feelings to grow. She begins to unbutton her dress as she says, “then I think it’s time to put your words to the test.”

Before long, Dia’s dress begins to come off. Pete freaks out and tries to cover his eyes. Even as he does, he can’t help himself but to take a peek. His eyes widen and his gasps sharpen as he takes a look at Dia’s bare back. Never could he have imagined that such a perfect princess could have hidden such a secret for so long. Her back is completely covered in burn scars. Dia looks back at his shocked face and continues, “there’s more.” She pulls back the arm sleeves of her dress to reveal more scarring from burns and stitches. She lifts her skirt to show more scarring on her legs. Just about every inch of her body that is covered in clothes has some level of scarring.

Pete trembles as he asks, “what happened to you?”

Dia covers her scars once again and turns to Pete. She looks away in shame as she begins to tell her story. “I was young and naive. I just turned 20 back in my hometown. I was in college at an all girl’s prep university. I had a normal life with a lot of friends and dreams. At the university, we were allowed to leave during the weekend and enjoy a more social life. Me and my friends all would meet up at the movies, or concerts, or whatever we wanted.

“One summer day, me and my friends met this really cute guy. He was a few years older than me, but he was cool and had a nice car. We all liked him, but he chose me. I was the envy of my school as we were dating. I gave him everything, my trust, my heart, even my virginity. We were together for a few months, I would sneak out often from the academy at night to see him. He was a rebel and didn’t care much for rules, but I fell for his charm.

“One night, he was drinking. He did it all the time, so I didn’t think much of it. But that night, he drove too wild and he lost control of his car. And then the accident. . . All I could remember was that night was the sound of the ambulance, the pain my whole body was in, and the fire I was dragged out of. We both survived, but I was in much worse shape than he was. His leg and hip were broken, but he didn’t wear a seat belt so he wasn’t trapped in a burning car.

“I spent a good year in the hospital recovering. I was in and out, believing I was going to die any day. I survived, but I wasn’t the same since then. The doctors told me that many of my organs were punctured, but the surgeries saved my life. I was so damaged, that I could no longer move around as much as I normally could. My injuries were too severe.

“I learned that my boyfriend made a full recovery. But he never came to see me, not even once. I didn’t even get a letter of apology from him or his family. He abandoned me. My old friends from school did visit me. They told me that he skipped town so he won’t be held accountable for what he did. Since then, I had to live at the hospital, alone. My old friends graduated school without me and moved on with their lives. In the Hospital, I met Gina who became my only friend. She was there for me from day one, despite me treating her so bad. I had no one else to take my anger out on, so I took it out on her. She stayed by my side for years despite everything I did.

“I may be alive now, but how can you call this living? I can’t run, or play, or anything else normal girls do. I’m so weak.”

Dia trembles as she is finishing telling Pete her story. She can’t look at him. She is scared to find out if he’ll leave her behind like others has done. Can he accept her while she carries those painful memories and her broken body. And most importantly, how will this affect his feelings for her?

All of her worries melt as soon as she feels his warm embrace. He pulls her close, and whispers in her ear, “I'm sorry about what happened to you. But I won't leave you. You may say that you're weak, but I think you're the strongest person I know. It takes a lot of strength to live after going through that. Now I must ask you something, can I stay by your side?”

Hearing those comforting words makes Dia shed tears of joy. Pete pats Dia’s head as his shirt gets wet from her tears. Pete knows she is not normal, but what she is is more than he could ask for. She’s strong, spirited, confident, beautiful, educated; and above all, honest.

Pete takes Dia back to the sanitarium. As Dia rides on the back of Pete’s horse, she feels safe knowing that Pete is with her. At the clinic, they find Gina and Alex waiting for them to come back. Pete lowers Dia from his horse ready to return her to Alex so they can go back to the sanitarium. Before he does, he places his hand on Dia’s cheek and kisses her. Dia closes her eyes and returns his kiss. Alex and Gina looks at one another and smile. They know they won’t hear about what happened, but they have a good idea what happened at their date.

With that, Dia is returned to Alex and Pete returns home. Dia and Pete may sleep in different places, but they both have the same dream. They dream of each other.