Chapter 1 - Rivumpt's Black Flower

Two hours after Mrs. Estrada's funeral, Nelson awoke to the sound of his mother having an attack. He sprung out of bed to assist her and was able to calm her down. She had been bedridden for four years and lost her ability to respond and comprehend her surroundings two years ago. After helping her out, he woke Chris and Faye up, his two younger siblings.

"Was mom having a fit?" Faye asked

Nelson quickly responded with, "Yes, she'll probably have another one tonight, so you two should stay somewhere else if you two want to sleep,"

"Is Oliver's family alrig-" Chris asked,

"I don't want to stay there; they're mean," Faye interrupted

"You both need to agree," Nelson told them

Nelson, Chris, and Faye left the house. It only took a minute before Chris ran in front of Nelson and Faye, who left Nelson when Beata called her over. It was just like this every day with the Greene family and would only be like this for a couple more days until their dad returns home.

Nelson was at the bridge, connecting the two sides of Rivumpt, the west side and east side, to each other, when he saw a younger kid named Otis. Otis was ten but was the smallest and weakest of his age in Rivumpt. Otis was also one of Mrs. Estrada's grandchildren.

"How has-how has everyone been doing, Otis?"

"Fine, I guess. It's not like we haven't had something like this happen before," Otis responded,

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Nelson said back, relieved Otis seemed to be doing better than he had expected him to be.

"Did you hear Imaan's sick again?"

"What? No, what is she sick with this time?"

They talked as they walked over the bridge to the east side of the town. The east side of the village was more open compared to the dense west side. It was often the play area for children, while the adults worked on the west and the border. No adult ever worked because they had to each one did it either to help provide to their neighbors or because they had a passion for what they did.

"Is your mom doing all right?" Otis asked

"Yeah, fine, why do you ask?"

"You all just left with...different...faces than usual,"

"She just had a bit of a fit this morning, nothing unusual,"

"Well, at least Chris and Faye were both born after the 57th generation,"

"Yeah, speaking of, did they say when the next test is happening?"

"No, but it's been two years it, will probably be soon the test takers will most likely show up with your dad,"

"Yeah, that's true," Nelson said, looking at the ground while he did so

"Nelson," Otis said

"Yes?"

"Chris is climbing a tree again," Otis said, pointing at a tree

Nelson immediately sprinted toward the tree, yelling phrases like "Chris! Get down right now!" and "Last time you fell and broke your knee!" Nelson quickly got Chris out of the tree, and when he did, the rest of the children gathered up.

"Are we all playing a game today?" one kid asked,

"That sounds good," another kid yelled back,

Otis was counting the kids when Nelson asked, "What game?" Kids started yelling out different names when Otis interrupted to say, "Lewis is missing."

From there, the kids decided to split up and find Lewis before starting. Nelson ran the fastest out of every kid due to the age difference between him and everyone else. Most of the kids in the village averaged to be about six years old, and Nelson is 13. Otis had trouble staying close behind Nelson but still tried. Nelson ran half of the field, and past the recently boarded-up well, when he found Lewis, a tall, slightly chubby yet still athletic five-year-old. He was sitting under a tree reading a book next to Sybil, a 12-year-old who didn't often go outside and didn't know most kids in the village.

"Lewis," Nelson said, panting, "We're going to play a game if you want to join us,"

"Sure!" he said, getting up,

"Sybil, do you want to join too?" Lewis asked

"No thanks, I'm good," she said, in a monotone voice

"Please, Sybil," Lewis begged, "It will be short, and it'll be fun,"

Sybil, with no change in her facial expression, closed her book and stood up. "Sure," she said. Otis then caught up to Nelson, who was still panting from the long run. Lewis then ran back, and the other children slowly went back to their gathering circle as they saw him. Sybil walked steadily behind him, along with Nelson and Otis.

When they returned, they all wanted to play something different. So the children decided to let the three oldest kids, who were Nelson, Sybil, Otis, and another kid named Matt, choose what the game would be.

