It Ain't Gardening Season, Put Away That Hoe

Toni's eyes open, and suddenly she's standing in a graveyard.

She looks around, confused.

She turns and spots a name on one of the tombstones. She bends over to inspect it.

It's her name.

Her heartbeat quickens, and she starts to sweat. She stumbles back.

Something floats onto her palm. She stares at it.

A glowing piece of ash.

She turns around to see a mushroom cloud, piercing through the clouds, stretching into the sky.

A wave of fire washes over everything, incinerating everything in its path.

"Will you take the quest, little child, if this is what awaits you?"

The flames engulf her, and she screams as she slowly breaks apart.

Black.

?-?-?

I woke up with a start, feeling like someone placed an anvil on my chest in my sleep. I sat up, grabbing at my chest and gasping like a fish out of water.

After catching my breath, I looked at the clock. I'd woken up hours before school.

I sighed and flopped backwards onto my bed. I thought about my dream, and didn't sleep a single wink. When morning finally came, I was wide awake.

Cal burst through the door, banging on a big annoying bell. "WAKE UP! IT'S LEARNING TIME, TON—"

"I'm awake, so quiet that bell or I'll throw it out the window." I snapped.

"You're already awake? Gee, earlier than usual, isn't it?" Cal observed.

"Yeah, I've had a few things to think about." I said, rubbing my eyes.

"Like homework?" Cal suggested.

My eyes widened. "Oh, no! I forgot about Mr. Bedrock's assignment!"

Cal smirked. "I'm sure he'll let it slide after you tell him you got blown up by a creeper."

I sighed. "You think?"

"Yeah, I do think."

"Do you, though?"

You'd think that being blown up by a creeper and getting shot through the leg would kind of traumatize someone, but not Cal. She was instantly back to her old chipper self.

I ate a hasty breakfast, stuffed all my books and binders into my bag, and ran out the door, yelling "Bye, Mom! See you later!'

Cal was already ahead of me, and was walking at a leisurely pace, like she had all the time in the world.

"Hey! Wait up!"

I started to run, and was about to tap her on the shoulder when something grabbed me and dragged me sideways.

I screamed and punched someone, thinking I was being jumped by a group of mobs.

"Ow!" someone said.

"Grab her," someone else said. "she's being particularly feisty today."

Two people roughly grabbed me by the shoulders and forced me to my knees. It was then I finally saw the people holding me down.

"Well, well, well. Look at what we've got here."

Of course. It was Landen and his little goons.

"Well. How's your day? What's wrong, little girl? You look like a creeper!" Landon taunted me.

I didn't appreciate that comparison, because I had just recently almost been killed by a creeper.

"Screw off." I snapped.

Landen's smirk vanished. "Well, well. That's not how you treat your superiors, is it?"

"Do you start every one of your sentences with 'well'? Really, it's kind of redundant by this point."

Landen scowled. "I'll show you redudndant!"

"Redundant."

"Huh?"

"You pronounced it wrong. It's redundant."

Landen looked mad, but then suddenly smirked. "You've got attitude. I don't like that. Take her backpack."

I yelled as one of Landon's friends took my backpack, handing it to Landen. Landed glanced at the backpack, then turned and hurled it into the forest.

"No!" I cried.

Landen sneered. "How do you like it now, little girl?"

Him and his goons laughed and unceremoniously dropped me on the floor. They walked away, chortling and high-fiving each other.

I stumbled to my feet and ran. I had to find my backpack, and I absolutely couldn't be late.

As soon as I entered the forest I knew there was no hope. The ground was littered with leaves and vines making it nearly impossible to find my backpack.

I desperately looked around, searching for my backpack. What would I do? All of my stuff was in that backpack. And then…

Snap.

It was the sound of someone who had stepped on a branch.

I stopped.

Looked around.

There was one there.

"Who's there?" I shouted.

No answer.

"I should warn you—I killed a rock golem! I can do it again!" I said, trying to sound brave.

I heard a sigh. "Damn it. I wasn't supposed to get caught. But I may as well warn you while I'm here."

I turned in the direction of the voice to see a boy my age leaning against a tree.

He had messy black hair that he ran his hand through repeatedly, and a black leather jacket. He also wore a white shirt with a wither skull on it, and a pair of dirty looking jeans.

But the detail that stood out the most about him was probably the enormous iron sword strapped to his back. That was probably an important detail.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Jax," the boy said. "but that's not important. Listen, this place isn't safe. You need to leave, now."

"What? Why?" I said, taken aback. "I don't even know you! And what about school, and—"

"School won't matter once he gets here," Jax snapped. "In fact, nothing will matter once he gets here!"

"He? Who's he?" I asked.

"Klith."

When he said the name, chills ran down my spine. Even though I had no idea who that was, I could tell he was dangerous.

