“A monster in the garden”
“Hello Spring” by Linda O’Rourke
“I know I’m going to have anger issues with this idiot. He’s already a threat to exposing my secret”
by Julia Hulvey
Rrrriiiiiiinng! My hands scramble to pick up my stuff and grab my work off of my desk and stick it in the correct folder with my name on it. I walk through the hallways, past slow moving upperclassmen and panicking freshmen. Finally, I’m standing in front of my locker. My fingers input the combination and the lock clicks open. My backpack is stuffed then slung over my shoulder. I have no idea where this alleged “photography club” actually meets. That means I have to go ask the office. Or I could ask a teacher. Maybe I should ask Mrs. Richardson. Or Miss Delphi.
Eventually, I make up my mind and decide to ask Miss Delphi. “Oh, they meet in the garden,” she tells me and I thank her.
The garden. Hmm, makes sense since people generally like to take pictures of nature.
“Hi everyone. I know it’s our first meeting, but I’d really like to start working on our photography. So today’s theme is nature, easy enough, right? Since we have access to only so many cameras, I’ll pair you up with someone. My name is Vanessa, by the way. I’m in charge of the club.”
The girl smiles and I instantly recognize her as the bubbly person who gave me a tour of the school yesterday after I received my schedule. Partners? I roll my eyes. If I end up being partnered with some jerk, I might overreact and end up getting transferred, or worse.
“Hey there,” Vanessa calls me back from my thoughts. “Looks like you two are the odd ones out. You’ll be partners for the year. If you have any problems, feel free to come talk to me, so we can sort it out.” She hands the camera to someone on my left.
My gaze follows her hands giving the person the camera, then stop on a face. My eyes narrow. This guy? I know I’m going to have anger issues with this idiot. He’s already a threat to exposing my secret. The guy knocked all of the books out of my arms on my way to the office and the fire in my fingers returned. But I can’t just go and say to Vanessa that I don’t like him. She’ll probably just laugh and say “too bad” and mock me with a pout.
My partner turns towards me and I can see contempt written on his face. His green eyes remind me of a cat, clearly intelligent, but cold and calculating. “You,” he says. It sounds more like an accusation than acknowledgement. Don’t let him get under your skin, Autumn. He’s just a silly teenager.
“Do you want to get started, or what?” He looks at me for a moment then hands me the camera.
“Go ahead. Give the camera back to me in ten minutes. If someone asks, I’m looking for stuff to take pictures of.”
I nod. Fair enough. At least I won’t have to worry about him being in my face.
My eyes search for something picture worthy. Trees, flowers, benches, sky. People surrounding almost everything, camera in hand. Something buzzes past my face, startling me. My fingers fumble with the camera, but luckily there’s a strap looped around my arm. A hummingbird! I just need to figure out where it went before someone else takes a picture and the rest come to crowd around. To my left, the blur moves again. Then it’s positioned over a flower that I don’t know the name of. Carefully, I take small steps towards the creature, just enough to be able to zoom in. Snap! The camera makes a tiny noise. My fingers press the slideshow button and the picture shows up on the miniature screen. The red hummingbird creates a nice contrast with the white and purple flower. I wonder what type of flower that is.
“Aquilegia,” a voice whispers in my ears. A shiver spills down my neck like ice. I spin around to face the voice. “I said 10 minutes, didn’t I? You spent 15.” He folds his arms and scowls at me.
“Well, excuse me if I don’t have a watch,” I retort. “Here’s the stupid camera. At least now you can whisper the names of plants to the camera, not me.”
“What are you talking about?” Green eyes question me. “You just told the name of that plant in the picture.”
“You must have been imagining it. I don’t know a thing about plants. My brother does though. He’s a freak.” Pause. “Why am I talking to you?” I don’t know!
He turns and leaves with the camera. I watch as his shiny copper hair flashes in the sunlight and disappears. Well, I’d better look like I’m trying to accomplish something, so Vanessa doesn’t think I’ve jumped ship. My hand reaches out to touch a flower, the same one that I took a picture. Aquilega, Akillega, Aquilega. Whatever the name was. That kid must’ve been trying to make me think I’m insane.
“No, I didn’t say anything, you’re just insane. Have a nice day, I’ll just take this camera.”
My fingertips itch and I stuff them in my pockets to staunch the sparks from igniting into a red fire. Now’s not a good time. Vanessa calls something out and I realize she’s calling us to come check in. Where’d he go?
“Hey, where’d your partner go?” Vanessa realizes my new acquaintance has gone missing.
“I think he ran off to take a quick picture. I’m going to find him and tell him we’re wrapping up now.” I’m not sure I believe that, considering Mr. Annoying doesn’t seem like the picture-taking type. Or the runningoffwithacameratype. He probably thought the camera was cheap and didn’t take good pictures. Don’t know, don’t care. I just need to figure out where he went.
