For the first week of my job, all Phil would let me do was fetch him some fertilizer or dig the holes for the plants. Normally, I didn't do it right. I had to figure out an excuse for my dirty clothes and late coming home times. At first, all I did was sputter something about outdoor cleaning at school, but after the second day, I knew that it wouldn't pass again. So, I had to make sure I came with a viable excuse so that my parents and brother wouldn't be suspicious whenever I came home in soiled clothes. My solution? Telling the truth and hoping for the best.

"Mother, Father," I had started that day, "the reason for my recent after school activity and soiled clothes is I have recently taken up gardening as an assistant."

"Oh, that's wonderful, darling!" my mother had squealed, and she hugged me, joy very evident on her face.

"How long are you going to continue doing this... gardening," my father grumbled, not looking the least bit excited about his daughter doing a service to the community. It should make him look good, like he's disciplining me. Good thing he wouldn't find out the extent of what I was doing at the garden, otherwise he very well might kill me.

"I don't know, I just want to help outdoors. I thought that you would be happy that your daughter was doing something that could make you look better," I tried to shrug my shoulders, but as I was stuck in my mother's crushing embrace, it looked more like I shook my head at him.

My father started grumbling about ungrateful daughters, eventually glaring at me and giving his permission. That was the day my job became official.

Currently, I was digging in the dirt to plant a brand new bed of baby Forget-Me-Nots. The dirt was getting stuck underneath my fingernails, but I didn't want to ask for gloves again. The first time I did, Phil looked at me like I was insane and told me, "Don't be a wimp. Dirt is good for you." 

And while I did enjoy the feeling the damp dirt underneath my fingernails, sometimes I did want gloves so I could avoid the extra questions when I got home. It was a small price to pay, however, because I could garden without any skepticism. Gardening turned out to be much more complex than how my books described it. There were certain ways to plant the different types of flora, and I had to learn the different techniques for planting the different things, so for right now, Phil was constantly looking over my shoulder to make sure I was planting everything right. And I was saving the little money I was making off of the job, it would be good in the future to have some savings, however small, because they could help me along the career path.

"No, no, Aria!" I heard Phil's warm voice behind me, even if it was scolding. "You plant a flower bed like so," he proceeded to plant the flowers in the correct order, close enough to make the flower bed look nice, but far enough apart to let the small buds grow big and strong.

"Okay," I told Phil, after he showed me the proper way to plant the bed, "I think I understand now."

"It's okay," Phil said, pushing me away from the flora, "you should go and clean my office again. Remember-"

I interrupted him with a small smile, "I know, I know. Don't touch the bottom left drawer." 

"Good, and kiddo, you're going to need to lock up today. My wife wants me home early for our anniversary dinner," Phil smiled and headed towards the front of the garden to clean up and go home.

Before he was out of sight, I called, "Phil!" he turned. "Happy anniversary!"

"Thanks kiddo," his smile went all the way to his eyes as he left the garden, but I didn't leave the flower bed until I heard the gate squeal shut.

I sighed, looking at the mess of dirt and fertilizer on the white washed path. I started cleaning up by sweeping the earth off of the path and hanging the gardening tools by Phil's grey shed. When I was finally done picking the mess up, I went into Phil's shed and saw an irregular stack of papers on his desk. He normally had me sort everything into his file cabinet in the first thing when I arrived at the garden, so it was odd he received more papers in the three hour window between now and when I got here.

Curious, I walked behind the desk and started sorting through the papers. They were old library receipts, and from the look of them, the books were long overdue. Taking a closer look, I saw all of the books were checked out on the same day at the same time by someone by the name of Clark Verit. That was definitely not Phil. But the name Clark Verit struck a chord with me and I knew I had heard his name before. But I looked back at the papers, and something I saw deeply disturbed me, and I was tempted to just leave the office and lock up that second.

What I noticed was that all of those books, while checked out a while ago, were classified as banned.

~o0o~

I got out of Phil's office quickly, only dusting the top of his bookshelf, so that I wouldn't be tempted to check if the bottom left drawer held the forbidden books. I needed to know what those books were about and why Phil had them, but on the other hand, it could be dangerous. While I considered myself exceptional, I didn't think I could handle some sort of dangerous mission. It just wasn't me.

I lived a dreary life consisting of some pleasantries, and recently, got the job of my dreams. I didn't need to mess that up.

Apparently, my mind and thoughts had other plans. 

I couldn't get the books out of my head. They consumed all of my thoughts. It almost felt unhealthy, because I was staying awake during schooling and late at night. It became hard to go anywhere near Phil's office without trashing the place, which was ironic considering it was my job to clean it.

Finally, I caved to the desire. I didn't think it would take long, so on one of the days Phil was transplanting the plants strong enough to be moved into the larger portion of the garden, I trotted to his office. I'd say I was cleaning it if he asked, and if he wanted to know why I was on the ground, I'd say there was a spider I was trying to put outside. It was the perfect plan.

