Chapter 9. The Garden

With a bewildered expression on his face Charon roamed the halls of the church muttering under his breath, "School, I'm gonna go to school." His eyes were swirling around his head at the thought of it. 

Yet the swirling stopped when he approached the glass door entrance leading to the garden. Bumping his forehead into the glass he was momentarily shocked out of his thoughts. 

'Hm?' Realizing where he was Charon looked around the hall. Too engrossed in his thoughts of school he unknowingly found himself at the end of the all. 

With a hand on the door, he entered the quaint garden. 

Entering the outdoor garden he looked around at the fenced outline and the numerous plants full of vegetables and fruits lining the beds. The colors of the produce ranged from all spectrums of the rainbows filling him with a beautiful sight of natural splendor. 

Walking towards a unique-looking yellow vegetable Charon stretched out his fingers to it before being stopped by a panicked voice. 

"Stop!" Maya commanded with panic evident in her voice. 

Stunned by the sudden command from the nun, who he hadn't realized had been in the garden as well, stopped in his tracks only mere centimeters from touching the yellow plant. Slowly craning his neck to look at the outstretched hand of Maya who was mid-animation from the panicked shout. 

"Charon! Don't touch that!" Maya said in a commanding voice as she took quick strides to where Charon stood. 

Hearing the tone of Maya's voice and the pace at which she walked towards him, he shrunk away from both the plant and the woman. Pulling back his hand he feared he had made a mistake grave enough for him to be kicked out of the church, although he didn't know what the rule was he still feared his misstep. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." he apologized quickly as Maya rushed to take hold of his hand. 

Without a word, Maya grabbed his hand and brought it up to her face for inspection. After a few long seconds of waiting Maya shook her head and let Charon's hand drop to his side. 

Exhaling the pent-up air in her system Maya seemed to decompress from the sudden stress that overcame her. "Thankfully you didn't touch it, I'm glad I got to you in time or else you would have been in very big trouble." 

With his arm back at his side Charon held it up to him to try to glean what she was looking for on his hand. 

"If you're wondering what I was looking for it's this." Putting a glove on her hand she lightly touched the yellow plant Charon had tried to touch beforehand. 

Upon making contact the yellow coloration of the plant began to fade as it turned a fiery red and began to stain the glove where the two touched. Removing her gloved hand she held it up for Charon to see. 

"This type of plant turns red when frightened as a defense mechanism you see." Pointing to the red marking on the tip of her glove she continued explaining it to the young boy. "This red coloration is poison, it may not be deadly but it will burn like all hell."

Hearing Maya's explanation, Charon's eyes widened in shock at the revelation he barely avoided being poisoned. With mouth agape, he just stared at his newfound savior with sparkles glimmering in his eyes.

Right then only one thought crossed his mind, 'She's an angel.' With a sudden thought he deemed Maya to be the greatest person he knew. 

Noticing the boy's expression she let out a light laugh as she took off the glove and tossed it into a nearby bin. "Now don't go touching random plants without my permission young man or else you might get poisoned." She nagged. 

Feverently shaking his head Charon quickly pointed to a nearby vegetable in a questioning manner. Thereafter Maya would find herself naming the various species and plants of the garden for a good chunk of the day. 

Charon was amazed at his savior Maya's knowledge of all the plants in the garden and soon found out why, she was the resident care-taker of it. She had purchased and cultivated all the plants he saw in the fenced garden, with little help from the others. 

After going from plant to plant the curious child heard every name of the safe and dangerous plants in the garden. Thankfully Maya had taken measures to put all the dangerous plants in one corner far separated from the others and enlightened by the most recent incident she put danger signs and made plans for protective fencing. 

Rushing inside quickly Maya returned with paper and pen in hand and began writing down materials she would need for the preemptive measures. Nodding in satisfaction that she got all she needed written down she tossed a curious glance over to Charon. 

"Say, would you like to accompany little old me into town to collect some things?" She asked while shaking the list of materials in her hand. 

Having watched Maya write down on the paper he gathered to reason for the visit to town. Hesitant to go Charon knew what dangers lurked in the town and feared the consequences of joining Maya, but she was also the one who protected him from the poisonous plant so he owed her one. Reluctantly nodding his head he agreed to join Maya on the grocery run. 

"Great! Let me get my purse and we'll be off. Wait for me at the main doors." She said before heading towards the door.

Watching her leave Charon steeled himself for what was to come. He may have had anxious feelings about going back into town but he decided that now was the time to become a new person. It wasn't a far-fetched idea either since the day before he had become a completely different person without meaning to, he now had a home and the promise of an education from the very man who took him in. 

As the child stood there thinking about the ideals of his future self he realized his hands were shaking albeit not on purpose. Pulling his hand to his sides he clenched his fists and took deep breaths to calm himself. 

After a while when he was finally composed he headed to the main door, not having much to his people he thought a visit to his room would be unnecessary. 

Waiting around the big wooden double doors of the church he constantly shifted his weight from foot to foot until he heard the echoing of footsteps approaching him. Turning around to see Maya approaching he stood patiently waiting for her. 

"You ready Charon?"

The young boy nodded. 

At his nod, a bright smile was brought onto Maya's face, "Alright then, let's go!"