First I look through the garden. Only the rest of the club and the hummingbird I saw earlier. No such luck. Then the green areas between the classrooms. Only a few squirrels scurrying up trees and peering back at me. Also nope. Where are places with greenery? Uh…
There’s some trees in front of the school outside of the double doors. Maybe there. A few ladies are sitting behind desks in the main office stare at me as I speed walk by. The double doors are still open, so I know there’s a chance he walked by. Once through the double doors, I look at the trees to my right. Underneath the trees, there’s a small pond. At the pond’s edge are some miniature cattails to match. Next to them crouches the person I’ve been searching for. He straightens and takes cautious steps around the pond and stops midstep.
“Sorry, I lost track of time,” he sneers. Our shoulders brush as he strides towards the double doors and past me. What’s up with him? Mr. Annoying walks in front of me, which I have no qualms with. We walk silently to the garden, a hundred eyes blinking at us. Let’s just hope everyone forgets about my existence and doesn’t try to pester me into telling them what was going on. Especially since I have absolutely no idea why he was outside of school grounds to begin with.
“Looks like you found him then,” Vanessa chirps when she sees us enter the crowd of crossleggedsitting people and those who are sitting on short walls and benches. “Can I have the camera please?” Mr. Idon’tknowwhathisnameisnorcare hands her the camera.
“Nice picture! Who took this one?” She shows us a picture of the pond.
“She did. But I think it could have been better.” What? No, I didn’t take that picture. Why did he say I took it, then say it was awful? My head shakes slightly.
“Oh, okay. We have several minutes left, so go find a place to sit and make some small talk. I think you two may have a few things to talk about.” Vanessa looks between the two of us with a mildly amused expression.
Embarrassed, I walk past people on the ground with a few “excuse me’s” and “sorrys” towards my backpack, which I left under a tree with a rock. I sit down on the rock, which is a little ways away from everyone else.
Snap! A foot steps on a small twig a few feet away from me. “I’m only here so she doesn’t come and bother us.”
“Why did you tell her the picture of the pond was mine?” My arms fold over one another and I glare at him.
“So she’d leave me alone. Why do you care?” He scoffs.
“Because she’ll bother me. If you hate attention so much, take pictures on your own
time.”
“Touché. Because the counselors wanted me to join a club.” I look away. “I bet you joined to make it look like you are a sociable person so the counselors wouldn’t tell your mommy you don’t like your new school. You wouldn’t want to upset her, would you?”
“That’s not true. Nice guess though, Mr. Knowitall.” That was almost spot on. I grab my backpack and stuff my burning fingers into my pockets to conceal the small angry swirls that are now snaking up under my longsleeves. I need to leave before it seeps through the material.
“Running home to mommy? Going to cry to her about the big, bad meany named Max?” He snorts and laughs. “I knew you were a pathetic person.” His eyes burn holes into my backside. My face contorts. My fists curl underneath my jean pockets. I need to leave now.
I break into a run and speed through the garden, past confused onlookers and through the halls. My shoulder pushes the now closed double doors and I continue on towards the road. The road curves and I follow it. On the sidewalk, I sprint as fast as possible past houses and trees until there’s nothing but the curb.
At the end of the street, there’s a path to my right that looks like a small trail and I step onto it. Small trees grow into bigger and bigger trees decorated with grass and shrubs. In my peripheral vision I can see the creek, which is making a trickling sound. My feet pound over a small footbridge and fly across dirt.
My foot catches on a stone and the ground suddenly comes up to meet me. A groan escapes me, but the pain I would have felt is masked by the roiling anger. My arms push me upward and I can see the blood staining my sleeves. The fire burns, but it’s a good pain that brings me to my senses. Tears stream from my eyes. I scream in frustration and punch the tree that’s closest to me. Upon impact, the bark splits and crumbles to the ground. Angry swirls decorate the tree as they decorate me.
I spin and bring my fist to my chest to cradle it. My back slides down the dead tree, my arms wrap around my knees. The burning sensation begins to fade. I open my eyes and peer into the still water that reflects an image of a puffy-eyed girl covered in red marks. My eyes watch as the marks fuse together and leave my skin seamless. My breath escapes in a sigh and hitches as the sobs continue. I’m a monster. I didn’t want my mom to take time out of her job to realize what’s wrong with me and ruin my chances. I need to stay away from Max. Or I need to learn to control my emotions. They kind of run wild. The cattails blow in the wind, and the pond ripples, blurring the image of myself that I no longer wish to look at. A rippling pond is much prettier than my puffy eyes that make me ask too many questions I don’t need to consider. B