The First Flower

"Mom, come on, we're gonna be late! That table can't wait forever, you know."

"One moment!" Your mother shouts from the upper floor. "I'll just grab my purse." You both laughed as she made her way up the stairs, her walk turning into a quick skip.

You look around for your car keys, eyes glancing over the luggage you had brought in just two weeks prior from college. You bite your lip, a pit growing in your stomach. You would tell her, soon enough. Soon as you had the guts to face the disappointment in her eyes. You couldn’t even begin to imagine what she would say.

A few moments after, she ran back down, a grin beaming on her face. She walks over to you, cupping your face and giving it a good squeeze. Seeing that you had been looking at the luggage, her expression becomes a little sadder. Guilt runs up your body, somewhat prepared for a lecture.

"I'm so proud of you. You know that?"

A small smile managed to emerge from you, though you looked away. Your mum flicked away a few stray, brown hairs that fell on your face and chuckled. "Well, it seems like we're both ready."

"Yeah."

Before leaving out the front door, she turned around again, tapping her forehead and scoffing. "I completely forgot to check the plants, mind me. Your mother is so forgetful, forgive me. Do you mind if you could get them for me, Ethan? Those plants need watering."

You nod, quickly tying your shoelaces before running out into the backyard. "I'll be just a minute, Mom, you stay there okay?"

You wondered why she never responded. She always did before. Though it didn't take you much time to see why— when your vision was blinded with walls of yellow.

Those plants needed watering. If only you let them go dry.

---

You woke up to a harsh kick to your stomach, groaning and rolling over. Looking in the direction of whoever kicked you, you forced yourself to sit up, moving as cautiously as possible - moving your restrained legs up to your stomach in hopes you could block them from hitting you there again..

"Yeah, get up. Fuckin' freak." You heard laughter from everyone else in the group but one of them - the girl you had been with long before you met the others - Angela. You let out a tiny sound of confusion and he scoffed. “Don’t sound so confused. Your snores were killing us.”

"Not like yours are any quieter," You quietly blurt out, quickly realizing the mistake you made.

The man kicked you in the chest, slamming your back against the concrete floor. You felt tears grow in your eyes, though none of them could fall as they were absorbed by the blindfold they wrapped around your eyes so tightly.

"You try that shit again, boy. I might just break your arm again." He said boldly, pulling your chin up. “Don’t you understand? You’re nothing but a weapon for us. And until your tear ducts stop producing any more tears… you’ll just be food for the monsters that run this place. Got it?”

When he let go, you kept yourself on the floor, suppressing your pained groans and not responding. The only thing that will keep me alive, you thought. Then again… this felt nothing like life. I can't do this anymore…

You could try to escape again, you thought. Out of the 5 people within the group, two were badly injured: 2 boys, Harry and Tyler. Not to mention that from when you were still able to observe them, you saw that the man who kicked you just now, Ben, had a rather weak physique. Had they not have such powerful weapons like firearms, you assumed that they wouldn't have survived as long as they did. Even still, the restraints around your legs and arms and your injuries made it feel impossible. Maybe it was. You felt your resolve breaking.

Oh, you couldn't leave. There's simply too much. Who would you run off to, anyway? Last time you chose to stay with people, it only led to this. It's not like you knew. You didn't know what you were capable of. Please. Stop it. It hurts. Help me- help me-

Abruptly, the blindfold around your eyes shifted and was moved away - Angela set it down and gripped her arm, giving you a soft smile. You didn't smile back.

"Hey, Ethan.” She said, her voice breaking just a little as she whispered. “How are you holding up?”

Your chest grew heavy and your eyebrows furrowed. “How do you think I’m ‘holding up’, Ang? They treat you a little better than me and it’s like you don’t know me. What has gotten into you?”

"Hey, Angela," One of the other men, Greg, said from the campfire, shooting a glare at you and the girl as he ran a hand through his auburn hair. "The fuck do you think you're doing?"

Angela quickly turns around to him. “Nothing, Greg, I just- I need to ask uhm… the freak about something.”

