I'd never been more scared to work in my life.
I felt like I had eyes burning through the back of my head when I cut down flowers at the end of the line the others had formed.
I could tell they were nervous too, which didn't raise my hopes that this little rouse would work.
Flower picked the sunflower apart that Azalea had given her to keep her occupied.
She had grown big too. Her chubby little legs barely held her weight when she stomped around in her adorable pink frilled shoes.
She had on a denim blue pair of overalls too with a large pocket on her chest she stuffed ripped petals and seeds into happily.
Her sunhat kept the heat off her body, while ours gradually sizzled under the peeling burns.
She had to be careful too, since her skin was as pale as Azalea's. Some parts were stained black along her fingers, back, and eyes, but that only increased the danger of burning more.
It was a strange thing to see a demon baby ageing like this. We all had missed those milestones to keep survival at our priorities. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZz3mBDnVWy
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DJp0KhUf4
Every little thing she did was a marvelous wonder to both her and us.112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdnyNvZorfe
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGcfBlh9GaX
And since she had dropped the misty camouflage we were all born with, she was quite the little beauty that Azalea liked to keep close and hidden.
Apart from work here, we didn't see Flower. The weekends were our glimpse at how quickly time was passing.
It was nice to have something so carefree here, unburdened by adult life and worries. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAen9X19zxe
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwJDjXcsQs
Flower truly was a refreshing balance in our knotted lives.
Leaf had especially taken a liking to her. Despite the distrust in him due to his dark past, Azalea saw that he meant no harm to Flower whenever he played with her through games of Peek-a-boo or just pulling silly faces at her to make her laugh.
Solomon was the wary one, as usual. He was the one who put a stop to the silly games before Emry could. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3e6abhu7u9
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡExsBov33Gz
He had Leaf's best interest at heart, even though he couldn't see it.
Leaf also had a habit of dragging me into the blame of his games before he was found out.
With River here, the presence of him had detered Leaf and saved me the blame. But with him gone, Leaf was bolder than ever.
He wanted us to be friends and to lump me in with him. We had shared the same experience in a Cradle, after all.
Silly antics were not going to win him a friendship.
I kept slashing with the others while Leaf stopped to lower down a bad sunflower for Flower to play with. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RZN1e1ckO
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9b0kI9xJx5
Immediently, she fell back so she could pull at the petals from her place on the ground behind her mother.
"Keep up" I nudged Leaf with my foot as he crouched there to admire his kind gesture "the quicker we get this done, the quicker we can get out of here."
"I hear you on that" Azalea sighed out and wiped her forehead with her arm "it's relentless today."
"And so are the bills" Emry commented with a smile to her "you are doing great."
She grinned back and watched him stop to saddle Flower on his hip.
"I'll take her inside, just in case" he spoke with a wary glance at the empty road running past the farm enterance.
Azalea only watched for a moment before continuing her work.
It had been two weeks after the whole ordeal with the news spinning thier story about Able and her farm of demon labourors. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpIGBPKyw7N
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHPjkXwz3oe
It was also two weeks since River and Darcy were taken away from thier home that had remained empty since. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWdEsqFkfo
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx7DdKyYKNl
No news about thier location or wellbeing made me very nervous and desperately worried for them.
I knew Darcy would be panicking without River to comfort him. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC4gYqpQrh2
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbqSf7wx1P
And River... well, it was obvious he was in a very bad situation just saving Darcy from the abuse that night that had esculated everything.
Hopefully the humans who would be dealing with him now would see that too and ease up on him, despite his status as a demon.
I missed them both so much it made tears prick in my eyes just thinking about them. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfXRgrRpLGc
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKpCsRxxvX1
The blank place where River should have been beside me only cut deep and made me realise that he really wasn't going to be returning any time soon.
It just wasn't the same without him here. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUKRjMITyJY
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwh2HwsREFH
The only thing that had remained was the firery mutations still burning each breath I took and illuminated my bones from within my body.
It was only a glimpse of the panic I had felt trying to save Darcy that night.
"Hey" Azalea leant out a hand to touch my shoulder "are you OK, Teddy?"
"Yeah" I forced a smile and wiped my eyes to clear the blurred path for my scythe "I'm fine."
