The Garden: Finale (complete)

I used to joke that my job wasn’t so much gardening as it was bored housewives. It was a cruel joke, but it was the truth. I lie and say it was a rumor, but I know it wasn’t. I got caught one day in the bed of one of my employers’ wives, and then people gossiped. Even the other women I slept with. They did it to cover their tracks, but I ended up with the dirt kicked back on me. 

It was wrong. I know it was, but the way they ignored it, and buried it, was what hurt most of all. They pushed their guilt onto me. But what else could they do? It was the same to them as waking up in the morning.

This morning, I make coffee for breakfast and the body sags in the vines. It looks decomposed, but it’s still bleeding. The vines keep it upright, but I can see the weight of it bearing down upon the limbs. The mouth hangs open and splatters of drool fall to the cobblestones. Is it… no, there’s no possible way it’s still alive. But it’s bleeding. It’s drooling. Could the corpse, somehow, still be living?

“Mr. Brone?” The voice is a cold snap in my bones. I lose my breath once he speaks, and I turn slowly to see Mr. Barkridge standing in the door of the solarium. 

“I was...” I’m not sure what I’m saying or why I am even attempting to say it. I look into his cold eyes, his imperious posture. I remain still as the body as I wait for his reaction. 

“My wife is very particular about how she keeps her garden.” Mr. Barkridge says as he walks towards me. “And I’m afraid I’ve had to do things to keep her pleased.”

I shake my head. All the while, I keep wondering if we’re alone here. He talks about his wife in the present tense, but the only things I’ve seen here are him, the face in the flower, and those strange creatures in the forest. At least, I think I’ve seen all those things.

Mr. Barkridge comes to a stop just before me. “Have you really been taking those vitamins, Mr. Brone?”

I swallow hard as I look to the body, then back up at him. “No.”

I break into a sprint, running away from Mr. Barkridge at a breakneck speed, and race for the iron gate. Once I get there, for some reason I think I will be safe from him. As I run through the gate, the world is covered in blood red roses. I step on their thorns, but it’s better than what is behind me. I didn’t trust Mr. Barkridge when I came here, and now I know he is no one I should be running to for help.

I run to her, my rose, but the deeper I go, the more of those creatures I begin to see. They stand in shadows, crouched down and watching me. They hang their heads at odd angles and shake their bound arms at their backs. They start laughing, making strange wheezing noises as my gait slows to a walk. 

The scent of roses is strong, almost overpowering. Ever since I came here, I’ve been breathing in that smell, the pollen. My tongue feels like velvet in my mouth, thick and spongy. I lick my lips as the creatures laugh around me, bouncing up and down where they stand. 

I walk on, finding my rose surrounded by even more roses. She looks at me and smiles, lifting her head so I may kiss her. Her long tongue slithers down my throat and she moans erotically, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. All the while, the creatures laugh.

“I need help,” I whisper to her. “Please. I think he’s going to kill me.”

Her lips pout as drool dribbles down the corners of her mouth. “My mother can help you,” she replies. 

I furrow my brow. “Your mother?”

The face smiles. “You’re in her garden, don’t you know?” Her mouth is completely yellow, wet and powdery at the same time. 

I stare at her in disbelief. “But Mr. Barkridge said...”

“My father,” she tuts. “He’s been trying to use you. But my mother only wants to help. She wants to make the garden grow and flourish. My father keeps it contained.”

The corpse in the wall - I wonder if that had something to do with it. I close my eyes, trying to breathe, but every breath is full of pollen. 

“You should come see mother,” the face whispers. “She will take care of you. She will love you.”

I raise my eyes to her. “Where is she?”

The creatures start whooping and crowing. The ghastly sounds fill my senses like the pollen does. 

My flower rises up, and behind her, the roses follow as well. I blink a few times, not sure what I’m taking in. All this time, I thought my flower had been trapped here and couldn’t move. I thought she was a prisoner. Yet her vines twist and slither, gathering to form a long pillar on the ground that moves from side to side as it forms a coil around the face. She smiles at me, rising up to my height, then taller. She looks down at me where I had been looking down at her. 

