Thorn • Scott Summers

one

The day began as an ordinary day in the life of Florence Westling. Boring. Routinely.

It was a Wednesday, and she was getting her notebooks ready to bike to Lucas's house. After she was done, she had an extra fifteen minutes, so she trekked down to the small garden in her backyard. It was a yard long and wide; she had convinced her parents to give her at least that tiny patch of soil. Despite the small size, it was flourishing with plant life. Mimosas, hydrangeas, carnations, lavender, but mostly small green plants whose names she struggled to pronounce.

She saw her mom open her curtains in the second floor window from her spot outside. She knew it usually took her mother half an hour to go downstairs after waking up, so Florence decided it was safe to stay at her garden.
She tended to it first, watering it lightly. As she was doing that, she gently bent a hunk of pink and orange flowers to the right to get the water into the soil, when she saw a small green bud. She put the watering can down and outstretched her fingers, her palm facing down. She concentrated on the bud, trying to make it blossom.
She had learned her powers really only worked if she was mad. If she was irritated, she could move plant life. But if she was full on pissed, she could grow out the vines on her house, stretch tree branches, etc. The angrier she became, the more powerful her abilities would be.

After trying and straining herself to make the bud open, she could only move it around.
It was always a sort of paradox with her; she would try to use her powers, then get mad that she couldn't, and then she'd be able to use them because she had made herself mad.

Today, that was the case. After straining and getting frustrated with herself, her anger increased. She successfully opened the bud, the flower blossoming.

In her anger, she began to over think things.

Firstly, her parents didn't know she was a mutant. If they ever found out, they'd disown her. Secondly, she had no idea where the gene had come from. Lucas had told her that mutants get their mutation from their father's genes. Her father was definitely not a mutant, as both him and Florence's mother had shown their distaste for all mutants. Florence was puzzled at first, as a child, but she later realized there was no other explanation except that her father wasn't her father.

Lost in her thoughts, in her anger, she hadn't realized that all the plants around her were growing. Fast. The newly mowed grass was now an unruly mess, the trees around the yard were thicker and taller, the neatly trimmed shrubs were now taller than her. Her garden now had twice as many flowers and the plants were flowing over the edge. And they were all still growing. Her fists clenched, jaw clamped, breath heavy and ragged.
She didn't notice her mother walk into the garden, gasping in surprise at the appearance. When she saw Florence, she screamed.

Florence turned her head at the sound, and all the plant movement stopped abruptly. She saw her mother standing in a robe with her hand on her mouth. Florence looked at her with widened eyes, a mix of fear and anger.

Neither of them spoke at first. Until her mother's shrill scream startled Florence. She had seen her mother irritated a few times, but she had never seen anything like this.

"You. You.... You're one of them! You're a- a mutant! An animal!"

Florence's anger grew, and Lucas's words resonated in her head.
Florence, although generally quiet, had always had a quick wit. She knew how to get under people's skin easily, mainly because everyone got under hers.

"I'M an animal?! How about my real father? Dad isn't a mutant, so why did this happen to me?!"

Florence's mother stepped closer, shouting in her face.
"Who do you think you are?!"

The vines on the house stretched, and more grew from the ground.

"What makes you think you know anything? Just because we put you with a good teacher doesn't make you smart! So don't try to tell me anything!"

Trees sprouted all around them from the ground, the roots breaking the soil.

"Look at this! Look at what you're doing! You're ruining my yard! You ruined everything!"

Florence's rage had never reached this point. She was boiling. She was at the point where she could destroy the whole neighborhood if she wanted to.

"You are not my daughter. My daughter will not be a freak!"

"Well I am a freak! I'm a freak and a  mutant! See this?"
Florence raised her left hand to the side, and a shrub began to grow from the ground.
"I'm a fucking freak! But I'm your only daughter! How does that make you feel!?"

Florence's mother looked like a raging bull. Her nostrils flared, face red, breathing heavily. She raised her hand to slap her daughter, but Florence reacted quickly, quicker than ever before.
She wrapped a vine around her mother's hand, pulling it back. Florence knew that would be the last straw. She would probably get beaten after that. So she wrapped more vines around her mother and pulled her back onto a bush.

While her mother was screeching and yelling in protest, Florence ran to the house.
She grabbed her backpack and dumped all the contents out, frantically pulling out clothes from her dresser.
She opened her window and leaned over it slightly, bringing vines into her room. She held the backpack open with them while she shoved in clothes. She ran out with the backpack into her parent's room, and took all the money in her mother's wallet. She was about to run out of the house, when she stopped in her tracks. She ran back to her room and grabbed a small book she had dumped out with the rest of her notebooks, and shoved it back in her bag.
She finally ran out and raced to Lucas's house on her bike.

Several people had heard all the yelling and her mother's continuous screams, and they were either peeking from the door or already outside. Florence's anger was still boiling, making her powers uncontrollable. As she traveled down the street, all the plant life on front lawns grew. People were astonished and crying out.

She finally got to Lucas's house and to her luck he was already peeking out his front door. A feeling of dread washed over him when he saw his lawn growing and plants sprouting from the ground as she ran to the door. He knew something had happened. He quickly pulled her in and shut the door.

"What happened?"

"My, my mom found out." Florence almost panted, out of breath.

Lucas was now all dread, all sadness.

"I was outside and I just started thinking about everything and the next thing I know she's outside and my backyard looks like a forest and then we were fighting really bad and now she's trapped in some vines because she tried to hit me and I didn't know what else to do or where to go and I've actually never been this mad in my life and-"

Lucas interrupted her, telling her to stay in her spot. He ran upstairs and moments later came back down. He had a small white business card, and he handed it to her.

"What's this?" She read it, then spoke again. "Gifted Youngsters?"

"I know I've said that our mutations are an obstacle. Society has made them one. But I think you should go there- it's a safe space for mutants."

Safe space? When has anything ever been safe for us?

"I- I don't know if that's the right thing for me."

"I know how you're feeling, ok? You trust me, right?"

At this point, he was the only one she could confide in. She nodded.

"I know the man that runs this school. You can trust him. I promise you. I think this is the best thing for you"

Florence was screaming internally. She was weighing her options. Then she realized she didn't really have any other options. It'd be safest for her to leave the state either way, so she might as well trust what Lucas was saying.

"I guess I don't have any other options."

Lucas hugged her and nodded.

He gave her food and extra money (that he put in her bag without her knowledge) and drove her to the train station. They said solemn goodbyes, hugged, and she was off. Her anger dissipated, and all her other emotions were happening inside her all at once.