10.

blossom

As I raised my arms above my head, there was no pain. Almost unbelieving, the disease that had plagued me had vanished. The alien nurses had tended me, and made me well.

I looked over to my attendant, a healer by the human name of Alice. Her skin was so dark it seemed to absorb the light, her frock painfully white against her. Her plump lips stretched into a smile and her orange eyes narrowed gently. "There is a price for the cure." she said, her fangs making her English lisp slightly. She gestured with a clawed hand to my chest.

I put my hand to my breastbone and felt soft, silky petals. A pink flower had blossomed out of my chest. There was no pain, only a slight discomfort that comes with having an alien thing in your body. I looked at her, confused. She sighed. "Your healing took many seeds. You must give them back. Each flower gives a seed. Come back every three months, we will harvest them." She smiled again, but I found no comfort in it.

I had traded death for slavery, a walking farm.