I stare at her strangely, tilting my head to the side and she mimics the movement. I should be scared, but there is a numbness that melts through me, making me feel oddly calm and delighted by what I see. I giggle and her grin grows wider.

“Follow me,” she beckons. Her long body seems endless as she moves. She creeps along the earth, her face raised just above the ground. Her tendril body writhes and lurches, weaving through the forest. I just giggle where I should be mortified.

The forest grows dense, overgrown with kudzu and honeysuckle. It pours down from the treetops like walls, creating a long, narrow hallway in the middle of the woods. The vivid green plays tricks with my eyes. It seems to stain my vision, giving everything its earthy hue. I rub my eyes, but they’re filled with grit that burns and makes them water. My vision is blurred, and the pollen feels like it is clogging my throat.

“Mother is just ahead,” my flower says to me. “Keep going. It’s not much longer now.” She moves ahead of me, slithering down the dark green corridor.

I stop to catch my breath. Coughing into my hand, I see a bright spray of orange. It looks like the lily on the roof of the solarium. Its petals spread wide, speckled at the tips as they curl upwards towards the sun. The one in my hand is wet, and it melts, dribbling down my wrist as I stare at it.

Vines curl around my ankles and pull me forward. I fall on my back, hitting my head against the earth. The vines pull me, dragging me along the ground. I look up at the canopy of the trees and see the skeletons of birds ensnared in the vines - crushed and mangled, held captive in their final flight. No wonder it’s always so quiet. There are no birds. No animals. Only the garden.

I’m dragged along the path to another building. It’s covered in vines, but there is a sign poking through the leaves. It was once a fish-rendering plant, the main source of income for the entire island. The sky above me disappears as the vines drag me through the doorway. 

The flower’s face hovers above mine, and she smiles at me. “You’d best get up.”

“I feel sick,” I whisper. “I can’t breathe.”

Her smile fades and she dips down. Her tongue caresses my lips, then pushes into my mouth. It forces its way down my throat as her eyes roll into the back of her head. She moans, slurping and drooling over me.

As she pulls her tongue back, I feel like I can breathe again. I gasp and wheeze, coughing up more orange lilies. The face smiles at me while I gather myself. I wipe my mouth, taking in more deep breaths, filtering the air through clenched teeth. 

“It’s okay if you need to go slow.” The face nudges me with her vine trunk, helping me to stand. “Mother is patient.”

I still feel sick, but at least I can breathe. Looking forward, I see what looks like a pillar of fungus and moss before me. It spreads out as it goes upward, fleshy and bulbous in appearance. The mushrooms are brilliant red with fat caps. The moss looks more bushy than usual, almost hairlike. It pulsates, moving as if breathing. In the center, two columns that look like legs are rooted into the ground. The legs stretch sideways and the toes grow long, burrowing into the ground. 

As I get closer, I see that the mushrooms move. They stretch out and curl as if calling me forward. Then there is the face, a new face, stretched and distorted like a pulled canvas. Green eyes peer down at me and the warped, stretched mouth pulls into a smile.

My flower comes very close to my ear and whispers to me. “This is my mother.”

My body grows frigid as I look up at her. Her body has been stretched and contorted as it takes on the semblance of a tree covered in fungus and rot. The things I took as mushrooms are her fingertips, and marks on what had once been skin. Her hair grows out as vines - no, like veins. The kudzu and honeysuckle that has taken over the island are her veins. 

Her smile pulls at the corners and she wheezes as she breathes. The ground pulses with her excitement as she leans down to look even closer at me. 

“You’re finally here.” Drool pours from her open lips. “That’s very good. You are not safe at that mansion.” The mushrooms wiggle as she reaches out to touch me. I want to wrench away, but my flower keeps me close to her. 

“Such a fine young man.” Mother gulps down her drool. “I can see why you were brought here. I had a gardener like you a long time ago.”

“He says that Father is trying to kill him,” my flower says, almost tauntingly. “Will you help protect him?”

Mother nods. “I know you’re scared, boy. But you’re safe here. Safe with me. You’re part of my garden, after all,” she giggles. “And that is what is most important to me.”