"There is no need to hide it" Solomon grunted at me "if you aren't, say something."
"I'm fine" I mumbled back, slashing away "nothing is going to fix it anyway."
"He'll be back before you know it" Azalea added hopefully and grinned at me to try and provoke a genuine one from me "it's River. He won't let some humans stop him from doing anything."
I smiled at the truth of it and the thought of River powering through whatever he must have been put through to return to me.
He was always worried about everyone else except himself. Of course he'd be back eventually; probably joking about the whole situation like it didn't bother him.
What an idiot.
"If you do need someone to talk to, we are here" Solomon spoke up again "losing a mate is hard for anyone, especially a young thing like you."
But he wasn't lost or gone. The implication that he was only made me bitter at those words. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKc88Z9pfCJ
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0FUCatNGwb
I could tell Solomon was trying his best to be helpful, but I was wishing it was one of the times he wasn't.
Gone seemed so... final.
I remained silent and kept working. The cold silence Solomon received from his helping hand also kept him quiet when he saw his words hadn't helped as they were intended.
"Y-you know, we really should dump these baskets about now" Leaf spoke up through the silence as he looked between us "the sun is getting kinda hot."
That was true. I couldn't feel my skin burning since it was already fuelled by whipping fires within, but I could see the exhaustion on everyone else's faces and hunched bodies.
They were trying to stretch past thier limits despite the pain it caused them.
"Lemonade does sound good about now" Leaf piped up with eagerness "and cold burn cream."
Solomon chuckled and holstered his scythe. Azalea did the same, and I followed.
"I want to trade my scones for icecream" Leaf said with a sigh "and all the ice-cold baths anyone could ask for!"
"I'll trade mine for a nice bottle of vodka" Azalea pondered at my side "flavoured like apples, obviously. How about you Solo?"
Solomon was put-off by the sudden nickname but thought for a moment as well.
"Carrots" he nodded.
"Carrots?" I laughed out with everyone else "are you a rabbit?"
He had a smile on his face that was fixed on the treck back to the house bobbing slowly closer.
"My mother made the best carrots" he recalled fondly "carrot cake too. I would try to eat them out of the ground and the dirt would always stay stuck in my teeth for days."
I smiled at Solomon's memory and relished in the moment of him opening up to us. He wasn't usually someone who did, so this rare opportunity was quite nice to get to know him without forcing it from him.
"I've never heard stories of your mother" Azalea spoke "actually, I don't know a thing about any of your families. We work beside each other, yet we never talk about ourselves."
"We should do the catching up thing inside" Leaf pushed it aside when he bolted for the open garage and it's inviting shade to let out a loud sigh of relief "this is better than any carrots."
"Whatever you say" Solomon rolled his eyes at Leaf when he passed him to dump his sunflowers and head inside.
Emry was already at the table with Flower on his lap he was running a damp cloth over to cool her down. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo8z4nEdEbt
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZeOuvzXTt6
She sucked on a frozen mango Able had skinned for her, her tiny little fingers pierced into the slimy fruit that Emry held for her anyway.
"What is your fondest memory of your mother, Emry?" Azalea asked when she sat beside him with a kiss on his cheek "Solomon broke the silence to say his was carrots."
We all sat around the table Able planted glasses of water on for all of us.
"Her food was amazing" Solomon defended a little too fiercely "and she was the most sweatest woman you'd ever meet."
"And no-one is saying otherwise, dear boy" Able rested a hand on his that clenched up when he saw our sniggers again.
"I had a father" Emry spoke "when I fell; still do. I landed in the backyard were the dog was, of all things. He saved me from Biscuit."
"B-Biscuit?"
"She was scary back then. She was his dog" Emry snorted at how absurd it all sounded too.
"I don't think my mum and dad ever kept a pet" I pondered "it was just Sprig and me in that old house."
"So, you were thier pet then?" Leaf grinned at his own joke that the others found amusing.
"I guess I was" I humoured him.
"And how about your Mum and Dad?" Azalea pried "they were nice?"
"When they realised I existed" I giggled "they thought I was her imaginary friend at first. After that, it's only been good. I am very lucky."
