Sweet poison

Ari walks around the botanical garden, breathing in the smells from the exotic trees. The garden is a blur of colors, pink and white and yellow and blue and red. The grass is green and soft under her sandals, smothering her footsteps.

One tree catches her attention. It’s barely bigger than the little girl, with green leaves and pink blossoms covering its brown branches. A sweet smell drifts over to the fascinated child.

She takes a closer look at the blossoms. They are made of a pink duvet and effuse a smell sweet as cotton-candy. Ari closes her eyes and breathes it in.

Suddenly she feels dizzy. Heart beating out of her ribcage, black spots in her vision and mind spinning, she lies down on the soft swad of wooly weeds.

Ari lies down, squeezes her eyes shut. She inhales the sweet poison, looks at the bright sky.

And exhales.

150 words

Castille VM.

Sep 2023