This is my thing, warning though, it's a bit sad.
A bunch of kids ran around the town, playing a game of wild warriors. Just up the hill from them was a young girl, writing in a journal. The kids playing spotted her and stopped their game. She could hear them talking about her, and how weird she was. Then she heard one of them call something at her and her head sunk lower into her journal. “Freak!” And the kids returned to playing.
She looked over the top of her book to see them playing still, then they ran around out of her sight. She looked at the town, let her legs and the journal drop, and looked at the ground. Tears formed in her eyes and began rolling down her cheeks. Everyone in town saw her as a freak, and they made sure she knew it. The only comfort she had was in letting her feelings out on a piece of paper.
Her journal fell to the ground next to her, and she hugged her knees crying into them. She didn’t understand why, she was seen as the devil child or something like that. All she knew was that it had been like this since she was born.
Another thing was making her cry. She was dying, and she would do so, alone. No one liked her, she had no friends, and no one would care when she did die. This thought caused her to cry more. Her body shook from her cries, and she didn’t notice the person that had come to stand next to her. Well, they were on the other side of the tree she was sitting under, but the were there, and they didn’t leave.
She heard someone quietly clear their throat, and her head shot up. She looked around and then on the other side of the tree to see a man standing there. He had short yellow blonde hair and one dark blue eye. He was wearing a dark royal purple hoodie, and light tan cargo pants. He had a black eye patch over his left eye, his hands behind his back, and he stood looking slightly at the ground.
“Who are you?” the girl asked moving back a little.
“Not someone here to hurt you, that’s for sure,” he said sitting down in the grass still on the other side of the tree. “You can just call me Big Bear.”
“I’m Tabitha,” the girl said seeming to relax a bit. She sat cross legged and moved so the she faced him. “I’ve never seen you before. She couldn’t take her eyes off the eye patch.
He smiled at her. “Well, technically, I’m not suppose to be here. You’ve noticed by now that I haven’t gone past this tree.”
“I noticed I just figured you didn’t want to,” Tabitha replied.
“Not quite, see I’m not allowed within the town limits. Which just so happens to be marked by this tree here. So are you okay? I couldn’t help but hear you crying,” he looked at her with concern.
Tabitha looked down, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to come again. “Everyone hates me, and I don’t know why. I must have done something wrong at some point, but I don’t know what.”
Big Bear looked at her for a moment and an understanding smile touched his lips. He stood up and held a hand out to her. “Come with me, I want to show you something.”
Looking at his head Tabitha gingerly took it and let him pull her up. She stepped past the tree, which she’d never gone past before, and followed him. She technically wasn’t allowed out of town limits, but she figured no one would missed her. Plus what would she have to lose anyway? She was dying.
He led her through the woods, huge trees stretched to the sky. A small stream flowed in between the roots of these huge trees. Then they came to a small clearing that had; a little flower garden on one side, a tiny pool of water on the other, and in the center was a tiny sapling. It looked tiny and sickly slightly like it was wilting.
“I need your help,” Big Bear said looking at Tabitha. “I think it has the potential of being the biggest beautifulest tree in the whole forest, but it doesn’t seem to want me to take care of it. I think it wants a special, beautiful young girl to take care of it. One that doesn’t fit in with the others, and that will be friends with it to the end.”
Tabitha broke down crying at his words. Half out of sadness that she was dying, but also because no one had ever told her she was beautiful or special before. Big Bear walked over and gave her a hug, letting her ball into his coat. She barely came up to his waist, and she could only manage to clutch the sides of his hoodie as she cried. She was shaking, hard, out of being cold and out of fear.
Death terrified her, but she’d never showed it because no one let her. Everyone hated her, and she was determined to show them that she was strong. Now she was standing with someone who seemed to love her, and she couldn’t stop herself from breaking down. For some strange reason Big Bear seemed to understand this. He didn’t pull away and he told her she was beautiful. Tabitha wanted to stay here forever, she felt different when she with him. She’d never felt this way before so she didn’t know what it was.
She suddenly realized that he’d said something to her. Letting go of him and stepping back she looked at him questioningly. “What?” her voice was thick with emotion when she asked.
He smiled at her and stooped down so that he was her height. “Are you okay?” he asked. The question was odd, clearly she wasn’t, couldn’t he see that? It should be obvious by her crying. But she thought about it for a moment. Someone had just come to her when she felt the lowest and threw her a rope. They pulled her up, and brought her to a whole new land. A place of mystery and beauty. Then they asked if she could help them, and right after that, told her she was beautiful. She was going to die, but now she wasn’t alone. She had a purpose now. That little tree was dying like she was, but with her help she could stop it from dying. Did Big Bear know that she was dying?
A look of determination crossed her face. “Yeah,” she wiped her tears away. “I’ll be okay,” she decided. An even brighter smile touched Big Bear’s lips. He stood again and walked over to the little sapling.
“Shall we get started then?” he gestured toward it. Tabitha walked over and examined the little tree. Then she looked up at the trees surrounding them.
“It’s not getting enough sunshine,” she said after a moment. “And it needs some water, we could use the pool of water to bring water to it.”
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Kids were playing a game of wild warriors around town. They looked up the hill where a girl use to sit. She wasn’t there, but her journal was. Thinking it would be fun to play a joke on her they went up to get it. It was open to the last page. The words on it stopped the kids in their tracks. They stood there for a long time in silence, not sure of how to respond. Then one of them walked over and gently closed the book leaving it under the tree with the pencil on it. They ran off to continue their game. Each one glancing back at the hill once more. Soon they forgot about the book, and didn’t notice the man come and pick it up. He walked back into the forest holding it tucked in his arms.
Deep in the forest he came to a young tree in a clearing. On one side there was a pool of water, on the other was a little flower garden. And just in front of the young tree was a small stone. With the words;
Beautiful and Brave
Tabitha Sylali
Daughter of the Demon Warrior
The tree had little pink flowers blooming on it. One broke off in a breeze, and floated down on the stone, right next to the word; Beautiful.
Sadness settled over the forest as the man set the journal down by the stone. Then he disappeared without a trace.
This is the last entry in the journal.
Hi it’s Tabitha I’m close to death now, but that’s okay. I’ve made a friend, he’s very nice and caring. His name is Big Bear. At least that’s what he told me. He said he wanted to show me something the day that I met him. He brought me to a small clearing that had a baby tree in it. The tree was dying like me, but I managed to bring it back to life. Big Bear told me that it would grow up to be just like me. He told me I was beautiful and brave. I believe him. Not many people can face death without fear. He told me not to be afraid to go. Because where I was going, I would be happy. And I would never feel pain again. He said that he would meet me there, after he made sure that something was done first. I’m not sure what it was that he needs to do, but it must be really important. He told me that I was very important and wise. I’m gonna miss everyone here. They weren’t nice to me, and I don’t know why. But everyone deserves to be told they are lovely and brave and strong. So I’m going to tell all of you that. In my last act before I go I want everyone in town to know that I love you and wish you all luck in life.
This is Tabitha signing off,
For the last time.