Blood & Bone: An Anthology of Body Horror by Women and Non-Binary Writers by A.R. Ward

Author:A.R. Ward [Ward, A.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Ghost Orchid Press
Published: 2021-09-21T22:00:00+00:00

I wake up early the next morning to prepare. Thick trousers, long socks. I can’t risk them riding up to expose an ankle. A turtleneck shirt, long enough to pull up and over my chin. Finally, a balaclava. Aisha laughs when she sees me.

“You look ridiculous!”

“Not as ridiculous as you’ll look with flowers sprouting out your butt,” I retaliate. “I’m not risking one of those things getting its roots in me.”

“They will not sprout out of my butt!” Aisha replies, offended. I smirk, and with that we’re off. It’s a short walk to the giant, sprawling forest that surrounds and protects our village.

As we get further in, we start seeing wild blooms—thick luscious bushes with deep red heart-shaped leaves and no flowers. Aisha runs towards each one we see, plunging her arms into the foliage and rooting around before withdrawing them. I stand back expectantly, ready to console her each time her arms come back bare. I’m sure she’ll find one eventually, and hopefully I can be a good friend and feign happiness when she does.

After hours of searching, she’s still found nothing, and the sun is beginning to set.

“We should head home,” I tell her hesitantly. She won’t like to hear it, but it’s not safe to be here after dark.

“Just one more bush,” she pleads.

“We’ve checked all the bushes around here. It’ll take ages to find another one. We need to go before it gets dark.” Her face darkens.

“I know you hate the blooms, but this is what I want,” she snaps. “We’ve got plenty of time to try once more. You’re just worried that this will be the one.”

I stare at her, shocked momentarily into silence. This isn’t like her. Before I can even defend myself, she turns around and runs off.

“Shit. Aisha, wait!” I run after her, catching my foot on a root and sprawling into a bramble. I extract myself painfully, thorns tearing at my clothes and skin, and keep chasing her.

I find her kneeling by a bush we’ve already checked, arms deep in the tangle of branches and leaves. She pulls them out and sighs with disappointment.

“Aisha…” I begin, walking slowly towards her.

“I’m sorry about what I said,” she says, straightening up. “I didn’t mean it. You’re supporting me by just being here. It’s just so frustrating. I’ve been coming out here for months now, all for nothing. It feels like…” her voice fades away to nothing as she turns around to face me, eyes widening with shock. She raises a hand and points. “Maya, your arm.”

I look down and my blood freezes as I see the tiny plant fixed to my arm, roots worming themselves through the rip in my sleeve. They’ve already entered my skin, blood crusted around where they’ve entered, flesh parting around them to allow the invader access to my body. I can see the veins in the leaf swelling and turning red as the plant connects to my own veins, my own heart betraying me and pumping my blood off to a parasite.

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