-Chapter 1: Garden of Madness-

Maximillian Ryland, Demton, 5/29/2021 09:21 a.m.

The sun illuminated the room in which I slept with its glistening light and woke me up. I slowly opened my eyes, dragged myself up, and stared somewhat sleepily into the room. Despite the dark design, the room seemed quite friendly thanks to the sun. The room was quite small and covered with a gray carpet. In general, the room was very poor in color and decorated only with a few photos and photo prints. The only thing that really made an impression was the golden fruit palm in the corner on the out-of-place, light-colored table. After I first realized that I had woken up, I first had to think about what had happened last night. It was a nightmare, as so often for quite some time. Many people often have the same dreams, sometimes several times, sometimes the dream changes. Sometimes several dreams the same dream. It is an inexplicable phenomenon. This time, for the second time in a row, I dreamed that I was walking along the floor of a gray canyon, while a toxic green sky with black clouds stretched menacingly overhead. Nothing more happened. But still, it was now time to get up. I swung out of bed, dressed briskly, and went about my morning routine.

Arriving in the living room it smelled of tea and my sister Marina (or just Rina) was standing with a brown teapot in her hand. This had a handle in the shape of a Chinese dragon, was made of clay, and was decorated with her favorite flower - the lily. I walked up to her. She carefully poured tea into two cups and then put the teapot down. After she noticed me, she greeted me: "Well, it's about time. The tea has just finished. Sit down!" She is always so caring, almost mothering, even though she is only two years older. But I shouldn't mind.
I sat down and let my eyes wander around the room. All this ancient, dark and ornate wooden furniture gave off an aura of times gone by. Some of them were antiques. I especially liked the large pendulum clock with its golden, moving pendulum. Marina turned on the TV and it was playing boring, inconsequential breakfast television. To get around this one, I tried to wrap Marina in conversation, "What are you up to today, anyway? How's your commission going?"
Marina replied, "Well, I'm going to take a quick look in the garden to see what I can do. Otherwise, I will finish the job afterward. I just have to do the eyes. Then I would be through with all the orders. I think I will sew something for myself after that. I'm thinking an overweight dragon, or a giant plushie slug to cuddle. Or maybe..." There followed a monologue of several minutes about what ideas she had and which should be implemented. Her creativity seemed inexhaustible. The nonstop monologue was mentally draining, but still more contentful than the much more exhausting television program. Fortunately, the news started.

"Good morning. I welcome you to the latest daily news. The glassy flower, which is responsible for numerous power outages, has now arrived in Demton. Yesterday, between three and five o'clock in the morning, about 25 percent of households and some public institutions experienced power outages, which can be attributed to the appearance of the very same plant..."
As the news continued, Marina and I looked at each other with displeasure. This could mean that we would probably be evacuated soon because so far the flower could not be stopped. Rarely did it stop after a one-time power outage. After a week or two, the spooky power outages are usually over, but it's definitely going to be a bit of an annoying time.
"Oh man," my sister moaned, "this is all going to be really interesting, but also nerve-wracking. Hopefully, there will be an explanation for all of this at some point."
"Yeah, you're right about that. However, I think it's kind of...exciting."
"It is, but at what cost?"
Marina looked a little serious and then took a sip from her tea. She put the cup down and then got up to get ready for work. I took it as a signal that I should also leave now because I wanted to run errands in town. Marina picked up her bag and said goodbye with, "Don't do anything stupid! Take care of yourself. See you." I just replied clumsily, "Yeah, that's all right. You know me."
"Yeah, right."
"You're mean."
"No. Bye."
"...Bye"
Then she left the house. I, on the other hand, dozed for another good quarter of an hour due to my tiredness, and then slowly went to town as well. Still quickly turned off the TV and I was off.

