The Melissa Plant

By Moe


“This is the third time you have been late this week!  I have warned you a number of times about being late and what the consequences would be.  This morning you missed the entire breakfast service causing problems for the rest of the staff.  I am afraid I have no choice but to let you go.  I am sorry Melissa but there is nothing I can do.”  

“I am really sorry Miss Baxter but my alarm clock did not go off again,” Melissa tried to explain to her boss who ran the university food service cafeteria.

“Well then, maybe you should have gotten another alarm clock.  Maybe before you get your next job you should invest in a new clock.  I’m sorry but my hands are tied.”  With that Miss Baxter turned around and started to leave.  “Please turn in your cafeteria uniform on your way out.”

Melissa knew this was it.  She probably had at least two dozen jobs in the last few years since she dropped out of the tenth grade and most of them ended similarly.  Not only were her job prospects dim but she was over a month behind in her rent and was expecting to be evicted soon.  She couldn’t help that she needed a lot of sleep causing her to be late for her jobs.

After dropping off her smock uniform, she headed to the Job Opportunity Board to see if there were any job postings that she might apply for.  This is where she had found the job for the university cafeteria a few weeks ago.  Most of the postings were for graduates or for university jobs such as research assistants or TA’s.  Obviously she knew she was not qualified for any of these kind of positions.  She was about to give up when she noticed a posting for a paid research volunteer in the Botany Department where no experience was necessary.  “Qualified and accepted candidate must be willing to spend a minimum of six months as a full time volunteer.”  To Melissa who was about to lose her apartment anyway, this sounded like an ideal opportunity.  She wrote down the telephone contact number and then located a pay phone to call the number.  She could not afford a cell phone of her own.

“Hello.  My name is Melissa and I was interested in the research volunteer posting you have on the university jobs bulletin board.”

“Oh, yeah.  I know which position you are talking about.  If you can, we would like you to come in and interview for the test subject with our department head, Dr. Stevens.  Could you come in tomorrow say around 11:00?”

“Yes, that would be no problem.  Where do I go for the interview?”  They worked out the details of the interview and Melissa hung up.  She knew if this didn’t work out, things could become very difficult in a hurry for her.  There was no one she could contact for support or help since her only relative was her mother who already was on welfare and living with her drunk boyfriend more than 200 miles away.  She did not have any close friends that would be willing to help her either.  In fact, she had hardly any friends at all.

The next morning came around and Melissa managed to wake up in time for the late morning meeting.  She dressed in her best casual clothes trying to present a nice appearance although she wasn’t sure if it mattered or not.  She walked to the Botany Department assistant’s office and arrived about ten minutes early for her meeting.  This was almost a new experience for her.  The assistant whose name was Sherry according to her nametag informed Dr. Stevens by phone that Melissa was present for the interview.  “He’ll be down in just a few minutes.  Please take a chair and he will come and get you.”  

A short while later a middle-aged man approached Melissa and introduced himself, “Hi.  I’m Dr. Stevens.  I assume you are Melissa.  How are you?”

“I-I’m fine,” she stammered.

“Why don’t you come with me and we will start the interview.  Thank you for coming in.”  They walked to his office and sat down on each side of the desk.  After some small talk, Dr. Stevens explained “The University has received a grant to study the symbiotic relationship between plants and animals.  I don’t expect you to understand this right away and I will explain more to you later.  Right now we are looking for one or two test subjects to participate in the study.  Because of the nature of the study, the test volunteer will be staying in this building without ever leaving for at least six months.  Is that something you can and are willing to do?”

Melissa thought about this since she was caught somewhat off guard.  On the one hand she likely would have no other place to stay and yet she couldn’t ever go out and do outside activities such as go to the movies or on a date although she had no boyfriend.  With only some hesitation, “I think I could do that.”

The interview went on for more than an hour with Dr. Stevens asking many personal probing questions about her life, her family, friends, activities and more.  At the end he stated, “I think you meet most of our requirements to volunteer for this study.  We just need to do a few medical checks to make sure you are healthy before we can offer you a position.  I will ask my assistant Sherry to take care of the medical checks when we are done here.  I would like to tell you more about the test research we are doing but because of the confidential nature of the study I cannot tell you any more until we have offered you the position and you have accepted.  I realize that it makes it difficult to decide when you do not have all the details but it cannot be helped.  Any questions?”

