Mongst the Flowers

The nightmare is always the same. I wake up to the sound of someone pounding on my bedroom door. I slowly climb out of bed and answer it. In the hall stands my older twin brother, Orion, his black hair slicked back James Dean style, his dry lips twisted into a mischievous grin. He wears a white T-shirt, long leather pants, and shoes.

I roll my eyes and ask, “What do you want, Ori?”

“To spend time with my sis,” is his reply.

I roll my eyes again. Orion was never the type of person who would just want to hang out with people. When we were little kids, he never played with me unless our parents made him. Now that we were both seventeen years old, spending time with Orion really meant that he just wanted me to take him to parties.

“No,” I say before I start to close the door.

Orion stops me and says, “Oh, come on, Venus, you can’t-,”

“Don’t call me ‘Venus’,” I interrupt.

“It suits you better than your first name,” says Orion.

Our parents were astronomy professors at different colleges. Mom always knew that she wanted space-related names. I was originally going to be called Venus, but Dad said that the name “Claudia” sounded prettier. So they named me Claudia Venus Cunningham. As for Orion, his middle name was Apollo.

“What do you really want?” I ask.

“Well, Natalie Padgitt’s having a house party tonight, and-,” begins Orion.

“No!” I say, sternly.

This is where I want the dream to end. But it doesn’t. Why can’t I ever wake up after that?

“Come on, Claudia,” says Orion. “I’ll pay you fifty bucks,”

“Even if you gave me two hundred, I still wouldn’t do it,” I say.

Orion turns away and buries his face in his hands. After about fifteen seconds, he turns around and pulls out his phone. It takes me a moment for me to fully take it in. Somehow, he had looked through my phone and took screenshots of me sending flirty texts to a boy. I freeze. Mom and Dad always told us that we were not allowed to date until we were twenty-three.

“If you don’t take me, I’m telling,” Orion says.

I should have just taken my chances, but for some reason, I didn’t. The next thing I know, Orion and I are walking out the front door. I never check to see if I locked it. Why can’t I remember to do that? We walk down the driveway to my black Honda Civic.

Everything after that is a bit of a blur. I vaguely remember telling Orion, “If you’re hungover and insist on driving to school tomorrow, I’m wrestling for the keys to your Volkswagen,” before he gets out and goes inside of Natalie’s house. Everything else whizzes past like a whirlwind. The front door is always wide open, things thrown about, some cash missing. Mom’s black hair…

That’s when I wake up. How I wish the nightmares would go away! They used to happen every night, but now, they only come every once in a while. Why? I think a large part of it has to do with him.

It all started on the morning of March 29, 2024. Great-grandma Amelia’s ninetieth birthday party. My room has green walls and beige carpeting. To the far right is my bed, a closet, and a brown desk in front of the window. I looked out my window to see snow falling on the ground and a gray sky overhead. I put on a red sweater with a pink heart stitched onto it, black pants, and white socks before heading into the bathroom across the hall to brush my teeth, comb my hair, and slap on some deodorant.

I came out of the bathroom to the smell of pancakes, sausages, and eggs. I walked downstairs to see Orion at the stove, his hair tied back into a ponytail. The kitchen was tiny, with white walls and floors. Next to the stove was a fridge and sink. A large brown table was in the middle. Next to the fridge was an old dumbwaiter. My dad sat in a chair that was close to the stove, his face buried in a newspaper.

“Good morning, guys,” I said.

“Good morning, dear,” Dad said. “Please sit down,”

I sat in the chair across from him and turned my phone on to see dozens of messages from my friends back home in the US. Most of them were about my best friend, Kyle’s, wisdom tooth extraction, while others were about boys, gossip, and what the girls were wearing to the dance. I groaned.

“What’s wrong, Claudia?” asked Orion. “Did someone ruin your life?”

“No,” I replied. “I just miss life back home,”

“Why?” Dad said, putting down his newspaper.

His blue eyes stared into my soul for a good minute. I opened my mouth when great-grandpa, Artie, and great-grandma, Amelia- or, as I like to call them, “Morticia and Gomez Addams 2.0”- walked in. Great-grandpa Artie was a tall man with gray hair and blue eyes. He wore a green shirt, light blue pants, and shoes. Great-grandma Amelia had green eyes, white hair, and layers of makeup on her face, complimented by a gentle smile.

“Morning, Cunninghams,” said great-grandpa Artie.

“‘i, everybody,” said great-grandma Amelia.

“Hi,” said Orion.

“Hello, Grandpa and Grandma,” said Dad. “How did the two of you sleep?”

“Good,” responded Artie.

The two of them sat in the chairs across from me. Orion grabbed a stack of five plates from the cupboard and set them in front of us, followed by napkind and silverware. Orion then served us heaping stacks of food. I thanked him, because it was usually my job to cook and serve everybody.

“You’re welcome,” said Orion, his mouth full of eggs.

At this, great-grandpa Artie got up and grabbed a tall glass from the same cupboard. He then reached into the fridge and pulled out a carton of orange juice. I began to dig into my food, thinking I knew what was to come next.

