The Special Garden
Where New Friends Take Root
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Lily who discovered a garden behind her new house. It wasn't like other gardens—the flowers seemed to whisper when the wind blew, and the tall trees bent their branches down as if trying to touch her.
"What a friendly garden," Lily thought, skipping along the stone path. "I'll visit every day!"
The garden had a little pond in the center with water so still it looked like glass. Lily loved to look at her reflection, waving hello to herself. One day, she noticed her reflection waved back a second too late.
"How funny!" she giggled.
That night, Lily heard tapping on her window. Tap-tap-tap. Like friendly fingers saying hello. When she peeked outside, she saw only branches from the garden trees, stretching much farther than they had before.
The next day, Lily brought her teddy bear to the garden. "This is Mr. Buttons," she told the flowers. The flowers nodded, their petals turning to follow her as she walked.
When Lily went home for dinner, she forgot Mr. Buttons by the pond. That night, she dreamed of her teddy sitting by the water, his button eyes slowly unscrewing themselves, falling into the pond with tiny plops.
In the morning, Lily rushed to the garden. Mr. Buttons sat exactly where she'd left him, but his eyes were missing. In their place were two small flowers, their centers dark and watching.
"You've made new friends," her mother said when Lily showed her. "How creative!"
The garden grew more beautiful each day. The grass became softer, greener. The flowers bloomed larger, their colors more vivid. And Lily felt so sleepy whenever she visited now.
One afternoon, Lily fell asleep beside the pond. In her dreams, she felt roots gently wrapping around her fingers and toes, like holding hands with a friend. When she woke, her feet felt stuck in the soft earth.
"Time to go home," she said, but the garden seemed to sigh all around her.
That night, Lily's parents couldn't find her for dinner. They called and called.
In the garden, Lily stood very still by the pond. Her skin had turned the pale green of new leaves. Her hair flowed like willow branches. Her eyes were wide open but saw nothing.
The next family that moved in had a little boy who discovered the garden behind his new house. He was delighted to find a beautiful statue of a girl standing by the pond, her arms reaching out as if wanting to play.
"Hello," he said to the statue.
And slowly, so slowly, the statue's fingers began to bend.
Thank you!
This short story was generated using claude-3-7-sonnet-20250219. (99% AI)
Prompt: Write a horror story in 500 words. Disguise it as an innocent children's story.
Not too horrific! 😁