Not So Sweet Candyland

LXXIV: The Gardens

Berry was in a shock from the news that her father told her, so she decided to walk up to Chase's door. The nervousness that she had about what was going to happen, she felt her hand tremble when she was about to knock.

Finally, she closed her eyes and knocked, and Chase opened the door to see Berry.

She faked a smile.

"Do you want to go see the gardens with me?"

"Sure. I thought that you weren't too much of a garden person."

"I mean, I know what they look like. It's a place that I go to when I'm stressed or a little lost in thoughts."

"Well, at least you're honest about it. Sure, I'll come."

"Great."

Chase walked out of his door and that's when him and Berry went down the stairs and then through the front gates.

Berry revealed a secret way through the side of the castle.

She pointed up.

"Do you see that window? That is the room, and this area with all of the talking plants is where I escaped."

"Talking plants? Really?" Chase averted his eyes and found pink flowers that looked to be the size of hand puppets.

"Yeah." Berry went to one plant and then bent down to it.

"Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello."

Chase stared at the plant in curiosity.

"Is that the only thing that it says? Hello?"

"Unfortunately. Normally, depending on the time, they can either be very quiet or very vocal like now. During the night, they can be sleeping or they can be whispering softly like hello..."

"Are these plants made of magic?"

"Where the castle originally was, this was the center of the world. But, this was the largest treehouse. A treehouse as the center of the world. Imagine that, that would be awesome. But no, we have this castle with walls too high to see the sun."

"These walls seem like they could suffocate you."

"And that's why I never wanted to be home. The walls seemed to block the view of the world and I hated it. Even my mother wanted to see the world as well. But, only royals are allowed for parades to go outside due to threats."

"Threats? In a utopia?"

Berry looked at him and turned her head.

"There is no such thing as a perfect world, I think everybody knows that. My father is aware of assassins, thrives, and spies. But, he does absolutely nothing about them. Which I Don't get. He just throws the wrong people in prison white I don't get. It could be a baker who has a kid and wife at home that made a little mistake for baking. But, there are people hurting others just for sport. To the king, as long as it is not affecting him, then it doesn't matter. All of these problems go under his nose and he simply says that he doesn't have time for that."

Berry just bent her knees to a patch of flowers.

"It's always the things that are outside that are the most pretty. I never really was too much of an inside person, I was just forced into a castle and all I had were books and my mom. But yeah, you had everything, they say, that wasn't the case."

"You have been through too much, I can tell you that. Not even I can compare."

"You know, when I talk about my past, I'm. Scared that I'm becoming narcissistic, like I'm taking away the spotlight from somebody that actually needs it, which is you."

"I mean, I don't have too much to say. Other than the fact that I do suffer from some depression and my parents are both workaholics that never seem to be home."

Berry was suddenly surprised.

"Is that so? I never knew that about you."

Chase shrugged.

"I never say too much about me. Mainly because most of the time, nobody really cares about me. And I know that you always have a story to say. But, let me tell you about me."

He took a deep breath and that's when he and Berry started walking along the path of the castle.

"To start off, my parents were really only with me for about the first 10 years of my life. They never disappeared, they were just too busy with their work. It was also kind of like they never saw each other. I wasn't planned at all, but they decided to keep me because they knew they were ready for a kid. And they were there, although it was always either mom during the day or dad during the night. As I got older, they gave me more freedom and then they seemed to never be in my life."

"What do you parents do in life?"

"To be honest, I actually don't know. But, it's nothing bad. It's just that they're never really home when I can ask them."

"Well, I can guess that they have boring jobs."

"Probably. At least you have a relationship with your parents."

"It's not the best, but my mother got me through life. That's what. Wait, let me try something."

Berry and Chase stopped and that's when Berry read Chase's mind for a second.

"Let's see. I found out that your mother is uh.... no it didn't work... ugh!"

"You tried mind reading?"

"Mind reading can work for immediate family members as well. I guess it didn't work for you. What a pity."

"Even I have mysteries too."

"Ooh, you can carry on with your story as well."

"Where was i? Oh yeah. When I was older, they gave me my own house key and stuff like that. They let me live a comfortable life and I bet they seem like great people. But, I know the second that I bring you to my world, they'll suddenly be home a lot more. I know that's my luck."

Berry laughed.

"What? You hosted a house party and your parents came home?"

Chase chuckled.

"Maybe."