CHAPTER 77: The Bees and Me
This chapter, and the next couple of chapters, were inspired by, well, bees! I got the idea one day when I was in Allan Gardens and I saw a bee pollinating a flower. I was nervous at first when the bee decided to go and land on me, but the staff from my treatment/recovery center told me not to be scared. It felt nice having the bee on my shoulder. Another thing that inspired me was a childhood memory. In a part of my building, there was a crapload of bees living in a wall. The building didn't get rid of them, because they didn't bother anybody. I had a fear of bees from a very young age because I kept on thinking, "Oh my God, this bee's gonna sting me! What if I'm allergic?" But since that time at Allan Gardens, I actually kinda wish I could own a beehive (go ahead, call me psycho, haha). So . . . enjoy!
I stepped in cautiously and closed the door behind me.
"Hey . . . what happened to that treatment home you were running?" I asked as Teresa walked me into the massive parlour and sat down on a big, red pouffe.
"Oh . . . Dita took over. Dita, she's my big sister, and she's running the home with her three best friends. They're triplets." Teresa answered as she reached over and grabbed a binder from a mahogany side table. She flipped through, until she found the page she was looking for.
"Here. You can take a look."
I took the photo album and looked at the pictures on the page that Teresa found. On the left there was a picture of a distinguished looking Sunflower. Below it, I saw the words "Dita A." written in swirly handwriting. On the next page, I saw a picture of three hip-looking Marigolds. Teresa came over and sat beside me with a smile.
"The one on the left there is Janice, the girl in the middle is Rachel, and on the right, that's Therese." she pointed out.
I closed the binder and handed it back to Teresa.
"Now . . . could you explain the clanging and glowing?" I asked.
Teresa laughed and raised her leaves in the air. They were emitting a golden glow.
"I could sense that you were in trouble. So, using some advanced magic, I got you to come here!" she replied cheerfully as she shook her leaves and made the glowing stop.
"The clanging was a complete mistake. I did not mean for the house to make a noise that could probably be heard from the other end of St. Clair."
I shrugged and nodded.
"Now . . . where can I sleep?"
After dragging me up a flight of stairs and around a corner, Teresa unlocked the first door that we came to.
"The other rooms are infested by bees. The only bee-free rooms are this one and mine." she explained quickly.
I walked into the room and nodded in approval.
"This will do."
I spent an hour or so looking at the ceiling that night. I grasped the necklace and absently wound and unwound it around my leaf. I tried to telepath Peater, but I felt numb, like I was trying to grab something but my arms were paralyzed and my eyes were blindfolded. I tried to use telekinesis to close my curtains. Nada.
I eventually managed to sleep, but I had a terrible nightmare in which I was being pushed into a flaming pit by my dead loved ones. Adria, Alana, Annika, Elias, Ellen, Carol, and a whole crapload of other plants who were close to me but were dead, were there, pushing me into what I thought ― no, knew ―were the flames of hell.
I woke up panting, my crystals a bright blue. After calming myself down, I came down for breakfast. I saw Teresa there, humming a tune as she drew all the curtains and cooked bacon and scrambled eggs, while the occasional bee would float in and land on Teresa's head. I flinched whenever that happened, but Teresa would laugh and let the bee hang out on her head until it had decided to fly back to its home.
"Uh . . . Teresa . . . what are you gonna do about these bees?" I asked as I ate a piece of m bacon and picked at my scrambled eggs.
"I'll let them stay." Teresa answered simply.
"You see, this was my aunt's house, and she's been living here for years. I was always afraid to visit, because these bees were flying around, 24/7."
As if they could understand Teresa's explanation, the few bees that came whizzing lazily into the dining room alighted on the table beside her plate; some landed on her head. It was like they wanted to listen to Teresa's story about them.
"One day, I begged my aunt to get rid of the bees, because they frightened me so much. Instead, she dragged me into a bedroom that was chock full of bees. Honey was seeping out of the walls, and the room was simply buzzing with the flutter of thousands, maybe millions of bees, flying about. I had a full-on panic attack, but my aunt calmed me down and told me to take a deep breath. I eventually let the bees swirl around me, and they didn't sting me, let alone care that a strange girl-plant was in their hive. It was amazing, and after that, I wasn't scared of the bees ever again. My aunt eventually died, and she left this house to me, as well as the duty of taking care of the bees."
Teresa smiled and took a bite out of her scrambled eggs as she closed her eyes. We ate the rest of the meal in silence, the bees' buzzing melody that their wings produced filling our ears with a peaceful ringing.
After breakfast, Teresa beckoned for me to follow her. We went upstairs where the bedrooms were. Bees were sparsely scattered throughout the hall, doing whatever it was that they did. Teresa, meanwhile, had unlocked the bedroom beside mine, only to be greeted by an onslaught of bees. I screamed, and my crystals flashed a bright blue.
"Teresa . . . are you okay?" I cried.
"Fine dear!" Teresa replied cheerfully as more bees poured out of the room.