I manage to step away and I look at my flower and then back to Mother. “Can you get me home?”

A moment of silence passes. Mother rises back up, and my flower comes towards me. Her body coils around mine, wrapping me up and constricting tightly around me.

“You’re in my garden,” Mother whispers. “Why would you want to go anywhere else? This is paradise. Outside, beyond this island, you will find nothing quite as perfect as this.”

“You’re safe here. If you leave us, then my father will try and kill you too.” My flower’s body continues to constrict around me, and her thorns dig into my skin. “He’s nothing but a liar.” My body is warm and liquid all over, and the warmth seeps under my skin and all the way into my bones. “Relax and rest. We’ll make sure you have everything you need.”

“Stay with us and you’ll be safe.” Mother’s whisper fills my ears. “You will keep on growing.”

“Let him go, Esther.” I hear Mr. Barkridge as my eyes flutter closed.

“What are you doing here, Thurston?” she spits. “Do you know how angry you have made me?”

“I know, my love. But please, just this once, let the young man go.” Mr. Barkridge pleads with her. “Let me find someone else. Will that make you happy?”

“Make me happy?” Esther utters a laugh that sounds like a sob.“Why have you had this change of heart now?”

The creatures start chanting and screaming around us. All the while, my flower keeps gripping me tighter and tighter, yet I feel nothing.

“Please, Esther, don’t you love me?” Mr. Barkridge begs. “Let this one go.”

Esther goes very still, and her expression slackens. Her eyes are empty and unamused. “Thurston,” she laughs in disbelief. “How dare you?”

“Then you leave me no choice,” Mr. Barkridge says calmly.

A horrible scream pulls me from my stupor, I am thrown aside and trampled by the vine-covered creatures as they begin surging towards Mother. Mr. Barkridge shoots those who come near him and, to my horror, I see they bleed red. 

Mr. Barkridge kneels beside me and forces something down my throat. I cough and gag, turning and throwing up bright orange all over the ground. 

“Come on now, son. Get up.” Mr. Barkridge helps me to my feet, but I’m a sagging weight in his arms. I can’t fully take in everything that is happening around me. Mother is screaming, and the things I thought were monsters are in a frenzied panic. As Mr. Barkridge drags me away, my flower lunges in front of us. She glares at us, hissing, spitting bright yellow.

“Don’t make me do this, Rose,” Mr. Barkridge weeps. “Please, don’t make me.”

“This is all your fault!” she screams as she throws herself at us. Mr. Barkridge shoots her in the center of her forehead. She drops down to the ground, her entire length spasming and flopping. Mr. Barkridge sighs in agony, then continues to drag me. We come into the green corridor, which is writhing and wilting all around us. 

“Come on now, son. Just a little further.” He drags me out of the vines and into fresh air. He takes me down to a creek, where he splashes cold water on my face and lets me rest. I vomit several more times before my senses begin to return to me.

“What’s happening?” I wail. “Where am I?” I claw at my face, but he grabs my hands and slaps me hard on the jaw.

“Snap out of it, son!” he snarls at me. “Get a grip. You’re a grown man, act like it. Stop crying.”

“I feel like I’m losing my mind!” I sob. I tear at my hair and rock back and forth. “What’s happening to me? I just want to go home!”

“Her,” he whispers. “My wife is what is happening to you.” He shakes his head and hangs it low. “I’ll get you out of this. I’m so sorry.”

“Why?” I glare at him. “You brought me here. Why are you helping me now?”

“I have nothing left,” he murmurs. “I can’t apologize for what I’ve done, but perhaps you can end it.” He stands and offers me his hand. “That woman you saw, that thing...” His brow creases and tears come to his eyes. “That was my wife, Esther.”

“The tree thing? That grotesque...” I shut my eyes tight and dunk my head back into the ice-cold water.

“I used to perform splicing experiments in hopes of creating crops that not only could produce more food, but could survive much longer. My team and I focused on plants like kudzu, Japanese honeysuckle, wisteria, and creeping thistle.”

“Those are...” I wipe off my face and sniffle, managing to catch a clear breath. “Those are all invasive species. Why would you be using them?”

