Quoted By:
I bring thee a story, please, read it
A girl has a cactus in her house
The girl was fond of the cactus, HER cactus
She had shown it love and tried her best to take care of it, resulting in it blooming flowers
One day, while looking after the cactus, she was careless and pricked herself on its needles
As a result, she got anxious about her cactus: what if she's doing too much? What if she's doing too little? What if the cactus is simply that, a cactus? How could the cactus bring her harm after all the love she had shown it? Did it not care for her?
The girl started walking on eggshells around the cactus and was careful when taking care of it, afraid of getting hurt once more
Yet, the more she tried to be careful and act right, the more she hurt herself and the more she hurt the cactus, eventually causing it to lose its flowers and the beauty it once had which she oh so loved
She still loved the cactus and still tried to take care of it properly, but as long as she kept being afraid the situation would remain as is
She began trying different things out and changing the way in which she interacted with her cactus
While some methods worked, others didn't and were making the cactus and her worse even and despite some methods working, the cactus was not close to the way it once were
After a while, she had started to forget what the cactus had done for her, taking it for granted and acting impersonal
From her perspective, things had started to calm down and the cactus didn't seem as important anymore
However, the cactus was hurt by her negligence and had started to get sick
Finally, the young girl had noticed abnormalities and that had reminded her of everything the cactus had done for her
She started pondering things and trying to figure out where it had all gone wrong, quickly realising it was her very fault for the state of the cactus, she was now quickly trying to get her precious cactus back to health, seeking out help and advice from anyone she could
After trying a few things, the cactus eventually got better, but it was still damaged, nothing she could do would take away her sins and fault in not caring for her cactus
She began to once more pay attention to it, forcing herself to try and not neglect any part of the cactus which she was now once more caring for
However, these feelings were not healthy
She went from not taking care of the cactus to not taking care of herself, and the cactus was hurt from this
The care provided by the girl felt rigid and forced, unlike any of the other times where she had cared for it
Sure, she might not have been providing the best consistently, but it still helped it grow and sprout flowers, something was going to go bad if things kept up
And they had
The girl eventually burned out, exhausted mentally and pricked a lot by the cactus, due to trying to ignore or at least proceed with taking care of it regardless of her pain and feelings
The girl was getting really sick and really bad, which led her to decide on taking time off for herself and for and from the cactus
During the break from the cactus, she had went over and stayed with her friend
The friend was a different being than the girl, as people tend to be, they differ from each other and are unique
However, they were similar in a few ways still
One of these ways was that the friend also had a cactus, getting it and taking on the responsibility of taking care of it after seeing what good the girl's cactus had done for her
Throughout the break and her stay with her friend, she had observed how she takes care of her respective cactus
She treated it with love and was always checking up on it, ensuring its health while also being well herself
The friend's cactus had apparently never pricked the friend, nor was she worried about it
The girl and the friend began talking about their cactuses and their experience with them, both saying how the cactuses have it so hard given their place of origin being such an extreme environment
After the stay over to her friend's house was over with, she was eagerly awaiting taking care of her dear cactus again, seeing things in a new and bright light
The cactus was happy due to the girl's new found enthusiasm regarding its health and hers respectively
Things were initially nise again, having a lot of attention and care after such a break made the cactus happy, causing it to sprout a flower bud
However, things quickly started to feel odd...
Sure, the girl WAS genuinely taking care of it, but she wasn't doing anything special and she wasn't giving it the attention and care it optimally needed and wanted, she cared for her cactus in a way which wasn't appropriate for that type of cactus
She had projected her friend's cactus onto it and cared for it as her friend had cared for her own respective cactus
As it were, things would quickly turn sour again, the bud would remain a bud and the cactus would eventually be killed
All while the girl was oblivious to all of it...
Cont.
