Sta.sh
I sought out the source of what smelled so delicious, thinking that my Queen would greatly enjoy the taste of such delicacies. I dared to trail from the common path I always traveled into the thick brush that we all walked past every single day.
The dirt turned into gravel, and gravel into petals of lilies. The fragrances were nothing compared to the flavor floating in the summer air, the heat of the sun shining the way to the maple covered apples.
I raced across the petals to the blanket of striped red and white, but of course the color of the cloth was black and white next to the color of strawberry cake. Silent as the night I crawl across the red stripes to blend into the fabric, my gaze fixed on the amazing sweet crumbs. Like an invisible intruder I climb onto the edge of the plastic plate and take hold of the bitty crumb. But before I could retrace my steps back to my colony the plate is jerked from the ground and carelessly flung into the darkness.
I hear a loud buzzing sound above me and all the light that had remained for that second has now been swallowed up. But thankfully I wasn't built, made or created to go on mere sight. Instead I used my two antennas to guide me from the bottom of the backpack. Still gripping the crumb as I climbed along the walls of the bag, seeking a way to freedom, but it rendered to me no escape.
The earth shook and rattled from all sides as the bag was lifted from the ground, I tried to cling onto the wall but the violent movements knocked me to the bottom, unto a cap. The crumb now out of my reach. I desperately try to gain control of my feet but the constant rocking makes me dizzy and dazed. Until finally I lay still, as if I am a dead rodent in the road. Hoping the creature that held me in its belly would spit me back out.
I'm not that lucky.
If I could actually track time, or even ever cared to tell time I would then guess how long I was trapped in the clutches of this lifeless thing. But I don't understand why human's set a time to each day, when I am made to work until the job is done, not until the right time sets me free.
But I can tell you that when the rattling finally stopped I smelled the bitter scent of the sweat of many bodies. The summer's afternoon heat was beginning to take its toll.
Light streamed in like a golden diamond,
Shining a glimmer of hope in the darkness.
Flooding me with a chance of freedom.
Sweet strawberry crumbs I grasp to me.
Pushing me on to return to my lovely Queen.
The buzzing zipped overhead once again, the light of the dimmed sun sparked from the window across the seat. I watched the hand move down into the belly of the bag, as its fingers grasped the cap I snagged my crumb and climbed onto the bill of the cap while it lifted out of the belly of the bag.
I didn't expect that the human would see me and freak out, but with a sudden and hard shake of the cap I was sent flying across the trolleybus, smacking squarely into a sun-scourged window. I helplessly slid down onto the armrest of the closest seat and gazed around hopelessly.
Where am I?
The sun told me that the day was coming to a close and unless I found a way out soon I would never find my colony again.
Staring out the window I watched the odd objects veer by, making me feel confused. But I had to take a shot at making it back, no matter what. I turned my dark eyes to the human sitting on the seat beside me, noticing that he too was watching me. We locked eyes for several long minutes. I hoped he saw my desperation for an escape… for freedom.
But by the raised newspaper I realized all he saw was hopelessness.
In those final seconds I wished my Queen knew that I was sorry.
All I'd wanted was to give her a taste of a delicacy, just one bite…
And just as I thought the human would crush me beneath the rolled up paper he paused, his hand hanging above my small body for what seemed like an eternity. Then with the slowness of an aged man he drew his hand back and dropped the paper into his lap. A slow smile lifting the edges of his pink lips. "You'll live."
The words made no sense to me. I stared at him for a few seconds longer, as the bus stopped and he lifted a small case and left. I did my best to make sense of his language, to maybe connect it to finding my way home. But no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't understand.
Why hadn't he killed me?
Pushing the strange boy from my mind I climbed up the wall alongside the window and scaled to the roof of the bus, peering down at the people that came and went as I made my way to the front of the monster. To the mouth that made the humans disappear during each stop.
It seemed like my only chance of getting out of this mess.
Reaching the mouth of the bus I carefully descended the wall as a large man began to exist, his over topped hat was near enough to the top of the entrance that it would be an easy leap of faith to land squarely on it. Without a moments hesitation my tiny legs propelled me off of the wall and gravity landed me on my target.
The full force of the summer sun had faded into just a humid wave, a wave that exhausted me beyond belief. Keeping a hold of the strawberry crumb became very difficult and the only thing that kept me sane enough to keep hold of it was the image of my Queen's face when she tasted it for herself.
The large man stopped beneath a maple tree and oddly enough the scenery seemed familiar. I searched for the nearest branch and walked to the very edge of the hat to size the distance between it and me. Wasn't going to be easy to jump that far unless the man moved clos….
The large man took a step closer until he stood inches from the branch, his round rimmed hat tilted to the side just enough that it gave me leverage to jump the remaining distance to the branch. And with all the energy left in my body I leapt onto the branch and landed perfectly on the bark.
There I rested for several minutes just gaining my senses.
The fragrance of lilies filled the breeze to instantly revive my hopes. I paced to the trunk of the tree and climbed down to the bottom, following the strange scent past a street into thick forage overgrown with weeds. Instinct driving me forward without hesitation, I made no attempt at checking for danger, for careless excitement had taken over commonsense.
Just as I past the field of lilies and was reaching the trail I had earlier left my colony on, a strange form appeared in the gravel in front of me. I froze but it was already to late. The lizard's eyes landed on me. Without given the chance to do anything about it, its sticky tongue shot out of its mouth and attached onto me. The force yanked me off my feet and popped me into its mouth.
I tried to bite its tongue, hoping that the sting would make it spit me back out. But it was futile. The sticky juice of its tongue fended off my sting and my body began to crunch between its jaws. The strawberry cake crumb I still grasped so desperately to became its dessert.
I was given one final thought before my life ended.
'Goodbye my Queen.'
The Artist has requested Critique on this Artwork
Please sign up or login to post a critique.