The beautiful oleander had many ghosts within. They fought each other for the souls they wanted to claim. They traveled afar in phoenician ships, disguised in their body of beauty. One ghost poisoned horses of the greeks. Another killed cattles and birds. One was so clever, it conspired with the bees to make toxic honey! All over the Mediterranean, the sahara, india and china, they flourished and bloomed, ornamenting gardens and routes, seducing victims to their demise. They harvested souls of soldiers, children and animals alike. Their empire grew and they wanted to claim more souls but they could not. For the ghosts were lying. They were lying to survive. They spread tales of their killings to multiply. Their poison was weak and should be bitterly chewed. They never conspired with bees for they offered no nectar! The ghosts could not keep the secret anymore. The wind and the river knew of their lies and whispered them to the humans. And so the ghosts were exposed. They abandoned the pretty oleander and simply flew away to haunt another plant and live the lies again. They left a void in her but never claimed her soul. She had some poison, she had beauty and she knew she can survive. The oleander was the first flower to bloom in the city of Hiroshima after the horror of the A-bomb. It is cherished as a symbol of the city's resilience. Nowadays, few ghosts visit her sometimes to tell more lies of her curing cancer or reversing aged skin. But the truth of the beautiful oleander remains in her resilience.
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