Secret Garden

by Sundew

Chapter 3

“Are you kids all ready for school?” mother asked us. We had just finished breakfast and it was time to start walking to school. I noticed that Vee was squirming in her chair during breakfast. She must be so nervous. I know I was my first day of school.

“I am!” I replied back, but she was busy attending to Wheeler’s inability to button his own shirt. I went over to Vee and helped fix her dress. It was big on her, but we hoped she would grow into it during this year. ‘We’ being my mother and me.

“I-I’m not f-f-feeling well, Sundew,” she said, looking down at the floor while I fixed her sleeves.

“Cheer up, Vee. You’re just nervous, but you’ll feel better when you get to meet a bunch of fillies and colts your age,” I assured her. I finished fixing her dress and put her saddle bag onto her back for her. She smiled up at me and I did the same.

“Now you kids have a good first day of school,” mother said cheerily as she gave both Wheeler and I hugs and kissed Venus on the cheek.
Wheeler and I got our saddle bags and we were off on the road. It wasn’t a long walk to Baltimare from our cottage. Besides, we went to a school right on the edge of town. As we walked I noticed Vee was still looking distraught, so I thought of a way to at least get her talking. “You’ve never been to the schoolhouse, have you?”
“N-no…” she said, face still pointing straight to the ground.

“It’s really nice looking,” I assured her. We went to a private school, since our father was a rich man.

“Th-that’s n-nice,” still not engaged in conversation.

I knew I was losing her attention fast, so I had to try and keep her spirits high. “Well, just remember that when you get home, you can go back to your garden.”

She didn’t reply. “S-s-s-sundew… I j-j-just r-reeeaaally don’t f-f-feel g-good,” she finally cried out as the school house finally appeared around the corner. She was in tears and I could tell she was hurting. It may have been nerves, but it was hurting her more than normal.

“Do… do you need to go home, Venus?” I asked her, still walking towards the school. Wheeler stayed quiet and in the lead as always. He seemed unfazed by our sister’s feelings and behavior.

“P-please S-s-sundew…” she whined, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Her legs were shaking and she could barely walk.

“Wheeler! Hey! Wheeler!” I shouted to him, who now had a considerable gain on us. He finally stopped and looked back at me.

“What do you want?”

“I, I have to take Venus home. She’s not feeling well right now. Can you tell the teacher I had to take her home and that I’ll be back shortly?”

“Ugh. Fine, but she’s just wussing out. She’ll be fine when she’s stuck in class like the rest of us.” Venus looked up at me with a concerned face. “Just tell her to deal with it.”

“I can’t do that. I’ll let mother decide if I made a good decision when I get home,” I told him. I knew she had to go home whether Wheeler agreed or not. “Come on Vee, I’ll take you home,” I said, scooping her up and taking flight.

“What hurts Vee?” I asked her, nuzzling her cheek to comfort her.

“M-m-my b-b-body just h-hurts!” she cried out.

“Shh, shh. It’ll be alright. Sundew’s here.” I held her close to my body an she buried her face in my shirt.

“Th-thanks for t-taking me h-home S-sundew,” she said, her voice muffled through my shirt.

“I’ll always be here beside you, Venus,” I assured her, now I’m tearing up too. “We’re almost back.” The autumn leaves fall dead on the ground as I breezed past the trees. Vee continued digging her face into my shirt, holding on like her life depended on it even though I had a firm hold of her.

I finally arrived back home and I quickly burst through the doors to find my mother washing dishes. “Sundew?! What are you doing back so soon, is something wrong?” Mother always knew best. Say, if Wheeler came back home early from school, she wouldn’t give two thoughts about it and would most likely expect he was skipping out. However she knew something was the matter when I came home, especially with a filly crying in my arms. “Is everything all right?”

“Venus isn’t feeling well. It might be nerves, but- but she could hardly walk,” I explained to her as I went to Vee’s bedroom and set her down on her bed. She curled up quickly on her bed, shaking.

“Venus?” she asked tenderly as she kneeled at her bedside. “Tell mother what’s going on.”

“E-everyt-thing j-j-just hurts mother,” she cried out, her voice was higher in pitch, as if in extreme pain.

