Author's note: Really, I'll take any and all criticism, however I am specifically looking for notes on character consistency and flow. Also predictions. I'd love to see where readers think the story is going. Also! I'm looking for suggestions for a new title.
Word count: 1,705
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Luca stared down at his wrists, watching as dandelions struggled to burst through his skin. Of course, the flowers always came back with a vengeance after Maddock cut them. He felt bloodroot prickle at the back of his neck, threatening to ruin the middle of his counseling session.
He slid off of the plush chair, keeping his gaze directed downward. “So, yah, that’s my thiiing with Derrick and the other boys. My bed is trashed, but liiike, it’s fineish. I’ll be fine. So, uh, we done here? I gotta go help Mels with gardening; she said her leg was actin’ funny again and—“
“Hold it right there, young man.” Mr. Günther’s voice rang out loud like the church bell. “I’m glad that you trusted me enough to tell me about your roommates, but there’s still topics that need discussed.”
Luca hopped back onto the plush chair, still avoiding Mr. Günther’s face and instead looking to the moonfaced clock which was placed directly behind the man. The second hand clicked ever so slowly as Luca read the time. 10:45.
“So, Luca, I’m hearing from Maddock that you’re letting him trim your flowers again, yet they’re growing out of control right in front of me.”
With that comment, the bloodroot bloomed forth. This time, Luca stared at Günther directly. The silver glare of Günther’s glasses pierced into Luca’s conscience, as if it was sifting through his motive and overturning his real emotions.
“Do you know what flower those are, Luca?”
“Bloodroot, sir.”
The cubist cat paintings stared down at him, pressing in on him with their bright colors. On Günther’s desk stood a dunking bird, ducking its head down to avoid judgement and scorn.
“When do they normally sprout?”
Luca shrugged, fiddling with the dandelion leaves growing at his wrist. He suppressed a wince at the pain, instead sitting as still and poised as possible. “They sprout when they sprout.”
“You know that they’re dangerous, right?”
He pinched the base of the dandelion stem. “Yes, sir. Applying bloodroot to skin is dangerous, so is inside-body use. But, uhhh, they grow in my skin, sir. I can’t control them. And I’m fine.”
Günther peered down at Luca, lowering his rectangular framed glasses and letting his blue eyes do the piercing. “You can control them, Luca. You choose not to.”
“Oh, bug off, old man.” Luca tore the stem off and dashed it to the floor, ignoring the shooting pain crawling up his roots and veins.
Mr. Günther’s German tone softened. “We’ll drop this subject, all right?”
Luca could only harden his jaw, staring down at his knees. He begged for thistle to grow, but he was only met by his scabbed and dirt-covered skin. “Iii would like to go now, aktchually”
Günther seemed to not have noticed Luca’s request, flipping his clipboard up and adjusting the papers. “Now, I’ve also been told that you’re passing on an amazing opportunity. Haven’s Academy is offering to take you in with scholarship and you’re just turning them down? My boy, I don’t entirely understand your decision.”
“I’m not ‘your boy’.”
Luca continued to stare down at his knees, ignoring the red and yellow polyanthus flowers creeping up his back and budding through at his shoulder blades. The pain was contained, yet it still felt like he was being stabbed.
“Luca, why did you pass up on Haven’s Academy? You’re a gifted child— you could be Willow’s Sanctuary’s best success story yet. Bright young gifted child with a flowery disposition regularly has lunch with the governor. Gets picked up by an academy, goes on to become one of the best scientists—“
“Don’t call me gifted. Don’t call me a success story. I’m none of that. I-I-I want to stay with Melody.”
“You would pass all of this up for Melody?”
Once again, Luca slid off his chair. He crushed the dying dandelion under his feet moving to the back of the room to the door. “She’s myyy friend, so why not?”
Mr. Günther called out, but then the sound died out, instead replaced with a farewell. “See you in two weeks, Luca.”
“See you never.”
Luca stormed down the hall, his emotions reverberating in his chest with a foreign intensity. Asters and lobelias sprouted from the back of his knee, hindering his angry walk down the rickety hall of the sanctuary. He passed by the lopsided artwork, ignored the playroom, and made a beeline for the girls’ side of the sanctuary.
That’s when he heard that voice.
Max.
“Ms. Romilda tells me that you’re an incredibly bright young child, Bethany. I understand that you don’t feel entirely challenged by this sanctuary’s curriculum, so I was hoping to offer you a spot in my school.You’re actually one of the five children here who I was hoping to take on.”
