Echoes in the Vines
This is my creative take on a writing prompt. These are unedited and written without any plotting. I allow about 30 minutes to let my thoughts flow.
The Prompt
They always said the garden was cursed. But today, something bloomed, and it called my name.
My Creative Take
They always said the garden was cursed. But today, something bloomed, and it called my name. At first, it was a whisper. Then louder. Deeper. Darker. I ignored it, chalking it up to my imagination. But it wasn’t. Something inside me knew that the garden was blooming, and it wasn’t flowers.
I sat cross-legged on the ground, tracing circles and squiggly lines in the dirt with my forefinger, watching in real time as the planted seeds sprouted and thickened, growing larger before my eyes. I yanked a leaf from one of the vines, and a red substance oozed out, running down the stem.
I dipped my finger in it and brought it to my mouth. Sure enough, it was blood. As the coppery liquid seeped through the fine cracks in my tongue, winding through them like a flood inside a maze, I heard the voice call my name again. It tugged at the fragile edges of my mind, planting thoughts that felt alive and dark. Demonic, even.
Then the voice said, “Unbury me.”
And without thinking, my fingers began to dig deep. And deeper. Until the tip of my finger brushed the flesh of another.
That’s when I knew: whatever lay buried beneath the soil of my garden was now pulsing through the veins of the flowers blooming before me. I buried the hole I had dug.
Placed headphones on. Attached a microphone to the base of my plants. And listened to the screams manifesting through the lifeline of my garden.
My Thoughts
The prompt took me in a direction of horror. The garden isn’t just cursed…it’s alive, and I wanted it to feel horrifying in the most elegant way.
