CHAPTER 12: The Animal in Me
Let's see if all you non-Torontonians get the "accident" reference ;p
I've stayed home for a week to "take it easy". My mother told my teacher not to assign make-up work as I was to remain at home to recover from my attempt to kill myself.
Today, all of that ish changed.
"Elyssia! Wake up!" my mother yelled from downstairs at 6:30 AM.
Now, during this "period of recuperation", I could sleep until eight, so I realized that school was about to be tossed right back into the bowl that was my life. Suppressing a groan, I stumbled down the stairs and sat down at the table.
"Let me guess. School again?" I asked.
"Correct, Elyssia." my father answered.
"W-why? Don't I still need to recover from the drugs?" I sputtered.
"You seem sound, both physically and mentally. You'll survive, Elyssia." my mother answered calmly as she laid a bowl of hot cereal in front of me.
For some reason, my stomach did not desire any food, so as a result I pushed away the bowl.
"Sorry, but . . . I've lost my desire to eat a single bite. I'm just feeling so lonely right now. It's as if I belong somewhere else ―"
I clapped a leaf over my mouth after I realized what I just said, and I could tell that my crystals were turning a bright blue in embarrassment. I just grabbed my bag and ran right out the door without going to the trouble of saying "goodbye".
"Hey, Weird-e! Heard about how you tried to top yourself!" Carol sniggered at lunchtime.
"And I care because . . . ?" I asked.
"Well, it's all over the city that you were some kind of accidental birth." Carol snickered.
"So . . . were you born on the Gardiner Expressway? Because that's where the most accidents happen!"
I gritted my teeth.
"Weren't you born on the Don Valley Parkway? Because unlike me, you were some kind of accidental birth! And last time I checked, that highway is so accident prone!" I retorted.
Before Carol could think of a comeback, the bell rang.
"Ohhh, crappy garbage collecting club!" she cussed under her breath.
"We'll continue this discussion with Ellen and the rest of the gang after school. Ciao, sucker."
I rolled my eyes as I proceeded to wander around the inside of the school for the next 45 minutes. What a Thursday . . .
"Hey Elyssia! Come here for a second!" Ellen shouted, leading Alduin, Albert and Brian over to me. I turned around and sighed.
"Ellen Ignatius, do you have any more hot air to add to the humidity?" I asked.
"No ― whatever the hell that means. But you're late for your daily beating." Ellen answered.
"And I care because . . .?" I asked.
"Because today's Doomsday for you!" Albert and Brian exclaimed in unison.
"Oh . . . sure . . ." I mumbled as I proceeded to walk away.
Just then, a rock was hurled right at me. And I could tell that it was no accident, because the birds were in the middle of nowhere-land.
"Look ― can you leave me alone for at least one day?" I asked.
"I mean, you all have been suspended and lectured! How much deeper do you want your hole? Do you want to get thrown into juvie?"
Instead of answering, Alduin, Albert and Brian started shooting at me like crazy. I managed to dodge all of their peas, putting them into a worse mood.
"You guys have got an aim that sucks. Why would anybody bother using you as defensive plants, and not servants?" I asked.
I noticed that instead of just ignoring their gobbledygook, I was actually trying to hurt their feelings. But what did I care? Some wretched, beastly force was controlling me, and it was granting my wishes.
"Well don't just stand there, heating up the atmosphere with your hot air!" Albert guffawed.
"Oh yeah? Well, you all are so unintelligent that you got tangled up in a cordless phone!" I retorted.
"Come back at me!"
"Well, don't just stand there, all bark and no bite!" Ellen growled as she tossed a tree branch at me.
"Say that again, and you'll discover that I'm not "all bark and no bite!" Just you wait and see!" I snarled as I ducked the warhead.
With that, I sent a storm of icy wind right over to the foursome, causing them to look at me in fear and run away. Taking absolutely notice of all the time I was wasting on this, I chased them . . .
. . . And chased them . . .
. . . And chased them . . .
. . . Until we were quite the distance from St. Henry's big field. I chased them right into the chapel of an abandoned graveyard.
"All right! Leave us alone! You've had your "fun"!" Ellen panted.