“When will you make your decision?  I need to know pretty soon because of my own situation.”

“Since I feel pretty confident that you might be the volunteer we are looking for and you look pretty healthy on the outside at least, why don’t you come back here tomorrow at the same time and I will let you know if you will be accepted or not?”

“Great!  I’ll be here tomorrow at eleven.  Thank you so much.”  Melissa was more than grateful for the chance to be a paid volunteer.  The money she would earn would be more than she could ever make at the cafeteria and she wouldn’t have to spend any money on rent.  To her, it was a win-win situation.  After doing a few quick medical checks with the assistant, she left for her apartment in high spirits.

The next morning she returned to the Botany Department office.  After a bit of review of her medical checks, she was informed that she was accepted as a test subject and asked if she was willing to participate in the test study.  Without hesitation, she replied “Yes.”  In order to participate, she was informed she would have to sign some release forms, non-disclosure forms and what seemed like a dozen other legal documents.  She also had to read a number of scientific and technical documents about the study none of which she understood in the slightest.  She could not help but think now that she was a test subject that at least her short term problems were over.  Who knows, maybe this could lead to other test studies and research?

“Since today is Friday, you can use this weekend to clear up your affairs and then report back here on Monday morning at 8:00 am.  In preparation for the study, we need you to adjust your diet completely.  On the way out, you will receive a carton with twelve bottles of flavored nutrient inside.  You are to consume one bottle of nutrient and only nutrient at each meal starting tonight and throughout the weekend.  This is to cleanse your body and get it ready for the research testing which will start promptly on Monday.  Since you are drinking our nutrient starting now, your pay for the research will also start now.  Do you understand?”

Melissa had no problem with this and agreed.  She went back home to her apartment with the carton of nutrient.  She did not have many “affairs” so getting them in order would be pretty easy.  She informed the landlord that she would be moving out.  During the weekend she drank the nutrient as instructed, packed her belongings in boxes and just generally waited for Monday morning to roll around.

Not surprisingly, Melissa was about a half hour late showing up at the office on Monday morning having overslept.  After a minor scolding from Sherry the research assistant, she was informed they would be doing a more thorough physical examination in the morning and then in the afternoon she would be prepared for the actual research testing.  The physical exam was routine but extensive and there was little they did not know about her health which was excellent.

After lunch which consisted of another bottle of nutrient for Melissa, they went to a relatively small lab room where they met Dr. Stevens.  “Are you ready to begin?” he asked.  “I think you will find this really exciting in many ways.  You are a pioneer in a completely new field of botany where we bring together the plant world and the animal kingdom at the highest level.  There is so much to learn and just think, you will be at the center of it.  I hope you are as excited as I am.”

Melissa did not know how to respond but she tried to respond with a “I-I guess so.” that at least sounded like she was excited.  She was really more excited about the money, the solution to her work and apartment problems and so on.

“First you must remove your examination gown and your underwear so that you are completely bare.”  Naturally, Melissa was embarrassed to have to remove the last shreds of her clothing but she reasoned she was with doctors so it was okay.  “Now, please lay down on this table so we can remove your body hair.  We won’t remove all the hair on your head but just cut it short.”  Like any girl, her hair was very important to her but she figured in six months it would grow back to its current length which was fairly short anyway.

She found out too late that short hair meant a buzz cut with hairs only about an eighth of an inch long on her head.  Everywhere else she was bare as a new born baby.  Sherry then took a tube of cream and applied it liberally all over Melissa’s body.  This cream will promote symbiosis and also make you more comfortable during the testing.  “We have to wait about 15 to 20 minutes for the cream to be absorbed into your skin,” she was informed by Sherry.

After the wait period was over, she was told to stand up and step into what looked like a pair of large vinyl baby panties Sherry was holding.  However, the waist of the pants garment was more than two feet in diameter with a flexible hoop inside the waist band.  The garment was pulled up her legs until the leg-holes were fairly tight at about mid thigh.  “Melissa, can you please hold up the pants with the waist support hoop while we get ready for the next step?”  She nodded and did what she was told.

