Blossom

“If animals are hungry, they are capable of doing some very cruel things.”

Millie squatted down next to the rabbit carcass that had not yet begun rotting.

“Don’t-”

I sigh.

“Why would you touch it?”

To my disappointment, she doubled down and picked the whole thing up.

“It’s still warm….”:

“….That’s very helpful, Millie.”

She slipped past me, not caring to pick up her deerskin bag. I followed suit, squeezing past increasingly thicker vegetation as we approached what would soon open up to be a more-than-familiar clearing. Pushing past the thick wall of brush, sunlight embraced my skin so much so it felt more like a cut. Light green grass danced with the wind, forming waves throughout the crater. And nestled in that crater was the comforting sight of Blooming Tree. 

I bowed my head with Millie, uttering a prayer before making our way down the hole towards the hanging petals of our creator.

I weave past a newly exposed root, the irregularity in the path almost throwing me over. 

“Nana said Blooming Tree doesn’t take offerings.”

Millie pauses at the trunk of our ██ savior. She turned around to meet my eyes, features now unusually devoid of tension.

“But if God is kind, shouldn’t he embrace his creation upon its return?”

I quickly pushed past her to kneel in front of Blooming Tree, she looked too much like me at times. 

“I suppose so”

She unwrapped the rabbit from the extra folding of her dress before setting it gently to rest amongst the overgrown petals of Blooming Tree that reached the ground. I turned, watching as her fingers grazed absentmindedly over the body of the bunny.

“……”

I narrow my eyes as I stare at the supposedly limp bunny.

“Millie,”

A twitch.

“…..”

“Millie!”

I get up hurriedly, shaking her shoulder.

“Millie, it’s moving!”

She blinks away her thoughts for a few seconds before acknowledging me.

“Oh, it must be hungry.”

I grab her arm firmly, “that is not a rabbit-”

Her body stiffens, and I look down to see new vines of blossom constricting around her waist in place of the rabbit. As she smiled in eerie content, my hands frantically grabbed at her, looking for a way to pull her out without getting entangled. 

Shuffle, reposition, and pull. Shuffle, reposition, and pull

I lean all my weight, hoping this’ll trigger some sort of divine keenness to mercy, but instead I hear a snap. Looking down, a blotch of red dripped from the thinned vines of the blooming flower, and a metallic smell filled the air. With shaky hands, I touched the unsettling warmness of the vines. Letting go of my sister, I pried open the vines into two.

And out from the carotid arteries of each flower came rhythmic pumps of blood.

As I watched Millie’s white dress stain red in blotches, I thought to myself,

this freedom isn’t free.