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| >> Static Item >> Short Story >> Horror/Scary >> ID #998656 |   |
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The Plant The doorbell rang and Betty opened the door. There stood a man holding a large potted plant. "Delivery for Elizabeth Mason." "I didn't order a plant," she said. "Ma'am, I just deliver them where I'm told." He set the plant down and held out a clipboard and pen. "Please sign for it here." As she signed, he picked up the plant. "It's heavy, Ma'am," he said. "Just show me where you want it." Betty looked around her living room then pointed to a table in the corner near the front window, where she had a number of other plants. "There will be fine, thank you." He set the plant down and left without giving her a chance to get her purse and tip him. She looked at the plant. It was a strange looking with broad dark green leaves with white spots and one large purple bud at the top. An envelope with a card was clipped to the branch with the bud. She opend and read the card. "Dear Betty, I'm sorry we had to break up, but I could not just say goodbye without giving you something to remember me by. I still love you, Peter." Betty crumpled the card and threw it in the trash. The night before she had told Peter that she didn't want to see him any more. She tried to be kind but he didn't seem to understand. He cried and pleaded with her to change her mind. Finally she had to say it straight out. "I don't love you. I don't even like you. I only went out with you because I felt sorry for you." The moment the words were out, she regretted them. It was the truth, but he looked so hurt. He turned and walked away without saying another word. She thought, what an odd looking plant, almost as odd as Peter. She had never seen anything like it; she had no idea what kind of plant it was. Betty loved houseplants but this one made her feel uneasy. She poked around the leaves trying to see if there were any kind of instructions on caring for it. There was nothing. The next morning, the phone rang while Betty was getting dressed for work. "Did you like the plant?" the voice at the other end asked. "Yes, Peter, it's lovely, but it doesn't change things." "I didn't think it would," he said with a sigh. Now Betty started feeling guilty. "Peter, I'm sorry I hurt you. I didn't really mean that I don't like you, I just don't feel the way you do." "It's all right, I won't bother you any more," he said and hung up. Betty went into the livingroom and was surprised to see the plant had more than doubled in size, its pot had split apart and the roots spread over the table knocking the other plants onto the floor. They were all dead and shriveled. She shook her head in disbelief, but a glance at the wall clock told her there was no time to clean up the mess. She was already late for work. She picked up her keys and purse as she ran out the door. When Betty returned that night, she found the plant had grown even larger. Its leafy branches had spread upward and outward from the corner. They were wrapped tightly around the curtain rod and draped over the sofa below it. To the other side they had knocked pictures off the wall and toppled the floor lamp. The roots spread out over the floor. To her horror she realized it was still growing. The large purple bud, which was now in the center of this monstrous plant, was beginning to open. At first she thought it looked like a gigantic pansy. Then she noticed that the dark purple marks were eyes. Slowly, the center of the flower unfurled revealing a mouth full of long pointed teeth. Betty stood transfixed as a long tongue shot out of the ragged mouth. She tried to run but the roots had wound around her feet. The gaping mouth came down over her head silencing her screams. Days later some friends came to her house to find out why she had not been to work or answered her phone, all they found was a huge pile of rotting vegetation. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Peter hummed to himself as he worked in his green house. He carefully wrapped the flowerpot with pretty foil. Then he took out a card and envelope. On the card he started to write, "Dear, Cathy, I'm sorry we had to break up...." 778 words Special thanks to Tehanu  for inspiring me to write this.
© Copyright 2005 dmack (UN: mdmackey at Writing.Com).
All rights reserved.
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