I suppose it's time I fully divulge the truth I have come to bear witness…
…
This is Professor Vernon Hawthorne. The date is…
Is…
Dammit, I can’t seem to recall
…
Never matter. I am recording myself in order to best recount the wound tale that’s haunted my every waking hour since its occurrence. If you’ve come to find this record and I am nowhere to be seen, I imagine I’ve met a tragic fate. I believe this story requires a forewarning at the front end. I would say, in the not too distant past, most in the community would refer to me as a decent, reputable man. Today, I look in the mirror and see only a coward. One I wish I could strangle to his pitiful death.
I am a drunk and a recluse who remains in his home, awaiting his manufactured demise. Though I know not how it will happen, only that it will. The madness out there is bound to find its way into my domicile.
If only, I didn't..
But how could I have known such an insignificant thing could become…
IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF THAT DAMNED HIVED!
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The day began as ordinary as any other. The only notable thing at the time had been the onset of the spring equinox. Marking a pleasant day for Davy and me to take our usual walk throughout the neighborhood. Which began to a frustrating start- Davy, a Siberian husky, found himself particularly distracted by the myriad of scents wafting his way. Something attributed to the renewal of life the season brings, I suspected.
At first, I recall being fairly annoyed as to the constant stopping-and-going Davy suffered me through. Until a sweet floral scent carried by a gentle breeze brushed past me. The fragrant aroma instantly put me at ease and I allowed Davy the ample time to take in all he could. This is his time, after all, I should respect as much.
It seemed the neighborhood had also come out to enjoy the day. Indeed, a sleepy town, but one filled with pleasant and decent people. After the seemingly never ending winters, it’s no surprise the people cooped up in their stuffy houses jump at the chance to enjoy the change of the season.
I passed a small patch of grass known to the children of the town as “The Circle”. As per usual, whooshing sticks whiffed through the air as the children played stickball. Each time one of them missed their swing, which seemed to be all of them, they howled and jeered at one another. All at the deft hands of a boy known to me as Eugene.
I find it disrespectful withholding Eugene’s full name, though, such eludes me at the moment.
Eugene and his family lived on the same block as Davy and I. In truth, I find most interactions with children irritating and awkward, but the boy Eugene was, okay. And Davy, while friendly to all but favoring only a few, very much enjoyed the boy's skilful ear-scratching technique.
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Another breeze pushed against me and with it again, the sweet floral smell. This time a bit stronger, but enough to ignite a sense of pleasantry to my senses. I allowed my nose to take the lead and followed the invisible trail left in the wake of the sweet scent. It hadn’t been our usual walking path, but Davy seemed pleased enough with the deviated course.
The straying path led us through an opening between trimmed bushes. Though, I noted, in comparison to the majority of well-kept greenery throughout the main town, these appeared to me as less maintained. I speak on this trivial matter of the mind, not because of its importance- because it's here when I came to take notice of which, at the end of every stray thought, the trailing scent grew ever more prevalent.
And so I shifted my thoughts towards identifying the peculiar scent. Honeysuckle, I first presumed. And while I make no claims of a botanist of any sort, I recalled it being too early in the season for honeysuckle to bloom. My second guess, based on my limited floral knowledge, had me considering, perhaps, jasmine?
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And if only it had been that simple.
A flower.
I’d have stopped for a moment, brought its petal to my nose, and after a few moments, we’d have been on our way.
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There weren’t many others who shared this divergent path. However, I came to pass only one, the loathsome Ms. Rathcliffe. The moment I had seen her, a daydream flashed before my eyes- In a feral fit, Davy leapt through the air, fangs leading the charge to sink into the neck of the wretch in front of me, and I awash in spraying blood. I certainly speak with a dramatic flair, but I’d wager any person alive, past, present or future would feel just the same after suffering no more than five minutes with the woman.
Of course, she had beeline towards us the very second she spotted Davy and I.
The three or four minutes she prattled on felt like a lifetime in hell. I, of course, nodded my head in ignorant agreement towards which of the denizens in town had wronged her in some menial and very likely unbeknownst way. Only hearing every other word she spouted, I believe her prattling today focused on a neighbor’s cat that looked at her crossly. All the while, frothy spittle let loose from Ms Rathcliffe’s yellow-toothed mouth. When the time finally felt appropriate, I smiled at the tedious woman and explained I’d need to continue on or Davy could become a real menace without his proper exercise. She then screwed up her face in a way she now looked like a wrinkled raisin and scowled at poor Davy before exhausting a large huff of frustration and skittered off.
Finally, the secluded walkway grew silent once again. Davy zig-zagged from side to side on the narrow path, snorting like a hog as he took in every scent he could. Distracted by his haphazard manner, I came seconds away from failing to avoid a sheet of slick mud. A simple sidestep off the path remedied my issue- however Davy marched directly through the sheet of mud as he crossed to join me. The small impressions of the four paws he left behind amused me.
Had it been the Mona Lisa itself lying there on the ground, Davy would have changed nothing. With absolute indifference, if there were a tree the pup perceived viable to mark, Davy would sully any-and-all in his way.
Returning to the path required a quick detour around a large section of shrubbery. Though, before we could do such, the sweet floral scent, this time arriving almost aggressively, brought me to a complete halt. The aroma felt as though it had sharply injected into my senses. Taken so unaware, I winced and felt my eyes grow watery. A dull but throbbing sensation pulsed within the ridge of my nose and a spout of dizziness took hold of me. Without a moment to grasp this rapid onset condition, my short-lived affliction fled instantly. I took a few moments to myself and considered the sudden fit- perhaps the beginnings of seasonal allergies? Though I knew it was only an excuse I had hoped to trick myself into believing.
Once more, the caressing wind carried the sweet aroma, and I embraced the scent and found no issues- allowing me to assume the strange event was no more than a paradoxical error of the human body. I recollected myself and took a step forward until I noticed the fragrant floral smell no longer came from the direction in front of me. At least not anymore. No, the smell had now come from above.
That’s when I saw it. The hive.