"Why should I? Don't I have to make up for the six years of torture you gave to me?" I asked pertly.
"Umm . . . ACTUALLY NO!" Ellen yelled as she found a metal pole and struck the top of my head hard, giving me a huge gash which had blood dripping everywhere.
"Wow! Now who's the coward?" Alduin snickered.
"Go to hell and meet the fricking devil." I muttered as I tossed a knife at him, which he dodged by millimetres.
"How dare you try to hurt him!" Ellen growled as she punched my face, earning cheers and claps from Albert and Brian.
Recovering from the blow, I could feel my crystals turn purple as I was overcome by a tidal wave of anger. Before I knew it, I stabbed Alduin's stem, and I had rammed Albert and Brian into the wall. Although I was acting like a premeditated, bloodthirsty criminal, there was an odd sense of satisfaction at the sound of Alduin's ripping flesh. As Alduin sank to the ground, dead, and the Split Pea gave way to the ground, with almost all of the life gone from the two heads, that left Ellen, trembling in fear.
"I-I'm so sorry . . ." she mumbled.
"I learned my lesson . . ."
"OH, SO NOW YOU SAY THAT, A SUSPENSION, A LECTURE AND A SUICIDE ATTEMPT LATER! AND AFTER NEARLY A DECADE!" I screamed.
"L-l-look, we can still be square, right? I-I mean, I-I was abused at home ―" Ellen whimpered before I interrupted her.
"AND YOU COULD'VE TOLD ME SO THAT I COULD HELP YOU! BUT NOOOO!"
"P-please understand that you'll take away yet another one of God's precious children ―" Ellen tried to protest, but at this point, that beast was controlling my actions, not me.
"GOD'S PRECIOUS CHILDREN, MY REAR END! YOU AND YOUR BUNCH OF HOOLIGANS ARE ANYTHING BUT PRECIOUS! I DON'T BELIEVE IN THAT CRAZY ASS-CRAP! NEVER DID, NEVER WILL! LIKE, I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA AS TO WHY I'M IN A FRICKING CATHOLIC SCHOOL!" I screamed as my crystals turned a poisonous shade of purple.
I then let out a powerful jet of ice that cut Ellen's stem right open. The beast then told me to tear her heart right out and crush it on the ground. As I slowly calmed down, I gasped at what I had done. Albert and Brian looked as if they were about to die, and there was a pool of blood on the floor from Alduin and Ellen.
"Oh crap! What the bloody hell did I just do?" I asked myself.
With a grunt, I decided to think about what my parents were doing, which caused a weird video to start playing in my head.
My mother was pacing back and forth in front of my father, who was just sitting in a chair, glancing at the clock every two or so minutes. Finally, my mother spoke.
"It's already five o'clock! We would've heard if the train was delayed! But even then, Elyssia would not be this late . . ."
"Perhaps we should go over to Scarborough and see if Elyssia's injured or something." my father thought aloud.
"Why not?" Antonia asked.
"Although . . . if she did get hurt, then what cold comfort that would be."
Aw, great! That's TOTALLY happening!
"Elyssia! Ju freaking crazy?!"
I heard a shrill but loud voice pierce the eerie silence. I turned around, and saw a skinny Magnet Shroom who would bite her lip every so often in order not to attract any metal articles to herself.
"Mareya! What are you doing over here?" I asked.
"Mareya want to see Ämäiti's* grave. I hear shouts. Shouts very loud. So Mareya come to chapel to see what wrong." Mareya answered in halting English.
She then saw the bodies of Ellen, Alduin, Albert and Brian and let out a piercing scream.
"Elyssia! Why you do this? They mean, but no criminals! They no need death punishment!"
I hushed the terrified girl-plant.
"Yes ― they do. Do you remember those days when we were located on the second floor? Ever since Grade One I have been mercilessly teased by Ellen and her gang of gaggling idiots!" I hissed.
"I mean, no offense intended for you, Mareya Isäfa, but in Finland, are they overly . . . diplomatic?"
Mareya shook her red head.