Dr. Stevens left the room and returned shortly with a trolley supporting a ten gallon container holding a large vine plant with its huge root system in what appeared to be cloudy water.  “Melissa, I want to introduce you to your botanical partner for the next six months.  You and this vine will soon form a symbiotic relationship which is the purpose of our research.  The vine plant is very special and comes from the remote regions of the Amazon jungle.  Normally it combines with trees and actually helps them to thrive.  What makes this plant more interesting is that we have observed in the wild that small pieces of this special vine plant will actually attach to small mammals and again, they both thrive.  We now want to observe what will happen when we allow this vine to become symbiotic with a human under controlled conditions here in the lab.”

Not surprisingly, this explanation from Dr. Stevens did not mean much to Melissa.  Her mind was questioning what was going on and what would happen next but she was too confused to even ask any questions.

While Melissa continued to hold her vinyl pants garment up by the waist, Dr. Stevens and Sherry went to the vine and together lifted the complete plant including the roots and vines out of the container.  They positioned themselves behind Melissa.  Before she knew what was happening, the entire root system was lowered into the back of her vinyl pants that she was holding up.  She let out a little shriek of surprise and it felt very weird to have the slimy vine roots all around her bottom and genitals.  Fortunately, the roots were warm.  While she stood there still holding her vinyl garment up, Dr. Stevens and Sherry used rolls of medical tape to secure the main stem of the vine plant next to her spine in back in several places.  Once they were satisfied with the securing of the vine to her person, they both started to arrange the extensive roots all around her abdomen and through her crotch in the vinyl pants garment.  The long vines and leaves were left hanging from the vine stem behind her for now.

When they were satisfied with the root distribution, Sherry went back to the trolley and got a large fiber-plastic pot from the lower rack.  Melissa thought it looked like a huge ceramic flower pot about two and a half feet in diameter and about 18” high.  Both Dr. Stevens and Sherry then held the large pot a little above ground level in front of Melissa and told her to step into the leg holes in the bottom of the pot.  She looked down and with some difficulty could see there were two leg holes in the bottom of the pot about 8” apart.  “Am I supposed to be in a flower pot?” she asked.

Dr. Stevens answered, “Technically this is not a flower pot but yes, this is part of the test setup we require for the experiment.  You will see why in a short time.  Please step into the pot, Melissa.”  While still holding her vinyl garment up, she gingerly stepped through the leg-holes in the bottom of the pot with guidance from Sherry.  The pot was then lifted up her legs until it could go no further.  The waist hoop of her vinyl pants then fit into place inside the pot with a quiet snap forming a seal with the pot.  “Can you please grab the sides of your pot and hold it up while we get ready for the next step, Melissa?”  She was surprised how light it was considering its large size.  It felt funny to be standing inside of a large pot with a vine plant taped to your back she thought.  Perhaps I should have paid more attention to the documents they gave me to read.

“Now we are ready for the next step,” said Dr. Stevens.  “We will fill the pot with special potting compound to promote good vine growth.  Before we can do that, we have to get temporary supports for your pot in place since it will become very heavy once all the soil is added.”  Sherry went to the trolley and got four support structures from the bottom tray.  With Melissa still standing, the supports were adjusted at the four corners to hold the pot level and at the right height.  “Sherry, would you please get the potting soil?”

“Yes, sir”  She left the room and about two minutes later returned with a large cart with five 40-pound bags of potting soil.  The first bag was opened and they both used scoops and began to remove the dirt from the bag and carefully position it around the vine roots inside Melissa’s pot.  As the dirt was added, they each carefully patted the dirt down around the roots so it made good contact.  When the soil was filled in between her legs and covered her genitals, Melissa felt really weird sensations and tingly.  In some strange way it actually felt good as the doctor and Sherry packed the roots and dirt in around her abdomen.

