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| Image courtesy of suphakit73 /FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
This is the Sixth
installment of the
short story
Captured Fire
This story is the story of a nine-year-old boy,
Robbie, who enters a magical world where he learns
about the meaning of life,
friendship, and respect for others
***
Four lights exactly the firefly
guards were at his door. They took him
down to the dining room where he had more nuts and seeds washing it down with
his now favorite drink rose petal honeysuckle nectar. After breakfast they marched him though a huge room then through
a door at the other end. This room looked like an operating room. It was bright with daisy petals on the walls
that make it look like white paint.
There wasn’t much in the room except a chair and a small table in the
middle, also covered with daisy petals.
A fairy came in who was dressed like a doctor in scrubs. He was busy in
thought reading something on the clipboard he carried.
“Good morning Robbie, I am Dr.
Heathcliff. Don’t be scared this will
not hurt, it will be fine, just relax,” the Doctor said as the nurse put him on
the table. Dr. Heathcliff then put a
blue bell over Robbie’s nose and told him to breath in. The scent of flowers was intoxicating and
Robbie saw visions of fields with wildflowers and fairies fluttering all
around. He heard another voice, which
echoed from far away, “count backwards from one hundred” but he was
concentrating on looking at the beautiful scenery as colors swirled around in
his mind like a kaleidoscope.
The next thing he knew he was
waking up in a dark room. He was covered with a moss blanket and he was lying
on a rock bed. A flower fairy was
standing next to his bed, she was dressed in white rose petals and was touching
his head the way Mama did when he had a fever.
“How are you feeling?” she asked.
Robbie blinked his eyes several
times to adjust them to the light. “I’m
ok. I guess. What happened, where am
I? My back feels funny and so do my
legs. Am I dying?”
The Nurse Fairy laughed, “no you
are not dying you just had a transformation.
Don’t worry Dr. Heathcliff is very good. His medical skills are the best
in the whole kingdom that is why he has been appointed physician to the King.
If you are thirsty I can get you something to drink.”
“Yes I would like a little rose
petal honeysuckle nectar if you could, please.”
She went around the corner of the
room to get the nectar. Robbie was
feeling a little tired and sore, but basically fine. He started to move his hands along his body and suddenly
stopped. ‘I don’t think I am alone in
this bed,’ he thought.
The nurse came back with the
drink. “Let me help you get up.”
Robbie motioned for her to come
close. “Nurse,” he whispered, “I think
there is a firefly under the covers lying on top of me.”
She laughed out loud, “No there’s
not. That is the new you. You needed a transformation for your purpose.” Robbie’s heart almost stopped. What was she talking about? He lifted up the blanket looked down at his
legs and body in disbelief. It was not
a firefly lying on top of him; his boy body was no longer there in its place
was a firefly body.
“Here let me help you up,” she
said. Carefully she helped him up into
a sitting position and slowly pulled off the moss blanket.
Robbie did not know what to do. He
blinked his eyes and looking down at the firefly that was now him. He looked at the nurse with a look that
asked for answers to many questions.
Just then the door burst open and there stood King Huron.
“I see you are doing fine,” the
King said as he sat down next to Robbie “ Dr. Heathcliff tells me you should be
ready to start your training by the end of the day.”
“What happened to my body, why am I
like this?” Robbie cried to the King. “What training are you talking about?”
“Did you not read the story last
night?”
“Of course I read it, but what does
that have to do with me being turned into a firefly?”
“You Robbie are the one, by your
birth you are the special one to save our land. You will be trained for your purpose. If you are successful you
will once more obtain your human body, if not you will remain here a firefly
forever.” King Huron stood and walked from the room, followed by his guards.
Robbie was very confused. Yes he
read the story and knew of a special one, but he was not a fairy. Actually now
he wasn’t even a boy, he was a firefly, or a boyfly. He didn’t have time to
analyze this now. Dr. Heathcliff and
the nurse were at his bedside preparing him to leave.