After an unspectacular bus ride, I was in the city center. Although it is a city center, it was more like an old town. Everything was very artfully decorated and no two buildings were alike. The sidewalk was made of different colored, shapeless cobblestones. The buildings were sometimes half-timbered, sometimes brick, and then there were buildings with engravings and carved paintings and pictorial stories from the past. Everything seemed as if the place had been a witness of different times, which, however, stopped at some point. My destination was the tea and herb store opposite the bus stop. Going there, I crossed the lightly traveled street and finally entered the store through a glass door. The store had a counter in the middle with some distance from the wall with various odds and ends for sale. Mainly candy and good luck charms. Behind the counter was a continuous shelf full of teas. Only a door to a staff-only area slightly disturbed the otherwise immaculate symmetry. In all directions were shelves with more teas, some decorative stuff, herbs, and herbal blends, spices, and, of course, tea sets. The dark wooden floor made the whole store look very cozy and would be great for a kind of café, but only with tea. Of course, the jingling, Tibetan singing bowl wind chimes at the entrance should not go unmentioned.
I picked up a few varieties of tea, including oolong tea. This variety is my sister's favorite tea. I, on the other hand, like it too, but prefer iced tea on these warm days. For this reason, black tea must not be missing either. I just can not forget to still get juices from the beverage market, because the juices there tasted the best. Especially for homemade iced tea.
Going to the counter, the salesman behind the counter greeted me: "Hey, also back. I hope you're generating some decent sales because I'm afraid it's a little empty here today."
I grinned a bit and replied, "Well, if I get everything for free, I'll make sure you have the best sales of your life. I'm afraid I can't help you out too much with your revenue, though." The salesman laughed briefly and spoke, "Yes, I just wanted to serve you a bad joke on a silver platter. I knew you would answer that way. But on a different note, are you going to the water park today? It's a new opening today, isn't it?"
"We'll see, but not so much. Some other time. It's probably too crowded there."
"You're right."
The clerk scanned the items and I gave him the money. We said goodbye and I left the store.

Back on the street, I walked in the direction of the beverage vendor. Past the old-fashioned street lamps and with equal distance from each other standing trees on the sidewalk.
Halfway there, I caught sight of the public botanical garden. A very wide staircase with large steps led to a huge glass dome that enclosed the garden. Of course, there was also an ascent for wheelchair users. High hedges separated the stairs to the glass dome from the rest of the buildings on the street. It looked almost majestic. Admission was free. My eyes glanced towards the beverage market and after a brief consideration, I decided to take a short detour into the garden.

I entered the dome and let the atmosphere of the garden take effect on me. A path paved with brownish bricks led to the most diverse areas of this garden. Did I mention that the garden was really huge? In any case, I walked along with one of the many paths, all surrounded by the sea of flowers.
On my way, I passed a small meadow with play facilities for children, so it was a small playground. A little further was even a barbecue area! Only here, for safety's sake, supervision and other safety measures were taken not to endanger the garden. Good that the dome has open windows.
A little later I arrived at a place with some more exotic plants, like hibiscus. I sat down on the nearby bench and rested. There were quite a few people around despite the new opening of the water park. The bench I sat on was very simple made of wooden slats with metal legs. In the surrounding area, besides a few people, you could even hear birds chirping, which perfected the feeling of nature. Rummaging out my iced tea bottle, I enjoyed this quiet moment. But fatally, a pack of tea fell out of my pocket and fell into the hibiscus bush next to the bench. However, when it hit something in the bush, there was a short but clearly noticeable vibration wave through the ground. At that moment, I winced briefly and then noticed the people near me scanning their surroundings in confusion. They had probably felt the vibration, too. Whispers started.
Does it have anything to do with my tea? It was exactly at the same time. I looked into the hibiscus bush, but couldn't see that much. So I wanted to reach for the tea, but when I reached for it, I felt something else. A feeling of cold glass, only softer. At that exact moment, vines growing on the glassy flower shot out of the ground, as if they wouldn't let me pick up the tea. But maybe they were angry that the tea seemed to fall on them. These were the thoughts I would have had if I had a cool head. But no, I startled myself and cried out. Even the last people noticed now that vines and glassy flowers shot out of the ground and tried to enclose me.
My pulse was racing. Very fast. With my flight instinct and adrenaline, I started to flee. I took my first step and already felt the tendrils on my leg. The tendrils were fast. When I then started to jump, the tendrils quickly wrapped around me and held me tight. So fast that I did not realize it so quickly. I cried out in panic for help and moved uncontrollably to free myself. However, for some inexplicable reason, I felt my strength leave me as if it were being sucked out of me. I fell silent and had hardly any energy left. I could only hear the panic of the other people and the thought that perhaps my last hour had come was very depressing. I became more and more tired every second until my senses finally left me.

