The following is an excerpt from a short story I’ve written. This excerpt may not reflect the final version of the piece. Larry has been asked by his Mother-in-law to bury the leftovers outside, to help fertilize the soil in the backyard of his new home.

The tangled mass of weeds stared at him blankly from across the small patch of would-be grass.  The cool in the air seemed to be emanating from it, and it bore an earthen scent.  Larry stepped forward quickly and slung their leavings into the bushes. He hoped the women were not standing at the window, or they would surely launch themselves into a fit knowing he didn’t bury the ‘fertilizer.’  He stared at the rice and beans dripping off the bushes, waiting for some sinister tangle of vines with dark eyes and big sharp teeth to swing out and gobble them up. They never came.

He stood there, staring at the bush with the plate hanging from one hand and dripping sauce onto the ground, trying to decide what it was he had seen earlier. A breeze sifted in and caused his shirt to ripple. As the fabric danced on his back and the cool air enveloped him, he found himself totally absorbed in the sensation.

After an amount of time passed, Larry wasn’t sure how much, he was suddenly aware of warmth emanating from the bush. Opening his eyes (which must have closed themselves at some point) he saw a blink of light deep within the bush, where the back fence should have been. Narrowing his view and taking a cautious step forward, he reached out to move a branch covering his vision and was allowed a slightly better view of the light.

The shade was orange. Oddly enough, that was about all he could discern from the glow at first. He felt as if he were looking at it through a glass of water. It was tall and oval shaped, like an antique mirror with no frame.  He could not see the entire shape, but only a series of bright tendrils that weaved through the countless vines to reach him. Light poured from the oval as if it led to the sun itself. The brightness increased steadily, causing Larry to raise a hand and shield his eyes from it. He could see more now, the entire outline of the “door” illuminated against the weeds. As soon as he thought he may have been able to see some shape in the doorway, a human shape perhaps, it was gone.

The void blackness stared back at him, causing him to question his sight once more. His eyes burned from the brightness that suddenly vanished, and he gave them a rub with his left hand.  When he was done and his vision adjusted to the darkness, he noticed the food that had just previously dripped from the closest leaves was gone. In fact, there was no trace of it having been there at all. The plate in his hand was clean as well.