After the third bag was loaded into the pot, Dr. Steven’s retrieved a small Styrofoam container from the trolley and removed the top.  Melissa could see it was filled with earthworms.  “Don’t worry Melissa.  These worms will keep the soil inside your pot clean and fertile.  You should regard them as friends.”  The two or three dozen wriggling earthworms were distributed around the pot on top of the soil.  The thought of worms occupying her pot was gross.  Then she realized she was already thinking of it as “her pot” which was even worse.  The remaining two bags of soil were then added to the pot covering the worms.  “I think we should add one more bag of potting soil.  Sherry, can you get another bag please?”  A minute later she returned with another bag of soil which was added to the pot.  If her calculations were correct, Melissa figured she was now potted in 240 pounds of dirt.

“So how are you feeling Melissa?”

“Obviously I feel like a potted plant.  You never told me the experiment would be anything like this.  Are we nearly done with the test preparation?”

“Actually, we did tell you how the testing would be performed in the technical documents but perhaps you didn’t understand our technical jargon.  We are about halfway done in setting you up.  It’s now time to move you to your temporary test stand so that the remaining preparations can be completed.  Sherry, can you please get the pot stand?”

Once again Sherry left the lab room and returned a minute later with what looked like a table on casters.  The table was a sturdy structure about four feet by six feet and slightly higher than usual at about 38” high.  “This pot stand will be your temporary home for the next week or so.  As you can see, it has casters so we can easily move you around to different locations.  This way you will get a change of scenery.  OK, let’s get ready to lift her up to the pot stand.”  Sherry got four large eye-bolts from the trolley and screwed them into the sides of the pot.  A jib crane that had been tucked away into the corner of the room was swung out into position over Melissa and the crane hook was lowered above her head.  Four slings were attached between the hook and the eyebolts.  The Up button on the jib hoist control was pushed and Melissa was lifted effortlessly from the ground and her feet dangling in the air below her pot.

Sherry then moved the pot stand below Melissa.  She could now see that there was a rectangular opening in the top of the table surface in the middle.  Melissa was then slowly lowered with her legs going through the opening until her pot rested comfortably on top of the table surface.  This was the first time that her weight was not supported by her legs but by the pot and the soil in it.  Her legs were dangling freely below the table surface much too short to touch the floor.

“Now that you are on the pot stand, we need to provide you with a temporary support structure like many new plants,” said Dr. Stevens.  Sherry then took the cart and got some more equipment.  She returned with pipes, rods and other items.  Sherry took two pipes and screwed them into pre-existing threaded holes on the surface of the table on either side of Melissa.  The steel rod was then fastened from one vertical pipe to the other and ran just behind her shoulders.  Melissa’s arms were then extended horizontally to each side and fastened to the rod with tape in a couple of places on each side.  Melissa couldn’t help but think of herself like a crucifix.

“As I said, this table is only a temporary pot stand and we want to get your permanent stand set up now so that when the time comes, you will be ready.” Dr. Stevens explained.  “Your legs will be part of the pot stand assembly support once everything is set.  OK Sherry, let’s begin the next phase of preparations.”  Two steel rods were taped to each of Melissa’s legs effectively preventing her from bending her legs.  A large 2” steel pipe about 30” long with a base assembly attached at one end was retrieved from the cart.  Dr. Stevens lowered himself down onto a creeper and moved on the floor into a position just below the bottom of Melissa’s pot.  Sherry handed him the pipe assembly.  He took the assembly and pointed the threaded end of the pipe into a socket at the bottom of the pot between Melissa’s legs.  He screwed the assembly into the bottom of the pot until it was tight.  Melissa could not see any of this since it was below the table but she could feel something was happening to the pot between her legs.

To no one in particular, “Now we are ready for the pot stand base,” Dr. Steven’s announced.  Sherry went to the cart and removed a large round laminate base about three feet in diameter and an inch thick.  She could not lift it but slid it off the cart and rolled it to the center of the room and then laid it down on some blocks so that it was about 8” off the floor.  Together, Sherry and Dr. Stevens rolled the table with Melissa over to the base and then carefully positioned the table so it was exactly in the right position.  The metal base at the bottom of the pipe assembly below Melissa’s pot was bolted to the large laminate base with six long bolts.  Melissa who had no mechanical aptitude could not imagine what was happening below the table.

