The Apocalypse of Plants

Preston

Laina, Nina, and Tally all refuse to tell me what happened, so my last resort is Morgan. I guess I could ask the two other people who are awkwardly standing behind Nina, but I have no idea who they are.

"Hey, Morgan? I'm hungry," I say. A ghost of a smile appears on his face and it looks like he's contemplating saying something. But he swallows it and leads me away from the group.

We walk to where the ground suddenly dips down into a stream and sit there.

"You lost your memories. Laina and Tally found your cousin who pulled the brain sucker off your head," Morgan says without me even asking. "Are you okay? You've been through a lot."

I'm empty. That's how I feel. Like I have a huge, gaping hole inside me. It started when Johanna died. It's been growing bigger ever since the vines. Then everything went fuzzy. I don't remember anything since the flytrap thing. Now, I'm just feeling everything ten times more painful than how it felt before I got my memories taken. But at the same time, I don't feel anything.

"I will be," I say, my voice shaking a bit. Morgan just looks at me from out of the corner of his eyes. I think he knows that I don't want to talk.

He clasps his hands together, brings them up to his mouth, and there's noise. He moves his right hand and it almost sounds like a bird call. I gape dumbfounded.

"How do you do that?" I ask, filled with awe. He smiles, like he knew that would cheer me up.

He demonstrates how to put my hands together and then tells me to blow into them. I try, but it doesn't work. There's no sound, nothing.

"I'm trying!" I say, agitated.

"It takes practice. You'll get it," Morgan encourages. "I mean, I got it right away, of course, but it might take you a little while." He laughs at the dirty glare I send him.

I try again. Nothing. "Why isn't is working?"

"You might need to try adjusting your hands a little. What works for me doesn't always work for everyone else."

He shows me some other ways that I can hold my hands, all of which don't work. "Ugh!" Frustrated, I throw my hands up in the air. Morgan just smirks and does it perfectly.

"I hate you," I grumble. His grin only widens. He thinks I'm joking, although there may be some truth to it. He seems like the type of guy who's just cool without trying. The type of guy that everyone likes. And it bothers me a lot because they're always the types of guys that would pick on people like me, people who weren't athletic and good looking and god-like, like them.

His smile suddenly falters and he's back to being serious.

"Is there anything that was good about this?" he asks.

"About losing my memory, about coming over here-about what? I'm afraid you're going to have to be a bit more specific about 'this'. I cannot read your mind, which is probably a good thing." He sticks his tongue out at me.

"About this." He spreads his hands to indicate nature. "About losing everything. Did anything good come out of it?"

I think for a moment. I don't know anything about my family besides Nina, Johanna's dead because of me, my feelings toward Laina are unrequited, and we're all going to die. There's no safe place. I'm starving, I haven't slept in a while, and I just lost and regained my memory. No, I can't say there's been too many highlights of this whole disaster.

And I can't do the bird call thing with my hands.

"I have people who are willing to risk their life for me," I say firmly, remembering how Laina came back for me in the fire. Morgan digests this quietly. "What about you? Anything good come out of this for you?" He tilts his head from side to side.