Leaf rested his head on his hand as he looked at me in awe. He pouted then sighed when Azalea turned to him for a answer.
"Obviously, I didn't have a good mum or dad" he stated "landed in thier pool, almost drowned, got fished out and started my life as thier thing until I messed it up with Isabella and landed myself in this."
"Surely you have one good memory though" Emry insisted "it couldn't have all been doom and gloom."
Leaf was silent but then had a smile creep across his face.
"She did wear such a nice perfume" he admitted shyly "once that smelled like toffee apples in a little red bottle."
"See?" Emry replied smugly "a good mem.."
"And it tasted so good on her skin too" he went on in his daze before there were groans of defeat and disgust that snapped him from it.
"I'm joking!" he laughed out "well, not really; but when Bettie looked after me and fed me, I felt happy."
He smiled through the crinkled noses everyone still had.
He was an odd one, that was for sure. Joking about eating someone so easily just to see a reaction from everyone.
He was a jokester. Usually people like that were people-pleasers because they were lonely.
I wonder how lonely he was?
"How about you?" Solomon turned to Able "what were your parents like when you were little?"
Able smiled at Solomon and the rest of us who waited eagerly for an answer. We barely knew anything about Able and we had been the ones working with her for two years now.
"Jilly was my mother" she began with a little nod "and Edwin was my father. They worked very hard, so little times with them were rare. They were nice people though. We went to the old duck ponds and even got icecream at one stage; it was very expensive back then. It was ten pence for the one my mother bought me."
"Ten cents?" I frowned back at her. That was barely pocket change now.
"It only used to be Pound, Bob, Pence, and Sterling back before it was changed to Dollers and Cents we use today. Ten pence would be about thirteen cents in today's money."
"You were around when they changed it?" Leaf gasped out "what does that make you? A hundred years old? A hundred and twenty?"
Able only laughed at him, shaking her head at the absurd claim. Azalea scowled at him for his rudeness while I bit my lip to hide the laughter.
"Well..." Able began but was interrupted by a crashing sound from the garage.
All ears perked up and heads turned to the closed door. Leaf was the only one who rose though, keeping a hand on the back of his seat.
"Its probably only those reporters snooping around" he tried to convince himself as it happened again "I'll be back."
He crept towards the door and I felt the uneasiness in the air.
It didn't sound like a person though. Humans had such heavy footsteps even when they were trying to be quiet.
This sounded more like a curious animal rooting around for an easy meal. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy8oHp0TQSi
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkAE8akbxBv
We normally didn't leave our flowers in the baskets either. Obviously, this thing had crashed to the ground with one while trying to take advantage of our laziness.
"I'll go too" I stated and joined Leaf's side "if it is someone, I'm sure we'd scare them off with just our looks."
Azalea grinned weakly at this but didn't move from beside Emry who was poised and ready.
"Slowly" I warned Leaf who turned the doorknob "don't scare it off before we figure out what it is."
He nodded and peeled open the door to let us both slide around it and close it again.
One of the baskets was already on the ground with the sunflowers scattered on the dirty concrete. Some heads had broken on the collision, making the good harvest now worthless.
I pointed to the other side of the table and saw Leaf follow the silent orders. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw3kQdCzhMV
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysUopamM0i
I stayed on my side and scanned the area for our intruder that was still making noise.
It wasnt a human then. They would have seen two advancing demons; one boiling through its skin and the other in a Cradle, and would have fled. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvnMS2TtdHM
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyjl1GC1bDu
This thing didn't fear, or care, of the danger it was in from continuing to ignore the instinct to run.
I already wanted to and I didn't even know what the hell we were looking for.
The four other baskets were still left abandoned on the bench. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpYjAMBBXnz
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXx5flvhfzZ
One looked like it had been ruffled through momentarily before being abandoned.
We reached the end of the bench and stopped on either side. The noise had now stopped to be replaced with scuffing nails on the concrete.
I held up three fingers to get Leaf's attention. He saw them and watched me count down until the last one where we both pounced.
There was nothing there.
"Funny" Leaf frowned and looked around "I swear I was hearing something small."
I straightened up as well and saw that the garage still looked empty despite the noisy intruder.