“Because they know how to thrive and conquer, Mr. Brone.” Mr. Barkridge sighs heavily. “The experiments were a success, unfortunately, but my wife had taken them for her own use. She turned her garden into something that could not be contained. She used it on herself to connect herself to it. I don’t...” His large shoulders sag heavily with the weight of it. “All this time I just let her get away with it all.”

“And the bodies?” I whisper.

Mr. Barkridge looks me dead in the eye. “I give them to her to keep her placated. She’s been using this method for longer than I knew. The whole garden is a cemetery. It’s why your father left, and it’s how he got you away from here before.”

This feels like a kick in the teeth. “My dad?” I laugh. “How do you know...” I shake my head and start to cackle. “No, no, no. You don’t know my dad.”

“And your mother, and you.” Mr. Barkridge continues to look me straight in the eye. “Your father was my first gardener. The fact you may be my last is kind of a jest from the universe, isn’t it?”

I remember the boat, and all the legs scrambling around me. I had been so young. I didn’t remember anything. I was traveling with my family, with the refugees from the island. I had been here before? No, I had been born here.

“Hurry, we need to move. That will only keep them busy for so long.” Mr. Barkridge stands up and offers his hand to me. “You need to get somewhere safe.”

There is such a weight of overwhelming knowledge upon me. I’m not sure what I am doing or how I am supposed to act. I take Mr. Barkridge’s hand as I stand. “Where would that be?” Everything inside me is overreacting, yet I can think clearly, I know I have to survive this.

“The lighthouse - I know the woman who operates it.”

We stumble through the forest, coming into the village. The streets and buildings are covered by vines. Everything is silent, and there’s not even a breath to be heard. Everything is suspended in time from the moment Mr. Barkridge’s wife took over.

“What happened?” I ask breathlessly.

“After I was told my daughter had died, I fell into grief and then immediately into depression. I focused on my work, and came to depend on my lab assistant. Esther grew jealous, and she turned to her garden for comfort. I never looked up to notice what she was really doing.” He stands before a house, moving aside the vines as he peers in through the dusty, cracked window. 

“She knew what she wanted. She wanted to be out of the control of her father. She wanted to let the wild animal inside her free. She always thought life would be better with a little more green in it. You know?” Mr. Barkridge shakes his head. “All she wanted to do was show people they didn’t need so many things, just more green. I just wanted a beautiful wife, a happy family. I wanted to be successful and looked up to. I wanted perfection, but she didn’t.”

I shake my head, trying to stay focused. “So those creatures she has - they’re humans.”

“Or were, when they had control over themselves,” Mr. Barkridge murmurs in defeat. “She keeps them to breed so that she always has them to take care of her. Her pollen controls them. Those vitamins you take were supposed to help you build up an immunity to them. Guess you never took those. I told you to!”

My mind isn’t focused on that. It’s lingering on something else. “There’s children here?” I say in horror.

“I suppose,” he scoffs dismissively.  We come to the edge of the road, where no vines grow. I step onto the street and look back to see Mr. Barkridge is unmoving. He doesn’t take another step.

“Come on,” I urge. “Let’s go.”

He shakes his head. “I belong here.” He lays his hand over his chest. “Esther’s crimes are mine, and I do not deserve a life outside of this like you do. Go on. Get to the lighthouse. She’ll be able to protect you.”

“Who is there?” I ask.

“My old lab assistant, Akatsuki. She’ll be able to get you help.” He motions me away. “I have to go back. I have work I need to do.”

From the forest, I hear screaming and chanting. There is a rush of motion as the trees sway, and the vines appear to grow tense and rigid. 

“Hurry up,” Mr. Barkridge commands. “They’re coming.”

I race down the road, running as fast as I possibly can. I head down the hill and nearly slam into the door of the lighthouse. I grasp the handle, shaking it and jerking it while beating on the metal door. 

“Calm down, calm down,” someone says from inside. “Let go! I can’t open it if you’re jerking it like that.”

