Elements of Calza - The Darkened Mind

Chapter 2 - Calzen

The next few days were peculiar. Nothing particular happened, only occasionally did he hear the voices but when he did it arose something in him. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. It was somewhere between primal fear and wonder. It was scary, but something about it was undeniably fantastical and exciting. There was a very small chance he was talking to plants. Not just interspecies communication, this was communication between different biological kingdoms. It was primitive, almost like learning a new language, despite the fact that he heard and sent the message in english it was never complex on either end, but still. Of course it was more than likely it was him. It had to be himself. It wasn't the plants, it was him. He had to force himself not to get carried away. It was his imagination just getting carried away, just like when he was younger.

The Friday of that week came at long last, they started the day with english, then R.E. then break, then maths, then computer science, then lunch, then since, then finally they finished the day with music. Usually Theo went home straight after school but today he had decided to try something else, he walked out of his classroom and then turned left up the stairs. Right past two classrooms and then a final right and he was in Mrs Chipns' class. Mrs Chipn herself, a large woman with black hair, turned to look at Theo as he walked in.
"Are you here for the gardening club?"
"Yes"
"Oh fab, remind me of your name sweetheart."
"Theo"
She wrote that down on a piece of paper,
"Okay take a seat whilst we wait for the others to arrive, help yourself to a pair of gloves and there will be equipment down there. Oh and this is my daughter Amilia who's joining us today. She's a year 8 who usually goes to a boarding school but is off for the next week or so for complicated reasons I don't understand. She's a brilliant young girl so ask her any questions you have because she is more likely to know then me quite frankly but of course that's not saying don't ask me of course because I'm not completely stupid myself, okay love?"
Theo nodded blankly, barely understanding the words that had flown out her mouth, and sat down after briefly grabbing a pair of gloves.
When Miss had said the others she had meant the other 4. Two girls from the year below, one blonde haired, and one black haired, both had grey eyes; they were clearly very close and Theo could only assume they were sisters. There was also one boy from his year who Theo knew as Mike and another girl from year 3. Everyone grabbed gloves and made their way downstairs.
The school garden was small, only about 10 by 20 metres, but they had tried to jam everything they could in it resulting in a complete menajeri of a garden. In the top right corner was a small mindfulness area next to a pond. There was a large birch tree in the centre with a bench built around it. All along the left side were elevated flower beads and the rest of the garden were various different plants.
Miss had brought some spades, troughs, watering cans and a few other gardening tools out of her car.
"Okay lovely's, here are the bits and bobs. Grab what you need and get to work. You all know what you're doing apart from Theo who's new here but you can just ask me, Amilia or anyone really, and they can give you a job. I do hope you have fun and in future feel free to bring your own gloves, tools, plants or anything you like to enhance the garden, don't worry about continuity because as you can see it is very all over the place, quite like myself really. Ha, anyway I'll let you get on with it."
Clearly everyone else was just as perplexed by Mrs Chipens tangent but they seemed more used to it by this point. Theo grabbed a trough and started weeding by the mindfulness garden where stinging nettles and brambles had shot up out the ground. He had come here to experiment with talking to plants, no, he had come here to experiment talking with himself, either way he had to at least pretend to actually do some garden
"A controversial topic"
Theo looked over his shoulder. It was Amilia.
"What is," he asked
"Weeding. A large chunk of people won't eat meat for the ethical issues raised by slaughtering animals. Most people, even your devoted meat eaters, will rarely have the guts to actually kill something themself, but the moment it's plants it's okay."
Theo stared blankly at Amilia who smirked slightly.
"We've been looking at it in school," she said plainly
"Oh," Theo Was about to go back to weeding when he had an idea.
"Why would we not kill plants,"
Amilia turned back to face him, visibly eager to discuss it. "Well let's put it this way instead, why would it be okay?"
"Plants can't think, sure they're alive but they are not self aware like a cow or a pig or a sheep is, which is why some people don't eat them."
"But how do we actually know that?"
He had hoped she would ask that.
"Plants don't communicate"
"Yes they do. They are all connected to at least 1 mycelial network and they use that to talk to each other"
progress okay, not enough though, he needed to prod more.
"But that is instinctual right? A thing they evolved to do, they aren't making a conscious choice."
"How would we know that, we can only see the communication but we don't fully understand it. For all we know it's more complex than ours, and if they can do that then who says there aren't other ways they communicate we don't know about."
"So your saying this plant is more smart then us"
"I'm saying it could be the case"
"Stop confusing the newby dear" Miss Chipin called over.
"Wait," said Theo "If plants can communicate with one another in another way like astral telepathy, could a human hypothetically communicate with plants."
Amilia considered. "Possibly, some people think some animals already do, not necessarily via astral telepathy, good knowledge by the way, but in some way that is invisible to anyone not participating in it. Why are you so curious about all this anyway?"
He hesitated,
"Just am."
She stared inquisitive at him for a second before walking away leaving Theo looking at the weeds. He had come here to experiment, but he had gained something more valuable, a secondary perspective. The fact that this whole thing was possible was a coincidence, it had to be, but there was a chance and despite trying to hold himself down his gut told him he was talking with them. He had tried monday but maybe that plant wasn't chatty, maybe he was doing it wrong, maybe it was like magic in the movies where you had to "truly believe". Whatever the case, he now inexplicitly felt confident it would work this time. So he tried
*Hello*
He waited, but silence
*Hello*
Still nothing, he was about to give up hope, when...
*you hear boy?*
He laughed quietly with excitement.
*Yes. Yes, I hear!*
*You are excited boy?*
*Yes.*
*Why*
Theo frowned.
*We're talking to each other. Communication between spices, is that not cool to you?*
*We always talk, we always hear. You just never listen.*
*How do I listen*
*By talking*
*That makes no sense*
*It does you just stupid*
*Your a bramble, your stupid*
*See, you have eyes and you think I a bramble. I be a stinging nestle and you with eyes do not know that.*
Theo considered.
*Well you don't move when you talk so how would I know who you are*
*But I know you are a human and I have no eyes, you move, you don't, it's the same to me. I know. You don't, you are the stupid one.*
*Whatever you're probably not real*
*Stupid, you doubt me existence*
This was getting frustrating
*Can you blame me?*
*If I am not real you need some inner reflection, you are calling yourself stupid. Self loathing much?*
*Shut up*
*You like telling us that*
*You know about the rose*
"Theo, is everything okay?" He spun around rapidly, Amilia was looking at him strangely.
He nodded slightly dazed.
"You having a chat or something?" she joked, Theo laughed uneasily. Did she know? He pushed the thought to the side, she couldn't possibly, she was joking. They had talked about talking to plants earlier, that's all. He decided maybe weeding wasn't for him and helped with a few other things here and there for the next hour until they packed up and left. His mum was waiting just outside the garden to pick him up. He put the gloves back in the basket and opened the gate.
*learn to listen*
Amilia said goodbye and congratulate him on their debate earlier. His mum drove him home and they talked about what he did at school as they always did. He grappled with the idea of telling her about his... recent awakening, but decided against it, it was still too soon, he still might just be crazy.