“…Whatever. Just hurry up, huh?”

“Yeah. I will.” Once he turned back, Angela quickly unties the rope around your feet, pulling you up. Trudging along and following Angela ,you two slouched into a large tent that the group had created rather recently. Having a blindfold on nearly 24/7 during the time the group had found more supply crates within the sprawling warehouse structure of Level 1, you were surprised by the spacious size of the tent as both of you were able to stand straight. Because of the tarp that made up the tent, it felt quite warm too.

You and Angela sat down, setting down the hunting knife you assumed Ben had given her for protection and untying the restraints on your wrists, too. It was silent for a moment; neither of you looked at one another and you felt your body grow stiff. You ought to calm down, you decided. It wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t help. You knew she was only trying to survive - helping someone who could harm them, albeit unintentionally, wasn’t the way how.

“So… how have you been?” You asked quietly, watching as she scooted herself closer to you.

She gave you a small, unsure smile. “I’ve been fine. Ben and Tyler have been a little, uhm…” She pulled her open jacket tighter. “Rough on me, but Harry and Greg have been helping.”

“Rough?”

“…yeah.”

You felt your face grow hot. You should’ve tried to help her. What were you thinking? Had you been just a little less selfish, you could have noticed she had problems too.

Your eyes darted from the entrance of the tent and back to Angela, taking her hand. “You should get out of here, with me. I know we don’t have many resources, but if we run now, we could make it to Trader’s Keep. It wouldn’t be too long - they could help us. Come on, Angie.”

Her smile faded and she looked away. “I can’t,” She replied. “Look, I know what they did to you. I’m sorry. But I just can’t.”

She stood up, crossing her arms. “Besides. I’m safe with them. They have good weapons, we have enough food to last us a while, and well… we have you.”

Your expression darkened. “…what?”

“Look, I- you know what I meant, Ethan.” She turned around and bit her lip. “I mean, come on, you have this crazy, terrifying power that lets you create these weird plant things that can do serious damage to people-”

“I didn’t want that, Angie. I didn’t choose to have this, I don’t even- I don’t even know how I got it.” You snapped back, standing up and your face twisted into a dark grimace. “And seriously? Are you agreeing with them? That I’m nothing but a weapon to you?”

“Well.. you… you couldn’t deny it…” She replied, looking away in feigned nonchalance. You couldn’t believe it. She had changed. And so quickly, too. What the fuck. “You know what, I… we shouldn’t have talked. I’m sorry.”

“You can’t leave. You’ll tell them I’m escaping.”

“And you’re right, I am. We need you here, Ethan. I need you here.”

“Angela, stop-”

She made her way to the entrance. You weren’t sure what to do- in a panic and finding no other choice, you grabbed her wrist and pulled her down to the ground. One thing led to another; soon you found yourself wrapping your hands around her neck. Your right arm pulsed with pain and something in your head begged to stop - but you couldn’t.

Within a minute, Angela lost consciousness, her body falling limp. You breathed heavily, keeping your hands around her neck for a little longer. Something clicked you back into reality and you let go, looking at Angela, then your hands, shaking in shock and disgust. …Did… did I… oh God… I didn’t… no…. Tears built up in your eyes and they fell to the floor between Angela’s face. Almost immediately, small, crimson weeds grew out of the concrete floor. Some curled up to Angela’s green eyes and shut them while a few curled themselves around your right arm. When it covered the entirety of your forearm, they snapped themselves, hardening and turning into a pitch black. Somehow, your arm felt more at ease now.

Taking a step back and panicking, you looked around quickly, spotting the hunting knife on the floor and taking it. If you went out of the entrance now, you surely would be caught. You ran to the back of the tent, using your left hand to plunge the knife into the tarp, tearing a hole and creating a loud ripping noise in the process.