"GUYS!" Leaf called out "ITS OK! IT'S NOTH...."
Then I saw it.
A flash of black as something darted from under the bench and bolted around the side of the house with a severed sunflower head in its grasp.
I gave chase before Leaf could react, seeing the back legs of the creature dissapearing through the sunflower field it tried to lose me in.
"TEDDY!" Leaf moaned out in defeat "TEDDY, COME BACK!"
I ignored him and kept going. If I stopped now, I would lose the little thing for good.
It was quick. Several times I lost track of its flicking back legs to only catch sight of them darting away to the left or right. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuVjZ7VE634
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9IjmZD0Q4r
I immediently decided that the thief was only a rabbit, but couldn't pull myself from the chase.
It was thrilling. Being able to keep up with something so nimble made me feel proud of my efforts. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI7gxEC4dQ8
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ48UXWioi2Q
Sure, it was only a rabbit, but something about the way it moved and twitched out of my way made it impossible to give up.
I wanted it. I wanted to catch it and show everyone else how great I was at being able to catch thier intruder.
I wasn't going to let it escape.
It flicked when it ran, sliding through the uncut sunflowers with ease while I crashed my path through them.
It would be several weeks before we reached this side of the field; hopefully the damage would be repaired or pulled down by the rabbit before everyone saw how careless I had been.
I felt alive in the moment though. Everything was in overdrive to hone in on the tiny creature and capture it. There was something predatory about the way this feeling coursed through me, but I didn't stop to question or fight it.
I wanted it.
Finally, the creature skidded around its last stalk before squeezing itself down into a burrow in the edge of a ring of broken sunflowers, abandoning the head it had carried all this way.
The stalks had all been torn and decimated, while the petals had been trampled into the ground around them. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHDhtMUpHKP
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6IRphDP5Ap
Dry shit was scattered around the hole, small logs cracked and bleached by the sun streaming from above.
I felt triumph swell up inside me when I saw I had found its home. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡU0aAFtVXiO
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhpD0ggM9Eb
It soon was replaced with concern when I saw how far Able's house was from my location.
I had been so focused that I had chased this damn thing to the border line. The fence was visible through the line of stalks here.
How had I let myself be carried away like that?112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡll5qGp7Rvy
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0r6igRA0X9
I had never felt anything like that before.
It was dangerous, but also exciting.
Now that I had found its burrow, what did I do? 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpy07dCMu2a
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp1TSH7hRUC
Leaving it would only spread its ring of destruction further and cut into Able's profits.
But spending the time to try and dig it out would be pointless too. Who knew how deep this thing went?
I studied the sloping hole and scuffed my foot along the dirt to start filling it in.
I had no other option in mind. Maybe it would slow it down just enough to buy us time to get baits.
It was harsh, but taking home nothing at the end of the day was harsher.
It had me thinking as I filled in the hole with dirt and shit.
Why did the rabbit go all that way to the house when it had flowers here? 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡprmoop9EGJ
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoesjZb2Pt
Wouldn't an animal want to avoid possible predators rather than seek them out?
Something wasn't right.
I stopped kicking the dirt to look at the mess I had made.
It wasn't rabbit shit either. That was pebbly, while this was longer like a human's.
But it was so small.
And the track marks all had the traits of being from an animal. There were no fingermarks in sight, only pawpads and nails.
I heard my name whisper in the air and figured that Leaf must have still been waiting for me to return.
I was probably worrying the lot of them by running off like that. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnDh3NiM3ZQ
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsl9Cju5Ku8
The sooner I returned, the better.
I guess it left me no choice.
I pressed my hands to the loose dirt in the burrow opening and focused all of my attention on the fire boiling within my soul.
I knew that I could use it to flush out the creature. I didn't want to kill it, only scare it enough to flush it out.
Fire cracked the dirt and was fuelled by the petals that twisted and curled under the inferno.
I knew that River had let water drip from his mouth when he was mutated. I was going to do the same here.
The fire was more like glistening lava stringing through my lips and snaking into the burrow. It dribbled down into the depths, glowing a trail further into the earth.