“Oh, Ar’ie,” said great-grandma Amelia. “Yer don’ ‘ave ter serve me, i’n it?”

“But I love you, Amelia,” said great-grandpa Artie as he poured the orange juice into the glass. “Besides, today is your day. Happy birthday, darling,”

He sat back down next to her.

“‘ow I love you, too,” said great-grandma Amelia.

She leaned over to him.

“Do you want to do it?” she asked.

“Oh no,” Dad whispered.

Oh, good Lord Jesus, please no, I thought.

He must have answered, “No,”, because great-grandpa Artie nodded his head. The kissing started on Amelia’s face, then gradually made it’s way down her neck, to her right arm, then to her hand. My mouth hung open in horror and shock. Dad pretended he was eating his pancakes. Orion just smiled.

“How can you watch this?” I asked him. “It’s like two black holes are sucking each other up,”

“It’s cute,” he said, snarkily. “It reminds me of what Dad and Mom used to do before you-,”

“Don’t,” I warned.

We had been living in England for two months. A large reason for the move was because great-grandma Amelia had a health scare, and Dad wanted us to be there for her and great-grandpa Artie by helping out around the house. I suspect that another reason was because of what everyone says I did. The day we arrived, Dad said, “Now, children, I’m giving you three rules: One, never fight in front of great-grandma Amelia. Two, never go into the attic. Three, never go into the living room at 10 PM. Anytime before or after that is alright. I did not make those last two rules. They’ve been in effect since I was a little boy, and I have never once broken them,”

“Oh, come on, I’m just playing,” Orion lied.

“Ori, listen to your sister,” said Dad.

Dad then looked at his wristwatch. I peered over, too. The time was 8:00.

“We’d better get going,” he said.

After school, I decided to take a few friends home. Their names were Sloane Adebayo, Lilith Morrigan, Hank Sable, Dominic Vaughan, and James Knight. We were driving on a dirt road that, thankfully, wasn’t covered in ice. Snow blanketed the grass and rocks around us.

Sloane sat in the passenger’s seat. She wore a red shirt, beige jacket, pants, and shoes. Her black hair was tied into a ponytail. I noticed that she was texting someone, so I craned my neck to see who it was. The contact said “DANNY” in all caps.

“Who’s that, Sloane?” I asked.

“Danny Hopkins from gym class,” said Sloane. “I asked him for his number in literature. I’m thinking of asking him out,”

“Oh, Sloanie’s got a boyfriend!” Hank teased.

“Shut up, Hank,” Sloane said, turning her neck to face him. “He’s not my boyfriend yet,”

“Yeah, they’re just talking,” said Lilith.

“More like flirting,” said James, who had his eyes on Sloane.

Sloane turned to face the road.

“Two smiley face emojis are not flirting,” she said. “Claudia, keep your eye on this turn. This road always makes me nervous,”

“Is that why you’re not the one driving?” I asked.

“Maybe,” replied Sloane.

That was when I saw her. In the middle of the road stood a woman with brown hair tied in a bun. Her arms were outstretched like she was about to give someone a hug. Her white clothes were torn, and blood coated her frail body. A large chunk of skin on her right leg was missing, causing her bone to be exposed. I swerved and hit the gray guard rail. The airbags hit me and Sloane in the face. Lilith screamed like a banshee. The guys simply dropped their mouths open in shock.

“What the heck?” said Sloane as she fought against the airbag.

“What the hell, Claudia?” said Dominic. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

“I saw something,” I said, panting. “There was a woman, and-,”

I told them everything. Dominic said that he would get out to see if the woman was still there. He wore a gray shirt, blue jacket, pants, and shoes. His brown hair was slicked back. Dominic did as promised, and he came back ten seconds later.

“There’s no one there,” he said.

“What?” I said.

“You heard me, Claudia,” said Dominic. “There is no woman,”

“But I saw her!”

“Well, then,” said James. “You must have seen a ghost!”

“Get real, dude,” said Hank. “Ghosts don’t exist,”

“Joking, only joking,” said James.

“You guys don’t believe me?” I said.

Dominic turned to face me with those gorgeous gray eyes of his and responded with, “We want to believe you, Claudia, but we did not see it,”

“I don’t know, Dom,” said Sloane. “There might be some truth to it,”

“What’re you talking about, Sloane?” asked Dominic.

“I didn’t see the woman either,” said Sloane, “but that doesn’t mean the supernatural isn’t real,”

“What makes you say that?”

“Because I have a story,”

Sloane took a deep sigh.

“The date was November 13, 1933,” she said. “This road used to be a railroad. My great-aunt, Charlotte, was going to visit some African relatives who had recently immigrated to Scotland. Everything was going smoothly until they came here to this very spot. You see, there was a man,”

“A man?” said Lilith.

“Yes, a man,” continued Sloane. “An outlaw by the name of John “Jack” Griffin. You guys will not believe this next part- I even have a hard time believing it- but Griffin is said to have found a way to turn himself invisible. ‘A few chemicals mixed together, that’s all,’ he is thought to have stated. He was mad, you see. Anyway, he knocked out the man who was working at the station, pulled a few levers, and the whole train derailed!

