Magic Forest Garden Centre

I swayed in the hammock hidden behind the ferns. Dirt marked my pink overalls from the chest down. My body ached from unloading the latest shipment of terracotta pots.

If I could just photosynthesise for five minutes I might be able to look at the rest of my long to-do list.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves of the juniper trees. The breeze played with my straw blonde hair. While the roses, blessedly silent, scented the air with just the right sweetness.

Five minutes.

I kicked off the nearest tree trunk to swing a little more.

Maybe ten.

Birds startled from the canopy above me. I scrunched my eyes and blinked away as much of the sleepy feeling as possible. Something was scaring the birds.

“Hey Green eyes,” The walkie crackled from the belt loop on my overalls. I slipped off my gardening gloves and pressed the button down on the ancient, battered device.

“Green eyes?” I asked, he ignored my question.

“Have you seen Heidi? No one had seen her since last Wednesday.”

“Heidi?” I asked through my sleep muddled state. ”Heidi? Heidi?”

“I put her on night shift,” he said.

“YOU PUT HER ON NIGHT SHIFT?” Suddenly I was very awake, “Danm it Ash!”

“She’s the manager’s daughter!” He protested.

“That’s exactly why she should never be put on night shift!” I’d told him a hundred times.

I pressed my head into my hands.

“So grumpy today,” said a rose to my left.

“I will cut you!” I said brandishing my pruning shears in her white petaled direction.

“Keep an eye out for her, will you?” pleaded Ash over the walkie.

I sighed. People often got lost in the Magic Forrest Garden Centre. It was our job to make sure customers made it out alive, upselling them on some fertilizer while we were at it. It was more concerning when one of our own went missing. Even if she was the Nepo baby of the organisation.

“I liked Heidi,” said a polyantha to my right.

“She had pretty hair,” squeaked the miniature roses behind me, “shame she’s dead”.

The Damask roses started tutting to one another. Just like that my quiet little paradise became far too noisy.

“She’s not dead!” I snapped at the foliage around me.

“Hopefully,” said the Polyantha. With one snip of my shears I beheaded her. Morticia Addams style.

“Anyone else got something to say?” the blooms all stayed silent. Good.

The walkie chirped again and I prepared myself for whatever hell Ash was about to foist upon me.

“Aaaaand. . I’ve assigned you the new trainee today!” I suppressed a groan.

Because I didn’t have enough to do. I brushed the dirt off my clipboard, I still needed to:

-Propagate the net citrus trees.

- Prune the hedges that bordered the gate.

- Shoo the woodnymphs away from the jacaranda trees

-Price the new shipment of pots and . .

- Find Heidi.

I was about to tell him where he could shove his new trainee when a tall gangly white guy emerged from between the ferns. He wore a fresh pair of overalls. The unstained pink seemed garish. Especially against the faded Metallica T-shirt he wore underneath.

“I sent him your way!” gargled Ash from the walkie.

“I gathered that Ash- hole.” I said back.

I stood from my hammock and slipped my gardening gloves back on. The Newbie stared at me and smiled. It was unsettling.

“Brynn? Brynn Flynn?” He asked, his mouth kicked up at one corner, and I felt my will to live shrivel. He recognised me, and I had no idea who he was.

The man looked at me.

“Bryony,” I corrected him. Because Brynn Flynn made me sound like a deranged comic book character.

“Brynn Flynn! You stole my bag in kindergarten! It’s me!” I took in his brown eyes, black hair and pale skin and came up with nothing.

“Bryony,” I corrected him again.

“I almost didn’t recognise you! Your face!” I raised an eyebrow at him and he faltered.

“I – its just- you’ve changed!” I squinted in his direction. Deep beneath the slowly composting memories of the last twenty years a muddy image emerged. A child with the same face, the same smug annoying face.

“Jared?”

“Ah, so you do recognise me! Still got a massive crush on me huh?” he shoved my shoulder playfully and I didn’t punch him.

“So, what are we doing today Brynn Flynn? Or should I call you boss?” he said the last word with a wink.

Shudder.

“Bryony will do,” I said and lead him back through the ferns towards the bird baths and ornaments.

“Take this,” I said handing him the hose. “If you see a fairy, spray them.”