Soon enough, I heard squealing and cut the fire from my hands so I could place them over the burrow enterance that the creature came shooting back up.
It twisted and writhed when I gripped its long ears and pulled it into the air. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS9TyV1Chug
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMDWr6GI7qD
The squealling was animalistic and urgent, the creature trying to escape my grip as it dangled there.
There was no way I was going to hold it against my body with it so panicked. It would tear chunks from me if I was that stupid.
But there was no way I was going to release it. The thing I held was no rabbit, but a demon.
It was a small thing; covered in short black fur all over. It's ears were rounded at the tops like a rabbit's would be, and it's tail was a ball of black fluff clumped with dirt and urine.
It looked like a rabbit at a glance, even down to the twitching nose and little mouth.
But the mouth was filled with pointed teeth, and it's big paws had curved talons on the ends where little nails should have been.
It had adapted the best it could to survive out here.
I carried its twisting body back towards the house by its ears. After a while, it fell limp and hung there until realising it's trickery wasn't going to work and started twisting again.
Was this the other demon who had fallen with Flower?
The location made sense and so did the growth and neglect of the demon.
I had assumed someone had already found it on that night or it had landed further than the field.
Perhaps it had and had just made its way back here to where it could set up a home with wild rabbits and eat its share of sunflowers.
That had to be a painful way to live. Sunflowers weren't even edible like that. Even thier seeds needed to be dried out before they were any good.
"There you are!" Leaf gasped out when I bobbed into view "what the hell is that?"
"Our thief" I announced proudly and held it higher as he gawked at it.
His finger poked its fat belly to make it try to grab onto it to push it away. I saw Leaf's smile and his eager hands quickly support it's hind legs so the strain from its ears was lifted.
"What are we going to do with it?" he breathed, looking around "give it to Azalea?"
"We can try" I grimaced at his idea "but she already has a lot on her plate with Flower. Giving her another would be another mouth they have to feed."
"Well then, you take it" Leaf smiled and pressed it to my chest where it stopped wriggling.
I looked down at the little demon and immediently held it out to Leaf before any feelings could surface to stop me.
I didn't need to torture Lavender like that. Bringing home a baby for her was just rubbing salt into the wound that this was all she was ever going to get.
A demon baby wasn't the one she wanted in the future. It would only cause her pain to bring up something with so many strings and regulations attached to it.
"You keep it" I insisted and pressed it to his chest now, seeing his hands curl around it immediently "I can't do that to Sprig. It's either you or Solomon; Able is way too old to be taking care of a baby."
"And you trust me?" he murmured in disbelief.
"Not really" I admitted to his fallen face "but I know that the only other option is leaving it back out there. Demons have to be reported if a human is looking after them."
"But a demon caring for another technically doesn't exist" Leaf smirked back "we obviously can't do what they can."
"Exactly" I chuckled at his sarcastic tone.
He looked down at the rabbit demon and cautiously patted its head, grinning when it tried to lean back against him to bite his fingers.
"Can i wash it?" he gasped "it reeks."
"Do whatever you want with it" I snorted at his excitement "it's not mine."
Leaf looked like a kid who had just been gifted a new pet. He held it gingerly, like it would break if he squeezed it too hard.
I didn't know if he realised the seriousness of what he had agreed to do. The excitement of it all was probably clouding his judgement.
"You need to think of a name too" I told him when we headed back into the garage "something other than 'It'"
"And 'Rabbit'" he added.
I took the lead and opened the door back to the house while Leaf hung back with his new plaything.
"We found the problem" I peered at them all sheepishly, stepping aside so Leaf could enter with the demon in his arms.
I already knew that the fact Leaf was going to be the caretaker of a life was going to raise concerns, especially after his casual comment about eating his partner.
If the Cradle wasn't still strapped around his face, I would have forced Solomon to care for it; no exceptions. 112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡivjNYTF4Aw
112Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5boWLw3C0M
But with Leaf's jaws being obstructed, Solomon had dodged the responsibility himself without even knowing it.
Hopefully it had been for the best.
As I looked back at Leaf teasing the snapping little demon with his fingers, I could see the admiration he held for it already.
It was a hopeful sign.
Hopefully.
ns 15.158.61.16da2
