Purple Flowers

Chapter 3

“Wait. So you’re saying you’ve been to the haunted house in that city?”

“Cool. Tell us about it!”

“Did you see the creature? What did it look like?”

“Was it hard for you to get there?”

“How come it didn’t eat you up?”

Danny sighed and dropped his head down on the coffee table. His friends can be rather relentless when they want to get him to spill some beans.

“Guys, I’ve already told you. Okay, I did go to that house, but I didn’t see anything there. Nothing out of the ordinary. It was just an empty flat. There was nothing creepy-looking about it.”

“You didn’t see the creature?”

“Maybe it was asleep.”

“Oh, and also, it’s a town, not a city,” said Danny. He picked up his mug of coffee and took a sip.

“How’s the town like?”

“Well, very……. confusing,” Danny shrugged, remembering how useless he thought the Waze app was. “I got lost.”

“How did you find your way to the haunted house?”

“I don’t know. I just followed the road by the seaside and…… ended up there.”

“The house was by the seaside? Cool!”

“Yeah. The view was beautiful,” Danny sighed wistfully.

“How about we go check it out right after breakfast, guys?”

“What? Together?”

“Yeah, Danny. You, me, Alice, and Megan. We’ll all go. Together.”

“Uh……,” Danny hesitated. He wasn’t sure if the creature could handle more company. It might even put him and his friends at risk of becoming a meal.

“C’mon, Danny. It’ll be fun!” Alice chirped. “It won’t be so scary if we go together. There’s strength in numbers.”

“Right,” Megan agreed. “Jacob, you’ll drive us there?”

“Sure. I can’t wait to check out this haunted house for myself.”

“For the last time, guys, that house is NOT haunted!”

“How can you be so sure, Danny, when you didn’t see the creature? You probably just need to wait for the right moment……”

Danny sighed. He knows when his friends have made up their minds, there’s no stopping them.

***

“Here we are,” Danny said as Jacob slowed the car down to a stop. They got out and did a quick survey of the building.

“Looks pretty peaceful to me,” commented Alice.

“Monsters and creatures don’t usually come out during this time of the day.” Megan checked her watch. “Maybe we should come back at night.”

“We’re already here. What’s the point of leaving now?” Danny asked.

“We’ll go in, check out the place a little, and then leave. If the creature doesn’t show up at this time of day, even better for us,” Jacob said and lead them into the unowned property.

Once inside, Danny looked around. Not a single purple flower or petal was on the ground. He walked towards the mini swimming pool. It was heart-shaped. “How cute,” he thought. He figured that only little children could fit in there. Adults would probably need an indoor pool somewhere in the flat.

“See anything interesting?” Alice asked from inside the garage. “I see nothing here but dust and cobwebs. Yuck.”

“Not surprising when no one has been living here for who knows how long,” Jacob replied.

“Nothing yet,” Megan answered from beside the gate. “Just the rusty old gate.”

Danny relaxed as he watched his friends try to fish something gossip-worthy out of the property. He looked at the swimming pool again. He blinked. Something seemed to be forming in the water, right at his feet. Danny looked at his friends, and, certain they were not looking in his direction, squatted down in front of the water.

Two oval-shaped eyes formed in the clear blue water. They looked at Danny and winked at him, to his surprise. Danny then knew it was the creature. He was intrigued to learn that parts of the creature could appear in the swimming pool as well. He smiled and stood up. He looked behind him and saw a medium-sized vase of beautiful purple flowers growing in it. The flowers looked just like the ones the creature was made of. Gently, Danny stroked the flowers with his hand. Suddenly, a splash of water landed on his feet. He turned back at the swimming pool. The mischievous eyes winked at him again and Danny went “hey!” His friends looked at him.

“What’s wrong, Danny?” Alice asked.

“Nothing,” Danny promptly replied.

“Oh. Tell us if you see anything suspicious,” Alice said.

“Okay.”

Danny turned back to the flowers. He realised that the creature had gone into hiding in plain sight by taking the form of vased flowers. He grinned. This certainly is a very clever creature!

By then, the creature decided to prove to him just how clever it really was. As Alice, Megan and Jacob grew tired and thirsty from their exploring, they whipped out sealed plastic cups of mineral water and straws from their backpacks. They had brought them along just for their trip to the “haunted” house.

“Danny! You don’t want any?”

“No thanks. I drank a lot during breakfast just now.”

“Alright. Suit yourself.” And Jacob downed his cup in one go without using a straw. It wasn’t a very big cup, anyway.

Megan finished her drink shortly after. She looked around the place to find a dustbin, but found none. “Where do I throw this thing?”

“Just hold it until we get back to the car,” Danny said.

Megan decided she was not going to do that. “Nah.” With a simple toss, the empty plastic cup sailed through the air and landed on some soft grass a few inches away from the tables.

“Megan!”

“What?”

“Don’t do that. You’re on someone else’s property,” Danny scolded.

“No one is living here at the moment, so who cares?” she shrugged innocently.

“Still? You expect people to come over and pick up your trash?”

“Do cleaners even come here, anyway?” Alice asked. “This place looks like nobody had set foot in it in a hundred years!” And she put her cup right next to Megan’s on the ground.

“That doesn’t mean you can simply throw your rubbish all over the place.”

“Eh, Danny. Even if someone does come along, we’ll be clean outta this place before they can catch us,” Jacob said, and tossed his cup into the swimming pool, to Danny’s disgust.

“Alright. If there’s nothing to see here we could leave now,” Jacob said and started towards the gate. “Okay,” Alice and Megan agreed.

The creature was having none of this bullshit. Tentacles formed and began picking up the trash in its vicinity. When the offenders turned their backs, the creature discreetly dropped the plastic cups into their backpacks or their pockets, unnoticed. Danny chuckled, observing the creature’s stealthy movements and his friends’ ignorance.

“What’s so funny, Danny? Whatcha laughin’ about?” Jacob asked.

“Nothing.” Danny stifled more chuckles.

“Hey, you’ve been acting quite weird since we set foot in here. You sure you didn’t see something we didn’t the last time you were here?”

“Nothing, honest. I’m just wondering how funny it would be if someone who doesn’t believe in the legend catches us poking around looking for some creature.”

“I wouldn’t want that to happen,” Megan remarked. “Let’s go.” And all four friends climbed into Jacob’s car and drove off.

Danny looked back at the flat. “Goodbye,” he thought. “I promise I’ll come back, on my own next time.”