The fear flower can sense when something is wrong. Dangers, toxic relationships, bad decisions, anything that could go wrong basically. If something can’t be trusted, it will stick up its head and it’s petals will go a yellowish green colour. The fear flower has saved me on multiple occasions but none quite like this.
Knock Knock Knock Knock Knock
The door shook. Whoever wanted to get in was clearly angry. The way the knocks went fast, the power pushed into the door and the amount of bangs. I stood up to go investigate. I picked up my keys that lay next to the fear flower and unlocked the door. I turned the handle and a young girl stood there. She was covered in mud; had messy hair; she had baggy eyes; bloodshot eyes like she had been crying and she had a bag on her back.
“Please help me.” She said in a quiet tone, looking at my shoes.
“Sorry what?” I responded confused
“Can I use your phone?” She pleaded
“Oh. Sure I guess.”
I guided her inside to the kitchen where we had an old land-line phone next to the toaster.
“You have a lovely home.” She smiled.
“Oh, uh thankyou.”
You may be wondering why I sounded awkward and confused. Her smile had something weird about it. It was too wide and gave me the impression that it was forced. This girl had to be about 7, I thought. I picked up the old, outdated phone and gave it to her, showing her where the numbers where.
She dailed in a random number - 07333 0347 466
I don’t remember it exactly, all I rembered was the devils number. And how the letters resembled death. 03474
The phone rang multiple times until it just stopped. I looked at the girl awkwardly.
“So… Shall I use my phone?” I offered
“That would be great.”
I dialled in the number and put the phone on loud speaker for us both to hear. 3 rings and then someone picked up.
“Hello?” A voiced called from the phone.
“Hey. Its me, Zoe.” The girl said
“Zoe?! Is it really you? Where are you? I’m coming to get you?”
I told this person my address and they said they’d be on their way. They then hung up.
I took this Zoe girl to the lounge and offered her some tea. She politely declined and started talking about farm animals. I found this odd but decided to keep her entertained by listening. I nodded at every fact.
These included:
“Did you know pigs don’t sweat so they role in mud?”
“Male cows are considered useless to farmers so they are slaughtered and given to butchers.”
“Did you know according to cannibals, the most tasty part of the body is the neck?”
Yes. You read that correctly. It got dark fast.
“What was that last one?” I asked.
Before Zoe could respond, there were more knocks at the door. Zoe shot off the sofa and ran to the door, opening it.
“My darling daughter!” A man stood ther. He was tall and had a long neck.
I looked to my right where the flower stood. It’s petals were a yellowish green colour and it held itself high. I looked around for potential dangers. Nothing. I ignored the flower (stupidly) and let the man in.
He explained how he couldn’t take care of her.
“I can’t look after her. I’m ill you see. Unless… You can?”
He ran off.
What the FUCK?
Fast forward 3 years. I’ve been raising zoe. She’s ten now, in school, has friend and has taken on calling me Mum.
Every time she walked by the fear flower, it would rise and go green. This is what unsettled me. Don’t get me wrong, I love Zoe. I really do but she’s a strange child. Sometimes I’ll wake up to her staring at me in my sleep. I once woke up one night to get a drink of water and when I turned the corner into the kitchen, she was stood there smiling at me. She’s a strange child.
One night I went downstairs to get painkillers, as I had sprained my ankle badly. I walked down the stairs and the fear flower had never been brighter. It had never been so tall. I thought it was warning me of tripping down the stairs again, so I carefully limped down. I turned into the kitchen and hobbled to the cupboard. I poured myself some water and took the medication. When I turned back to the doorway, Zoe was standing there with her strange, wide smile.
“What are you doing, Zoe?” I said
She stared at me for a good 30 seconds before I snapped
“I don’t have time for this Zoe, you have school in the morning get to bed.”
She kept the facial expression but tilted her head slightly. Behind her I could see the fear flower. Now it was a whole bush. This wasn’t an uncommon thing but my gut told me something was up. I picked up a knife from the sink that I was using to cut potatoes and held it next to me.
“Zoe.” I said quietly. “Go to bed.”
She began walking towards me with her hands behind her back. Slowly she bought her hands to her side. They were not hands. They looked like the beldam’s claws from Coraline. She came towards me.
All was black after that.
I remember waking up with a terrible pain on my arm. Claw marks.
I went to check on Zoe. She was laying in her bed peacefully. The fear flower was finally relaxing. After that night, the flower never stood up when Zoe went by and Zoe’s weird smile stopped.
Zoe is now 16 and that smile just came back.