When Roots Grow Too Far, You Just Have To Dig Deeper

Chapter Four: Soulmates Walking Among Us

Hours after Lily and Billy left, Nugget had fallen asleep on one of the bean bag chairs in the Nugget Cave. He had offered for the siblings to stay the night stating that "Nugget has plenty of furniture and sleeping equipment." But they had said no, and left the Nugget Cave.

When Nugget woke up, we started to make a battle plan. It would be hard to locate his soulmate by the most effective means: looking under everyone's shirts, since that would make everyone uncomfortable and probably send Nugget to the Principal's Office. Nobody wants to be sent to the Principal's Office, only a handful ever come back.

After a while of thought, Nugget looked at the newly grown flowers on his chest and arms. Just then Nugget came up with the best plan, "If Nugget cannot what is covered, Nugget must look at what is uncovered, the arms." Looking at peoples' arms would not be as effective, since some could just wear long sleeves, but it would be a good start of marking people off his list.

Thinking of his list, Nugget grabbed his backpack and pulled out some papers. Nugget's eyes skimmed the list that seemed significantly shorter than yesterday. "Oh, this is Nugget's Hit List," he said putting it back and pulling out the correct list this time and placed it in his pocket.

There was one paper left: Flower Observations. He tried to record different findings he had of the mystical flowers, try to gather as much information as possible. One thing he noticed after a few days was hue; the stronger or bolder the color, the deeper the wound was. Nugget looked at the flowers on his arms, violets, lilies, and a single hot pink rose on his left arm. All had deep color, but Nugget had never seen a rose bloom before, Nugget was entranced by the layers of petals that got tighter the deeper into the blossom, curling around a small bud in the middle.

Nugget shivered and started on removing the flowers from his chest, once he got to his arms he decided to keep them for comparison today. He put his knife down, got ready for school, and started to climb the ladder. About a third of the way he stopped and decided to cut the rose, and delicately place in his backpack, he tried desperately to not think of the wound that would cause the elegant bloom.

School went smoothly for Nugget and he was able to cross off many names off his list, many wore short sleeves that day despite winter's fast approach. Despite his progress, Nugget feared that it wasn't enough. Over half of Nugget's list was gone by lunch, but that didn't stop from Nugget putting his head down on the table in defeat.

"You're not going to give up are you?" Lily asked the cold chicken nugget.

"Nugget will continue his search, but Nugget does not know how."

"What if you.....hurt yourself?" Billy suggested to him.

"Nugget does not need to inflict pain and bleeding on himself."

"No! I meant like trip yourself and see if anyone grows anything."

"Nugget is intrigued by the idea."

"What if you gave us some names? Maybe someone is acting strange." Lily wanted to help Nugget and his soulmate, she hoped nothing bad would happen.

Nugget pulled out his list and presented it to the siblings with a pencil. "If any of Nugget's suspects are wearing sleeves of the short variety, please mark their name off."

Lily and Billy scoped out the list, "Wait, Nugget? Why is there girls AND boys on this list?" Billy asked

"Nugget is Bicycle."

"Do you mean Bisexual?" Lily corrected

"No, Nugget means Bicycle, he uses both wheels to move forward."

Billy and Lily went along with it and immediately started marking out names. "Carla, and Melissa had short sleeve today......Ozzy normally wears short sleeves-"

"He isn't today! Also he didn't have any scars when he was wearing them!" Lily interrupted.

"He isn't? But shouldn't we still mark him off?"

"But what if he got them yesterday?"

While the siblings fought over Ozzy being on the list, Nuggets head was suddenly pulled back by his hair, making him fall out of his seat.

"What do you have there?" Buggs asked stealing the list from from Lily and Billy. "'Potential Suspects?' Oh hey look! Everyone's names are on the list!"

"The Mean Buggs should return Nugget's paper immediately!"

Buggs looked over at the blonde on the floor and stood up on the lunch table, "Everyone! May I have your attention please?" Buggs yelled. "I just thought everyone should know that Nugget here has a list with all your names on it!"

The lunch room went quiet, Nugget, Lily and Billy all had a look of shock on their faces. When suddenly a voice called out, "does it say anything next to my name?"

"Ah! Let me see here.....yes actually! Penny there's a line through your name, a lot of people has lines through their names!"

And just like that chaos swept through the room as hundreds of teens were screeching to ask if their names were crossed out. "Hold on! Hold on! I understand your concerns! If everyone will settle down I will tell you!" It was impressive how quickly everyone had settled down, teachers couldn't do that in the time Buggs had.

"Alright! Since it's easier and faster to tell you all who ISN'T crossed out, I'll just tell you that! Ahem, Stevie, The Old Hall Monitor, Ted, Monty, Alex, Cassandra, Felix, James, Jerome....." Buggs went on for ten painful minutes of name calling before finally ending it. "That's all of them, so if your name wasn't called you are crossed out! I do not know if you should be afraid or not, so please I encourage you all to not trust Nugget! That is all! Please enjoy the rest of your lunch!"

Buggs stepped off the table with several whispers and being spread around the room. Nugget groaned, Lily and Billy was concerned he might just die there. To add insult to injury Buggs landed right on Nugget's left hand. When he had vanished, the siblings ran to check on their friend, "Nugget?!"

"Ughhhh."

He eventually got back into his seat and hid his face in his hands. When they made contact with his face a stinging sensation ran through his arm. When Nugget examined his limb, there was red milk running down his forearm.

"It's okay Nugget, it's not the end of the worl-"

"Everyone is leaving! Quickly! Check everyone's hands!" Nugget whispered.

Billy and Lily tried but didn't succeed, "I don't think anyone has an issue with their hands." But when they looked back at their friend Nugget was grinning, "Nugget has a lead."