I cringed at the loud shriek when I opened the aluminum door to Phil's shed. I walked in and closed the door behind me, looking around for any cameras. I was seriously on edge. I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn't find any cameras, and I wasted no time in navigating around the huge desk in the back of the small shed.

I noticed Phil had put the papers about the check outs of the books away somewhere. I hoped he didn't know I had looked at them, and if he did know, hopefully he thought I was too dumb to figure anything out.

I started with the top drawers I still didn't look into, to save Phil's privacy. I still felt bad for doing this but I needed to know. In the top drawers were the predictable knick-knacks: pens, push pins, and markers. In the second row of drawers, there was a photo album of his family and some paper. I almost laughed at that because Phil was the kingdom's biggest advocate for not using paper, which was absurd because everyone sent letters to communicate.

Finally, I reached the bottom left hand drawer after finding a pile of notes and books in the bottom right hand drawer. My hand was shaking, and I felt myself start to sweat with the stress of it all.

You can still turn around and go back. Then nothing bad could happen, the reasonable part of my brain said, and it was right. But I still needed to know what was in those books, and why Phil had them. Although, that was assuming he even had them. It could just be a misunderstanding and then I could rest assured my boss wasn't a criminal. It was all going to be okay once I opened the drawer and saw once and for all what was inside.

With trembling hands and a guilty conscience, I opened the drawer, and gaped at what I saw. 

All of the banned books were there and more, identified by the big black stamps on the covers reading BANNED. Looking through the pile, I couldn't help be notice that the books were all dusty, so much so it seemed like Phil's predecessor had told him not to look in the bottom left hand drawer. A ton of the book titles had intriguing titles, but one caught my eye in particular. 

Before I could even think about reading the book, Witchcraft: Good or Bad, and the Difference Between Them by the Five Floral Fairies, I heard Phil's footsteps fast approaching. I gently scolded myself for not going straight for the only drawer I really needed to look into, and reluctantly placed the books back in order, with the one about witchcraft at the bottom.

The only real reason I thought my eye was caught on that particular book from the moment I read its title is because witchcraft was punishable by death. Really, witchcraft was the only thing in the entire kingdom that can get you killed before even a trial. But I had to see what it was about.

I was livid at myself when I realized I left fingerprints all over the book covers. I looked around and found a small cloth to cover the books up with, and I quickly stood up and closed the drawer with my foot, right as Phil walked into his office.

"Oh, good! I thought you left early on me!" the kindly man said, and I knew it was an act. How can one person who seems so nice be so devious at the same time?

But I couldn't bother with that, he was going to know I looked at the drawer the second he opened it because of the cloth. I would be beating myself up majorly for that tonight.

"Sorry," I started, "but while you were gone, I decided to get a little cleaning done!"

"And you stayed away from the drawer?" his eyes became a good deal more focused on my answer, and I knew the answer I provided was absolutely crucial to me keeping my job.

"To be honest, Phil, I bumped it open," he let out an audible gasp, and I hasted the next part of my lie, "but as soon as I did, I knew something was going to go wrong, so I covered whatever was in there with a cloth before I bent down and closed it."

Phil's shoulders dropped in relief, and I was happy I convinced him. The sad thing was, I was pretty good at lying. The experience blossomed from whenever I had to lie about reading about gardening techniques late into the night.

"That's good," was all he said before telling me to go home early today, without losing anything on my paycheck. I didn't have the heart or conscience to tell him he was already paying me the minimum wage for employees.

As I walked out, my heart banged against my ribcage, threatening to burst from my chest. Phil had been kind to me, and I went into his office and broke one of his two rules. I was supposed to be the good little girl of Justice's Clerk Everheart, but no. I had to go and let my curiosity get the better of me. From now on, I told myself, you will mind your own business and you won't have time to mess around in Phil's drawers or ask him why he has those books under the name Clark Verit. I wouldn't ask questions, and I would mold myself into the good little teenage girls everyone else in my class was, because if I didn't, I would be facing treason. And so would Phil.

So on my way home, walking I might add, I added a new list underneath the one about my new and improved daily schedule. I almost laughed when I thought about that day when Phil hired me. I was so happy to get out of the reality I was forced to face only the night before. 

I sighed and made a new mantra for my new nonosy life:

Beautiful, Still
Hardened will
Fiesty,
but do care about niceties.

The sad part was that that mantra was the one that my school, Madam Pushfoot's Finishing School for Future Wives, taught. My dreary life became amazing, then I crashed and burned.

~o0o~

Word Count: 2207 

Hello, people of the #ONC2021 universe! I just want to take a second and breathe because I finally finished this chapter! Woot woot! I would like to thank everybody who commented, read, and voted on the last chapter. It helped me form coherent ideas that actually made sense! I love all the support all of the competitors are giving one another, all the people actually search for #ONC2021 and make special reading lists. I can't tell you how big my smile is every time I see that someone found this book and are planning on giving it a try. This has also given me the chance to see everyone else's books and support them. Granted, it will take some time, but I hope I get to read everyone's entries eventually.

Thank you all, and thank you for getting through that monster of an author's note that added 200 words or so.

Love y'all,
~happyperson081