the Boy at the End of the Lollipop Rainbow

《•3•》「Γհε wɸʀλδ wαյτσ φɸʀ ƞɸ ɸƞε」

Kory Green loved plants. She didn't know why, but she just found everything about them interesting. Especially poisonous ones. Gas in particular.

It had all began one day when the family was on a holiday in Africa. Everything had been fine. That is, until Kory had come home with a very dangerous pot of plants. Now, auto correct forbids me from spelling te plant, but it causes a lot of pain when you touch it and releases a poisonous gas that makes your stomach ache.

So, imagine their surprise when she comes home with a pot full of it. They thought it was different to the one the had known. And so her mum tried to touch it. Her mom died. And she survived, somehow. She didn't even get an itch. If it hadn't been for the convulsing mother on her floor when she held out the flower, she might not have even realized it was poisonous.

Then there had been the deaths. They would be having s conversation, she would butt in, and suddenly they would all start screaming in pain. Then they would drop to the floor, blood leaking from their eyes and mouths. And they would die.

At first, they thought it was some desease she had. But then they realized people only died when she talked. So she stopped talking. Everything was fine. Until she got a lung cancer that demoted her to breathing out of her mouth. It was healed, of course, but breathing through her nose caused to much pain. And it was nearly impossible, as she got such little air, anyway.

So they had gotten her a breather. Like what people wore during the gas bombs in wars, but more modern. It only covered her mouth, and looked kind of like a mask. But it had glass casing and netting at the side. It took in the oxygen from beside her and purified it through the nets. Then it purified the breath coming out of her mouth, and sent it back out. As carbon dioxide, of course. Even crazy inventions couldn't turn it to oxygen.

But now Kory Green was scared. She was standing in the middle of a clearing in the forest. But that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was the animal in front of her. Or more specifically, the boy in front of the man with an inky black substance leaking out of his eyes.

"What do you want?" She managed, slowly backing away from him.

The boy tilted his head to the side in confusion. He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out was a low growl. The animal seemed to understand, and growled in response.

"We just want to help you." He said finally.

His voice was croaky from no use, but strangely comforting. If there wasn't an 800 pound animal behind him, she might as well have believed him.

"Umm..how?" She muttered, fiddling with the strap on her breather.

On normal circumstances, she wouldn't even notice it was there. But now her breathing was hard and shallow, and her cheeks were puffy from crying. But it was still the same size, and the rough texture of the sides were pressing into her skin.

"Why? W-w...why?" She asked, her voice lost behind the foggy clouds escaping the mask.

"Yes. Now come with me." He said, then turned round and walked away slowly.

Kory made no movements forwards. In fact, she seemed to be moving backwards. He stopped moving, turning round to look at her. He seemed really surprised she wasn't following him. Then his face hardened. He hissed something under his breath and Kory felt something move beneath her feet. As anyone else would do, she jumped back in alarm.

He glared back at her, smile gone and face hard as stone.

"I thought I told you to follow me." He hissed, voice barely audible.

Kory didn't disagree, running after him like her life depended on it. Only when they were completely consumed by trees did he turn back to her.

"Oh, and by the way: my names TJ." He said, smiling widely again.

But his eyes deceived him. They were dull and lifeless. Then Kory truly understood.

Wherever they were taking her, she had a feeling she wasn't going back.

Ever.