The Skeleton's Poison Orchid

 The Skeleton’s Poison Orchid

✥

The wind that shook the windows and rattled the door seemed even more vicious tonight. Orchid wrapped herself in her blankets, shivering. Was it from the cold, or from fear?

MEOW. Orchid jumped at the noise. Her body shook, no matter how hard she tried to stop it. Orchid’s bed was creaking at her slightest movements, which made it even harder to sleep. 

She had already blown out her candle. The smoke wafted up to the ceiling of her bedroom and then dissipated before she could determine where it went. 

Orchid’s cat, Sunbell, jumped onto her bed and curled up at her feet. Purring softly, Sunbell drifted off to sleep. Orchid sighed with relief and leaned back in her bed, pulling the covers up to her mouth. 

Taptaptaptaptaptap. Orchid sat up, gasping. Was someone tapping on her window? 

For a heart-racing moment, she thought someone was. Orchid threw her sheets over her head and tip-toed over to the window. 

Moving the curtain, only slightly, she saw outside. It was only raining. No one was actually outside. Thankfully. 

The floorboards creaked ominously as Orchid crossed her bedroom to get to her bed. Lifting her covers slightly, she slipped under them as quickly as she could. 

Staring at the ceiling, Orchid let her mind wander. There was a closet in the corner of her room that was considerably cavernous. Someone could hide in there. No one would though. Who would take her? She had no use, really.

Clip clip clip clip clop clop clip clop. Orchid sat up again, her eyes locked on her window. There was unquestionably someone with a horse and carriage outside. But who on Earth would be up at this hour? 

Again, Orchid lowered her feet to the ground and went over to her window. As she rested her hand on the sill, though, a cold shock ran through her bones. 

Orchid shook her head. It wasn’t that remarkable. The window sill was cold. That shouldn’t surprise her, should it? 

As she lifted the curtain, she saw the same scene as before. The rain drenching the flowers that seemed to wilt, the grass trying to bravely spring up once more, the gutters dripping with dirty water. But, Orchid saw, there was something out on the dirt road in front of their house. Peering closer, Orchid realized that it was a horse and carriage. 

“Who’s driving the carriage?” Orchid inquired, squinting. If she squeezed her eyes barely closed, she could see the coachman. His skin was bone-white and his eyes were hollow and soulless. “It can’t be… is it really a skeleton?” 

“Oh, yes it can be,” an empty voice rang in her head. The skeleton-coachman’s head turned towards Orchid slowly.  Its eyes bored into hers. 

Orchid’s heart pumped and pumped and it felt like the legs of a sprinting dog. She willed it to slow down, but it wouldn’t. “Why are you here?” she asked quietly, her lips barely moving. She had an urge to talk to the skeleton-coachman, but she couldn’t at the same time. It was such a weird feeling.

The skeleton-coachman laughed a heartless laugh. “Come outside, little one, and I’ll show you.”

Orchid’s legs moved without her will behind them. “What are you doing to me?” she shouted as her hand reached for the doorknob and turned it. Her feet slammed down on the wood floor as she approached the front door. Every muscle in her body ordered her to go forward, but her mind wanted her to turn around.  

The paintings on the walls fell to the carpet with loud CRACKs and the chairs in the hallway seemed to float. 

“Mother?” Orchid called, trying to move her hands to their doorknob. If only she could reach it… 

“There is no use in that,” the skeleton-coachman cackled. “Their door is locked, for they think nothing bad can ever happen to them.”

“What do you mean?” Orchid whimpered. With one burst of strength, Orchid pulled one foot back, hooking it around the corner of the hallway. She could see the front door from here.
Suddenly, the door to her parents’ bedroom flung open, dislodging her foot from the doorway. 

“No!” Orchid exclaimed, pinwheeling her arms. Had the skeleton stopped making her move towards the door? Quickly spinning around, Orchid faced her bedroom door. She could dash there if she was swift enough. 

“Don’t…,” the skeleton rasped. Orchid heard something moving outside on the doorstep. Is he going to take over my body again? Orchid wondered, but she felt no pull towards the front door. “Don’t if you value your parents’ life.”

Orchid was torn. Here, right now, was an escape. But her parents would be dead. Orchid didn’t know what she would do after that but weep. 

If she saved her parents and let the skeleton-coachman take her, then her parents might be so heartbroken they would die, too.

Orchid breathed a deep breath and let her hands fall to her sides. She would have to choose one. Either one could end up with her dead. 

