The little girl and the bug

Once upon a time, there was a little girl, who lived in a little house. Even though she was so young, she did everything for herself, for no one lived with her. For as long as she could remember, her life only included her. She would see the mommies and the daddies dropping off their children everyday at school; the scene would arouse a feeling of curiosity in her, but not desire to have someone since she never knew what it meant.
She was a good girl; she never ate candy before dinner, neither did she ever forget to brush her teeth, nor did she ever talked to stranger. Everyday at 6 O'clock in the morning she would wake up all on her own, at 7 she would be standing at the bus stop and at 8 she would be in school, at 4 in the afternoon she would be heading home, at 5 she would be having a healthy lunch, at 6 she would be doing her homework and at 9 she would be in bed, by 9:10 she would be asleep, a dreamless sleep. She would repeat this everyday without fail. When she was not at school she would be found at the library, reading all sorts of books.

One day, it was an official holiday, so both the library and the school were closed. She had known this in advance and so borrowed a couple of books to keep her company. She was reading one of the books in her bed, when she noticed something odd at the right corner of her eyesight. She lifted her head to find a tiny bug crawling across her bed. Her first reaction was to jump out of the bed. Her thumb moved to crush the little red bug, but before she could continue killing it, the bug moved and settled on the edge of the book, as if it was reading it. The little girl felt pity and decided that she will not kill the tiny red bug. Then she remembered a book she had borrowed called "Bugs of the world-Illustrated." She got the book and started looking for the bug; she found out that it was harmless and that it should be living in a garden near flowers. She decided that she would transfer it to a container and then move it to the park next to her home. She was still found it creepy, but she just couldn't bring herself to kill it, and so she had to move it. She held a small plastic container and slowly tried to get the bug inside, and as if the bug read her mind, it jumped all on its own in the container. The little girl hurriedly went to the park; she was worried the bug would suffocate.
As soon as she saw a good-looking bunch of flowers, she opened the plastic container and slowly egged the bug onto the flowers. Happy with the bug's status, she returned home, eager to continue her reading. She settled on bed with her book and just as she started reading, the bug reappeared on the same edge of the book. The little girl screamed and jumped, but the bug didn't move. The little girl wondered if it was a different bug, but the pattern on its back was the same and it was the same color and it was sitting on the same edge of the book, as if it knew that it was its place.
The little girl was lost at what to do; she was disgusted by it, but she didn't want to kill it. She looked at it, the bug didn't move, so the little girl decided that she would continue to read with the bug on the book and if it jumped on her, she would kill it. And so the little girl continued to read the book and every time she would turn the page, the bug would jump on the new page. This continued until the she read the whole book and then when she closed the book, the bug jumped on the cover. By that time, the little girl grew fond of the tiny red bug and so decided that maybe she should let it land on her finger. She extended her index finger to the bug and it immediately jumped on it. Then the little girl took it to the kitchen, where she proceeded to make a sandwich for herself, while the bug waited on the kitchen counter. According to the book, the bug didn't eat regular food, but it ate other bugs that it hunted and so the little girl didn't try to feed it lest it dies. Every now and then, the little girl would look at the bug and would find it unmoving; patiently waiting for her. The bug stayed with the little girl the whole day and by night time, the bug waited for the little girl to fall asleep and then it went away to hunt for food.

The next day, the little girl woke up to find the bug waiting for her on the nightstand. The little girl stared for a while at the bug and then proceeded with her daily routine, while the bug waited patiently. Then, the little girl took the bug in the small plastic container, to which she added holes so that the bug can breathe, and went to school.

Ever since, the little girl took the bug with her everywhere she went, but she also had to add trips to the park to her schedule since the bug needed to be next to flowers every now and then. The little girl would sit and enjoy the breeze as the bug fluttered here and there, happy to be in its own element. Little by little, more trips to the park were added, because the little girl enjoyed those trips more than anything else. She even began running and jumping around, laughing and playing with the bug. Life had become different for the little girl; more enjoyable and fun with the bug around. The bug she once disliked, she now loved.

One day, the little girl woke up to find the bug sitting on the night stand, but it wasn't moving nor fluttering. The little girl tried to poke it with her finger, but still it didn't move. It looked different; it was no longer red, but a melancholy shade of gray. The little girl opened the book and read; she found out that the bug could only live for a certain amount of time and then it had to die and wither away. The little girl felt sad, but she knew there was nothing she could do; it was the bug's time to go. She took it to the park and laid it next to its favorite flowers, then she jumped, ran and played just as if the bug was fluttering alongside of her. For even though the bug was no longer with her, the little girl was forever changed because of the tiny red bug, whom she loved and would always remember as the bug that colored her life with fun.

Picture by Creative Momma

Comments

hawk19800 said…
VERY touching
you should make it a cartoon

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