“Little filly, everything will be alright, you’re safe here,” she said and motioned for me to bring some tissues to clear the filly’s face. She wiped the tears tenderly from her cheeks as if picking up each individual tear. “Show me your face, clean as the morning.’ I know things were bad, but now they’re okay~” she sang to her, like a lullaby.

“What can I do?” I asked, watching my sister twist and turn in pain. I felt helpless. I was left in a cold sweat with my eyes slowly tearing.

“Well. It’s only the first day, so you may stay here with your sister and keep her company while I run and get a doctor,” she suggested. If not, she would just simply fly her to the hospital.

“I’ll stay with her and make sure she’s okay, mother,” I told her as I moved closer to Venus. Mother kissed Venus on the forehead and left quickly to fetch a doctor.

She lay there, writhing in silent pain. I started petting her mane with my hoof. “The doctor will be here soon and make everything all better. You’ll be okay; you’re just having a bad anxiety attack.”

She grabbed hold of my hoof and hugged it close to her. She was squeezing harder than she ever had. “S-s-s-sund-dew...? C-c-can y-you h-help m-m-me get th-this d-dress o-o-off?” she asked quietly, as if losing the voice to speak. I could see that the dress was constricting her and probably made the whole ordeal more uncomfortable.

With much difficult, I finally was able to get her school uniform off of her. She kept having muscle spasms that made the whole process much longer than usual. “Did that help?”

She didn’t say a word, only nodded. She soon fell asleep, but I stayed with her all the while. Even in her sleep, she would have random spasms. I could see she started sweating profusely at one point. I didn’t dare leave her alone though. Not for a second. Luckily the doctor was a pegasus like mother and was able to quickly come to our house.

The doctor was a very old stallion, but seemed very knowledgeable. He adjusted his glasses and took a quick top-down look at Venus while she was still sleeping. I’m guessing he was looking for obvious signs of some sort of sickness. He adjusted his glasses, which had fallen down his snout again. He put a thoughtful hoof on her shoulder. “Venus. Venus, I need you to wake up for me.”

Vee woke quickly but was scared of the doctor at first until she realized that mother and I were there too. “Huh?” she asked a little dazed and confused. I don’t blame her; we were all a little confused.

“What ails you, Venus?” the doctor inquired.

Venus looked at me with worried eyes and I just nodded at her. “M-m-my wh-whole b-b-b-body h-hurts,” she finally told him.

“Hmm,” he said thoughtfully as he took out his stethoscope and held it to Vee’s chest. She winced under the cold metal of it. “Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Ah! Irregular, but I’m willing to believe she’s just scared of the stethoscope. I’ll have to take a blood sample an examine it.”

“B-b-b-blood s-s-sample?” Venus asked her eyes wide and her voice shaky.

“It is an elementary way to find what is making you sick, foal. Do not fret, it only stings momentarily. Just a quick prick,” he said as he pulled out a needle. Venus’ eyes grew three sizes as soon as the needle was in view. “Sera, you may wish to hold her for this.”

Mother moved quickly into the usual position. She kneeled down next to Venus to tell her all the usual ‘it’ll be fine’ and ‘you’ll be okay.’ Venus wasn’t going to have any of it though and she protested every step of the way. She held down Venus while the doctor sunk the needle into Vee’s foreleg. She screamed, but I was expecting it.

“There foal, we’re finished for now. If you’ll excuse me Sera, I’ll need some time to analyze this back in my office. I shall make haste to find what afflicts your daughter.” The doctor seemed like an honest stallion that truly cared for the wellbeing of his patients. He put the syringe with the blood into a special case in his doctor bag. He slung the bag of his shoulder and trotted out of the house and took off into the sky.

Venus stayed in a state of shock as she looked at the pin-size hole in her foreleg that a small amount of blood trickled from. She rubbed her leg with her other hoof, still in pain. “Are you alright, Vee?” I finally approached her.

She didn’t need to say anything. The look in her eyes told me that she was enduring the worst pain a filly could at her age. I slumped down and gave her a hug. “It’s only for now, Vee.”