ORCHARD 2

I             w       a         k          e                u          p       .

A bird!

WOW!

I love birds! But you know that, don’t you?! I love EVERYTHING!

The bird is very black, kinda like a silhouette, and very little. I’ve never seen a bird that black before, or a bird that little. Or maybe I have…? Deja vu?! How peculiar! It’s on my lap. Why isn’t it scared? Actually, no. I don’t care. It’s here now and I like it. Who wouldn’t?! Birds are awesome!!!

It pecks me.

That's actually so mean. I’m extremely offended.

Then, it flies off…into the very blue sunny sky, minus a few white clouds floating around. The sun is like, super yellow. And the grass is super green. Like, pure, raw, unfiltered green. All the colors here are raw. Even the trees are very green. Even the trunks are like bright brown!! The trees also have fruit on them. Sphere fruit. Square fruit. Triangle fruit. I like the triangle ones because they're purple.

Wait a minute.

Where am I?

Nevermind that question! I see another silhouette bird come out of a square fruit tree. Or maybe it’s the same one. It makes some clicky sounds before landing on Apple’s head. Oh wait, Apple’s here?! Hi Apple! He’s still asleep though…

It pecks him. I’m genuinely upset.

He wakes up as the bird flies back to the tree. I practically jump on him. Why? Because he’s my little brother and therefore needs to get up NOW so we can go explore cause I’m not leaving him here alone. That would go against sibling rules.

“Apple!!” I shriek, “Look at THIS place!!”

“What…?” he mumbles all static-y. For some reason when we are tired or sad our voice does that. It’s kinda cool though. Also proof Apple’s wrong about the whole no-feelings thing.

“Look! Everywhere!”

Apple sits up, and stares at me before glancing around. Then he starts to visibly panic because that's what he does every morning. Seems worse today though. I wonder why!

“Code.” He starts, “What. Did. You. Do.”

“Literally nothing.”

“Where the FUCK are we?!”

“I dunno, but it’s pretty cool, right? Much better than that dusty old shack…” I grin.

“Are you serious right now?!” he exclaims, “You have no idea where we are, we woke up in the middle of nowhere, and you think it’s okay?! What if the GOVERNMENT took us to DESTROY us just like they originally planned and this is some psycho holding cell-”

“Oh, they wouldn’t go this high budget for some ‘low-lifeless objects like us.’ Nobody cares about us enough to do that, according toooooooo…” I boop Apple on his stupid screen, “The great Apple, You!”

“Code, this is SERIOUS.” He says super seriously.

“Okay. Tell me what we should do then.’”

He goes completely silent. I smirk.

I get up and skip around, “It’s sooooooooooo cool here!” Then I grab one of the triangle fruits.

“Don’t eat that!” Apple exclaims.

“Why?”

“It’s probably, like, poison!”

“That is amusing. I had previously believed poison primarily affected biological beings with digestive systems.” I say smartly using as many big words as possible. Then I bite the triangle fruit.

Woah……..That. Is. Delicious!!!

“CATCH!” I shout, throwing one to Apple. It hits him square in the head. He doesn’t flinch.

“I’m not eating that. Especially not with you watching.”

“Why are you so embarrassed about eating?!” I groan, “You’re like a teenage girl! I know you don't have a ‘conventional’ mouth. I DON'T CARE. TRY THE FRUIT. It’s good! Super duper sweet! Like CANDY! And it’s crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside and it’s soooooooooooooo good…”

I can tell Apple is offended over the teenage girl comment. Then he reluctantly eats the fruit. To keep him from bashing my head in while I sleep, I won’t explain how.

“It is kinda good…” He admits., “Okay, fine, it’s really good. Maybe we won’t get destroyed here after all.”

“YAYYYYYY!!!!!” I exclaim, happy Apple isn’t as worried anymore, “NOW LET’S GO!! EXPLORE!!!”

“No. No. No. We need to stay HERE. What if we’re here for a reason?” Apple says, worrying again.

The bird comes back and lands on my head. It tucks its legs under itself, loafing a bit like a cat.

“Wasn’t that the bird on the card…?” Apple points out suddenly. I feel stupid for not noticing before. I pick it up off my head, and it tilts its own head at me. It’s strangely shaped for a bird, but there’s no question it is one. Apple’s right!

“Yep!” I say, “You’re ri-”

“Oh my god…! Oh my god…!” Someone exclaims, before I know it I almost get knocked over by a seemingly very worried long haired girl who is also super brightly colored. Her hair is blue and her skin is blue and she's very blue except her clothes and eyes which are mainly hot pink. She's wearing overalls and she has wings and she looks super cool.

“Hey, you! Have you seen my schill? Anywhere?” she says worriedly, shaking me and paying no attention to the bird in my hands.

“What's a schill?” I ask confusedly.

“They’re black and small and they have wing-”

“This guy?” I hold out the bird to her. She gasps and takes it.

“That's her!! Oh, thank you!!!” She exclaims, embracing me like I’ve accomplished something great. Apple stares at her.

“You’re welcome!!” I say like this is normal.

She takes a good moment caressing and petting her schill.

“You know,” she says, deciding to make conversation, “I’ve never seen you around before, and I’ve seen nearly everyone who comes around the Orchard, are you a tourist?”

I look at Apple for an explanation because he usually explains things when I don’t know them. He looks as dumbfounded as I feel.

“We have no idea where we are!” I declare confidently.

“Are you new then?” she asks, confused.

“New?”

She suddenly stares at her schill, “Oh, Blossom, you’ve grown up!!” she says, then she starts crying.

Apple gets worried again and stands up, going up to her, “N- No! Don’t cry!!”

“It’s happy tears,” the girl says between sobs, “This is a great occasion…If she’s brought new souls to the Orchard, it means she's full grown…that she can finally help people find their meaning…”

Apple doesn’t say anything. Neither do I.

“I apologize, I’m Cotton,” She announces, no longer crying, “This is Blossom, my schill. Though I suppose you don’t know what a schill is…”

“We don’t.” I mumble.

“They’re similar to birds, as mortals call them, in appearance,” Cotton explains, “But they couldn’t be more different. They do not mate, or have babies. When they are full grown, they go to the mortal realm and bring a few people here so they can learn the meaning of life. For each person they bring a new baby schill rises from the Orchards pond.”

I stare at her, Apple does too.

“We're in, like, a fairytale!!! Wow!!!” I skip around happily because this is the best thing to ever happen.

Apple gives me a worried glance before looking at Cotton, “I’m sorry miss…but there's likely been a mistake…” I nearly fall. “We're not necessarily alive…”

Cotton gasps once more, “Not alive?! That’s not possible!!” she then stares at me and Apple very closely.  I glare at Apple very closely.

“That means we’re gonna have to bring you to Gumdrop!!”

“To WHO?”