Ezmira

Angie walked into the greenhouse and found her boss, Lisa, working at a large table where they sorted the seeds they grew. She was a curious type of character with tattoos on her face and she claimed she studied alternative beliefs, like witchcraft. But Angie had accepted it as some who was simply different and she had no place to judge.

Angie's body ached and complained from unloading bags of fertilizer and compost from the box truck. She needed to go home and sit in a nice hot bath and do nothing all weekend. But it was almost quitting time, which meant Lisa would find her something to do for the last twenty minutes of her shift and cause her to stay late. She always did it. But such was farm life.

“Angie, didja get the semi unloaded?” Lisa asked upon seeing her.

Three tall stacks of cartons, wrapped in plastic stood next to her, representing weeks worth of organizing seeds into packets.

“Yep!” Angie replied bouncing on her heels, “Jake said I did it in record time.”

“Good. You do great work,” Lisa said standing up and stretching, “I need to make a deposit at the bank before they close.”

Angie hoped she could finally go home a little early for once. Even though she loved the smells of dried flowers, canned strawberries, and compost, she was exhausted and needed to go home.

Lisa patted the stacks of cartons.

“Take these to the seed library to where they belong. They're all labeled, so it shouldn't be too hard.”

Angie suppressed the frown she felt trying to get on her face.

So much for going home on time.

“Isn't Jake around?”

Lisa grabbed her jacket and pulled out her keys. “He's out in the field repairing a sprinkler head.”

“And Ed's already gone?”

“It's just the shelves, Angie. Nothing down there will bite you,” Lisa rolled her eyes and strode towards to her truck, “besides, you go in there all the time.”

Angie was going to ask if she could go home early, but she sensed she'd only get scolded worse. She watched Lisa climb into her two-tone brown, 1989 Chevy pickup with mud splattered on the sides.

She groaned in disappointment and went into the office to get the flashlight. The library was underground to keep the seeds cool and prevent sprouting. The shelves were numbered and labeled, each seed organized by it's common name and latin name. It had taken her five months to learn how it all worked. It was like a Dewey-decimal system for plants.

Angie shoved the flashlight into her belt, grabbed the dolly, and set the foot of the dolly under the cartons. Leaning back she pulled the weight onto the dolly wheels and proceeded to march out of the greenhouse.

The seed library was was set under the warehouse with a cellar door on the side. She stopped and tugged on the doors, leaning back with her small frame to get each one open. Grabbing the dolly, she turned on the flashlight, and slowly bounced the load down the rotting wood stairs. Dust kicked up at her passing with showed in the flashlight beam. There were no lights in the library to prevent an seeds from sprouting.

As she passed the first shelves she caught the scent of something rotting, like a pile of vegetables. She gripped the flashlight a little tighter.

She pushed the load down the row of shelves to the first isle. Grabbing the list off the top of the stack she read the list of seeds to see where they belonged.

“Melons, cantaloupe, carrots, and asparagus,” She read.

She knew where they all went. She'd fulfilled seed orders six months ago in the spring. Now at the end of October, they were replenishing their stock.

The air was brisk and nipped at her like a fox running around her ankles, biting at her exposed ankles with sharp teeth. She shivered and shook it off, grabbing the first carton and placing it on the shelf. A few minutes later she had the first load completed and properly organized on the shelves.

The tires bounced up dirty stairs as she hauled the dolly up to retrieve the next load.

The trek across the yard had gone from having long shadows to only having the light inside the greenhouse as the sun set behind the horizon. The cool air seemed to make the crunching of her boots louder and the squeaking wheel on the dolly that much more annoying.

“Okay, all veggies. We've got this,” Angie grunted as she pulled the dolly back with the next load. “Who'd have thought cauliflower would give you such a workout.”

She followed her tire tracks back to the stairs that led down, and carefully guided the dolly down the stairs. She wished Jake was there to help her. He'd been doing this for so long and had farm muscles. Something she was still building.

The dolly bounced off the last step. She thought she had left the flashlight sitting on a shelf, illuminating the steps. A chill went up her back, like spiney prickles on a pumpkin vine, causing her to take in a gasp.

She stopped, holding her breath, listening.

A shadowy form appeared at the bottom of of the stairs and she let the handle of the dolly slip out of her hand. It banged to the ground.

“Ho! What's this?” A familiar voice sounded.

“Ed?”

“Yeah, who else would it be?” He said, clicking on the flashlight. “Oh shoot, were you bringing seeds down?”

Angie didn't reply, she was busy breathing again.

“I thought my wife had left the flashlight on again. I told her she needs to let me run electricity down here so we can have a light. But she said it affects the seeds.”