“I’ll come with you,” Orchid breathed, tears streaming down her face. She bit her cheek and walked over to the door. All she wanted to do was break down and cry. 

Turned the knob, she peered out into the night. Where was the skeleton-coachman? Did he decide to kill my parents after all? Orchid wondered, her throat convulsing with a sob. 

“There, there,” the skeleton-coachman soothed inside her head. “Your parents are not dead now.” He paused. An eerie breath escaped his mouth. Where is he? Orchid wondered again. “Nor will they ever be.”

“They’ll be…,” Orchid searched for the word, her hand propping the door open. The rain battered her face and the cold wind pricked her cheeks but she didn’t shut the door. She didn’t run away. She stood there, waiting for the skeleton-coachman to come. “Immortal?” she asked, her eyes glazed over with wonder. 

The skeleton-coachman just laughed his evil laugh. Orchid’s face screwed up with annoyance, but she didn’t say anything. 

“Come with me,” he said, and Orchid glanced behind her, into her house. Would she ever see it again if she followed this skeleton fellow? Maybe not. But it was worth a try, to follow him. 

Orchid stepped out into the rain, putting her hands over her head to shield it from the rain. “Where are you?” Suddenly, a skeleton appeared. He was holding a lantern that swung back and forth ominously. He had a top hat on with a deep purple feather sticking out in the front. 

“Hello.” He reached down and took Orchid’s hand. She flinched at first. His hand was sharply cold, but that was probably just because of the weather. “We meet again.”

“Again?” Orchid asked, and tilted her head. She gave a small giggle. “I don’t think I’ve seen you before, Mister.”

The skeleton knelt before Orchid and gazed into her eyes. “We have met before… a couple of times, my dear.”

“A couple?” Orchid mumbled, trailing off. She put her hand to her forehead and bit her tongue. He can’t be my Grandfather… she thought with astonishment. Can he? 

“Yes… your grandfather,” the skeleton-coachman confirmed. He rose back up to his full height. “Come… follow me.”

Orchid nodded, her legs trembling as she followed her grandfather. “Where?” The sound of hoofbeats drowned out her grandfather’s reply. His carriage was looping around the corner. 

The skeleton horse neighed, as if to say Hurry up! Orchid and her grandfather climbed into the carriage. It was one right out of Orchid’s books… with the velvet seats and black walls. The only thing that Orchid couldn’t remember from any of her stories was a door in the back of the seating area. 

“Whatever does that do?” she asked, touching the door frame. Her grandfather shouted something, waving his bony arms in alarm. Orchid’s skin dissipated and she drifted through the wall into the other room. “HELP!” she shouted, but Orchid couldn’t hear her own voice. 

The room Orchid now occupied was grey with little white mice scuttling all around. There was a tiny toad sitting in a cage towards the back. There’s no way this is possible. Orchid touched the walls and they rippled, just like water. 

“I am here too,” a creepy, dark voice echoed in her mind. Orchid jumped. It was not her grandfather talking. It was someone - or something. “Pick me and eat me. Do it, Orchid. For I am just like you…”

Orchid shook her head. “No!” she squeaked, her voice wavering. 

“EAT ME. I am the Skeleton’s Poison Orchid!” Orchid felt her hand jerking towards something at the front of the room. Something was controlling her again! 

Her hand closed on something soft and feathery. When her eyes reached her hand, Orchid realized that her fingers were closed around the petal of a sickeningly, light green orchid. Her hand jolted backward, picking off the petal.

“Put it in your mouth, you horrid little girl!” the orchid ordered. The human Orchid resisted the urge to stuff the disgusting looking petal into her mouth. 

“No, I can’t!” she yelped, her hand spasming violently. She had nearly met death a few times already. She didn’t want to finally be dead. 

The petal was at her lips now, tickling them maliciously. She sneezed, her mouth opening for a moment. The orchid seized the opportunity and jammed poor Orchid’s hand into her mouth. 

“There we go,” the orchid sneered. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?” 

Orchid tried to respond, but her hand was in her mouth. If she let go of the petal, would she swallow it and die? Orchid’s hand went limp and the petal bumped down her throat. 

The effects were immediate. Orchid’s whole body twitched and her vision clouded. Her hands clenched wildly and her legs collapsed from under her. Orchid’s mouth started foaming with spit. What was happening to her?

“Oops,” the orchid cackled, its voice echoing in her mind. “I might have been mistaken.”