"Absolutely no! In Suomi, there many mines. Mareya mine metal when just four. Suomi, there no mercy. That why Mareya mine metal when just sprout. Mareya move to Canada with Äiti, Isä and Ämäiti. Mareya five. Ämäiti die last week. She very old and sick. Mareya love and remember Ämäiti. She kind and wise. Mareya ―" I sighed and cut her off.
"Um . . . sorry Mareya, but I didn't ask you for your history of your immigration. In any case, let's bury these two before we get busted."
"Wha?" Albert and Brian had woken up, and struggled to their roots with big gashes on their heads.
"Twins! You alive?" Mareya asked.
"Mareya, we actually have names, and those names are Albert and Brian!" Brian snapped.
"Mareya sorry for misunderstanding." Mareya apologized.
After shaking their heads a couple of times, and looking at the corpses of Ellen and Alduin, they screamed like frenzied girls.
"Y-you killed them?!" Albert sputtered.
"Uh . . . yeah, but it wasn't on purpose . . ." I mumbled.
After looking at the corpses, and at me, the faces on the Split Pea took on the looks of human boys who had seen headless ghosts.
"Uhh . . . bye, Elsi! See you tomorrow, I guess!" Albert yelled as they strode to the door in a few short steps.
"Yeah!" Brian echoed.
"WEEEE'RE OOOUUUTIIIEEE!" they screamed in unison as they took off at a run towards their home.
I shook my head before I grabbed the corpses and went out the door.
"Mareya carry Ellen body?" Mareya asked.
"Fine." I answered.
The Magnet-Shroom grabbed the corpse of the Sunflower. After around ten minutes, we saw an empty spot, perfect for the two plants. Using my leaves, I dug a hole for the two plants. Mareya and I gently laid down the corpses before piling dirt on top. I found a shard of glass and a plank of wood. I then carved into the wood with the glass:
Here lie Ellen, a Sunflower, and Alduin, a Peashooter who had good hearts but bad intentions. Even though they lived as jerks, they died angels. May God forgive me for taking away their precious lives. I had no idea that my instincts could actually be lethal weapons. May the reader(s) of this remember that some plants have pure hearts but impure minds.
EAM, 04/17/13.
Even though I just carved a bunch of emotional and meaningless bullcrap on that plank of wood that I stuck into the ground, at least I acknowledged that they died because of me.
"Elyssia, Mareya know that you no mean it." Mareya whispered.
"Thanks. At least somebody doesn't think I'm a jerk." I replied.
Just then, we heard groaning. Lots of it.
"Zombies. We must hide." I hissed to Mareya, who darted behind a bush with me as the groans became louder and more frequent.
Damn, I was scared stiff. In fact, I was so scared that I made a small pool of frost around the bushes. Mareya had attracted a rusty tin can to her head thanks to her fear, causing her to yelp in pain.
"YEOUCH!" she shrieked.
"Oh, that's just great." I muttered sarcastically as the now-visible zombies turned in our direction.
My crystals had turned a surprisingly bright blue, which drew even more attention to us.
"You! All! I see bright flash in bush, and I hear loud shout!" a tall zombie hollered.
"Maybe it plant?" a short, fat zombie piped up.
"What else it be, Bob? Squeaky-bird?" the tall zombie asked.
"S-sorry, Goose. We attack?" Bob asked.
The tall zombie, who was apparently Goose, nodded.
"On to bush!"
Crud. Now we're doomed.
"Mareya so scared!" Mareya whispered.
"Watch what I can do." I hissed.
I created a huge blast that knocked the rotting carcasses right down. But there was another mob, and it was so huge ― and strong! ― that I couldn't take it on all by myself. Mareya had no way to defend herself, and we had nobody else.
"Oh holy sh―"
Before I could finish my sentence, I heard a holler from the fence.
"ELYSSIA! ELYSSIA! ARE YOU IN THERE?"
I looked behind me, and I saw my mother and father climbing the fence and running towards me.
"Oh, I thought you were hurt!" my father gasped.
"No time for a meet and greet!" my mother growled.
And next thing I knew, I was being slung over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes, while Mareya was running out behind us. One thing was for sure, though.
We were outta there.
Yo Tamia! If you're reading this, thank you for giving me inspiration from one of your wild tangents! XD