“Uh...yeah, it does,” Angie stated, finding her voice.

“Well, sorry, didn't mean to startle you,” Ed bent down and together they picked up all the cartons of seeds and stacked them back on the dolly. He found a paper with a list of all the seeds.

“Hmm, well, did you do the pumpkins yet?”

Angie froze. Pumpkins? She felt her legs quaver. Lisa kept all the pumpkin seeds in the lower level. It was more like a dungeon stuffed inside a cellar. Angie had only gone in there once, and she never wanted to go back. The walls were made of dirt and roots stuck out like jellyfish tines. It smelled of dirt and rot and the air was always stale. That's where she first met Ezmira. The other farm hand.

“Well, here's the light. I gotta go do some weed burning,” he said.

He handed her the light and stomped up the stairs and was gone before Angie could find her voice.

Months ago, Jake had hidden in the dark and spooked her. She cried for an hour afterwards and almost quit, but she needed the job. It paid more than the burger place.

She quickly placed all the seeds on the shelves and jogged to the stairs. She hoisted the dolly and scampered up the stairs. The sky was completely dark and the only light was the one inside the greenhouse.

The dolly bounced over the uneven ground as she pulled it as fast as she could.

“Last one...let's see what we have...”

Angie felt the blood drain from her face as she read the label.

Pumpkins: Special strand. Lower library.

“Nooo!” Angie groaned. “Why is the last pile...ugh!”

Lisa had created her own special breed of pumpkins. She even had a patent on them. They grew fast and large, and had a thin, strong wall and had a deep orange color. Perfect for decorating. Lisa shipped them all over and they sold out of them every year.

“But the lower library...” Angie's voice went up a few octaves.

She stood there, debating whether to take leave them at the top of the stairs and hope that Ed came back and would put them away, or just hurriedly rush them into the tomb of seeds. She hated the lower basement. It was unnaturally cold down there, the ceiling was lower, and the shelves were close together, which forced her to carry the cartons by hand.

She put her arm on the stack of cartons and leaned her head against it.

Angie knew she couldn't slack off. This stack of seeds represented a huge profit for the Robinson farm.

She gave in to the logic and positioned the dolly so she could slide it under the tower of seeds. It was heavier than the others and she grunted to get it balanced. She began the long walk to the hole in the ground.

Standing at the entrance, Angie clicked on the flashlight and shone it down the stairs. She could see hers and Ed's footprints going up and down the stairs. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the dolly ahead and guided it down the stairs. Each step creaked and complained, punctuating the still silence with the popping whine of wood.

Angie stopped when she reached the bottom, feeling a little better she was halfway there. She turned the dolly to pull it over to the corner where the other set of stairs led down. She could see on the ground that no one had been over here in a long time.

A scent of something fetid, like a grandpa's bad breath came over her shoulder and she spun, shining the light around. The smell lingered in her senses and she kept the light steady. She had smelled all kinds of things at the farm, and this one was new.

She paused, fighting her emotions. She should leave the seeds here and tell Ed about it. But she knew she couldn't. She needed to be reliable.

Steeling herself, she hefted the load forward and locked the flashlight under her armpit, pushing the dolly onto the first step.

The stair let out a long squeal of wood bending, protesting loudly from the weight. Angie ignored it and pushed ahead. Each stair creaking like a wood ship in a storm.

Angie was about to reach the bottom when her foot slipped and she fell backward. The dolly slipped from her hand and bounced down the stairs, crashing into the shelves. The light bounced down the steps and stopped near the pile of boxes.

Angie froze for a moment, rubbing her elbow. She felt the blood from where she banged it hard.

She fought against the pain and climbed down the stairs to grab the flashlight. Shining it around she only saw the rows of shelves and the dirt floor. Most of them held old tools or boxes of papers. Some of them had plastic pumpkins and melons for decorations.

There was nothing else.

She sat, rubbing her elbow. She'd need a bandaid for it.

Grumbling she stood up and began picking up the cartons, organizing them. She was halfway through when she heard the sound of something heavy and wet thumping across the ground. She shined her flashlight down the isle and at the far end she thought she saw a pumpkin get dragged around the corner. But she reasoned it was a reflection from the decorations. Still, she watched it for a moment, listening.

When nothing more happened she shrugged it off. She was tired and this stress was definitely causing her to see things.

Angie grabbed some of the cartons and began placing them on the shelves. She noticed that some of the shelves she passed smelled like moldering vegetables that stayed on the vine too long.

