The Beldam (A Supernatural Fan fiction)

THE GARDEN

Sam pushed open the creaky iron gates that led to the garden in the yard of the Pink Palace. He entered with caution, eyeing all of the strange and unusual plants that now lay dormant. There was a sense of being watched as he passed by each bioluminescent flower. Movement at his feet caught his attention. The snapdragons from the other night were once again biting at his ankles. He stomped on them to get through the tangled vines that covered the walkway.

Before he could get through the snapdragons though, something grabbed Sam from behind and as he turned to fight against it he saw that it was another set of animated vines. They curled around him and pulled him towards the well. As he was being dragged across the cobblestone, Sam got a hold of the garden sheers that fell out of his backpack and hacked at the thorny vines that bound him. They soon retreated back into the bricks of the well.

Sam frantically gathered his things back into his backpack, but not quickly enough. He heard a loud humming getting closer and closer. When he turned his head in the direction of the sound, he was bombarded by a flock of hummingbirds. Sam swatted at them as they hovered around his head and just barely noticed them stealing the stone that Miss Spink and Miss Forcible had given him. He chased after them, throwing his backpack at the flock to knock them out of the air. They fell and so did the stone. Sam quickly picked it up before anything else tried to take it.

"Why steal this?" he asked out loud. He decided to hold the stone up to his eye and look through the hole in the center of it and was glad he did. The world around him looked so different through the stone. It were as if he was looking through an x-ray of the garden and it proved that not everything is what it seems.

As he scanned the area, he soon came across a glowing red orb not too far from where he was standing. It was the only thing that stood out through the magical stones vision. He was sure that must be one of the eyes.

Before he could take another step, the praying mantis machine sprung to life without warning. Sam flinched and gripped onto the magic stone tighter so as not to lose it again. The Other Father rode atop the mechanical praying mantis, just as he had the other night. But this time he seemed to be controlled by poles and strings as if he were a puppet.

"Sorry!" he droned in what sounded like a recording. "So sorry! Mother making me!" The mechanical praying mantis slowly charged toward Sam and swung at him with its blades, trying to capture him. He backed away and dodged the blades up towards the bridge.

"Don't want to hurt you!" the Other Father continued to drone. The machine became to heavy for the bridge to handle and so it collapsed beneath them. Sam managed to hold on to the still steady railing, but the Other Father had no such luck. He went down with the praying mantis. At the last moment the Other Father broke free one of his arms and pulled the ball end of the handle in front of him. It was the glowing orb that Sam had seen. The Other Father held it up over his head as he sank into the pond below. "Take it!"

Sam scrambled to the edge to reach out and take the ghost eye from the creature that eerily resembled his father. When he grabbed hold of it, the garden changed. It quickly lost color and seemed to turn to wrinkly, pale, paper mache.

"Bless you! You found me!" a voice echoed around him. Sam looked down at the orb that was now glowing again. He could see the face of one of the ghost children in the reflection. "But there's two eyes still lost."

"Don't worry," Sam assured him. "I'm getting the hang of it." He looked up to notice the moon was forming an eclipse. He wondered if that was his time running out. Like the hour glass in a board game. The Beldam really did take her game playing very seriously.