“Great-aunt Charlotte said it was horrible. She remembered the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach as the train plunged off of this mountain and down into the river below it. She also never forgot the way the way they screamed. By her estimates, she said, it was probably a five-hundred foot drop. A hundred people died that night.

“Here’s the worse part. Great-aunt Charlotte and a handful of other people somehow managed to make it to shore just in time to see the sharks come. Bull sharks. Contrary to popular belief, the bull sharks didn’t eat anyone. They simply smelled the blood, swam into the river, and attacked their dead bodies,”

“Well, that’s good news,” James commented, a little darkly.

“Yes, it is,” said Sloane. “After that, they closed this part of the railway and turned it into a road. It’s also the reason why there’s a guard rail. In all, Claudia, it is possible that you saw one of Jack’s victims,”

“What happened to Jack Griffin after that?” asked Lilith. “Did they somehow arrest and hang him?”

“Sadly, no,” said Sloane. “Accounts vary as to how he died. Some say he died of pneumonia, while others claim he was killed by a police dog,”

“Are there any pictures of him?” Lilith inquired.

“No,” said Sloane. “Why?”

“I was just wondering,” Lilith said. “I bet he was really ugly!”

“Who can tell?” said Hank. “He’s invisible,”

I can’t lie. That comment did get a giggle out of me.

“Whatever the case may be,” said Dominic, “Jack Griffin is dead. He’s probably burning in the stinking flames of Hell right now,”

Lilith’s phone rang. She picked it up and said, “Hello?” This was followed by her letting the other person talk for a good five minutes.

“Ok, love you,” she said before she hang up.

“Who was that, Lilith?” I asked.

“My mum,” was her answer.

“And what did she say?”

“That she and my Dad are going to work late again tonight,” said Lilith. “I hate staying at home by myself. Can I stay with anyone of you?”

“Not with me,” said Dominic. “I have soccer practice tonight,”

“Not with me, either,” said Hank. “Olivia and I are going out on a date,”

Olivia was his girlfriend.

“How about you, James?” said Lilith.

“Sorry. Lil,” said James. “My parents and I are volunteering at the homeless shelter tonight,”

“And my family and I are going to the cinema tonight,” said Sloane.

“You can come with me, Lilith,” I said. “We’re having a surprise party for my great-grandmother, but you can still tag along,”

“Oh, thank you!” said Lilith.

The plan was simple: great-grandpa Artie was to take great-grandma Amelia shopping all day until 7:30 and be home at around 8. We all hid in the living room with the lights out. Amelia’s face lit up when they came on and we all jumped up and shouted, “Surprise! Happy birthday!” I was dressed in my finest purple dress and presented the cake to her. It was vanilla, with white icing, and two lit candles that were shaped into a 9 and 0. She blew them out.

After that, most of the adults sat in various areas of the house and talked while the younger kids played games. I, meanwhile, went around introducing Lilith to everyone. Amelia came last.

“Great-grandma Amelia, this is my friend, Lilith Morrigan,” I said.

“How do you do, Ms.-?” Amelia said as she stuck her hand out.

Lilith wore an extremely low-cut blue dress, and her blonde hair was curled. Amelia’s hair was straight, but she wore a long red dress. Lilith stared at my great-grandmother like she was a portrait. I swear I saw her murmur something.

“Amelie Rose Kemp,” said Lilith as she shook Amelia’s hand. “Claudia, how come you never told me you are related to the Amelia Kemp?”

For context, great-grandma Amelia made half of her fortune by selling women’s clothes and jewelry.

“Oh, I told ‘er not to,” said Amelia. “I ‘o’nt wan’ ‘o being the cen’er of attention,”

“Oh ok,” said Lilith.

Just then, great-grandpa Artie walked up in a black suit and tie.

“Amy, can I please talk to you in private?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Amelia. “Give me a few minutes. Your sister jus’ got ‘ere and I wan’ t’ talk with ‘er,”

What could he want to talk about? I thought. Judging by great-grandpa Artie’s tone, it sounded serious. He never liked to talk about anything serious unless he had to. Great-grandma Amelia was largely the same.

As soon as she was done drinking and talking, great-grandma Amelia stood up and walked out of the living room. I quietly followed her down the hall. The hallway had green walls with a floral pattern and beige floors. To the right was a tiny wooden staircase. A few pictures of family, colored and in black and white, hung on the walls. I stopped at the door that led to the kitchen and put my ear up against it.

“Let me make sure there is no one else in ‘ere,” said Amelia.

Just then, Orion came by, dressed in a blue shirt, pants, and shoes.

“Hey, what’s-?” he began.

I shushed him and motioned toward the door. Orion picked up on what I was doing and joined me in listening in on Artie and Amelia’s conversation.

“Ok, I didn’t see anyone,” said Amelia. “What is it, Ar’ie?”

Artie didn’t say anything for a moment. Maybe he was hesitant?

“Amelia, your doctor called you on your phone today while we were shopping,” he said. “You were in the bathroom, so I just decided to answer it,”

“What is it, Artie?”

“Your test came back positive,” said Artie sadly. “You have liver cancer again, and it’s terminal,”