Angie returned to the seeds and had to cut the plastic wrap open to get the next load. These belonged further in, near Lisa's collection of gardening, genetics, and agricultural books. She was turning to leave when a smell akin to an old dog's panting passed over her.

She spun, hitting the flashlight on the shelf, looking for the source. But there was nothing.

She hurried back to the dolly. The sooner she got this done, the better.

Grabbing two cartons, she scurried down the next isle and shoved them onto the shelf, knocking a book off on the other side. She ignored it and went back to the dolly. Grabbing another armful, she put those on the shelf.

When she got back to the stairs, she found she had to loads left. Relief washed over her and she picked up the next carton. These were the special collection, taken from the largest pumpkins, and sold to competitors.

A distant shuffling of paper envelopes caught her attention. Angie wanted to run, but her body wouldn't respond.

She rationalized it was a breeze that had somehow made it down the stairs.

“Hello?” She said, trying to

“It's just me, dear,” a tired, old voice sounded.

“Ezmira? Why are you...where's your light?” Angie shone her light towards the direction of Ezmira's voice.

Angie could barely see the fuzzy edges of her hair in the darkness.

“Oh deary, I know these shelves like the back of my hand,” Ezmira old, raspy voice stated.

“I was...putting away seeds,” Angie said.

“I know.”

Angie shook off the dread and strode quickly down the isle with her load, when she tripped and fell down. The flashlight bouncing away and going out.

“Let me get that for you,” Ezmira's voice sounded like dry leaves blowing.

A moment later, Angie felt the flashlight pressed into her hands. Ezmira's hands were dry and cool, but the tips felt sticky, like working with tomatoes.

The lens on the flashlight was covered in dirt. She cleaned it off quickly as Ezmira left, again the sound of a melon or something being dragged across the ground.

“We...uh, we had a good crop this year,” Angie tried not the let her voice shake.

“Yes. It was a good year.”

“Lisa wants to experiment with some advertising. Everything else has been word of mouth,” Angie said as she made it back to the dolly.

“That's good.”

Angie grabbed the last of the cartons, and scurried down the isle.

“It's pretty interesting, I think, a business based on seeds,” She reached the end of the isle and placed the seeds on the shelf. Embedded in the wall was a shelf. She'd been in this spot once before and there was an old, dried pumpkin plant that Lisa had kept on the shelf.

“Yeah, but it's funny,” Angie found she couldn't stop talking, “I don't like pumpkins...much.”

She raised the light to the shelf, and it was empty.

Angie turned and saw dried pumpkin vines and leaves on the ground. They were moving towards her, stretching, reaching.

A smell of putrid vegetables wafted over her from the side, with the shuffling of leaves.

Angie screamed and turned and ran for the stairs.

A vine shot across the shelves, tripping her.

She felt the prickly, rough grasp of the vine as it began wrapping around her leg.

Angie screamed, grabbing the shelves, trying to pull herself free. The vines clenched on her leg. She reached down and tore it off, the spines tearing her hands, drawing blood. She kicked and thrashed at other vines which extended from the side, grasping at her.

“No! No! No!” She cried out.

Using a shelf she pulled herself up and yanked boxes and cartons off the shelves The flashlight fell from her hands, shining towards the stairs.

The vines parted the boxes and cartons just as Angie gained her feet and bounded up the stairs.

Suddenly she slammed into a large figure who grunted.

“Angie?” Ed's voice asked.

“M-monster! It grabbed my leg! We gotta get out!” Angie breathlessly begged.

“Hold on,” He said, taking a a step back.

She felt the vines starting to wrap around her leg again. She fell, scrambling to get away.

“Run Ed! Run!” Angie sputtered.

The vines curled around Ed's leg. Angie grabbed them, fighting to yank them off.

“Angie, you're tripping me!” Ed started to say.

She didn't wait. She twisted the vine off and in the faint light, she ran up the stairs, hearing Ed call out.

Sitting outside was the weed burner torch that Ed had been using. Ignoring her bleeding hands, she grabbed it up and ran down the stairs to help.

She found him partly wrapped, fighting to pull the vines off. She light the torch and shoved the flame against the vines that were coming up the stairs. They writhed and pulled back, scratching the wood stairs as they went.

Angie saw in the faint orange light, an outline of a figure with rotting pumpkins hanging on it.

Grabbing Ed she helped him to his feet and they fled out of the seed library.

Angie slammed the doors shut and guided them back to the lit greenhouse.

“What was that?” She demanded.

“What was what?” Ed replied, still shaken.

“That—thing! I was talking to Ezmira—”

“Ezmira?” Ed interrupted. “That's Lisa's first plant she bred, years ago.”