This is my earliest serious attempt at a short story which I wrote as a creative assignment for my high school Botany Club which I was part of at the time. The story follows a young girl named Iris who sees plants as a waste of effort to care for but suddenly finds herself in a kingdom populated by anthropomorphized versions of them, where she is dubbed their sole protector. While written for an assignment, it was never published by anyone and finalized December 2023.

Plants were something that Iris never thought about too often which is ironic considering her name is literally that of her mother’s favorite flower. She was never one to own a plant of her own because she believed that there is no point in keeping around something that is bound to die anyway. “Mom, plants are a waste of energy” is what Iris would often say whenever her mother tried to convince to buy one. “You get one, try your hardest to keep it alive and it ends up dying anyway.”

  It seemed as of lately though, plants began to pop up into Iris’s life more and more whether she liked it or not: Floral themed school dance, learning about plant life cycles in her science class, a community garden near her home. While most people would just think nothing of it, Iris saw it as a sign. Sign of what? She was determined to find out. That night, she stayed up until the late hours of the night researching what all the sudden pop-ups of plants in her life could mean (because that doesn’t sound insane at all). 4am and still nothing. “Ugh! This is pointless! Whatever, I’ll figure it out later.” With that, Iris collapsed face first onto her bed and fell fast asleep. 

As she slept, Iris began to dream, dream about…flowers? Looking around her dream world, the giant vines and numerous flowers there seemed to have a mind of their own: lowering down to her level and lifting her up into the air. “Woah, this is trippy,” she replied as she looked up into the beautiful blue sky, admiring the serene sights around her. In the midst of her sightseeing, Iris suddenly heard some rustling in the nearby bushes causing her to whip her head around both curious and wary. “What in the world?”, she asked as she slowly approached the bush and kneeled down to peer in to see whatever was in it. 

The bush rustled again making Iris get a lump in her throat at whatever could be in it but still the curiosity consumed her and frantically, she looked in between the branches of the bush to see….a flower boy? No like, a boy literally made of flowers. Iris’s eyes widened in total shock as she immediately backed away from the bush like she had just seen a sniper in it. “Oh my God! What the heck is that?!” She quickly got to her feet and was going to walk away like that never happened, afterall it is just a dream, it’ll be fine. But as soon as the spooked girl turned to leave, the little flower boy started to cry, not very loud but enough to be heard by Iris and make her heart melt a little. “Oh God, please don’t make me regret this.” 

Stepping in front of the petal-faced boy, she holds out her hand to him, “Alright weird little flower guy, I’m not gonna hurt you. Take my hand.” The fantastical child hesitantly places his delicate hand in Iris’s and sits up in the grass, wiping away his tears from his previous little crying scene. With a satisfied smile on her usual neutral face, Iris asks “So what’s your name, kid?”  In a shaky, clearly scared voice the boy responds, “I-I am called Florian.” 

Iris notices Florian’s terrified tone and tries to sound as non threatening as possible, “Nice name, little guy. I’m Iris.” As if a flip was switched in the flower boy’s head, Florian suddenly leapt to his feet and looked at Iris with admiration etched out in his eyes. “You are the Iris? The one I have heard to be the greatest protector of all the flora in the world?” Excuse what? Did this…child just say Iris is a protector of all flora? 

With a giggle in her voice, Iris replied “You serious? Me? I think you have your people mixed up, kid.” That sentence seemed to have absolutely no effect on the flower child’s hopes as he continued to look over the girl with his young, curious eyes as if to assess what Iris could be capable of. “I am positive it’s you. You look just how I imagined”, Florian decreed with a newfound confidence in his voice. “I must tell you of a problem that ails me, Lady Iris. I hope that you can help.” Lady Iris?! He gave her an official title now? What is going on in this dream?  

“Umm well I can try I guess”, the girl responded, not too sure how this will turn out but for whatever reason she seems to trust Florian (maybe it’s the big, innocent eyes). Huge smile now plastered on his face, flower boy Florian guides Iris through the plant-filled world which is chock full of various flower species like Snapdragons and Marigolds, even other types of plants like Thyme. “Wow, this place is so pretty. Where am I?” 

Florian turns his head back to Iris with a confused expression “Didn’t you know? This is the ever growing Plantae kingdom.” Oh that is rich. It sounds fancy and it’s scientifically accurate. At the sound of hearing where her dream has taken her, a small laugh escapes Iris’s lips, “Plantae kingdom? Well that explains why you’re made of flowers I guess. What kind of flower are you exactly?” Cocking his head to the side with large, white eyes Florian responds with pride in his voice “I am a white carnation. Aren’t I just the coolest flower you’ve ever seen?” 

“Sure you are, kid,” Iris answered while trying not to break out in laughter at the boy’s proud nature. “Anyway, you said there’s a problem you need solved. What exactly is this problem?” Florian’s light steps then came to a hard stop as he looked back at Iris with a face that looked like it was just about to cry. (Jeez, this kid has some mood swings.) “Well umm the problem is umm…” Ok, he’s stalling now. Iris becoming slightly annoyed barks out, “ Kid, just spit it out already!” Taking a deep breath, Florian says in a meek voice “One of the village kids, Yellow Hyacinth, keeps bullying me. Saying that carnations are weak flowers for babies.” A…Hyacinth flower? Is he serious? “Ummm…ok? Well, where is this kid?” Iris questioned looking down at the white petal-faced boy, wondering if this is really just some dream or if she really was stuck in this plant world.

Pointing out in front of him, Iris sees another flower boy leaning against what looks like a streetlight made of an oak tree except this flower boy seems to be a bit bulkier than little Florian here. Taken aback by the size difference, Iris stares for a second too long before turning to Florian and asking “So you want me to help you by doing what to this kid?” 

“I want you to tell him off!” Florian declares with a determined look on his sweet face. Chuckling to herself once more, Iris starts walking up to this Hyacinth kid, setting in motion one of many missions that she will most likely face with this new found title of “Protector of the Plantae Kingdom.”