An older woman opens the door and pulls me inside. She keeps a firm hand on my arm and shoulder as she leads me to sit down. “Stay here.” She goes back to the door, sliding locks and bolts into place all the way down.

“It’s been a while since someone came here. But I’m happy to see you,” she says.

She’s tall and thin, older than me but younger than Mr. Barkridge. She has long black hair tied back into a braid. “Akatsuki?”

“Dr. Akatsuki. I used to work for Dr. Barkridge,” she says sternly, “and Esther.” She pulls out an emergency kit and sits down across from me. She takes out a case from inside the kit, and inside is a syringe and a couple of bottles. She stabs the syringe into one of the bottles and then, before I can react, she jabs it into me.

“Fuck!” I curse out loud.

“Big needles often do.” She runs an alcohol wipe over the puncture wound. “This is just to assure you’re immune.”

“Immune? To what? To the pollen?”

“To Esther.” Akasuki replies. “Those who stay infected too long can no longer take the antidote. So you came just in time.”

I gingerly hold my arm where she injected me. “Why are you here?”

“Loyalty, maybe? Fear?” She closes up the emergency kit, then places it back on the wall. “Maybe if I can warn people, this thing won’t spread.” She pulls back the blinds on the window to look out. “I helped create this mess.”

“So you and Mr. Barkridge were both on the same project?”

Akatsuki steps away from the window. “He was a brilliant man, but horribly troubled.” She grimaces as she comes to sit back down. “The least I could do was stay behind and continue the work so that maybe, one day, I could end this once and for all.”

I start to get angry. She’s been here all this time and hasn’t warned or told anybody about it? “Why haven't you said anything? Why haven’t you contacted anyone to tell them what was going on here?”

“And do what? Risk people coming here and giving her exactly what she wants?” Akasuki snaps. “It’s bad enough that Thurston keeps bringing those gardeners here. But imagine if a whole swarm of people came here to see it? To research it? They wouldn’t stand a chance. They would be in over their heads.”

I furrow my brow. “You’re the one on the radio.”

“Oh,” she chuckles sadly. “You heard that? My way of venting to someone, somewhere,” she sighs heavily. 

“Then why don’t you just leave?” I ask in disbelief.

“Because I’m just like Thurston,” she scoffs. “I can’t leave because I love someone who cannot be saved.”

“You and...”

A loud bang comes from the door, and a soft, tittering laugh follows.

“My love,” the voice of my flower sighs, “come out now.” She slams against the door again. “Come out.” Another hard strike against the metal door. “Kiss me!”

Akasuki gives me a withering look. “You kissed the rose?”

I stare straight back at her as the windows shatter. Vines start creeping in through the window, and the face of my flower presses against the curtains. “I can smell you, my love. Come kiss me.” The long yellow tongue pushes through the curtains and writhes in the air, dripping and splattering against the floor.

“Don’t worry,” Akatsuki whispers as she kneels on the floor. “Remain still and quiet. Without the pollen, the only harm she can inflict upon you is physical.”

The curtains fall away, revealing a face I don’t know. The shot that Mr. Barkridge fired has caused the face to shatter and split, creating fleshy tumors. Blisters form along the edges of the cracks, splitting them open further. The long yellow tongue lashes out as she turns to come and face us. Her once-beautiful eyes are now wide apart and nearly at the sides of her head. Her lips are swollen and misshapen, leaving her yellow mouth gaping and oozing.

Akasuki stands with a shotgun clutched tightly in her hands. Cocking it, she takes little time to aim and blasts a cavernous hole into the side of my flower’s head. She drops away from the window, sagging along the broken glass. She twitches and flops, gurgling and spasming while vines grow over the gunshot wound. 

“Come on. Let’s go.” Akatsuki motions for me to head towards the back. There’s a pummeling at the door as we race into the next room. She takes me down a flight of stairs to a basement room that is as sterile and white as a hospital. She slams a button on the wall, and an emergency alarm blares and flashes. 

“They won’t find us down here. Not for a while, at least.” Akasuki sits down at one of the lab tables and holds her head in her hands. “I’ll get you out of here, don’t worry.”

“What about you? Come with me!” I insist. “The flower got in. It’s not safe for you here anymore.”

