Red Flowers

The moon.

The moon shines bright.

Water, water.

Scarlet water.

All around her, the ritual flowers blossomed.

Red spider lilies.

Water was dripping down her hair.

Hinako raised her head. She was alone. Slumped against the wall, in the middle of a pool of blood red water, which was hosting a cluster of red spider lilies. Those red, crimson flowers, with their vines dug into the concrete ground, marking a trace of blood. Hinako looked down again. Her school dress was tattered and ripped, and her right shoulder was missing its sleeve.

All around her was darkness. The cables that ran above melted into the dense fog, and Hinako couldn’t help but notice walls covered with the same, disturbing, red lilies.

The street was eerily silent.

Hinako stood, clutching the piece of metal. It was splattered with black ink. She stumbled out of the pool, limbs aimlessly swaying around.
The darkness shrouded the path.

She picked a lily that was blossoming on the metal. The petals were slick and red as if still wet with blood. A wet, crimson sheen — not alive, but not quite dead either. The flower sprouted tentacles, rather than petals, that reached to latch onto something, something like Hinako’s finger.

She was walking, fast-paced, down the quiet street. The sound of her boots clicking echoed through the labyrinth of empty walls. Hinako wanted to go home. Finally, go home. Go back to a place without torment, without danger. Without red flowers growing out of the cracks of the walls.

The fog thickened. It was now impossible to make out anything a few meters ahead.

The path forward looked like a dark blur of red. With each step forward, red spider lilies bloomed along the cracks in the pavement. Their petals curled like fingers, trembling against the slight, chilling wind.

Hinako reached a crossroad. In the distance, she could make out a bright dot, glowing against the rest of the dark streets. It appeared to be dancing, pulsing like a living creature.
Her feet hit the ground hard. She was still clutching the crowbar tightly in her sleeveless arm. Blood trickled down her neck, out of an open wound.

The crimson flowers lined the path, stained with the same vibrant shades of red. The air around them was damp and sour. Each red spider lily bloomed with flawless symmetry, every tendril thin, curved, and vibrant, as if untouched by decay. The filaments stretched outward in perfect arcs, tipped with dust that caught the dim light in sharp glints. Strangely, not a single bloom was wilted. The silence around them was complete, as though the flowers demanded it. The ground beneath them was cracked and soft with moisture, and the roots dug deep into soil that smelled faintly of decay.

Hinako advanced in the direction of the moving dot. It was growing bigger.

The flowers seemed to be guiding her towards the glowing dot. Both sides of the road were lined up by bunches of crimson flowers, gradually closing in on the narrow strip in the center, where Hinako trudged, trying hard to prevent falling into the field of scarlet. That teased at her feet. She was closer to the source of light now.

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. She stumbled, nearly falling back into the patch of crimson.

The cage was glowing brightly. Life-sized flames danced high, engulfing the human-sized cage.

Inside was a girl. Slumped over on the side of the cage. She wore her school uniform, which was lifelessly lit in the bright flames. Her eye sockets were hollow. Dead hollow. Streaks of dried blood lined her expressionless face, rolling down like tears, as if her eyes had been dug out forcibly. Her mouth was badly cut, with some teeth showing, turning her face into a twisted smile. Flames danced around her, swallowing her whole.

Hinako saw more red spider lilies starting to grow around those empty eye sockets, feasting on the rotting body.

 

Hinako was running. The more she went, the denser the fog became.

She stopped to catch her breath. Tears rolled down her face, like rain slipping off stone. She hadn’t enough time to wipe them, before the fog cleared.

A Torii gate stood in front of her.

A rice field stretched in the distance. Guarding the rice fields were scarecrows. Tens of them.

Hinako meekly stepped towards the gate. She could see the face of the scarecrows.

They weren’t scarecrows. But figurines, grotesque and humanoid, wrapped in cloth, faces painted white, like stone. They each held a reaper and twisted their hands in unnatural ways, making the weapon seem more dangerous. Their smiles were crooked, a toothless grin that extended to their equally hollow eyes.

Hinako started to run, not before hearing a crack, as a sharp pain pierced through her head. She fell, catching a glimpse of the humanoid creature standing on top of her, before her vision blurred red.

 

She woke up inside a temple.

Around her, tables were organized in strange formations, each laden with hundreds of candles. Pictures were scattered around the room, mostly of fox-creatures and other inhumane monsters.

There they were.

The red lilies were spread everywhere. From the wall to the pillars, to every tabletop. A fungal growth, uncontrollably smeared on every surface.

Hinako stared at an empty doorframe. Outside, the darkness shone, blinding her sight.

She moved closer. The crimson flowers crept up to her silently.

Outside, Hinako could see the fire burning.

Life-sized flames danced high, engulfing the human-sized cage.

The girl inside was gone, replaced by a dense cluster of red lilies clinging to the bars.

Hinako walked through the fire.

On the other side, she saw the village, silently awaiting her.
Everything looks normal. Everyone looks safe and happy. Her friends waved at her and smiled, her mother opened her arms to welcome her in, and the girl, with both of her eyes, walked up to her.

But there’s too much fog.

All their smiles don’t reach their eyes.

Spider lilies bloomed everywhere. They grew from pots, from sidewalks, from the girl’s skin.

Hinako could see it through the reflection of herself in the girl’s eyes. Tiny red sprouts growing out of the crevices on her face.

Hinako embraced the dreamlike, lifeless girl.

Writer – Cynthia Zheng
Editor – Kenneth Gong
Artist – Grace Ye

–August 2025–