Title WIP-Flowers

Ma had always told us to be careful whenever we went out into the woods. There weren't any bears or wolves or nothing, so she wasn't too worried about us getting carried away by some carnivore. Nor were there too many cliffs, and Abe and I were always careful about where we put our feet when we were out as well, ruling the worries of snakes, snags, and sudden falls from Ma's mind. I think the main reason she always told us to be careful in the woods was because of the woods themselves. 

    Well, I guess I mean the trees and the plants and stuff. The things that make the woods the woods, ya know? Those I think are what got Ma worried, 'specially with Abe. He likes the plants alot. I mean, I do too, but i'm old enough to know better than to go rolling through every bush I see and shove whatever looks good in my mouth. I remember the time Abe made himself a cape of thunderwood, and dear lord was that misery for him! Ma switched his ass real good even before the rash started, and once it did she was sure not gentle with the lye soap and brush. I can still remember hearing Abe's cries all the way up over the hill. He learned his lesson though. Hasn't touched thunderwood since. 

    "Mary! Where are you! I found somethin neat!" 

"I'm comin over to ya!" I called out. I could tell where he was by how his voice sounded. Its a skill I got pretty good at after having to find him several times only by the sound of his crying. I found him crouched in a small little clearing in the trees. The entire floor of this clearing was covered in these little blue-purple flowers. Abe was crouched down right in the middle, his back turned to me. The tree branches I pushed aside creaked as I walked into the clearing. Abe's head whipped around to look at me. He smiled a big ol grin at me, revealing purple stained teeth. 

"You've got to try these Mary, they're great!" He said, holding out a grubby handful of these little, blue, round berries. I stopped dead. I had no idea what kind of plant these flowers were, or the berries that came from them, but Ma had always warned us to never eat any berrie from the woods before telling her. I smacked the berries from Abe's hand before grabbing his mitts in a death grip.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING! DO YOU EVEN LISTEN TO ANYTHING MA SAYS?" I gave him no time to respond, pulling him to his feet. We started off running back towards home, Abe already hiccuping and crying. I could tell he wanted to plant his feet and throw a fit, but I was having none of that. I wasn't sure if we had time for that. 

    We got home quicker than we ever had before. Ma was out back pinning laundry up on the line when we burst from the woods. We ran up to her, and her eyes flicked from my terrified face, Abe's sobbing one with the purple stained lips, and then the bits of crushed flower stuck to my shoes and the bottom of my dress in an instant. I didn't even have to say nothing before she was moving. The linens she let drop onto the grass and she ran inside. Abe had stopped crying, but now had an arm wrapped around his middle. Ma came out of the house with a little brown glass bottle. She walked right up to Abe and pinched his nose tight shut with her fingers, forcing his head back at the same time. He tried to make noise, but Ma was having none of that. She poured some of the stuff from the bottle down Abe's throat. She released him and stepped back. 

    Outta Abe rocketed sick like I had never seen before. He dumped everything he had ever ate right out, right there in the grass. The sick made a pool of purple-ish goo, and reeked to high heaven. Once Abe was done, Ma grabbed him up and carried him inside. I didn't know what else to do but follow. Ma tucked him into his bed, and that was when I got scared. Normally  he would be whining and complaining about being put to bed, but he said nothing. 

    It was like that for the next few days, too. Abe stayed in bed, making almost no noise. He would whine occasionally, and squirm around, but he didn't ever try to get up. Ma would try to feed him several times a day, and sometimes he would keep it down. Though, more often than not, he would sick it right back up into the pail Ma had me sit next to his bed. 

    One day, Abe's already pale face gained a blue color, like those of the flowers we had seen. When I saw that, I thought that he was dying and had gone crying to Ma. She held me for a moment and patted my back. She gave Abe some more medicine and water before she went back outside to get the laundry on the line. I yelled at her for doing that, for working when Abe was so obviously sick, but she just turned to me and told me there was nothing else that we could do except wait. I was gonna keep yelling at her, but I decided against it when I saw her hands shake as she pinned up the clothes.  

I wasn't sure how many days went by like that. One morning after I finished helping Ma fold, I went outside to dump Abe's pail. I walked around to the back of the house to throw it where Abe had already spilled. I dropped the bucket before I got there. The sight of thin and supple green stems growing from Abe's spill surprised me. I looked closer, holding my nose as I did, to see that the top of the plants were beginning to bud, light purple and pale blue petals just visible through the split green side of the young bud. 

"Mary..." came a weak voice from the house. I didn't bother picking back up the pail. I think I even might have kicked it as I ran back into the house, I don't really remember. Doesn't really matter either. All I could think about was the color of those flowers, and how much they had looked like Abe.