The orchard (erotic horror)

[Brandnewbuddy]

Read some Junji Ito and got an idea (Blood Orb Grove was the story) though this is taking a very different twist.

There is an orchard with very peculiar fruit. One bite and you will be overcome by a sexual fantasy, experiencing an entire encounter in mere seconds but feeling like you lived through the whole thing.

The people who keep the orchard do sell the fruit but they themselves don’t eat it. They also keep the source of the trees and their care a secret. What they don’t want people knowing is that the trees are grown from perverts and the porn obsessed, who are buried alive and turned to trees with their fantasies becoming the fruit.

Now that’s just the set up: how do they tend to these trees? What’s their goal? What happens if someone steals a tree and tries to raise them without knowing the proper care?

 

[33RPMVinylPants]

Could be the obvious play, but the fruit eaters could get addicted - addicted to the point that they become the addicts that the farmers use to grow the next generation of fruit trees.

Could be from the perspective of the son of the farmers, ready to take over the operation once the farmers are getting ready to retire - learning the secrets of the trade, curious about trying a taste of the fruit his parents have always sold to strangers but they've never let him taste for himself.

 

[dirk2024]

There would need to be an economic factor here. Would they sell one fruit at a time? The market would be tight with what would potentially be worldwide demand.
What happens when the fruit isn't in season? Does canning it still have the magic?
Security is an issue, as obviously theft would be an issue, not merely the fruit, but the tree's themselves.

It might be easier to keep it local. They farm apples primarily and sell to the local community. Customers get one magical fruit for every bushel purchased.

Or...they make a cider out of the magical fruit!

 

[Husky_Embrace]

The trees have a religious purpose. Possibly as a physical representation of hell. More on that later. In addition, the grove could provide other benefits. Besides the fruit it could have other food or utility uses. The bark could be food or a cork. Maybe the sap can be used in a special treatment to make an amber as strong as steel. though this secondary utility is optional.

The fruit entices people to go there. Of course they love the experience they feel with this hallucination fruit. The owners are protective, only letting people in between certain times. People who visit also are under the impression it's a select club that needs to stay secret, much like an Eyes Wide Shut party. They are invited, so they keep quiet to still have access to the fruit.

Once in a while a club of people is allowed in at different times. The grove smells even more fantastic. Some water at the base of the trees must be the culprit. The fruit tastes all the more delicious. The party is great!

The hallucinations get stronger. They withdraw into their minds, fully experiencing the effect. Without them realising it, they lose control of their bodies. Each settles down in the water, which is rising and starting to smell. It envelops the sinners and becomes acid. It dissolves them in the next few days, letting the nutrients sink into the ground, fertilising the soil. During these days no one is allowed in, while the trees bloom for more fruit.

Or just the buried alive thing, where the sinners drugged by the trees can easily be put underground.

Every so often a group of sinners is taken for food of the trees.

The symbolism is great. It has many parallels to the garden of Eden. Sinners and a forbidden fruit. Their debauchery descending then literally into the Earth, towards hell. The trees a gateway to it, absorbing them to lure further sinners.

As a story we could follow one if these sinners. Maybe someone who lost their partner when they cheated. They are invited to the grove, seemingly to put some positivity back in their lives. The sessions become more intense with every visit. We follow them as they talk with others, where we sprinkle in sexual sins for the other patrons for the discerning viewer to find. We follow the sessions, and each aftermath. Until the trees have their trust, which eventually leads to the trees dissolving them.

As they keep their gathering a secret as if it's an Eyes Wide Shut party any evidence is long gone by the time any arm of the law stumbles on the place by some coincidence or left behind clue.