-Chapter 1.5: Re:Garden of Madness-

Marina Ryland, Demton, 5/29/2021 11:02 a.m.

One building after the other passed by my eyes. I was on patrol and driving through the city of Demton with my colleague. It was slightly cloudy and my partner Ron had just gotten us a coffee-to-go and a tea-to-go, respectively. It was obvious which one was for me. Didn't taste as good as my tea at home, but better than nothing. The tea had already cooled a bit, so I took a sip...marginally tasty. I looked back at the street while Ron drove the car.
At the corner of a building, I saw a glass flower that, like everyone else in town at the moment, had sprouted several shoots. This specimen, for example, had three blooms and shone in the sunlight. It was disturbing. "Oh Ron, what is happening? It's the third plant I've seen. They didn't have this shine before, just like multiple flowers. I'm afraid we'll be getting orders to evacuate soon. It's unlikely to be a good thing."
"Hmm, I think one doesn't want to cause unnecessary panic. So this will take a few more days. I hope things calm down, but I don't think they will."
I sighed because that's exactly what I didn't want to hear. It's true, I like gardening or rather gardens and would like the city to be greener, but not like this. Sometimes one's wishes come true. However, different than one hopes for.

A while passed, we left endless people, buildings, and trees behind us until we approached the botanical garden. There, a picture of panic emerged.
What on earth was going on there? "Ron! I'll report our observations and call for backup!" Said. Done. I led the way while Ron went with me to provide backup. We didn't know what to expect there. Instead of waiting, I wanted to see what was going on. I was anxious on the one hand, but also terribly curious. Not a good combination in this case. Quickly we went up the steps.
Someone came up to us and said very excitedly, "Watch out! There are climbing plants there that take up the whole garden. It all started with the hibiscus! Everything was vibrating!" He then hurriedly ran on.
We both looked at each other in bewilderment and walked briskly through the entrance. Entering the garden, we couldn't believe our eyes. Creepers everywhere. There is still enough open space to walk through the garden, but the plants have already conquered much for themselves. Intrigued, I said, "Wow. It's quite exciting. I love gardens, but this is pretty cool." Ron interrupted me, knowing I would probably give a long monologue and forget the seriousness of the situation. "Sorry.", I replied. We moved at a fast pace through the maze of creepers with countless glassy flowers. Apparently, no one was there anymore. In the meantime, the reinforcements also arrived, which nevertheless continued to search for people.

Ron and I wanted to go to the place the fugitive talked about earlier. A place with hibiscus. Well, as long as it's not thorny roses...
It would be hard since many plants are already covered. We would only find a handful of hibiscus. "Where is the hibiscus located around here?", I asked. Ron replied, "There's a plaque over there. Maybe there's some kind of map or directions." We hurried over there.
Behind the plaque was a large bed of roses of various colors. It was a horrible sight. But fortunately, the creepers partially covered these gruesome plants and also adorned the posts of the large sign. There was a good reason for my hatred of roses. Traumatic childhood memory was full of thorns. But enough of that. We looked at the sign. In fact, it was a map of sorts with location information. Thanks to the sign, we now knew the way and headed there, passing many creepers and other flora. I found this so exciting, like in a movie. But as a cop, it is but rather inappropriate.
Arriving at the site, there was a noticeably thick knot of creepers. Almost like a cocoon. There also grew particularly many glassy flowers. Above all also some, which grew independently on from the ground like an ordinary flower, as it was also the case in the city. Curiosity seized me and I touched one of the flowers.
It did not crumble.