Chapter 11: Pitcher Plant
1645 Words
If Tristan would be honest, he did not understand the instruction of their Professor.
He has seen the picture of a certain flower displayed on a screen that had brusquely popped from the flocks of leaves, beside the clusters of trees. He has heard what the professor said. Even the conversation of his allied classmates in this classroom. But … it did not cross into his mind yet what kind of danger does this activity will cause them.
When the screen came hiding back into the leaves, he hesitantly looked at Rain and the twins. Scratching his head, he said, “I guess my mind’s flying.”
“Wh—What happened, Tristan?” asked Tammy.
“I didn’t actually get the rules.”
“You get it,” Rain said, “It’s just that it hadn’t sunk in to you yet.”
“I was just thinking, why does the professor look at this activity as if this is as dangerous as the first activity that we had?”
Rain sighed. “Has the grave danger of this place never sunk through your realizations yet?”
“It does. It’s just that … plants were never dangerous. They are autotrophs. They are growing and living—but they are not moving. They could not even kill us. Well, at some point, there were highly poisonous and carnivorous plants, but it would not affect us not unless we touch it. Even the carnivorous species, they only ate bugs and insects. Never humans.”
“You have a point there, man,” said Timmy. “But this place is different.”
“You have seen the dome-like shape of glass that covers the entire hill where this building could be found, have you?” asked Rain.
Tristan unhesitatingly nodded.
“And you perhaps might have realized that we’re still inside the building?”
“Yes.”
“But you’re seeing a vast space of green forest full of flora and fauna species, a clear-blue sky, clouds floating, and the scorching heat of the sun?”
“I—It could have been ... we’re at the rooftop of the building.”
“Then you must be seeing the glass-like dome that had erupted from the ground as if it was an alien's work.”
Tristan wanted to defend himself. But, formulating rebuttal to Rain’s analysis, he could not think of a better claim to disprove of what she had said.
In most sense, Rain was right. She knew what she was saying, and at the same time, had the factual senses from her words.
Tristan sighed. “Then I think what we just need to do is to treat this activity with utmost wariness.”
“That’s a good and mostly needed strategy,” agreed by Timmy. “That’s what our classmates would do as well.”
“Let’s follow what professor Buenaventura told us. Let’s do this activity in pairs.”
“Then I will go with Tris—”
“I will go with him,” interrupted by Rain to Timmy's proposal of having Tristan as his partner. “You have your twin sister to pair with, right?”
Timmy blankly nodded from Rain’s question. “Ah, yeah. I almost forgot I have a sister.”
She shyly smiled to her twin sister which Tammy replied with a scowl.
“If ever there was a carnivorous human-eating plant in the forest, I will feed you,” Tammy threatened her sister.
“Sorry sis.”
Having fully ready—body and mind—for the activity, the four of them quickly started their journey. To the forest.
To the forest which they knew was more dangerous and horrifying than Isla De Las Munecas, Aokigohara, or Devil’s Tramping Ground.
They decided that they will follow the trail that their classmates will be taking. It would be highly advantageous if the whole class would not break off from each other, knowing that if ever there was a danger waiting for them, they could make a move—and save each other from the hellish pitfall.
As they moved, Tristan could see the thickening of the mist swirling above their heads. He was certain that earlier, the sun was tormenting their epidermis with its tremendous UV rays. But now, it seemed that the sun was about to take a nap. Seeing the thickening of the mists, it seemed that they would be able to see the sun back again for the next day—if the faith allows them.
“So what if we found the first Titan Arum, and we’re still intact?”
“Wh—What do you mean, Timmy?”
“I mean… If we’re to get a Titan Arum, and we found the first one, to whom would it belong?”
“There was once a rule we used to follow as a kid. ‘First touch, first owned’. I think we could use that here,” answered Rain.
“A—Are you sure we’ll get out of this place without breaking to each other?” Tammy asked.
“I don’t know, sis. But you know the two of us won’t be separated. We have a psychic connection,” Timmy joked.
“I think the admin was about to make a move from this tactic that we’re doing,” Rain said. Warily walking, she observed the surroundings with fastidious alertness.
“What do you mean?”
“The administrators of this Classroom Zero program would make us separate from each other,” Rain clarified.
“Wh—Why would they do that? W—We’re making this so that we can survive. They must not interfere with our survival tactics.”
As Tammy took her step at the thickly-grown grasses, someone—or something had caused her to stumble.
“Ah!” she let out a surprised scream as she fell out-balanced.
Hearing the sudden panic, Tristan, Rain, and Timmy quickly looked back, to see what had happened to Tammy. Even others of their classmates warily checked what happened to her.
“Tammy! Are you okay?” asked by her twin sister.
Tammy looked at her with a shy smile. “Y—Yes, I am. I just fell out of balance.”
Seeing that help was about to come, Tammy sighed, and started to massage her ankles. It was painful. She was a stupid—she thinks—for stumbling on the ground without any reason. It had caused a second of panic to her classmates.
Continuously massaging her ankles, twisting her feet to remove the straining sensation, something from her peripheral vision had moved. She stopped.
Chills ran down on her spine when she felt that someone was staring at her. Or something.
“Tammy, are you okay?” asked her sister when she saw that her body froze.
Shaking, Tammy slowly lifted her gaze—towards her front. Towards the cluster of green and tall grasses dancing with the coldness of the mist.
A huge stone felt stuck at Tammy’s throat when she saw a cluster of eyes attached to a plant’s stem as if a flower, and eerily watching her—blinking, moving its irises up and down.
“Tammy?”
The group of bare eyes were a plant. She was certain. It has leaves, it has stem, and surely has a root.
But it also has blinking eyes attached at the stem, as if it was where they were getting their nutrients to survive.
She was shaking. Not because of her Parkinson’s disease, but because of fear.
“Tammy?”
As a cold wind swept, one of the eyes from its grape-like cluster were plucked off. Blood spitted from where it was detached. The eyeball rolled towards her, near her feet. Once again, it blinked.
“AHHHHH!”
Tammy’s scream erupted fear to Tristan. Together with Rain, they quickly ran towards their screaming classmate.
Having no few steps taken, another shrill flared up in the misty forest. It was from one of their classmates. They stopped, and looked at their back where their classmates were starting to swarm in turmoil.
“Tristan! We need to save Tammy first!”
Tristan went back to himself again. For a moment, his mind flew, wondering what had happened to their classmates. Now, seeing where Rain was going, he ran and followed her.
Few steps before reaching Tammy, and Timmy who was hugging her sister, they saw something standing on their front. A plant. With a swarm of eyes blinking and staring at the twins.
“Timmy! Tammy! Get out of there, now!” Tristan screamed.
Timmy must have been back to her senses, as she courageously grabbed her sister upward, helping her to stand. With a clear goal of escaping, they started running away from the flowers of eyes.
Quickly, they ran towards the group of their classmates. Having the numbers, they knew that they would be safer if they would be intact along with the whole class.
Until seeing the thing that made their classmates direly panicking, they had realized that in every corner of this forest, there was nothing that could be treated as a safe space.
With widened eyes, they miserably watched one of her classmates swimming in a greenish liquid from an odd plant—a giant plant with a shape similar to a pitcher, with vivid glass as its skin, making them see the woman swimming inside.
She was crying for help, yet none of them dared to move. With fluster, all they could do was watch.
Until her beautiful skin shaved off. Melted. Until her flesh was exposed; her blood pooling and harmonizing with the green liquid; until she stopped moving; she floated; lifeless; fleshless; until her bone exposed, and rapidly decayed.
They just watched one of their classmates helplessly dissolved inside a pitcher plant.
- Writer
