(This is an open thread. Anyone is welcome to join and interact with Ella)
There was a certain peace in the silence at the end of the hallway. With no neighbors beyond her unit, Ella Beaumont had claimed the dead space outside of 407 as her own, at least unofficially. A few weeks of settling in had flown by with the usual chaos of unpacking, arranging furniture, and long, quiet nights spent curled up by the windows, listening to the ocean hum in the distance. But now, with the last of the boxes broken down and her flower shop finally running on something close to a routine, Ella found herself craving a bit more color, a little more life.
So she brought it with her.
Today, she knelt on a mat in the hallway, her soft yellow sundress brushing her knees, a pair of gloves tugged halfway off as she coaxed a stubborn tomato seedling into a painted terra cotta pot. The hallway smelled faintly of earth and lavender, thanks to the tray of seedlings beside her and the scattering of dried petals she’d added for charm. There were already a couple of planters set up along the wall: pansies, rosemary, trailing ivy. A homemade wooden crate stood nearby, ready to hold a few bags of potting mix and garden tools.
A handwritten sign leaned gently against one of the larger pots. “Community Garden – take what you need, leave what you can.”
She sat back on her heels and tucked a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear, surveying her little patch of hallway paradise with a proud, contented smile. It wasn’t much, not yet but it was a working progress. And maybe, just maybe, it would be a way to meet her neighbors. Or at the very least, bring a smile to someone’s day.
Ella dusted her hands off and looked down the corridor, wondering if anyone might come by. It was quiet still but that didn’t mean it would stay that way for long.
There was a certain peace in the silence at the end of the hallway. With no neighbors beyond her unit, Ella Beaumont had claimed the dead space outside of 407 as her own, at least unofficially. A few weeks of settling in had flown by with the usual chaos of unpacking, arranging furniture, and long, quiet nights spent curled up by the windows, listening to the ocean hum in the distance. But now, with the last of the boxes broken down and her flower shop finally running on something close to a routine, Ella found herself craving a bit more color, a little more life.
So she brought it with her.
Today, she knelt on a mat in the hallway, her soft yellow sundress brushing her knees, a pair of gloves tugged halfway off as she coaxed a stubborn tomato seedling into a painted terra cotta pot. The hallway smelled faintly of earth and lavender, thanks to the tray of seedlings beside her and the scattering of dried petals she’d added for charm. There were already a couple of planters set up along the wall: pansies, rosemary, trailing ivy. A homemade wooden crate stood nearby, ready to hold a few bags of potting mix and garden tools.
A handwritten sign leaned gently against one of the larger pots. “Community Garden – take what you need, leave what you can.”
She sat back on her heels and tucked a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear, surveying her little patch of hallway paradise with a proud, contented smile. It wasn’t much, not yet but it was a working progress. And maybe, just maybe, it would be a way to meet her neighbors. Or at the very least, bring a smile to someone’s day.
Ella dusted her hands off and looked down the corridor, wondering if anyone might come by. It was quiet still but that didn’t mean it would stay that way for long.
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