“The transformation went very well.
You are now ready to be released and attend your training classes,” the Doctor
told him.
“What do I do with this body, how
do I walk…” Robbie started with all the questions that filled his brain.
“I am not the one to answer your
questions. You will learn all that in training class,” the Doctor said has he
helped Robbie off the bed. “You will be
taken to the training room now. Have a
good time with your new body, which I must say I did do a magnificent job.”
Robbie found himself sitting;
waiting in another little room. At this
point he was in a total daze, not sure if he was awake, alive, or what. The door opened and in walked a huge firefly
even bigger than King Huron. “Come with
me. I am Drayon. I will be training you.” He turned and walked out the door.
Robbie quickly followed him down the dark corridor into a huge bright
room. The room was like the health club
Dad went to in town. Fireflies were in
small groups all over the room with coaches, some doing floor exercises, others
lifting weights, and still others suspended from strings being pulled along at
high speeds and spinning in circles.
Drayon led him to a small group of
very young fireflies in the corner.
Robbie towered over them and they looked up at him with an interested
but guarded stare, they never before saw a firefly with a boy’s face. “Okay this class is Light Messages 101. We
will get started with the basics today. Everyone look at your bulb.”
All the young fireflies lifted their
bulbs high and turned around to look at them.
Robbie was not sure what to do, but thought hard about lifting the bulb,
and it moved up. Still in shock he
turned his head, and there it was, a big light at the end of his back. He figured this had to be a dream, a real
feeling dream, but a dream nonetheless.
He decided he might as well make it a fun one and not a nightmare. He
joined the rest of the fireflies and started studying.
Each day Robbie woke early, ate his
breakfast and was off to his classes. He was beginning to like this
school. He learned how to communicate
with his bulb, how the different flashes meant different things. Flying class was his favorite. In the first class they were all tied up
with spider webs suspended from the ceiling and just hung and spun around. At later classes a big spider would run
around pulling them up and down and spinning as they started to move their
wings.
At the final class,
as they were moving through the air, Drayon nodded to the spider and he cut the
strings. This was a surprise to all the
young firefly cadets as they tumbled downward to the ground. Robbie started to panic as he suddenly
plummeted in a downward spiral. Then as
if by instinct he started to move his wings.
At first nothing happened so he worked them harder, the harder he moved
them the louder the sound and he could feel a small breeze being generated by
them. As his little firefly body neared
the ground he suddenly swooshed up in a burst.
The next thing he knew he was flying around the room. Zooming up and
down. Spinning around and upside down.
He was amazed, he was flying, and he was a firefly!
Robbie landed along
side other successful fliers. Those who were unsuccessful at flying were
attended to and taken from the room.
Most of the unsuccessful were crying, not because they were physically
hurt, but because they knew they did not pass and would have to retake the
class until they could pass it and fly.
“Congratulations on
mastering the skill of flying,” Drayon addressed them with a proud sound to his
voice. “You are now ready to move on to
receive your certificate of accomplishment and then your orders.”
The ceremony was a
huge event in firefly land. Robbie was
feeling a little down since he had no family in this strange world to see his
accomplishment. His name was called, he
walked across the stage to receive his certificate, and his wing pin, which was
formed from oak leaves in the shape of firefly wings. As he shook hands with Drayon
a loud roar burst forth from the audience.
Robbie looked out in the crowd and saw Rosella, Tytra, Doctor
Heathcliff, his nurse and all the flower fairies he had met when he first
arrived, standing up cheering for him.
Along with them were fireflies he had met during his training, kings’ guards,
and to his surprise King Huron himself.
He walked across the stage with tear filled eyes feeling so happy that
these new friends felt so warmly about him.
He took his award from Drayon and turned to everyone, holding his
certificate high above his head smiling at all his new friends.
§
©
Copyright 2013 Eileen A Partak
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