Chapter Text
It’s a nice, chilly autumn evening. In the midst of the city, the ever green Central Park is bathed in misty orange, the sun setting behind the clouds, giving time for the streetlights to prepare themselves.
All sorts of people wandered about, resting under trees, breathing fresh air, catching up with friends after a day of work. Of course, none of these were limited to just adults, weary parents taking children of all moods, from bubbly to moody, for some time out of buildings.
As such, it was never quiet, full of everything the city life tends to suffocate. Like the chatter of a group of youngsters.
“Your dad went to Europe and all he brought back was some olives?” A girl in a baby blue dress asked, her little face scrunched in disappointment. “That’s lame.”
“You can’t even eat those, they taste icky!” A brown-haired boy added, sticking his tongue out, before pausing. “…they look icky!”
All comments were directed to another boy, his face reddened in frustration as he clutched the tiny fruit in his tiny hands. Sure, it looked a rather ugly brown, but it was a gift!
A very ugly, useless gift, but still a gift.
“I’m not gonna eat it, you idiots!” He grumbled. “I have a genius idea.”
The other two blinked as a devious smile spread across their friend’s face. He tapped at the dirt with his foot, crunching the grass underneath with his sneakers.
“Let’s plant it. That way it’s no longer here and I can tell my dad I did something good today!”
The girl grinned and nodded, nearly letting her hairband fall off. She quickly grabbed it, messing up her own hair as she set it back.
“Ooh! Yeah! Then we’re gonna have more trees here. But we need to find a place to dig a hole…”
“Like a graveyard.” The brown-haired boy mumbled, snickering.
“Rick, cut it out!”
Rick simply shrugged, glancing at the area around him. The park was constantly full of people; it would be very tough to find a spot and time to perform their plan as smoothly and stealthily as possible.
The other boy joined him, hand stroking his own chin like an imaginary beard.
“Let’s meet up here right after school and plant it somewhere random.”
“Yeah, and then the grown-ups are gonna come after us.”
“Then we’re gonna get really sneaky about it. Like… the hard mode of hide and seek.”
The girl finally relented, throwing her arms in the air.
“I’m tattling on you two if we get caught!”
“Aw, c’mon, Charlie, don’t be a party-pooper!”
“Sorry for not wanting to get grounded over some olive!”
Rick paused for a couple seconds before grinning wildly, rubbing his little hands like a villain.
“You can do… anything you want as payback. There!”
That made Charlie perk up.
“Anything?” She repeated.
“Anything.”
The two devious children turned to their friend.
“You in, Nick?”
Nick sighed, cradling the olive one last time, hazel meeting brown and black.
“I’m in.”
-
At the same place, the trio of children met once again. The sun was no longer present, the moon covering its eyes from their endeavors, granting them the darkness and silence required to execute their flawless plan. If you could ignore the streetlights and their permanent presence in a city.
Nick, Rick and Charlie scouted the area for any sign of adults seeking to interfere or even worse, send them back to their parents. They had to be quiet and precise.
The best attributes every elementary school child possessed.
Just the way it started proved it perfectly, as t o say that Rick was dumbfounded at what his friend had been concealing in her backpack the whole day was a severe understatement.
“For someone that planned on ratting us out, you went all out! How did you get your mom’s shovel?”
“Oh, shush!” Charlie huffed back. “I told her it was for a project!”
“What kinda project needs a shovel?!”
“I dunno, a fun one!?”
“Guys, if you keep talking, we’re done for!”
T he bickering duo turned to their friend, face mostly obscured by the shade. He crossed his arms, hands clenching and opening, his feet twitching as if resisting the urge to pace around.
“Let’s just plant this thing and scram!”
“Okay, okay, sheesh!” Rick raised his arms in surrender. “So, uh… what do we do first?”
“You dig up a hole and put it in the dirt.” Charlie recited, pulling at her memory. “Oh, and also water it… wait, does anyone have a watering can?”
“Uh…” Nick rummaged his backpack, patting around in the near-null light. Books, more books, his pencil case, a random pencil, something big and cylindrical…
He waved it a bit. It sloshed with liquid.
“I have a water bottle.”
“That should do.”
The trio immediately got to work: Charlie recalling her mother’s attempts at gardening as Rick and Nick did their best to follow. It started off as nicely as you’d expect, with the brown-haired boy digging a hole large enough for a rat to sleep in.
“You’re marking a place to plant, not digging up a grave!” She chided, yanking the shovel out of his hands. “Seriously, if you can mess this up, how are you gonna handle playing dolls with me?”
Both boys froze.
“Whoa, what?” Rick sputtered. “No way!”
“Yes way! You said you’d do anything!”
He froze a second time. Charlie flipped his plan on its head.
“A-And what am I gonna do, make your doll go buy a pink dress?”
She snorted, flipping her red hair as she adjusted the way too large hole in the dirt.
“No, you’re gonna help a witch escape an evil group from using her heart in a spell!”
For five full seconds, crickets filled the silence as four eyes blinked, the cogs very slowly turning in their heads. Whatever image they had of the other girls in their school seemed to crack ever so slightly.
“…you’re weird.”
“And you suck at gardening.”
With the bickering mostly down – and the hole finally adjusted for an object the size of a fingernail – , Nick could finally finish what he started. He glanced one last time at his barely visible hand, feeling the strange, ugly little fruit in his hand.
He placed it down without much ceremony, sighing to himself. The deed was done, now all that was left was to bury it deep. Rick grumbled as he swept the dirt back into place, the olive slowly losing its sight of the moonlight.
It was done.
“Hey, you forgot to water it.”
…almost done.
Nick uncapped his water bottle, waving it around again before taking a swig from it as if it were beer.
“And don’t just pour it!” Charlie crossed her arms. “It’s like rain!”
“Sheesh, I know that much!”
Wracking his brain for a solution, he opted to place his hand over the small pile, dripping water onto his fingers. It dripped gently onto it, seeping into the soil, hopefully to its destination.
“There!” Rick exclaimed, beaming. “Mission complete!”
The trio laughed and cheered as Nick drank the rest of the water and closed the bottle. Finally, they got rid of that strange gift! Plus Central Park was close enough to all their houses, it should be easy—
“Hey! What’re you youngins doin’ here so late!?”
…
“We’re screwed.”
“Yeah.”
“Nice meeting you all.”
New mission: scram back home and pray for the best. A grown-up’s wrath is the last thing they want.