“I can take care of myself. That’s not the issue at hand here.” She looks around her lab with a gloomy expression. “I’m so close to finding a way to stop her.”

“Shooting her in the face seemed to work,” I offer weakly.

Akasuki scoffs. “She’ll come back. She’ll regrow. I have to find a weed killer, something that will take care of the roots.” She sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose. “They become inactive at night anyway. You should rest now.” Akatsuki motions to a cot at the far corner of the room. She stands up and moves over to a glass case, then looks inside it and shakes her head. “We’ll get you home by dawn.”

I walk towards Akatsuki, who is still looking down at the case. “How am I supposed to go on knowing this place exists? I’m always going to be looking over my shoulder. Is she there? Is she trying to find me?” 

“It doesn’t exist. As soon as you leave here, it’s gone.” She gives me a warning glare. “You can’t think about it.”

“I don’t know if I can do that. Not after what I’ve seen here, and...” I stop myself and take a breath.

Akasuki takes a bottle from the case and extracts two yellow pills. “It will be hard. But it’s better this way.” She offers the familiar pills to me. “Here, take these. They’ll help you rest.”

It’s the vitamins that Mr. Barkridge had been trying to make me take. “What are these?” I ask cautiously.

“Very mild sedatives,” Akasuki replies. “They can work as relaxants when taken in small doses.”

I furrow my brow. “What if you took them every day?”

“I wouldn’t recommend that. It builds up in the body and can put people into a sort of ‘walking dead’ trance.” She puts the bottle away. “I use it maybe twice a year when things are at their worst. Thurston and I developed these during our research here.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Why? I thought you researched kudzu.”

“That was in the beginning. Thurston wanted us to move on to medications after his daughter passed away. Nothing panned out,” she says with a shrug.

When dusk falls, Akatsuki sneaks me out of the basement of the lighthouse and takes me back down onto the dock. Already the boat is waiting for us. The gnarled old captain from before is there as well. “Get him out of here.” Akasuki says, giving money to the captain. “Don’t come back this time. Just forget about the grocery deliveries, and never, ever bring another soul to this place.”

“What about you?” the captain asks. “Are you still staying?”

Akatsuki looks at me. “Good luck. And please, forget about this place.”

The captain grumbles as he shuffles his way back into the boat. I look back at Akatsuki before I step onto the deck. “Are you really sure you want to stay here? Why not just leave and forget too?”

Akasuki shakes her head. “I came here hoping to make the world a better place. I’m not leaving until I do.” 

I wave goodbye to her as the boat departs. She has a soft, sad smile on her face. Then suddenly, it changes to shock and terror. She races towards the end of the dock with a scream. “Get off the boat! Get off the boat!”

“What? Why?” I put my hand down on the edge and feel something leafy. Then I see the vine crawling up the side of the boat from under the water.

“She’s gone under the island!” Akasuki screams.

The boat lurches to a stop, and then everything is still and quiet. No one breathes, and no wind blows. The engine grinds and squeals as the captain tries to start it. He doesn’t know. 

The vine pulls, dragging the boat. I stumble and fall, hitting my head against the side as I do. The boat starts to move back towards the dock as the bow tips towards the sky. The more Esther pulls, the more the engine fights going under and sticks straight up into the air. The bow is nearly vertical above me as the water pools underneath me. The captain is trapped in the cabin.

I dive into the water and swim, trying to reach Akatsuki at the dock. She leans down, reaching her hands out as far as she can to grab me. It’s too late. Esther has me in her clutches. Akasuki holds onto my hands, struggling to keep me above water. 

I let go, not wanting to risk Akasuki falling into the ocean. She tries to grab me, but I sink down into the abyss. The moonlight shines through the water, revealing the many moving vines that are rising up from the bottom of the ocean. Who knows how long Esther has been surrounding the island in her own reef? 

I’m pulled down deeper, deeper. 

I wake up with the taste of dirt in my mouth. The earth is rich and dark against my tongue. I stretch my arms out, breaking through so I can see sunlight. I spit out the dirt and breathe in fresh air, clawing myself from the fresh grave that was dug for me. 

