Chapter Two

Nigel stared down in horror at the plant that had been hiding under his floorboards. It was green and warty, with a big pod like a flytrap and lots of vines. It wasn't very big yet, but it was definately past it's early stages. It was probably about a meter tall. It was growing from the dirt under the house, and it was feeding on a rat. That was the snapping sound that Nigel had heard. The plant kept opening it's pod (mouth?) very wide and bit down hard hard on the rat's bloody body.

Nigel had no idea what to do. How could an Audrey II be living under his house? There were very little of these plants in Canada; no one wanted to sell them here after what had happened all over the United States. This was the first Nigel had heard of one growing in PEI.

Nigel realized that sitting around staring at the thing was completely useless. He needed to kill the thing, and there was only one known way of doing that. He had to electrocute it. But how was he supposed to do that? His uncle had a Zapper, a special gun that shot bolts of electricity specifically designed to kill Audrey IIs, but he'd brought it with him to New York where, after all these years, there were still frequent Audrey II outbreaks. Nigel had walked up the stairs back into the kitchen and was now pacing the floor. He couldn't just ignore the plant, but he had no idea what to do about it until his uncle came home. He didn't know who to tell about it either. Most people would think he had bought it illegally or something stupid like that. Hell, he could even be arrested! This thought scared him, and he realized that there was only one person he could tell. His best friend, Lisa.

Lisa was a very pretty girl who Nigel had always had a crush on. At first they hardly knew each other. But something had happened during junior high, something that had brought them close together. Now, at eighteen, they were very good friends, as close as any friends could be. Nigel still liked her a lot, but he kept it quiet because he wouldn't be able to stand it if they lost their friendship.

Nigel put on a hoodie, left his house, and locked the door. He then proceeded to walk down the street to Lisa's house. When he arrived at the house, he could hear music playing inside. It was hard to tell what kind, but he could definately hear the beat. He knocked on the door, and Lisa's mom answered. She was a pretty, slightly dark-skinned woman who always seemed busy and a little sad. But she greeted Nigel happily.

"Well if it isn't Nigel!" she said. "I haven't seen you in ages!" This was not entirely true, because Nigel stopped by the house as often as he could.

"Hello Mrs. Lisa's Mom!" said Nigel. This was their ongoing joke; even though Nigel knew her name was Katie, he had called her Mrs. Lisa's Mom when they had first met many years ago. "Is Lisa home?"

"Yes, she's upstairs listening to music. Come on in".

"Thanks". Nigel hurried upstairs and into Lisa's room. She was sitting on her bed, listening to a song playing on the stereo. It sounded like something from the sixties. "Hey Lisa" he said.

Lisa turned around, surprised. "Oh! Nigel! Hi!" she said.

"What are you listening to?"

"Oh, this is a cd that my grandmother recorded, not long before she was killed by that stupid plant."

"Wait, your grandmother was a singer?" Nigel had never heared of that before.

"Oh yeah. It's actually a sad story. My grandmother was a street urchin in Skid Row, New York. Her name was Crystal. She had two close friends, Ronette and Chiffon. Anyway, the three of them were incredible singers, and they had only just been discovered when the Audrey IIs started showing up. They were all killed by one of the plants. This was the only album they ever released".

"Wow..."

"And that's not all. Apparently they knew Seymour Krelborne!"

"What!?" Everybody knew that name. Seymour Krelborne was the jackass who grew the first Audrey II, the one that started it all.

Nigel had gotten so caught up in his friend's story that he almost forgot why he had come. Now he remembered. "Lisa," he said, "speaking of Audrey IIs, I may or may not have found one growinf under my house".

"What the fuck!?" Lisa screamed.

"C'mon, I'll show you" said Nigel. They both rushed back to Nigel's house, through the door, down the basement stairs, and into the furnace room.

"Oh my God..." said Lisa. Nigel was surprised too. The plant had grown twice as big in the half hour since he'd last seen it.