Aleta

(Photograph submitted by Brittany)

Okay guys, here it is, my first story post. Only three hundred and sixty four more stories to go. This one is a bit on the shorter side, but I think that it is a good length for my first post. I might add more to it eventually, when I find something that could be added, but right now, I think it's perfect.

The sky begins to turn a pale orange. I look to the sun as it begins to fall. I look around. Where am I? How long do I have to get home? Where is home?

A familiar voice calls to me. “Listen to the wind.”

My eyes close and the hustle and bustle of the city stops. Car horns and construction vehicles fall silent; the wind grows to a screeching nightmare. I take a step forward into the street.

I let the wind take me where she wants me to go. Her soft voice beckons me forward. My eyes remain closed as I walk along the city street. The voice stops and I open my eyes. In front of me, I see home.

My little tree on the bank of the pond begs me to come forward and rest in his open arms. I do not want to leave this place anymore. I step into the pond and look at the sun in the distance.

In just a few moments little tree, I tell it. I reach my arms out to my sides and lift my head to the sky. As the last light falls behind the hills, I jump out of the water and fly into my tree. My blue feathers pinch me in anger from the water that had splashed them as I leapt from the water.

I do not want to be a human anymore. I want to live in this peaceful clearing forever. I am only eight years old but I know this is what I want.

I want to live in this little tree and watch him grow until he is as big as his brothers. I want to frolic in the flowers, watching as the sisters’ dance in the wind around me.

I want to fly. I want to be this little blue bird I have grown to be. I never want to go back to my other life.

What other life? The pond looks back at me with waves of confusion.

I think. There is no other life to go back to. My mother died years ago, and I never had a father. The orphanage tries, but can never find me a family. I have tried to live life as a human; I have tried to be the good little girl.

I want to stay as a bird, I beg the sun. Will you not let me be who I want to be?

I am at peace here in my little clearing. I am alone with my tree friends, my flower family and my mother lake. Do I need the company of other birds? No, I do not think so.

I love my family of nature. When we sleep, when we play, when we live together, anything is possible. If I have to become a human again, I would only beg to return to the form of the little blue bird that I love to be.

I fall asleep in the arms of my little tree. He keeps me safe and warm, and in the morning breeze, he shakes me awake.

However, something was different as I fly from his arms to Mother Lake. As she cleans me, I look to the skies. Everything is as it was when I went to sleep. The sky is barely orange, enough light to see, but everything froze.

In my little clearing, time was still. I swim to the shore and stand in the grass.

I wait for the change.

I do not turn back into a little girl. Could it be? My wish had come true? I look to the sky again and I thank the sun for letting me stay as the little blue bird. I fly into the waiting arms of my little tree. He smiles at me. We can be together now. We can be together until the end of forever.

Mother Lake calls me to her. I splash and her laugh rolls in the waves around me. She embraces me and I feel safe.

The wind calls to me again. I can hear her speaking in the voice of my mother who had been carried away when I was but two years old.

Welcome home, she whispers. The voice fades and I am left with my friends.