I see the solarium ahead of me. I’m back in the garden again. The vines hold my legs, keeping me in place. I use a rock to sever them and free myself. I race, naked, into the mansion, to be greeted by the painting of Esther above the fireplace. 

“Mr. Barkridge?” I call out. “Mr. Barkridge?” I run through the halls, going into every room to try and find him. He’s nowhere to be found. That is, until I come to the cellar.

I go downstairs to where his lab is set up. It’s bare-bones compared to what Akasuki had set up. I take a lab coat from the wall and put it on to cover myself. As I step further into the lab, I see Mr. Barkridge’s desk at the back. I see pictures of him and Esther when they were younger, and a baby picture of Rose. I pick up one of the pictures and I can see how happy Esther looks, but while Mr. Barkridge is smiling, his eyes seem empty. His gun is sitting on the desktop. I take it into my hands. It’s still warm.

“Still here?”

I turn around tp see Mr. Barkridge standing there. He takes in a deep breath. “I was told your boat sank.”

“It did,” I murmur, hiding the gun behind my back. “Mr. Barkridge, why were you making me take those vitamins?”

He frowns. “You never took them. Why not?”

I shake my head. “I don’t like vitamins.”

Mr. Barkridge takes a step towards me. “Come now, Mr. Brone. We need to keep you away from her.”

I shake my head. “No. I think you’re the one I need to stay away from.” I lift the gun.

Mr. Barkridge laughs. “I’ve been trying to save you,” he says.

“You tried to drug me so you could kill me. As far as I can tell, everyone on this island is no good.” I cock the gun in preparation to shoot it. “I’ll either die here to become plant food, or I’ll become one of those bound things out there.”

“Put the gun down, Mr. Brone,” Mr. Barkridge says forcefully. “There’s no reason to get upset anymore.”

“Why?” I shout. “Why did you bring me here?”

“Give me the gun!” he screams.

I shake my head and aim the gun. “Rose was right. This was all your fault.”

Mr. Barkridge laughs. “There are no bullets in that gun.” He takes a step forward and extends his hand. “Give it back to me. I’m no threat to you anymore.”

I pull the trigger, and the gun goes off. Mr. Barkridge stands there in shock, slowly crumpling to his knees. I drop the gun, horrified that I actually shot him, and quickly step over him, leaving him there in the basement. 

I go back outside and begin gathering wood and sticks. I take books from inside the house, using the paper as kindling. As I’m building the bonfire, I see vines dragging Mr. Barkridge’s corpse into the woods. I stare after it, wondering what Esther would want with him now. It doesn’t matter. All of this is going to burn.

I start the fire in the center of the garden, letting it feed off into the rest of the foliage. I use alcohol to help it spread, leading it towards the iron gate. I make my way inside with a torch, following the path I had traveled to meet Esther before. Behind me, I can hear the fire raging, spreading from the house and through the woods. I leave splashes of alcohol as fuel behind me, and touch my torch to trees and bushes as I make my way towards the green corridor. 

I hear screaming already - the sounds of Esther’s agony as the green corridor withers and retreats from the flames. When I reach her, she is doubled over on the ground with all her minions gathered about her. She is weeping, blowing smoke from her mouth. Hanging behind her on the wall is Mr. Barkridge, with Rose’s corpse wrapped around him.

As I step inside, the bound people turn and start coming towards me, but they stop as Esther begins to wail again.

“What have you done?” she cries. “Why would you do this? I wanted to give you a home! A new life! Why are you burning me?”

“You’ve killed people!” I roar. “You tried to kill me!”

“I wanted to help!” Esther sits up, her twisted and contorted face pulling and shrinking as her eyes focus on me. “I have nothing left! This garden was all I had! It’s my home. My family,” she weeps. “And you’re killing it!”

“This isn’t life! Off this island is life.Look what you’ve done to these people and the ones you have killed. You destroyed your husband’s life. You’ve ruined Akatsuki’s.”

Esther retches and snarls. She lifts herself off the ground. “She ruined mine first,”
Esther begins to sob. “When my child died, while I was in mourning, she took my husband from me!”

