Unfinished Stories

Firefly's Story Pt. 5

 Auklet whispered, "Hi, Firefly." The rest of my winglet murmured greetings. As I started to sidle away, Swallowtail put his wing on my back to stop me. He whispered in my ear, "Let's hear what they have to say." I nodded my head slowly, and walked over to where Swallowtail was, and sat down right next to him. Auklet looked at the rest of the winglet, and started talking. She said, "Listen. We're sorry we didn't listen to you. Starfruit came up to us and told us that she lied. We're really sorry." I looked away because I couldn't bear to look at their faces. A couple moments pass, and I have come to a decision. "I forgive you, but please don't do it again." "We promise that from now on, we will believe you, not some stranger," Auklet said. We all got into a big group hug.

Snowstorm saw my sloth and exclaimed, "Wow, that is a great sloth. Do you have a real sloth?" "As long as you don't tell anyone, . . . . ." I told the group. I led them out of the art room. Sunny said, "Where are you going?" "We'll be right back!" As I came into Auklet and mine's cave, I waved my wing to signal them to wait outside.

I reach my hand under my hammock, and I feel my sloth climb onto my arm. I lifted my arm and stroked my sloth's back, and she clinged tighter to my arm. I brought my sloth closer to my chest, and walked out of the cave. As soon as everyone saw the sloth, they started talking over one another.

"So cute!"

"How adorable!"

"Can I hold her?"

"No, I want to hold it!"

I signaled that they needed to be quiet. Immediately, everyone stops talking. I say, "This is my sloth. Her name is Sunburst. I found her when she was a wounded baby, and my mom let keep her. I couldn't leave her in the rainforest, so I secretly brought her here. I have been saving some fruit for her, and feeding it to her secretly. Who would like to hold her first? And no eating her!" I said pointedly at Coyote, who was licking his lips. Coyote looked surprised. "I wasn't going to!" I handed Sunburst to Swallowtail, who stroked her very gently, and then he passed it over to Auklet, and soon everybody had held Sunburst. Snowstorm was the last one to hold my sloth, and she passed Sunburst back to me. I placed the sloth in the curve of my neck, and led the group back to art class. Right outside the art cave, I placed Sunburst under my wing so nobody saw her.

After art class, I headed back to my cave with Swallowtail. When we got there I put Sunburst on the cecropia tree hidden in a nook behind my hammock. I put a bunch of leaves on the branch in front of Sunburst's face. I turned around to face Swallowtail and said, "Let's go. We have to get to our next class." He replied, "Ok. Let's go!" As we walked in the hallway to the prey center, where we meet up in between every class, Swallowtail entwined his tail with mine.

When we got there, I was met with a bunch of overlapping voices.

"Where is Sunburst?"

"Where is the sloth?"

"Where have you been?"

"Ok, ok, one question at a time," I stated as loud as I could. That seemed to get them quiet. Auklet spoke up first.

"Did you know that we have a new roommate?"

"What? What's their name," I asked, completely surprised at the question.

"Her name is Sundancer, and she is Sunny and Starflight's daughter," was the reply.

"But that means that she's Eclipse's sister?"

I saw a Night/Sandwing hybrid tap Swallowtail on the shoulder and whisper, "Excuse me," and pushed past him. Eclipse walked up with an evil-looking smirk on her face.