Grandmother's Garden (Open/ Rated R)

[Dave Strider]

Jade took slow, cautious steps out into the field. She couldn’t even imagine bringing harm to any of these beautiful plants. She knelt down in a patch of dirt and began to dig. Her blunt nails dug into the dark brown of the fertile soil. She put fistfuls of it down at her side. She worked mechanically, her eyes lidded and unfocused. She looked as though she was asleep, simply daydreaming her way through the gardens behind her house.

But she wasn’t alone. A young man with the same dazed look followed the path Jade had walked. He knelt down next to her and handed her a small sapling. She took it and placed it in the whole she had just dug. She and the young man proceeded to fill in the space around the small tree before they stood up and walked away.

As they walked towards their house they walked by a grey haired, old woman who smiled and brushed theirs heads with wrinkled palms as they passed her. Quietly, in a voice barely audible she told them how good they were and how proud grandma was of them for taking care of this beautiful garden.

Jade and her brother, Jake had lost their grandmother at a very young age. The death of their guardian had been a painful one. At the time they both felt as though tending to the gardens in the forest around the house in which they had lived their entire lives was the only way to keep grandma with them for forever. That was years ago now.

~~~~~

Jade Harley and her brother, Jake English never left the area in which they lived. Their house was deep in a forest on an island far off the west coast of America. They had grown up with no human contact aside from what they had with each other and what they had had from their grandmother in the days where she had been alive and living with them. They had been taught how to care for themselves, how to live off the land. Most importantly, they had been taught that if they took care of nature that nature would take care of them in return.

“Did you make sure grandma’s alright?” Jake asked as he descended the stairs into the kitchen. Jade was cutting away at a slab of meat laid out on the counter, their dog Becquerel sat at her feet, watching the knife as it sliced through the steak.

“I thought you were going to do that. I was just starting to cook.” Jade replied, turning to the older man. She held the knife tightly in her hands. It had always been like this. She almost felt as though Jake was losing his touch with nature. It was a shame. But there wasn’t anything she could do but remind him every once and a while and hope that nature decided to be kind with him… for her sake.

“How much food to we have left?” Jake asked moving to the front door and strapping his holsters around his waist.

“Enough for a few days.” Jade responded as she turned back to the meat on the counter and continued to cute it into manageable steaks.

“How old is what you’re cutting up now?” Jake asked. He walked over so he was standing next to her. He leaned over the meet on the table and took a deep breath, “That’s the catch from last week. Feed it to Bec. I’ll get more.” He walked back towards the door.

“Are you sure that that’s a good idea? You sure have been taking a lot. You should check on grandma instead.” Jade said throwing large chunks of fatty meat onto the floor for Bec.

“We need food. You go see her.” He walked out the door and Jade had no choice but to stop arguing with him. This wouldn’t end well for him, she wondered if he knew that. He had never been the brightest person but he had seen the power of the forest before.

She took off her apron. Swiped her arm across the counter and let the meat hit the floor at her feet with a loud slap. She threw her apron onto the table and undid her long hair letting the black locks fall down to her waist. She adjusted her glasses on her nose before she followed Jake’s steps out of the house.

She could clearly see the beaten path that Jake has followed out into the dense brush. She would follow another path out into an area that a decade ago had been an empty field filled with flowers. Now not only were there flowers but there were ferns, bushes, vegetables and ‘her’…

The focus vanished from Jade’s eyes as she approached the large tree protruding from the centre of them clearing. “Hello, Grandma…” she muttered a smile coming across her face. She followed the same careful steps she had for years until she was standing at the foot of the tree. She put a pale hand on the bark of the tree, “How are you?” She paused as though listening for a response.

“I know,” Her voice was solemn as her gaze drifted down to the roots at her feet, “We promised that we would both come and see you. But he’s very busy taking care of the both of us. He loves you too, Grandma. He’ll come see you later.” And then again she fell silent.

She let out a laugh and threw her arms around the tree, “I’m glad to hear you’re alright. I love you too.” She pressed her lips to the bark before letting go of the tree and turning around. She would tend to the rest of the plants now.

Jade knew how happy healthy plants made Grandma.

((I’m open for anything. If you are interested you can either respond or message me. This can literally go anyway. It can be supernatural, sci-fi, romantic, horror… whatever anyone wishes. It’s rated R for possible romance and almost definitely for graphic depictions of violence. I want to RP to get dark.))