A cold shock goes down my spine.

“My husband only placated me,” Esther wheezes. “He never loved me after that. He never looked my way. He pretended he did, but he never did again.” She weeps horribly. “Once Rose was buried, he didn’t care! He gave me anything I asked for, except...” She hangs her head.

“No,” I whisper, shaking my head. “That can’t...”

“I brought her back! I saved her!” Esther gasps. “But then she...” She wails in absolute misery. “My baby! I lost her twice because of that miserable woman!”

I’m starting to shake. “No. No, that’s not… That can’t be true!”

Esther rises up again, supported by her minions. “They didn’t want their secret getting out. They didn’t want the world to know they were making a plant capable of producing mind-altering drugs. They used the entire island as test subjects!” She spit at me.

“I tried to warn them...” she shivers. “I tried. But he called me a traitor. He said no one would believe a crazy bitch.”

I feel nauseous down to my core. I fall to my knees and breathe in smoke. 

“I was so angry, and he made me believe my anger was wrong. All those years...” Esther whispers in pain. “He tried to kill me. He buried me in my own garden.”

I look up at Mr. Barkridge’s corpse. I felt strangely conflicted about shooting him, because now it feels good.

“My garden saved me,” Esther whimpers. “My garden loved me and saved my life.” Tears stream down her face like sap. “They kept trying to hide me away. My husband just kept trying to placate me. No one loved me.” She trembles as she reaches out towards me. “Only my garden loved me. It protected me. And you killed it! You monster!”

I shake my head. “I didn’t know! I thought...”

Esther finally reaches me, grabbing my face with her misshapen hands and glaring down at me. “You wretched, horrible monster! You human!” She weeps, falling to the ground as all her followers surround her.

Everything I had been told was a lie. The garden. Mr. Barkridge. Even Akatsuki. They all lied to me. I walk outside the factory, while Esther wails within. The fire has grown monstrous and is taking over the forest. It will move down into the village before long. Maybe it will stop before it reaches the lighthouse. I don’t know. 

What's the truth? In all of this, what’s real? 

I find myself at the lighthouse, somehow. I sit there at the door, not wanting to knock or go inside. I don’t want to see Akatsuki or hear any more lies. 

The door opens as the fire rages, and Akasuki stands beside me. “What have you done?” she whispers.

“I feel awful,” I weep.

“There's nothing to be done now,” she says. “Come inside. I’ll make coffee.”

I remain seated there as she goes inside.

After a long moment of silence, Akatsuki comes out and sits beside me on the stoop. “If it makes you feel any better - if the roots are deep, it will grow back.” She hands me a cup of coffee.

“She said you tried to kill her,” I murmur.

Akatsuki remains quiet as she watches the fire rage. “I hate myself every day. That’s why I stay here,” she murmurs. “Thurston and I did things I’m not proud of. I can’t leave this place because as soon as I do, I make the world worse by being in it.”

“Why did you do it?”

“I loved him,” she whispers. “And I thought she was the evil one in all this. But they both were, just in different ways.”

“Did she really kill people?” I ask hesitantly.

Akasuki sips her coffee. “Who here hasn’t?”

I close my eyes and hang my head. “I’m sorry I killed him.”

She chuckles and hangs her own head to sob. “It’s about time,” she whimpers. “I let him hold me for too long.”

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

“Yeah,” she huffs. “I know. Me too.” She looks back up towards the fire and shakes her head. “I don’t know what to do now.”

“Be patient,” I murmur. “Because now, this is it.”

A storm arrives that evening and douses the fire, for the most part. It never reaches the village, but it burns down the mansion. Akatsuki and I go out to survey the damage. She combs through the remains of the mansion while I wander the ruins of the garden, going through the charred remains of the forest until I reach Esther and her keep. 

The ceiling is collapsed and burnt, but the stone walls remain. Sunlight pours down through the open roof, illuminating the black, charred floor. I kneel on the ground where Esther stood and, as I dust away the ash and char, I see a bit of green.

While there is green here, I will remain. I will atone for what I’ve done, and I will give the island a second chance.