Paradise Gardens – Part 1 of 2

In a world where secrets often did more harm than good, there existed an exquisite garden that no human could access. The garden was known to its inhabitants as Paradise Gardens and had been grown and maintained for hundreds of years by what you might call fairies, but who referred to themselves as The Brights. For the longest time, The Brights had lived in Paradise Gardens, with each Bright working in harmony for their shared survival and greater good. There were creatures of all shapes and all sizes, wanting to kidnap The Brights to harness their powers for themselves, and it took the strength of all Brights to keep them away. Their ability to work together and to stay focused with a single goal in mind was The Brights’ single biggest strength, so it was a shame when a Bright named Astrid decided that she wanted to know what was on the outside of Paradise Gardens and started to develop a plan to escape the garden forever.

While most other Brights saw the beautifully green, high hedges surrounding the gardens as a way to keep the creatures out, Astrid couldn’t help but see them as a way to keep The Brights in. What good was remaining protected from the creatures on the outside, if they had to create and maintain their own prison to keep themselves in? The Brights, they were told by the Elders, had everything they could ever need right here in their beautiful garden. And for most Brights, this was true. They had entertainment, love, beauty and ways of passing on knowledge from one generation of Brights to the next. Astrid, however, required something more.

Astrid’s curiosity was often getting her into trouble, and she was regularly banned from The Brights’ late-night gatherings, not for asking too many questions, but for asking too many of the wrong types of questions. Once it became dark, The Brights would meet near the Dawn Tree and dance and sing and fly in beautiful synchronicity. Even Astrid, who would regularly be forced to watch the celebrations from her treehouse window, would find herself smiling at how much beauty The Brights could create of their own accord. Being alone in her treehouse, however, also gave her time to think and plan how she was going to escape the garden and seek answers for herself as to what lay beyond Paradise Gardens.