Alien Plant Dreams

When a lonely man raises a truly alien plant species from a seedling, strange things happen, and his life takes a sinister turn.

The second in the Alien Science Fiction series by Simon J. Cooper, this story journeys into the darker reaches of the mind.

Opening:

The bright orange tuber lay sideways, half-buried in the compost that covered the living room floor. It was as big as a horse's head and similar in shape. Arnold wiped the red sap from his mouth with a handkerchief, and then kneeled, sinking into the compacted area where he'd been sleeping. A few of the silvery root strands coming from the tuber broke. Arnold dabbed up the last dribbles of sap leaking from the swollen fissure on the root's lower end and the hole sealed, becoming a dark line again.