The moment I wake up, joy washes over me. No children making loud noises and asking the same questions for the hundredth time, even for the topics we have already covered many times before.

I brew myself a cup of strong coffee and pour it in my "Luckiest Teacher in the world" cup appreciating the irony. I haven't felt lucky in a while. All I have felt for the last few months is drained.

Therefore, I take my coffee out on to the porch to enjoy the wonderful quietude of my colorful garden.

Unlike teaching, gardening has always been my passion. It soothes my soul to be in touch with nature.

They say that I treat my flowers better than I do people and that is true. After all, flowers don't make your day harder, they somehow make it all better.

As I am slowly sipping my coffee, enjoying its rich taste, strange shivers run down my whole body and I know in that instant that something bad is about to happen. My instincts have never failed me before.

Suddenly, the tree in my neighbor Tom's yard starts moving as if it were alive.

However, Tom doesn't notice as he proceeds to chop off its branches once again.

Before Tom can do that, the branches extend into tendrils and pierce him multiple times. His screams saturate the air as the vines enter all of his orifices, spreading with the speed of wildfires.

I grip my mug firmly, frozen in fear. I wish I was hallucinating, but the cacophony of screams that fills the air tells me otherwise.

As I stare at Tom's dead body, he starts moving towards my house, blood pouring out of all of his cavities. The tree has become a nightmarish puppeteer, directing Tom's lifeless body for purposes I can't understand.

Suddenly, the empty eyes fixate on me, and I know that I am next.

All I can do is slowly back away from the approaching figure. However, when he reaches my garden, he stops in his tracks.

"The flowers tell me that you tend to their needs and don't pick them. That's rare for a human." The slow voice from the puppet of a man says.

"They beg for you to stay alive. Do you promise to continue taking good care of them?" he asks.

"Y-yes, I do." I stutter.

"You'll stay alive then." he says.

"What about the others?" I ask.

"They die. Nature takes over, and we operate their bodies to tend to our needs, to heal our wounds," he says while leaving.

"Thank you," I say to my flowers as they gently sway in response.

"I might as well finish my coffee," I say sitting back on the porch.

I do my best to ignore the screams of agony, allowing the coffee to wake me up enough to tend to my flowers. After all, they did save my life.

On the plus side I won't have to go back to teaching ever again.