"Aren't you in a hurry to get somewhere!" she mumbled as the cloud of bees flying out finally dissipated. The swarm of bees that came and zoomed out had disappeared behind the curtains and through the open windows behind them. Teresa just sighed and closed the door.
"These guys are busy . . . let's see about this bunch . . ." she muttered as she unlocked the next bedroom down.
Yet another bombardment of bees came out, but instead of flying out, they swirled around Teresa, who giggled and squealed, before flying back in.
"Come on in, Elyssia."
Nervously, I followed the Sunflower into the bedroom. As soon as I had stepped in, I had a panic attack and immediately squeezed my eyes shut. I did my best not to scream and get the hell outta there as the bees landed on my crystals and billowed around me.
"Teresa . . . get 'em off . . . get 'em off!" I squeaked in a tiny voice.
Teresa just laughed and put a leaf on my forehead.
"Deep breaths, Elyssia. Deep breaths."
I then felt a tidal wave of calm wash over me as the unearthly hum of the bees filled my ears. I let out a breath that I was holding for so long, and smelled the hive. It smelled like thick, sweet honey.
"Open your eyes, girl." Teresa whispered.
I let my eyes flutter open, and I was overwhelmed by a phenomenal sight. Bees whizzed to and fro around the room, some squeezing out of holes in the wall to get outside, others squeezing back into their home.
"Oh . . ." I gasped as my crystals turned a bright turquoise out of sheer bliss.
I spread my arms out wide and let the bees land on me, get to know me. I was tingling and shivering with delight as the bees tickled me with their swiftly beating wings.
"Teresa . . . these insects are harmless!" I exclaimed as a bee nudged itself into a cranny in my crystals.
"Tell me about it! No life-loving bee would want to harm soul as innocuous as yours!" Teresa agreed.
I spun around in a circle, and danced and pranced about, not giving a care that my roots were getting sticky with honey. The bees frolicked along with me, until I had bumped into Teresa.
"Now that you're familiar with the bees, I think I should show you the queen." Teresa whispered.
I followed her into the deepest recesses of the hive, where the clouds of bees were thickest. There, on a shelf that was overrun by honeycombs, was a large honeybee. Bees were crowding around her, fanning her, taking care of her. I knelt down in a puddle of honey, so that I could see her. Teresa smiled and put a leaf on my shoulder.
"I think I should tell you ― each bedroom that the bees inhabit is just a small section of the hive. The bees in each section have different personalities. But they still work together. That is what I find phenomenal. Beehives always have a queen, who is basically their leader and mother. When the queen dies, the hive shuts down, basically. When that happens, I always ask God to send a new queen. And He does, and the bees are happy again." she said.
"Oh, and as silly as this may sound, I actually decided to name the queen of this big hive, and I ended up naming her . . . Antonia."
I frowned, and then made a weird half-smile.
"Ooh, I have a namesake! But . . . why?" I asked.
"You are a leader, Elyssia. A queen, almost. And on that day that it was declared that you were our only hope, I named the queen Antonia." Teresa explained quietly.
The queen finally noticed that I was there, staring at her. She walked over to me and onto my tattooed leaf.
"Hey girl . . . you're named after me!" I whispered.
The queen flapped her wings briefly as if to say, "Really?"
I smiled, and she looked into my eyes. Antonia's eyes were like diamonds, sparkling as she looked into mine. She flew up and bumped my forehead, before landing back down on my leaf.
"That means she likes you, It means that she wants to be your friend." Teresa murmured.
"Antonia . . ."
Boy, it felt strange to be addressing another being by your name, even if it's your middle name. It's like talking to yourself in a mirror, except your reflection isn't your reflection, but another plant. Or bee, in this case.
"Look at you, Antonia. Queen of thousands." I whispered.
"Leader . . . protector . . ."
After an hour of sitting in the hive, being with the bees, and enjoying myself, Teresa told that it was time to go. Hearing this, Antonia whizzed up and stung Teresa's leaf, before going back to lying there, and letting the bees resume tending to her.
"Uh . . . Teresa . . . are you okay?" I asked.
"I'm fine. These bees can understand just about anything we're saying. Sometimes when I'm feeling angry or sad, I sit in the beehive and converse with the bees. And they respond to me! Interesting, hm? They should say that a bee is a man's ― er, I mean plant's best friend." Teresa responded.
"Jeez . . . Antonia really likes you." she muttered as she looked at the fresh sting.
"I actually don't mind getting stung. It actually helps when I have aches and pains."
Teresa then turned around to leave.
"Coming?"
I barely heard her as the bees surged around me and buzzed. I wanted to be like that ― free. I let honey drip from the ceiling and into my mouth. It tasted better than maple syrup. Next thing I knew, Teresa was dragging me out of the room. I waved goodbye to the bees, before Teresa shut the door. The bee that was nestled in my crystals wriggled out and flew away.
"You are a bee-lover, girl." Teresa said under her breath.
""It's amazing how you can go from feeling one way about something to another."
I felt a bit mad at Teresa because she had separated me from the bees I now loved so dearly, but that feeling fizzled away, only to be replaced by a sense of pure astonishment. At first, I was so scared of the bees. Now, they're like my best friends.