To immobilize and secure Melissa’s legs and feet, her feet were positioned in heel guards about 30” apart on the surface of the laminate base that were equipped with ankle straps.  Each of her ankles was strapped to the base.  To keep her feet from moving, special medical glue was applied between the bottoms of her feet and the base and then held in position for a few minutes until the glue set.  It became clear to Melissa that she was not going to be able to hardly move at all other than some small movements.  “Am I going to have to stay this way for six months?” she wined.

“The answer is yes and no.  As you become more in one with your vine, we will be able to remove the support structures and support rods.  Like I said, you are like a new plant right now.  It is now time to arrange your vines so that we can start the symbiosis experience.”  The long vines and leaves had been hanging from the vine stem on Melissa’s back during the whole preparation process.  Dr. Steven’s took the vine branch highest on the stem and brought it around to the front of Melissa and then draped it and twisted it around the length her extended left arm.  It was secured to her skin with small pieces of medical tape.  Each of the remaining vine branches was wrapped around Melissa’s arms, legs and torso.  A short vine was even wrapped and secured to her head.  “The tapes that hold the vine to your body will be removed tomorrow.  The vine will attach itself that quickly to you and the tapes will not be needed anymore after that.”

After all the vine branches were positioned on Melissa, she truly felt she must look like a potted plant.  She had become a Melissa plant where the only flesh showing was her face.  Everything else was covered in vines and leaves.  

“We are almost done, Melissa, and then you will be ready to lead your new life as a symbiotic plant-animal pair.”  Dr. Steven’s then left the lab room and returned with a couple more Styrofoam containers.  Melissa did not like the looks of this based on what happened before.  “In this container I have some dung beetles that will help keep your pot and soil clean and sanitary.”  She looked down into the container and could see the large, ugly beetles before they were sprinkled around the perimeter of her pot.  She couldn’t help but make a face at the thought of them occupying her pot.  “And in this container I have some special snails that will also help with you pot and soil maintenance.”  Again she caught a glimpse of the large snails before they were distributed around the pot.  It was hard for her to see much of her pot since her head movement was somewhat restrained as well by the support structure holding her arms to the side.

“I suppose you would like to see what you look like now.  Fortunately, that is why we have casters on your temporary pot stand.  Sherry, help me roll Melissa to the mirror in the adjacent room.  This other room is where you will be spending most of your time so you will be able to see for yourself how you are growing.”  They wheeled Melissa through the double doors and into a strange new room.  More shocking than the room was the site she saw of herself.  It was amazing how they had transformed an ordinary girl into a potted plant.  Other than her face peering through the leaves around her head, she looked totally like a huge common house plant.  She was surprised that she actually felt quite comfortable in her pot.

“This room is specially designed to provide you with either the natural or artificial sunlight that you and your plant mate will need.  On nice days, we will actually roll you outside in the garden so you can absorb sunlight just like all the other garden plants.”

“During your symbiotic plant life, you will be able to sleep all you want which you seem to do quite well based on your history.  While inside the lab, we will have the television on so you can watch any shows you wish.  We don’t want you to get too bored since plants don’t lead too exciting of a life.  Your penchant for sleeping and general laziness was some of the reasons we selected you for this research testing.”

“You might be worrying about your own bodily functions now that you are mated with a plant and in a ‘flower pot’ as you say.  You don’t have a thing to worry about.  The nutrient you have been consuming for the past few days and will continue to consume is special.  Your body uses most of it for its nourishment but will convert some of it to plant food which you will urinate into your pot.  The vine roots will readily absorb this into the vine system.  You will no longer defecate so you don’t have to worry about that.  The cream we put on your skin at the beginning deadens the skin nerves so you don’t have to worry about itches and other annoying sensations.  Like other plants, you will soon no longer feel hot or cold temperature and so you should feel comfortable all the time.  The cream also allows the vine to easily bond and cling to you so that it adheres to you readily.  The vine plant that you are mated with is very fast growing especially under the right growing conditions once it has found a host which is you.  Perhaps, you are getting hungry?  Sherry, I think we better set up the nutrient feeding stand for Melissa.”