Before you could get out, however, you heard someone yell from outside of the tent. “Hey! What’s taking so long in there? Angela! Hurry up and get out of there - I don’t want you near that fucker. Angela!” You look back at the hole, eyes widening in the dreadful realization that the hole wasn’t quite big enough to squeeze through. You tried to pull at the tarp in an effort to make the hole bigger, though hardly much of the tarp pulled away. Instead, you pressed yourself against the side of the entrance of the tent, hoping it was enough to obscure you from Ben’s field of view.

“Goddammit, I don’t know why you keep the bitch around anymore…” You heard a frustrated groan and watched as Ben and Tyler walked in.

"Shut the fuck up, Ty. Do you ever quit bickering about her?" Ben replied just before seeing Angela unconscious. Ben scurried and kneeled in front of her, checking her pulse. “Fuck, I knew you shouldn’t have gone with him. Fuck!“

Either way you looked at it, you knew you were outnumbered. You had to make a choice and it had to be made now. Gripping your knife, you aimed for the weaker one first, Tyler, stabbing him right in the crook of his neck. As Ben stood up to turn to you, you threw Tyler to the side - ignoring the searing pain in your left leg and kicking Ben to the floor besides Angela's body. At that moment, the weeds that stayed in the concrete wrapped itself around Ben's neck. His eyes widened with fear, attempting to pull the weeds away to no avail. After about a minute, you watched as you heard a snap come from Ben's neck.

In that moment, you felt every emotion in you die. Everything but anger and pain. You breathed heavily, cautiously making your way back to the hole.. until you stopped - realizing slowly that it wasn’t enough. Their deaths weren’t enough. You needed more. You're not done yet, Ethan. Knife clattering onto the ground, you turned, walking towards Ben’s body and picking up the firearm he had tucked in the hem of his pants. you walked out of the tent.

Bang. Bang.

Much of what came after only came as a blur. You remembered Angela somehow getting up, you remembered a machete, remembered seeing blood. So much blood. Clean it up, won't you? Time only seemed to click back in place after somehow finding yourself in Level 10, carrying a bag of limbs. When you realized what it was you were holding, you dropped the bag, nearly gagging.

Don't leave them there. You aren't done with them yet.

You looked around searching for the voice, though the only thing you could see was an oddly lonely scarecrow that was a frequent sight in Level 10 out in the distance. With a shaking hand, you took the bag and kept walking until you stopped and fell to your knees a few moments after, your mind blank.

You weren't sure why - but the first thing you did was scoop a hole into the dirt and dump the bag into the hole. As you started covering it up, you began to cry. You wept and wept, every bit of sorrow and agony pouring into dirt below until you wept feeling nothing. At some point, you cried so much, your head sank onto the comfort of the soft ground below you and fell asleep.

When you had woken after who knows how long, you were surprised to find that there was a hole once again where you had first buried the limbs - and before you - an abomination.

You were fearful, at first; that fear only fading when you realized that it, too, cowered before you. You stood up, walked towards it, and placed a hand upon the creature, it shaking and unable to move. One of its arms - one that you thought was rather feminine - shakily put it upon yours.

Fascinating, isn't it?

…No. No, this is wrong.

Disgusted, you stepped back and fell to your knees once again. Seeing it as an opportunity to escape, the creature fled, stumbling a few times and running until it was out of your line of sight. You looked down and saw your reflection from a little puddle— from condensation or from your tears, you didn't know. All that you knew was that you despised yourself as you gazed into your glossy, grey eyes. You hated it. You hated the people who made you like this, you hated-

Look up.

Looking up, you found yourself in front of one of the scarecrow. At its feet, a mask. Its base was black and gold that went to just below the eyes, a dark smile paired with large fangs decorating the mask. Was it… a demon? How could demons look so… beautiful?

That's right, Ethan. Take the mask. Take it.

Crawling up to the scarecrow, you took the mask, a few final tears falling to the ground as you put it on. As you stood up, you felt weeds grow and wrap itself around your other arm, snapping at an acceptable length similar to that of a whip. In a moment, you started walking. To where, you weren't sure. The mask would tell you, you figured.

Welcome, Ethan. Thank you for joining us.