He looked at me like I’d grown a second head. I pinched my fingers together about an inch apart. “Little person, butterfly wings.” I explained, “they normally keep to the perennial section but one of the factions is making a move on the bird baths and that could cause an all-out war.”

He laughed, “I get it I get it, haze the new guy,” He handed me back the hose.

“Newbie doesn’t even have a badge yet,” said a misplaced pot of lavender at my feet, “How will we identify the body?”

I hushed her as I picked her up from the concrete.

“Just put her back where she belongs,” I said holding the pot out to him.

He took the pot with a smirk and strode off.

Out of the corner of my eye, a pair of wings peaked out behind a sundial and shot a stream of water in its direction. A flurry of five fairies shot up and back into the safety of the ornamental bushes behind them.

“Code Fae fucking-tastic” I called into the walkie, “Bird Baths.”

“Ambitious bastards,” said Ash. “I’ll put Oakley on it.”

I cast my eyes around the stone figures and fountains. No fairies made themselves known and no Heidi. If she wasn’t on the shop floor, that meant only one option.

She was lost in the Staffroom.

“How’s the trainee going?” bubbled Ash.

I spied the newbie, striding back from the cottage garden display. Swerving his head to check out the ass of a girl at the decorated pots.

“Where did you find this guy?”

“Are you questioning my hiring skills?”

“You have skills?”

“Ha-ha, just train him up I’m sure he will be fine.”

The newbie had doubled back to the decorative pots and was currently talking to the now very flustered customer. I was going to need to intervene before he landed us with a harassment lawsuit.

I pulled the hose with me. Draping its snake like coils around over one shoulder.

“Jared,” I interrupted what was about to be a horribly awkward proposition. “We gotta get back to work.”

“In a minute,” he shooed me.

He shooed me.

I pulled the trigger, water shot like a jet covering him from head to toe. He stumbled back spluttering.

“Oh sorry,” I said to the woman, dry as a summer day next to me, “thought I saw a wasp.”

The woman smiled thankfully at me and fled. I waved at her turning back to Jared glaring at me between two bunny painted pots.

“You know you haven’t changed since kindergarten,” he gritted, “still the same jealous Brynn Flynn.”

Instead of answering, I sprayed him again.

“Danm it Flynn!”

I turned on my heel and hung the hose back on its post before addressing my now very wet shadow. We stood in front of a small green shed. Scrawled in faded yellow paint on the riveted door were the words “Staff Room”. Pressed up against the skyscraper that made our back border the structure seemed very small and very shabby.

“Simple job Jared, I’m going to look for Heidi in the staffroom. You are going to guard the door.”

“Or how about I slack off in the staff room and chat with Heidi, and you, can go get me a towel.”

I barred the door with my hand.

“You can’t go in there, it's staff only,” I said.

“I am staff.” He said.

“You’re too green,” I laughed.

“I think I can handle some plants Brynn Flynn” With that he pushed my hand out of the way and let himself through.

He made it two steps.

I picked up the axe beside the door and let myself in after him. The wind picked up my hair and flung it around my face in a flurry. The shed's metal looked like it had been torn away by some giant claw. If legends of employees past held any water it was a dragon that did it. But I’d been exploring the Staff Room on and off for the past decade and I’d never come across anything that big. Exept maybe that one time. But I'm sure that was the concussion.

Beyond the two square meters of shed foundation, grass, and vines climbed a shallow hill. Towering above us, taller than the skyscraper we should currently be standing in, were branches. A giant willow tree stretched into the sky, clouds hugged its branches like old friends. Around its base the regular sized trees of the Enchanted Forest looked like toys.

I matched his two steps joining him on the edge of the scarred concrete, axe at hand.

“Why does it look like it goes on forever?” he asked.

“Because it does,” I said.

“Funny,” he said.

“Oh, yeh I’m hilarious.”

“What is it?” he asked.

I pointed to the logo on his shirt that read, Magic Forest Garden Centre and said “It’s the Staff Room.”

“But we are in the middle of the city!”

“What part about magic forest do you not get?” I stepped off the platform and onto the grass. Wildflowers whispered at my feet.

“Who’s the new guy?”

“Very tall.”

“Not much meat on him though.”

