The smell of rose petals hung cloyingly in the air as I pushed my way through the overgrown garden, treading carefully not to step on anything too thorny – or anything that might set off my allergies.

         I’d been walking this trail for months now, trying to make my way back home. Where home used to be, at least, a long time ago. So much had changed since then… everything had changed since then.

         A twig snapped somewhere to my left, and I hunkered down, frozen, my instincts taking over.

         What was it? Where did it come from? Large or small? Run or fight?

         All of those thoughts, long-hammered into me by circumstance and training.

         Another sound, same direction. I stiffened, nestled amongst the flowers and vines, eyes darting through the tall grass.

         Something was moving through the brush, something big. Its footsteps were light, but I could see the mass of the thing, even in the dark. I could just about make out…

         A deer. It was a deer.

         I let out a deep sigh, giving my aching muscles a break as I rose back to my feet. The deer didn’t react – it had known I was there the whole time.

         It was so close to me now, barely ten feet away, happily snacking down on some climbing roses that had truly lived up to their name, wrapped around a long-dilapidated archway.

         ‘Easy,’ I whispered to her, walking forward before I even realised I was doing it. ‘Hey, there.’

         It was the deer’s turn to freeze now – but it didn’t run at least.

         ‘Easy,’ I repeated, so quiet it might have been just for me.

         I took another step forward, standing on what looked like a hybrid tea rose. I gasped at the unexpected stabbing pain in my heart – my mum had always promised to teach me how to grow hybrid tea roses.

         The deer flinched at the noise, rearing back and bolting away in a thundering of hooves.

         I watched it go, the sun setting in my eyes – and a crushed rose beneath my feet.