#Writever 5 — Némésis

My backyard was a mess, with pots of tomato plants here and potato plants there, with a blackberry bush taking over the unwary near the house, not to mention a few hanging orchids, coleus, and perennial geranium. The lawn had long ago turned to hard dirt. The borders around the edges were overrun with nasturtium,. Toward the back, below tall fragrant cedar, was a wildflower garden that had been recently cleared because everything was spent, except for tall wild marigolds that waved in the breeze, and tiny phlox blooming a cloud of white. 

In my mess, I'd planted a few fun things. My sunflowers. Giants as tall as Hagrid, with just as sunny an expression when they bloomed. Sunflower smell special and sweet, and I'd recommend planting just for that.  This year, I'd planted enough that the seeds actually had kernels inside the husks.  

Today, I wanted to harvest.

The first drooping head looked strange. Downtrodden, like someone had pressed it to carry a sack of bean and it had bent over under the load. 

It was bent over.

And half of the head: Missing. Darkness faced me, as if I viewed a skull chopped, no halved, by a raiders sword.  

I rushed forward, but it was too late for the sunflower clan. My entire village had been ravaged. On closer inspection, I saw they'd been eaten, still bearing their progeny, eaten alive. Three, no five, no all of them! Chomped by an indiscriminate monster.

And. Oh horror. I rushed to by small planting of watermelon radishes. The dirt around them had been excavated by tiny paws. Each was gnawed at the plant ankle, the rest of the plant lying over. The red interior made each look like the leg of an animal, dead, having bled out.

I hissed. "Squirrel!" I swore and stomped around. I was glad the yard was fenced it in that moment.

A chittering came from my right, up on the telephone line. I looked. My bushy nemesis twitched its tail, blinking and regarding my behavior. Curious. 

I stooped, grabbing a stone.

I missed.

The fluffy monster, who was in no ways cute, stood on two legs, chittering loudly, swearing and cursing at me, no doubt.

I threw another stone. Another. I'd never been an athlete. What made me think this would work?

I threw again.

Missed.

Then heard the neighbor's window shatter.

#EntertainOrDie
#BoostingIsSharing
#CommentingIsCool

#fiction #fantasy #sf #sff #sciencefiction #writing #writer #writers #author #writingcommunity #writersOfMastodon #microfiction #shorts #ShortStory #shortstories #flashfiction #tootfic #smallstory #RSstory