Under the Roses

21 - Stupid Things!

VANESSA

Vanessa glanced behind her as she ran. She was running much faster than the others, far ahead of the plants. The plants looked almost comical, the way they were running, bringing their 'feet'—their roots—up high, like they were marching. It might have been funny if they didn't look like they wanted to eat them.

"So hungry!" the plants shrieked. "Feed us! Give us food! So delicious!"

Rapunzel was fumbling with Vanessa's satchel, and she drew out the lantern Vanessa had put back in. Vanessa paused, the others screeching to a halt behind her as they watched Rapunzel launch the lantern as hard as she could into the throng of plants. The lantern smashed onto the ground, spraying glass and oil everywhere. They instinctively brought up their arms to shield themselves from the shards.

Whit hastily pulled his matches from his pocket, lit one, and tossed it towards the rapidly spreading pool of oil. The flames burst up instantly.

"Come on," he said, tugging on Alice and Vanessa's sleeves. They all turned and hurried down the path, Vanessa glancing over her shoulder at the flames licking high, the smoke a cloud between them and the plants.

As the fire raged, Vanessa realized Whit might not have made a good decision, because the fire would soon spread through the forest and might consume them too. Whit seemed to realize the same thing, and he glanced back at the fire with wide eyes, the color rushing from his already pale face.

And then the fire began to diminish, slowly disappearing until it was all but gone. As the smoke began to clear, Vanessa could see the plants rising from the ashes like phoenixes. They began to eat the remaining glass and metal of the lantern, and when they could find no more, they screamed, "More!"

Had they...had they eaten the fire?

Vanessa saw her expression of horror mirrored on the other's faces.

These plants would eat anything.

The plants continued to chase them, and they continued to run. Vanessa's breaths were short and gasping. There was a stitch in her side and her legs felt like they might give out beneath her. But she had to run.

There were twists and turns and forks in the path, but they just kept running. Vanessa, ahead of the others, chose the way, barely even realizing where she was going. She only hoped it led them somewhere safe.

Rapunzel was struggling—not just because she wasn't very good at running, but because Vanessa's satchel was smacking against her side as she moved.

The plants would eat anything. Suddenly, Vanessa had an idea. "Rapunzel!" she gasped between breaths. "They're hungry—give them an apple!"

"Are you crazy?" Rapunzel demanded, panting, though she somehow seemed to sound ladylike and not like a slobbering dog. "I'm not giving them an apple! These are mine!"

"Give them an apple!" Whit echoed. "There's more than one!"

"No!" Rapunzel said stubbornly. She was going to get them all eaten—again!

Vanessa saw that a plant had caught up to Alice and was tugging on her shoe. Alice nearly tripped as the thin gold buckle on her shoe burst open, her shoe flying off her foot. She stumbled forward, glancing back.

The plant had Alice's shoe in its mouth, and they watched in horror as the other plants jumped on top of it, all wrestling for a taste of the polished leather. The plant with the shoe refused to let go, and the other plants began to tear it apart in hunger.

They finished the shoe—and the plant—quickly.

But their hunger was far from satisfied.

"More!" Their voices sounded like the rumbling of thunder. "Famished! Food!"

They began to rush towards them again. Alice slipped off her other shoe and threw it at them as hard as she could. It landed a ways behind the horde of plants, and only half of them seemed to notice. The other half continued to advance.

"Give them an apple!" Vanessa screamed to Rapunzel, wanting to slap some sense into her. "It's poisonous, it'll get rid of them!"

Rapunzel bit her lip, shut her eyes for a brief moment, and opened them again. "Fine!" she said. She turned and slipped one of the apples out of the satchel, hurling it towards the plants as she screamed, "Die, you stupid things!"

The plants froze.

They stared at the apple. Unlike what the plants had done with the lantern and Alice's shoes, they crept towards the apple slowly, surrounding it curiously, suspiciously.

Were they not going to eat it?

Vanessa figured it was mostly curiosity that kept the four of them there. They could have run, they should have run, but they didn't.

One brave plant stepped towards the apple, and, bending down, took a bite.

There was a moment of silence as the other plants watched it chew thoughtfully. Vanessa saw the other plants fidgeting, but they held back their greed, fighting the temptation.

"So delicious!" the plant declared, finally, and that seemed to rouse the other plants. They all jumped feverishly towards the apple, fighting for a bite.

Then, the first plant that had taken a bite promptly collapsed to the ground, dead.

Vanessa watched as the other plants slowly met the same, inevitable fate as the first.

Soon, all that was left was the wilted corpses and the core of the poisonous apple, which sparkled with flecks of gold.

Vanessa felt sick to her stomach. She'd done that. She'd come up with the idea to kill the plants. Yeah, they'd been about to eat them, but she'd as good as killed them.

Rapunzel huffed, annoyed. "You make me use one of my poisonous apples," she said. "You should've just sacrificed all your shoes like Alice and I could have run away while they were distracted."

"Our shoes?" said Vanessa. "What about yours? And, besides, that would just make them want more." She was about to add that Rapunzel wasn't a very fast runner anyway when Whit spoke.

"All right," he snapped, arms crossed, glaring at them. "Our course, our plan, has all gone to shit. Sorry," he said, glancing at Alice, who just shrugged. "We're off the path now. I'm not entirely sure how to get back."

"So we're lost!" Rapunzel said. "Great! Thanks, Mister Only-I-Know-The-Way-Around-Here-You-All-Have-To-Follow-Me!"

"Says the one who got us off the path in the first place!" Vanessa said.

"I think we'll just have to follow this path," Whit said. "And hope it gets us to somewhere I can recognize."

Vanessa sighed. "Sorry I led us off on this maze of a path."

"You were the one who woke up the plants, too," said Rapunzel.

"Well, you fell into them."

"You pushed me into them."

Vanessa glared. Then she sighed again. "Fine. Sorry. But give me back my satchel now."

Rapunzel narrowed her eyes at her, but slowly took off the satchel and handed it back to Vanessa.

"All right." Whit sighed, glancing up at the sky. "It's getting dark already. We'll have to find somewhere to spend the night." He turned to Rapunzel. "Stop running off and doing stupid things, all right? Stick with us. Promise."

Rapunzel rolled her eyes. "I promise I'll stay with you guys. So bossy," she muttered under her breath.

That girl had zero self-awareness.

"Hey," said Alice. "What's that?"

They all looked in the direction she was pointing. There, in the distance, was a house.

"Is that your house?" said Alice.

Whit frowned, shaking his head. "No."

"So you're not the only person who lives here?" said Rapunzel.

"I never said I was."

"Maybe there's someone in there who can help us," Vanessa said. "Let's check it out."