MY WORLD - The worm

Part II

The dying dandelions whose last seeds they offered up to the night sky stand shrunken and arched this spring morning, inky tears that smear the white of their eye. Their stems so spindly, they almost collapse from the weight of their own heads. Eden absentmindedly tramples over a few whilst looking up at the sky. Small raspy shrieks explode from under his shoe. Even when he hears Petunia's springy steps approaching from behind him, he feigns innocent idleness.

“Hey! Eden!”

A bright-eyed face greets him when he turns around.

“Ever the morning person, huh?” Eden smiles, replicating hers.

“That's not something that just disappears overnight, dummy,” she laughs.

The two of them join the stream of red uniforms entering through the school gates, side by side. Eden glances down at her. First, at her cherry lips, he suspects she's wearing lipstick for a change, then over to the collar of barbs coiling around her neck, digging into the skin.