The Protector of Plants (UIC 2023)

Chapter 04: All I Want Is To Grow A Secret Plant, Is That Too Much To Ask For?

An injury that the character doesn't tell anyone about

I planted the seed.

What else was I supposed to do?

Besides, this was my chance to remake a garden. My chance to right my parents' wrongs. A chance for a normal, perfect life once again. So yes, I did plant the seed.

It wasn't that hard. All I needed was a secret place to grow the seed, a pot, soil, water, and sunlight. And I found all of it no problem.

I planted the seed in the middle of somewhere far, far away from my home. It was the only place where it could truly be safe. Away from people, away from evil scientists, and away from my parents.

Where exactly was I growing my secret garden? I had no idea! All I know is that it's by an old, small building that I've never seen anyone go in. It was a little dusty and dark, but perfect for hiding species of a newly discovered plant.

Of course, my first choice to hide and plant the tooth-seed would be a lake. But most of them were covered up by plastic islands, half of them dried up, and the rest are all in labs and reservations. So I was pretty low on options.

I stole the soil from the garage. I doubt my parents would notice it missing, they had so many bags of soil just lying there. Besides, they have no use for it now. No garden, no soil.

In fact, they should be thanking me for not letting a lot of precious dirt go to waste.

But I wasn't about to tell them about my plan just to get some praise. Too risky. The last thing I needed for this to be taken away and experimented on.

Getting water to water the plant was no problem. All I did was fill up an old plastic bottle with recycled tap water, and used that to water the seed.

Which meant that everything was going perfectly! Right?

Except for the fact that there was a tiny problem...

I knew nothing about caring for this mysterious plant. How much sunlight does it need? How much water does it need? Was it lab grown or natural? Is it poisonous? Can it even grow in this environment?

Sadly, there was no way for me to ask the seed and find the answers myself. It was practically a baby at this stage.

Since I had no idea about the conditions this seed needed to grow, I went for the safest option and put it near a window, where sunlight was streaming from. It was one of the tactics used to grow flowers a few centuries ago... I think.

I was back in here today, going about my usual day. The plant was slowly starting to sprout from the seed. Everything was going perfectly! The seed was alive and thriving!

I could even hear its little baby voice developing!

But of course, I can't have nice things. Which is why I made the mistake of touching the sapling.

The moment my fingers touched the sprout, the plant shocked my fingers. I yanked it back immediately, trying to blow off the pain. No such luck.

When the violent, tingling sensation stopped, I was left with a very red finger.

I violently shook my hand around, trying to get the pain off of it. I even blew on it. Slowly, the pain subsided, and the redness disappeared from the fingers.

The bad news? Rashes started to sprout. Yay.

It starts at the tip and extends to my arm. I was very certain that within a few minutes, my entire left arm would be covered with it.

I mentally cursed at myself. If my parents found out, how was I supposed to explain this to them?

That only left me one option: no one could ever find out.

***

Good news: My parents haven't found out.

Probably because I've been wearing long sleeves and gloves the entire week. Whenever they ask, I just say that I'm feeling cold. Although I feel like they are finding it hard to believe with 33 degree weather (90 degrees in Fahrenheit).

Bad news: The rash has spread. It's all over my left arm now. And it's very itchy. Whenever I'm around my parents, I have to force myself not to scratch, much less touch my arm.

I came in here (the garden-thingy) as soon as my parents left for work, practically running from my house to the secret garden. And I'm the kind of person who hates running with a passion.

When I saw the sapling, I was delighted to see it had grown.

The tiny seed had turned into a full-on flower within a week. I'm not sure if this was a natural occurrence or not, but did it really matter?

It was alive! That was the only thing that mattered right now.

I kneeled down, so I was close in eye-level with the plant. The flower was... beautiful. And unlike anything I've ever seen before, and I've seen a lot of different types of flowers before. Both in books and real life.

The petals of the flower went around the center in a full circle. The white petals, with thin black streaks running along top-to-bottom, were positioned at the tip and round at the base. It faced slightly upward, with the tips of the petals curling inward just a little.

In the middle of the flower, where all the petals were circling, were three antenna-like stems, with little pollen bulbs at the tip of it. The weird little antenna reminded of an ancient television, with the little antenna sticking out in order to catch waves or whatever. The plant's antenna was even silver in color!

But the flower jutted out from the pot, with a silvery stem wrapped in saturated green leaves and thorns.

It was so pretty! I extended my hands, just to touch the flower, a real life flower.

But I stopped at the last minute. Not worth the pain.