“So we go in there?” he asked nodding towards the dark shadows at the roots of the Mother tree.

“No, I go in there,” I corrected. “Your job is to stop them, from getting lost in here.”

He moved forward. I held up a warning hand “You are still a them.”

“I ‘aint no muggle,” he said puffing up his chest.

“You don’t even have a badge yet.”

“But I do, have a contract. Which means,” he pushed my hand off his chest “I can do what I want.” He sidestepped me and started up the hill.

“Have you ever had a job before?” I called after him.

I trudged behind him up the hill. Of course, run straight into the dark forest, that’s never been a bad idea before.

“Don’t touch anything!” I yelled, upping my pace, "and put on your gloves!"

I caught up to him as he made it to the base of the Mother tree. Its roots stood a good few feet taller than me. Behind it, the world fell away. A sheer cliff dropped to fifty feet below and a dense forest of green, orange and blue spread to the horizon. The breeze was cool against my face and my eyes searched out for any sign of pink overalls.

Where are you, Heidi?

A frantic figure burst from the trees. Tumbling to the dirt a head of brown hair stuck full of leaves.

Abandoning my axe I ran to Heidi and placed two calming hands on each side of her face. Looking into her eyes that were each still blessedly brown.

“Are you bleeding?” I asked, lifting each of her arms, I pulled her to her feet. The military-grade pink ballistic overalls seemed to have protected her enough. The wildflowers poking from the roots of the mother tree cooed sweet nothings. But she couldn’t hear them.

With a quick hug I turned her in the direction of the Staff Room door. The relief in her eyes was palpable. I watched her stumble a few steps in its direction before calling over the walkie.

“Sending Heidi your way, make her a cup of camomile would you?”

“Does she need Goose Protocol?” Ash asked.

“We’re out of vodka,” I called back.

“How?”

“I was thirsty.”

“Ah, tea it is.” Ash signed off. He would get her set to rights in no time.

“What happened to her?” Jared asked behind me.

“She had the night shift,” I shrugged.

Jared took this moment to lean his hand against the bark of the tree. His big dumb hand splayed across the bark.

“Don’t touch-“ I went to yell.

“Ah! My hand,” he said pulling it away.

“Where are your gloves?” I asked. But it was too late. The vines had taken to the blood. They started to grow as we backed away. Swarming like snakes the vines folded over each other, blending into one solid shape. A gangly white boy shape. The leaves knitted together forming familiar shapes, eyes a nose and a familiar smug face.

“What the hell is that?” Jared squeaked, ducking behind me he held me in front of him like a human shield. Ugh.

“It’s you,” I said.

The creature looked at me unhinging its now pink jaw just a little too wide. “Brynn Flynn!” it smiled with bright green eyes.

“It knows your name,” gasped Jared.

“It has a snapshot of your memories. ALL of you, just a little. .” I paused, the creature still growing, limbs solidifying into a more human shape, “muddy.”

In a moment completely out of character, Jared launched himself at the axe abandoned on the forest floor. With one swing he beheaded his double.

The body disintegrated, a mess of vines falling to brown curled plant matter on the ground. The head rolled fully intact to rest against the stump of a nearby tree. His green eyes still blinking. A nightmare inducing sight. But when I turned to Jared he wasn’t staring at the copy of his disembodied head. He was staring at me.

“Brynn Flynn had blue eyes,” he said.

Ah, fuck.

“I think he’s rumbled you, my dear,” called the rambling roses from the side of the clearing.

“Shut up!” I snapped at them.

“Who are you talking to?” asked Jared backing away.

“The roses!” I said, then I winced.

His head swung between me and his severed copy as he stumbled back towards the cliffs edge.

“I can explain!” I pleaded putting my hands against his chest and skewering him with my green eyes. He took a steadying breath.

“You’re right” I shrugged and pushed. His feet lost their grip and he slipped over the rocky edge. Disappearing into the canopy below.

I sighed and picked up the severed head.

“Brynn Flynn!” It said, a little too loud.

“Bryony” I corrected.

“Bryony,” it parroted back.

Huh, already an improvement.

“Code Cabbage head,” I called into the walkie.

Ash sighed “Bring him back to the greenhouse, let’s see if we can grow him another body.”

Because I didn’t have enough to do today