"I'm fine with whatever," Nelson said

"I think hide-and-seek-tag," Matt suggested

Otis and Sybil nodded their head when he said that, and the rest of the children agreed. Lewis agreed to be "It" to teach Sybil how the game works and how people play it. He and Sybil started to count to 100 as the rest of the children hid. Some kids hid in the bushes around the east side while most kids ran across the bridge to the west side. The only rule was to not go to the borders of the village. Otis ran as far east as he could to hide in the bushes. Nelson debated where he could hide most of the kids were hiding on the west, so Lewis and Sybil's attention would most likely be there, so he should avoid the west side. Nelson decided going into the bushes was his best option. As he looked for a good group of bushes to hide in, he remembered the opening that led to the bank of the creek. It was directly south, so the seekers wouldn't look there, and it also gave him lots of escape options once they did find him.

Nelson sprinted to the small opening and ran down the steep slope that led to the bank. He then found small enclosures where he could hide. After picking his spot, the voices of Lewis and Sybil got louder as they reached the end.

"98, 99, 100," they said

"Ready or not, here we come!" Lewis then shouted as loud as he could, letting all of the children know he was coming. Nelson didn't see what was happening at that point, but he heard the grass rustling as Lewis and Sybil ran. It only took a minute before he heard rustling come toward the opening to the bank. Nelson stood still for a minute. He held his hand over his mouth as he waited. Then he heard a thud; Lewis had just taken a loud step. Lewis took another loud step, then hurried down the slope. Nelson got out of his spot, getting ready to bolt away. He then looked behind himself and saw that it was not Lewis who he heard but was instead Sybil. Sybil immediately tried to chase after Nelson but was slow enough to where Nelson could watch for a minute before blazing away from her. As he ran, he ignored all of the rocks and water in his way, getting his leather shoes wet.

As Nelson ran, he stopped hearing Sybil's footsteps and assumed she had run out of strength. Nelson looked behind, ready to taunt her, but he saw her looking at something to his right. He ended up tripping over a rock and saw what she was looking at:

Matt was there. Matt was laying belly up toward the sky. He wasn't in the water though he was floating above it. Small balls of water floated with him, and the water rippled as it moved down the stream. Matt's head was tilted upward, with black soot coming out of every hole in his head. Black soot also extruded from small holes on the bottom of his arms. The black soot looked to be lifting him above the creek.

Nelson laid on the ground still, and Sybil stood still; they watched as Matt moved down the stream above the water. Nelson slowly took his hands and lifted himself, still watching Matt. When Nelson stood up, he watched Matt for a brief moment before breaking out into a sprint toward the land.

"Wait!" Sybil yelled, stopping Nelson

"What? We need to get him-"

As Nelson was speaking, a large and loud bell was rung. "Come, quickly!" an adult's voice yelling. Sybil immediately ran; Nelson hesitated but quickly followed. The kids all left their hiding spots and ran toward the bell outside of the village. As Nelson ran past the bridge, he thought about Matt. "I need to tell everyone," he thought as the bell was rung again, "but Sybil said not to, there must be something up, but..." Nelson continued to think.

The kids ran past all of the houses on the west side, then past the gate that separated the outside world from Rivumpt. It was here that adults started to join the children outside of the town. As everyone arrived, the bell was rung again. Then, the final family showed up, and Mr. Sadiq, who was ringing the bell, stopped.

"Everyone!" he said

"As you all know, I have tendered to these crops for years of my life. All day, every day. Which is why I say I am sure when I say that the reknag-ukdal flower has bloomed once again." He said as he opened his hand. In his hand, was a black flower, fully bloomed

"More candidates, 50 years earlier than usual," Sybil thought,

The meeting was short, with some families leaving immediately after hearing that the flower bloomed. Mr. Sadiq couldn't keep people's attention for long, with the little information he actually had. As Nelson left, Sybil followed him. Nelson reached the east side when Sybil said, "We still need to talk." Nelson said nothing, only nodded.

They walked over to the opening in the creek and walked down into the bank again. This time, Matt was nowhere to be seen.