Flower Boy - Nico Di Angelo

(01)

The garden.

This is where I was practically raised. When my father found me I was laying in a patch of Indigo flowers and that's where I got my name.

Walking in under the arch, I take in the familiar flower smell. I couldn't help but feel at home here. The flowers always welcomed me when a lot of people didn't. As I grew up they were the only ones who were there, the only constant thing in my life. I let my feet carry me and I find myself in my parent's old spot. There was an apple tree that overlooked a small pond and different colors of flowers littered the ground around me.

Sitting down, I lean against the tree and bite into the apple I snagged from the branch above me. A small smile grows on my lips, it tastes even sweeter than it did last spring. The sweet juices brought my tastebuds to life. Let's just say I finished it sooner than I had hoped.

"Indigo? Is that you?" A familiar voice makes my ears perch up. My body jolts up and I move behind the tree, praying that the person didn't see me. "I can see you hiding behind the tree. Come out."

Sheepishly I step out from behind the tree and face my opponent, Darren. "Hey Darren, what's up man?"

You see Darren is the keeper of the garden, he plants the flowers and trees maintains everything, and feeds the wildlife that roams the grounds. I've been living in the garden and I've been trying to avoid Darren in fear he might kick me out. But today I didn't see a look of disappointment on the man's face, he seemed overly happy and that could only mean one thing.

"I got a new shipment of flowers that needed to be planted and I was wondering if you wanted to help me." My face gleams with happiness.

In my eyes, they were new friends. "What kind of question is that? Of course, I want to help you!"

He motions for me to follow him and I quickly do. One foot after another, I followed him to the back of his flower van. Yeah I know, you're probably thinking "What is a kid my age doing following a strange guy to the back of a van?" Well as you can see I know this man pretty well. He was a friend of my fathers. So it's not stranger danger.

When he moves to the side I see a beautiful array of flowers and a bunch of different baby saplings. The flowers ranged from African Daisy's to Xysloma's. They were stunning. Picking up an armful of the plants I follow Darren to the designated spot, my heart was ready to beat out of my chest at the excitement. These were my favorite days.

After digging holes in the ground for the plants, I gently put them in. My smile gets even bigger when I hear them singing with pure joy when I cover them back up. I loved it when the plants sing, it's beautiful. Picking myself up of the ground I help Darren with the rest of the plants and when I'm finished he pulls me aside. I know where this is going.

"Look I know you've been staying here overnight. It's okay, I understand your situation so that's why I'm letting you stay here but you gotta take care of the plant and the wildlife like I do." My mouth drops in surprise and shock. I wasn't expecting him to let me sleep here.

Once the information sinks in I happily say as I shake his hand, "Thank you so much!"

The flowers around me got more vibrant and started to laugh. I'm so excited, this is like a dream come true. "Now I've gotten everything done for this evening so I'm leaving the night duties with you."

He turns away from me and happily gets in his van. His vehicle starts, seconds later he's pulling out of the garden and out onto the street where he almost causes a wreck. A small chuckle escapes my lips and I turn back to the plants who greeted me with chipper voices. "Indigo you get to stay with us!"

"Yeah, I do." I reply happily. Yeah, you may find me a little weird because I talk to flowers but I don't care.

Laying down on the grass beside them I run my hand through the flowers and watch as they grow. I couldn't help but giggle. From a young age, I've been able to make plants grow, my father encouraged me to use my abilities while my mother was fearful. It was until after he died she tried to murder me. If it wasn't for this angry thingy that popped up and started to attack her I don't think I would be here.

Laying there on the grass I look up and watch the sun go down and stars come out. Since I've been living outside, I've always fallen asleep under the beautiful balls of gas. The weather is just so warm and peaceful, I honestly don't think that I can sleep inside a building again. Buildings blocked out the sky and took away the feeling I felt when I'm outside in the grass or with the trees and plants. I hated not being in contact with the earth. It made me feel so disconnected from the world.

A strange noise pulls me from my thoughts. Sitting up, I look around to find the sound but I come up empty. Getting up from my sitting position, I do the stupidest thing know to man and everyone in a horror movie. I go looking for the thing the noise belonged to. I turn the tree and begin to head over to the shed where Darren keeps all of his equipment.

"There you are...I've been looking all over for you.." A strange-looking woman steps into the light. Her hair was looked like fire, her skin was all white and ghostly looking, and that wasn't the weirdest thing. She has one metal leg and then the other is the leg of a donkey.

I take a step back and look at the crazy looking woman in front of me, "Uh, lady, do I know you?"

The woman walks towards me and says in a weird voice as she puts a talloned hand on my shoulder, "You should handsome."

I moved her hand off me and began to walk in the direction of the entrance, stopping when I get a few feet away from this crazy lady. "I don't know if you saw the sign but you can't be in here. There's a curfew for people who don't work here."

"Oh.." She lets out a giggle and then continues, "Silly me. I just wanted to find you."

Her lips curl up in a creepy smile, revealing the terrifying fangs she has in her mouth, "Indigo Bloom."