The eye-bolts were removed from the pot and a clamp device was screwed into one of the threaded holes.  A long stainless steel stand with a hook at the top similar to an intravenous feeding stand was brought forth.  A bottle of nutrient with a special mouthpiece straw was hung upside down from the hook and then positioned in front of Melissa’s mouth.  With only a little head movement, she could suck nutrient whenever she wanted.  “Try it out, Melissa.  See if you can feed on the nutrient.”  With a turn of her head, she easily could get at the nearby straw and start feeding.  

“Remember, you are now eating for two.  On the other hand, since your activity level will be very low and your metabolism will slow, you will find you don’t need much nutrient to get along.  We expect that you will only need one bottle of nutrient per day.”

“It has been a long and busy day.  I think it’s time we all got some rest.  Sherry has volunteered to sleep here in the lab with you since it is your first night.  If anything happens, just let her know.  I am sure you will have more questions and we can take care of those tomorrow.  Good night and sleep well.”  Dr. Stevens then turned around and left the lab room and went back to his office to document everything that had taken place.

Sherry, who hadn’t said much all afternoon, then said to Melissa, “You look very pretty as a plant dear.  I hope you can appreciate the large contribution you are making to botany and science in general.  It makes me feel so good to be a part of this research history.  Also, I can’t wait to see what you look like when you start blossoming which won’t be too long from now.”

“You mean I will have flowers?  What kind?”

“You will be nearly covered in large lavender flowers.  You will be beautiful.  You will put the other garden plants to shame.”

“When I volunteered for this research, I never saw this coming.  I am still in a state of shock.  It feels so weird to look in the mirror and see that I am planted in a flower pot and can’t move at all.  Yet, I feel alright and, who knows, maybe this is all I am suited for is to be a plant.  I’ve never been able to do anything else at school or at work.  What’s going to happen to me next?”

Sherry was a bit hesitant to respond since it was really Dr. Steven’s job to work with the test subject.  Finally she said, “If you promise you don’t tell Dr. Stevens I told you, here is some of what you can expect.  Over the next 24 hours, the vine suckers will attach to your skin everywhere.  This is a good thing since not only will you help nourish the vine but it will also nourish you.  This is what symbiosis is.  The branches of the vine will become thicker and woody as the plant establishes itself with you.  What this means is that you soon will not be able to move any of your limbs as they become encased in the vine’s wooden lattice structure.  This will happen in just a few days.  Before the end of the week we will be able to remove the support structure that is holding up your arms since the vine will hold you rigid.  The same will happen with your legs.  At that time we can get rid of this large temporary pot stand and use the smaller permanent base at your feet.  We will install casters on your base so that we can still move you around easily.  When we do that, I could sit you in the corner of my office and you could be my office plant.  That way we could spend more time talking.  Would you like that?”

“I must admit I never thought about being someone’s office plant.  I would like it if we could become friends during the six months of testing,” Melissa replied.

“Well, that brings me to some good news and some bad news.  In case you have not already figured it out, you will become part of the vine and the vine part of you.  This will actually happen fairly quickly.  The roots of the vine are already encircled around you and will soon be invading you.  They will grow up into your vagina and up into your intestine to get more nourishment from you.  The hundreds of suckers holding the vine branches to you will penetrate the skin and establish a permanent bond.  What this means is the process we started today is irreversible.  You are on your way to becoming one of the first living symbiotic plant-animals.”

Melissa almost cried, “So are you saying in six months this research test cannot be undone and that I will always be a potted plant?”

“In a word, yes.”

Melissa was almost in a state of shock.  How could they do this to her?  “What is the good news you mentioned about me becoming a potted plant?”

“Although we don’t know for sure, the good news is you will probably live between one hundred and fifty and two hundred years.  Maybe even more.  You will soon have the metabolism of a plant, the nourishment from the vine and the long life that goes with it.”

“Two hundred years as a potted plant!” exclaimed Melissa.  She thought she could already feel the vine branches and roots taking hold of her body.


The End