Branches Book

BRANCHES

“I... Well I... I don’t know...” “Eric, you don’t exist except in my head. I made you to cope with losing him. To cope with the guilt I felt for having you with me. But you don’t have to do this anymore. You don’t have to take care of me. You don’t have to be a slave to a memory of someone who died a long time ago.” I looked at her for a long time. I couldn’t process any of this. I had never questioned the nature of my existence; in fact, I don’t think I was capable of it. There was one thing I did know, one thing that became crystal clear to me: that strange new emotion I felt, was love. So, I did something I don’t think she expected. I smiled at her, and, even though I didn’t understand what was happening, I nodded. “Goodbye Eric.” She walked up to me and gave me a little push. I stumbled back and fell back. I kept going and going. There was only darkness. Feeling myself fading I reached out into the abyss, hoping for something solid to hold on to. But there was nothing. Nothing except the sweet smell of sunflowers. Reading and writing have always been passions for me. Though I enjoy reading more than writing, I tend to be very interested in different character archetypes and the way they are written. When I read I like to pin down what archetype the character is and notice how that type of person acts in different situations. That interest led me to read the psychology of Carl Jung, the father of archetypes. Armed with new understanding of the nuances of the human mind, I set out to write this story. My aim was to play out the relationship between the archetype of the innocent and the caretaker, then turn the audience's expectation on its head by having the caretaker actually be responsible for her pain. When I first learned about this project, I sat down to figure out what I wanted to write about. Knowing this project could take many different forms, I had a hard time deciding. Frustrated, I decided to blow off some steam by doing an activity I find cathartic. I loaded up my browser and opened the writing-prompts subreddit. Looking through the many choices, I located one that caught my eye. Reading it and re-reading it, I was swept away by a burst of inspiration. I started scribbling notes and outlines for a story, switching up the premise to make it my own. This is how I came to write “Requiem for a Sunflower.” The reason that my interests were initially piqued was because of the aforementioned slant towards psychoanalytical novels. The human mind, with its endless mazes and shrouds are endless fuel for literary writing. This is Author’s Statement: Jordan Benefiel

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