All at once, bloodroot and violets overtook his face, hot pain overtaking everything that he could see. Bile jumped up his throat, residing in his mouth with a putrid aftertaste. Luca swallowed it down, balling up his fists and stalking forward.
Not going to leave, not gonna go, not going to leave, not gonna go. I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care.
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“I’ll punch him.”
“You won’t.”
“I’ll kick his teeth in.”
“Luca, stop.”
He paced around the room, ripping violets off of his face and dashing them to the floor. Blood trickled down his chin. The pain was nearly unbearable, but he persisted in removing the bloodroot too. Have to see, have to see, gotta see. In his rage, he bumped into Caroline Black’s wire-frame bed.
“You’re making a mess, Luca— you’re bleeding. Stop. Stop. Stop.”
Luca stopped.
“You don’t. Need. To. Hurt. Derrick.”
Luca removed his hands from his face, staring down at the red liquid that coated his fingers. He couldn’t tell if it was his own blood or if it was his own poison or both. “He stole your crutches, Mels. He’s got whatever is comin’ to him. It’ll be my fists, though.”
Melody leaned back onto her bed with a flop. “I’d be more offended if he stole my beanie, Luca. I can get new crutches or a wheelchair if I need it.”
“He stole from you.”
“Let’s change the subject before you go murdering someone, kid.”
“Dooon’t call me ‘kid’. You’re only four years older.” He shot back.
She let out a breathy laugh. “Even with you turning nine soon, that’s still about half of your life.”
Luca smiled, in spite of his face hurting like a swarm of bees had all targeted him. He sat down on Caroline’s bed, careful to not ruffle or alter her sheets too much.
“I don’t understand how you dislike this place so much, kid. It’s… not where I want to be forever, but it ain’t half-bad. I mean, we’re lucky.” Melody’s snakes hissed happily with her, rising above her head and peering around the room with their curious black eyes. “We could live somewhere worse.”
Luca’s thoughts turned to Max, his dreadlocks, and the booklet for the academy that he had tossed aside. “What if we could liiive somewhere better? This isn’t… it. This won’t be your final place to be.”
Melody laughed again, her snakes squirming and hissing. “Who wants to take a snake girl with a legs that don’t work?”
He leaned back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling and trying to ignore the pockets of mold that lurked along the edges. “Loads of people. If someone wants me, Mels, then someone would want you.”
Luca thought back to hearing Max talk about Bethany being one of five. If I’m one, and Bethany is two, then could Melody be three or maybe four or five?
He closed his eyes, allowing the dull ache of his body to take over his senses. If Melody can go, then I’ll go.
-
Luca wasn’t typically a child to wander the halls late at night. Breaking curfew wasn’t really his style, given the fact that he often needed extra rest in order to keep up with his growth spurts. Yet still, he found himself out of bed at 9pm, tiptoeing along the creeping floorboards.
Derrick thinks he’s so smart — hiding her crutches under his bed? Oh-hoh-hoh, that’s so toootally hidden, Derrick. No, no, no. Shove off with that sort of crap. Don’t mess with my friend.
The moonlight shone through the windows, illuminating his path to Maddock’s office. He kept his eye out for flashlights, though, not wanting to run into any of the caretakers tasked with patrol. It’s a Tuesday night, so Maddock will definitely be in his office.
After five minutes of ducking and dodging and tip-toeing and holding his still body up against a wall as a caretaker went by, he finally reached Maddock’s office.
He was about to just open the door and walk in, until he caught Max’s voice.
“If Luca doesn’t want to go, then I won’t make him… It’d be a shame, but I’m not in the business of taking unwilling children from their homes.”
Maddock laughed. “Relax. He’ll be fine. He’s a bright kid and he’ll learn how to adjust.”
Max paused.
Luca pressed his ear up against the door, ignoring the crocus returning to sprout on his face.
“You say that… I’ve selected no one from his friend group? Bethany has Lily, Michael has Idris. Luca is the youngest of the bunch. Seems a bit unfair, to be perfectly honest.”
Some papers shuffled. “Really, Luca is only friends with Melody, and their relationship is tremulous at best. I’ve had to scold him many times for insulting her. Still, she is the person he cares for most. Or, at all, really.”
Luca’s heart broke.
Maddock continued, unaware of the chemicals being poured over Luca’s roots. “He’s an excellent student, if a bit stubborn at times. He’s also eight, so he obviously lacks some perspective. Max, I’m his primary caretaker and I won’t let him pass over this opportunity.”
Luca was getting ready to turn back to his room, his heart in his throat and his flowers wilting.
“He’ll learn to live with it.”
And with that, Luca broke out into a run.
Points: 91980
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