"Listen, Toni—" Jax began.

I took a step back. "How do you know my name?"

Jax sighed in exasperation. "Listen, if you're not going to leave, at least warn the others! Warn anyone you can. Warn your father. He'll know what I'm talking about."

"Well, why don't you convince them?" I snapped.

Jax looked distressed. "Because nobody even knows I'm here! I'm not supposed to change your destiny, or at least that's what she said—"

Jax abruptly stopped talking, and his eyes widened. "Someone's coming."

He made to leave, but I grabbed his arm. "Hey! You're not done yet. Explain!"

"Let go!"

"I said explain!"

"I SAID LET GO!"

Jax kicked me in the chest, and I flew backwards onto the ground, winded.

Jax stepped into the shade of a tree and dissolved into the shadow before my eyes.

I sat there on the ground, just staring at the spot where he'd disappeared until Cal came, holding my backpack.

"Toni, what happened? Did Landen and his idiot friends do this? I swear I'm going to—"

Cal noticed me staring at the tree. She glanced at it, but there was nothing to see.

She waved her hand in front of my face. "Hello? Are you brainwashed or something?"

I snapped back to reality. "Uh?"

Cal pulled me to my feet. "Cal, I don't know what happened, but I promise I'll beat those guys to a pulp as soon as we get to school. Come on, we'll be late!"

Cal pulled me away from the field, practically dragging me back towards the road.

I could have sworn that someone came out of the tree while I was watching.

?-?-?

We were late. No surprise there.

I didn't care.

In fact, I was more worried about the boy and his ominous words.

School won't matter when he gets here! In fact, nothing will matter when he gets here!

I shook my head. Don't worry, I thought. He's probably just some crazy kid who lives on the street.

But the scary thing was, he'd seemed so serious.

I barely listened to the teachers lessons, and was so preoccupied in gym that I jogged off the track and didn't notice until I hit a tree. Of course, Landen and his goons got a hoot out of that, at least until Cal clocked him in the back of the head.

After school, Cal told me to go first because she had stuff to do with her friends, so I walked to the house by myself.

As soon as I got home, I walked into the door instead of opening it, which I guess was another way to open it.

As I walked in, I heard a shout.

"Listen, Rebecca! You can't just act like everything is fine!"

It was my dad. Shouting.

I felt like running back out the door, but instead I moved closer to my parents's room.

"Mob spawn rates have increased by 64% these past few days. You can't just overlook that."

"Yes, but we don't know—"

I heard Dad sigh in exasperation. "We can't just wrap our children in blankets and expect them to be fine! They need to know, Rebecca."

I heard my mom sob, and my heart dropped. Mom never cried.

"B-but," my mom sniffed, "they're just children. How are they supposed to live up to the expectations? Especially Toni…"

I paled. Especially Toni?

"I know," Dad's tone changed, his voice softening. "but we'll have to tell them someday."

I took a step back, and the floorboards under my feet creaked.

Whichever force of nature that causes floorboards to creak is totally stupid.

Mom and Dad went quiet, and then I heard his footsteps coming towards the door.

I ran quietly back to the front door, so it would look like I'd just walked in.

Not a second too late, my father opened his bedroom door and spotted me.

"Hey." he said, slightly surprised. "School end early?"

"No, it ended at the usual time." I told my dad.

"Huh," Dad said. "I must have lost track of time. Where's Cal?"

"With her friends," I said casually.

"Oh, okay. Do you want eggs? Me and your mom just had some—"

"It's okay." I cut him off. "I feel pretty tired. I'm going to my room."

I walked past him before he could speak, and opened the door to my bedroom.

I stood there for a moment, and suddenly the urge to ask my dad about what he was talking about with Mom came over me.

I ignored the urge and shut the door to my room. I practically dived into my bed, and pulled up my sheets over my head.

I heard my dad enter. I could feel his gaze digging into my back.

He probably knew that I wasn't really asleep, but instead of saying anything he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

At the time, I was slightly relieved he didn't 'wake me up'. But sometimes I wonder.

If I'd just asked dad then, or if he'd had told me what he had been thinking about then…

Would things have changed?

?-?-?

I fell asleep, and guess what? I didn't have a vague, cryptic nightmare this time! A miracle, I know.

At least until I woke up.

My entire room was bathed in orange light, and I was sweating like crazy.

"What the hell?" I muttered, sitting up.

The smell of smoke wafted into my room and I sat up, thinking Mom had burned dinner again.

Turns out instead of just the smell, actual smoke had wafted in through the window.

I started coughing, still disoriented and groggy from just having woken up.

And the sound of my mother's screams drifted through my door.

