It had been a while since I slept through the night, and when I did sleep long enough to dream, I had terrible nightmares. One of the many books I read for advice, recommended plants in my bedroom to oxygenate the air. It specified a type of ivy. I didn’t have money for plants, so I dug up some of the ivy growing wild on the bank between my house and the abandoned property nextdoor. The leaves had light-green veins leading to three dark points like talons.
At first the vine didn’t take to the transplant. Though I watered carefully, and opened the blinds to let the sun in, it browned and wilted Then, after giving up and forgetting about it in a dark corner for about a week, I noticed it was growing up the wall, and behind the bookcase. After another week, it was crawling across the ceiling. I began sleeping through the night, but my dreams were even more disturbing than before. Colorful, vivid images of people I knew bursting open with ivy vines growing out of them, or ivy vines encircling and consuming them like boa constrictors.