Never Trust a Talking Plant

Ok, so this is my first ever post in the literary works area. This is also my first ever finished short story, since I don't ever write them. I wrote this rather quickly, with no real plan in mind, but I would really like to improve, so I figured I'd write this. Enjoy, and please offer any feedback you can on it :)

Her feet freezing on the dark wood, she made her way over to her weaponry storage room. Glancing around for only a moment, she spotted a red gleaming blade hiding behind a multitude of shields she hardly touched. In this day and age, they were hardly necessary. The blade clutched in her steady hands, she made her way out into the darkened greenhouse, the place where she felt the most comfortable. The place she wanted to die.

            The deadly plants she grew wavered in protest as she knelt on the ground, the glowing knife still held in her fingers.

            “Don’t do it,” the plants hissed at her, trashing their vines around in their pot. Every single fruit that grew on them was glowing. Each had a power of their own, if consumed you would gain that power. Little did the people of their city know, the plant also had its consequences.

            “I’ve lost everything,” the young woman whimpered back at her creation.

            “Not everything,” A thistle replied, “You have us. We’ve given you more then you could ever imagine,”

            “Riches,” Another, longer vine replied, breaking the boundaries of the pot, twisting itself gently around her body.

            “Beauty,” The glowing golden rose added, shining ever so brightly in the thundering night.
            The woman looked down upon herself, thinking about what her creation had done to her. It was true, her plants had given her power unlike she had ever had before. Selling the plants to rich, worthy people had been the turning point in her life. She had gotten so much money in return, which started to make her want more. The plants could have been used for good, she knew that quite well, but instead she grew them for her own personal gain. For the money her family had never possessed, for the beauty she had always lacked, and they had all worked. She was beautiful now, people actually paid attention to her on the street. Her body had transformed from plump to petite the second she gave power to the rose. Her lips went from always being chapped, to full and red, as though she applied bright colour to them every hour. Even her dull hair colour of ashy blonde had transformed into perfect strands of golden locks. The plants had given her everything she had ever desired, so why was she so unhappy?

            “That’s it sweetie,” the rose persuaded, as though reading her mind, “There is nothing wrong with being beautiful,”

            “That’s not the problem,” the woman replied, trying to fight off her inner monster. What the problem was she could feel herself drifting away. With every plant she grew in her greenhouse, her bad qualities, no matter how minuscule they were, grew inside of her, defeating all of her goodness.

            “You aren’t a bad person,” the vine said, “There is no reason for you to think that,”

            “I’ve hurt people,” the woman replied, starting to shake violently as the memory flooded back to her. The knife seemed comforting in her hands.

            “No you haven’t sweetie,” The rose replied, “You’ve given life. Life to us,”

            Ignoring the plants, the woman thought about the previous week, or was it month. About the memory she had forgotten. The memory about the man who had tried to save her well-being. The memory started to flood back to her now.

            “Maeve,” the kind business mad had said, “As much as I like you making money for our company, I’m worried about you,”

            “Don’t be silly;” she had replied to him, flipping her hair flirtatiously, “I’m better than normal. I’m perfect!” She gazed behind him at the window. People were busy on the street, rushing from one place to another. Nearly every one of them had most likely bought her plant.

            “Those plants of yours,” he replied honestly, ignoring her suddenly serious gaze and giving a disgusting look at pot on his large desk, “They freak me out. I’m not sure if we should continue with them. They’re changing you, I can tell--,”

            “Sir,” Maeve gasped, hands placing themselves onto her hips, “You take away my plants and your entire business will go back to the way it was. Nearly bankrupt,”

            “And that’s the way it should be. I must discontinue these products. I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt,”

            “Hurt? Hurt? Are you kidding! These plants have made me gorgeous, and rich--,”

            “And completely selfish and naïve,” The handsome man added, “You aren’t the same person I once knew,”

            “Then you didn’t know me!” Maeve yelled at him, “This is who I am. This is who I’ve always been,”

            “Then I will not continue to do business with you,” he replied, “No matter how much money you’ve brought to the table. I’m not all about money, or business. I care about the people, and that is how things should be,”

            She stood there and stared at him, appalled at his words, “I don’t need you,” She spat.

            As she spoke, the pot of seemingly normal plants on his desk burst into life. They seemed small at first, hardly able to do any damage, but with every second their steams grew ever larger in length, wrapping themselves around the man at his desk. They tightly gripped onto his arms before he could retaliate, his ankles also being tied to his chair.

            “Maeve!” He shouted at her as the vines enclosed tightly around his neck and mouth. She did nothing. She stood there, eyes wide as her business partner was straggled by a plant.
            How she had gotten out of the murder, she didn’t even know. After his death her mind had gone completely blank, as though the memory didn’t happen. Until she finally recalled it back.

            “He deserved it,” the vine gripped tighter around Maeve’s body.

            “He tried to warn me,” She cried out, trying to bury her face into her hands, but soon realised the plant had those tied up, “Are you going to do the same thing to me?”

            “Of course not, we love you master,” the rose said, as the rest of the plants hissed in agreement, thunder roaring in the background.

            “You don’t love me,” Maeve same to realisation, lightning filling the room with brightness, “You’re using me,”

            “What makes you believe that?” The vine hissed in her ear.

            “This isn’t who I am,” Maeve said, starting to struggle against its grip, “You can’t control me anymore!”

            “Really?” The vine laughed, “because it looks like I am. You can’t do anything,”

            Retaliating, Maeve used all her strength to free just her right arm, for that is all she needed, “You’re forgetting that you’ve also given me unbelievable power,” Plucking a grape from the vine, she popped it into her mouth. Flavour burst onto her tongue, and as she swallowed, she felt every vein in her body rush with adrenaline.

            She slashed off its vines with the red blade in her hand, but she knew that they would grow back at an even quicker rate.

            The plant still attached to her ankles, she crawled on the floor over to the table holding a bunch of different plants, murdering any in her reach. The delicate rose, fell to the ground, power drained and no longer growing. Maeve could feel her body start to imminently change back into its usual ugly form. Her face burning from the change, she lashed out on the other plants. Some dodged her reach, helping the now ginormous vine wrap itself around her.

            She etched toward her strongest plant, a plant that she has never dared to touch.  Her energy drained from all of the resistance, she pushed her index finger to the light blue petal. A strike of lightning bolted down onto the ground, sending a shot up her spine. The glass of the greenhouse shattered around her, stabbing into her terrified body.

            Her last thought as the plants loosened their grip around her as she floated off into nothingness, was that she hoped no one would ever make the same mistake as she had. It’s a shame she was never able to warn the rest of the city.