As I stumbled to my feet, still rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I thought: Don't worry, Toni! Everything's fine! Maybe bonfire night just got a little out of hand? Oh well! It doesn't matter, cause everything's fine!

(Insert me, Future Toni, laughing my head off.)

As soon as I opened my door, I was greeted with a wall of fire blocking my way. The flames roared in my face as I screamed and slammed the door shut.

Well, at least the fire can't get in. I thought stupidly.

The door suddenly burst into flames, and it crumbled away in an instant, leaving me holding the doorknob like an idiot. It was so ridiculously stupid, it was like a moment out of a sitcom.

I stumbled backwards as even more smoke made its way into my room.

"Mom? Dad?" I shouted.

Nothing but the roaring of the flames.

"CAL? ANYBODY? HELP!"

Now, the heat was unbearable to the point where it was sucking all the air out of my lungs. Coughing, I ran over to the window.

I grabbed a particularly large chunk of charcoal and tossed it through the window, and the sound of the glass shattering was drowned out by the intense roaring of the fire.

I coughed and retched and bent over, hands on my knees, when I saw the fire consume my bed.

Coughing and hacking, I brushed aside the glass on the windowsill and jumped through, landing on the hot cobblestone path completely barefoot.

I stumbled away from my house, but every other house was just as bad, all of them fuelling a fire that could roast a chicken from three blocks away.

I suddenly thought of the small pond at the park, and changed direction, heading for the park.

I couldn't see the sky, couldn't tell if it was night or day, because smoke filled the air, making it hard to see. All of my senses were overwhelmed by heat, and ashes floated down from the sky like burning snow.

I ran until my feet were bloody, and I fell to my knees at the edge of the park, panting.

I stood up again, trying to run into the park to jump into the pool.

But I stopped.

I saw my father and some man, confronting each other in the middle of the park.

The man wore a perfectly clean white hoodie, which was a miracle considering the ash and smoke swirling around the park. He also wore black jeans, and I could see his eyes glow red even from afar.

I watched in amazement as my dad pulled out a glowing diamond sword and pointed it at the man. He said something, and the man appeared to laugh. The man pulled out a glowing red hoe.

A hoe?

But then a memory at the back of my head resurfaced. I knew what thing was from all the books I'd read.

A scythe.

The man laughed and swung the scythe. My father leaped back, parried a blow from the man, and lunged forward with the sword.

The man with the hoe sidestepped, kicked him in the side as he ran by, and slashed my dad's arm.

My dad screamed and dropped his sword, stumbling away from the man.

The man grinned as he leisurely spun his scythe. My stomach dropped when I realized he was having fun.

Dad picked up the sword with his other hand, though it was clearly not his favoured hand. He wildly slashed at the man, who simply blocked the slash and kicked Dad backwards, slashing his other arm as he did.

I screamed, but no one could hear me over the roaring of the fire.

Dad groaned as he tried to stand up, but the man put his foot on his windpipe, making him choke.

Suddenly the deafening sound of the flames faded, and I could hear them.

"Well?" said the man with the scythe. "Do you give up? It would be wise. I could even let you and your family run free."

"Go to hell," my father spat.

The man smirked and kicked him onto his back.

Dad's yells cut me worse than any sword could.

"I said, do you give up?"

My father groaned and struggled to his feet.

My dad's gaze met the man's.

"You cannot take her," My father snarled. "She is the most powerful being anyone has seen since the first war. She will not obey a brat like you."

I thought the man would slice him again, or at the very least get angry, but he just smirked.

"Is that what you believe?" the man said, purring like a lion. "How sad. Herobrine was never accepted as a true human. He is as evil as me. The girl will be no different."

Herobrine? I thought he was a boy.

"Never," my father snarled, "have I heard such an outrageous thing. Herobrine is a trickster. Mischevious. A liar. But not evil."

The man wasn't smiling now. "Oh, dear," he said, like he was actually concerned. "You truly believe that girl will…save this world, or whatever that old man said?"

"You are a fool," my father growled. "He was a wise man—"

"Quiet." the man kicked him in the chest, and Dad fell backwards onto the ground again.

"Notch is a senile, foolish old man who happened to have superpowers. The new age will come. And when it does, I will forgive all those who worship me. And I will weed out those insignificant little pricks who still believe in the prophecy." He spat out the word like a curse. "And it will be the greatest era known to man. You'll see." The man paused, and then his smile returned.

"Oh, wait. You won't. Because you'll be dead."

He raised his scythe, and slashed it across my father's neck.

He dropped to the ground as blood splattered the grass.

The fires began to roar again, but my anguished scream drowned it all out, echoing throughout the village.

The man turned in my direction, and smirked.

"Well, would you look at that? The 'chosen one'."

An assortment of pikes and spears materialized midair, and whistled as they cut through the air, coming right at me.