Fireflies

a voice and a feather

I'm sitting down. That is a treat. I haven't sat down in over 9 hours. I have been cleaning our hidden home. Its east of the fruit trees and then south of the river. Follow the river and keep your eyes peeled you might find me and my little sister honeyglow. We have been living here for over a year now with low resources. We have only the essentials. Like food, water and a couple of other things.

I don't know how I'm managing. I walk back to the kitchen to cook lunch. Yay. Mashed potatoe and corn... Again. For the last 7 weeks I have had mashed potatoe and corn for lunch. And chicken I have to catch my self with wild mushrooms and other vegetables. Honeyglow has been raised to eat this. This is pretty much all she has eaten. I go into our secret little house. Only to find honeyglow sitting on our only seat (a old beanbag that has 3 leaks in it) with a bucket of water and some potatoes. She was washing the potatoes. How sweet.

"Hey firefly I'm washing the potatoes for you! Well... Trying to." She says hearing me close the door. She turn around and smiles her sweet smile. I laugh as I see dirt all over her little face. "I wanted to help! Let you rest!"

"When playing the role of mum you don't really get a brack honeyglow. But thanks for trying" I say walking over and looking the the potatoes on a plate next the the bucket. They were almost clean. Just needed a bit more cleaning.

I walk over the the only chest we have and grab a cloth and go to the door again. I walk out to the rivers edge and dip the cloth in the water and squeeze it out again. I go back inside and walk over and sit next to honeyglow.

"What's that for?" Honey glow asks still cleaning the potatoes.

"You have dirt all over your face honey" I say laughing a little "let me get it off"

I wash her face gently until all the dirt is gone. She looks at me. And smiles again.
"Is it gone now?" She asks sweetly

"All gone" I say squeezing her cheeks.

"Stop it!" She says slapping my hand away. Her giggling lights up my day. She is what keeps me going. Without her I have nothing.

"I'm going for a walk. Would you like a break from washing potatoes and come with me?" I ask her getting to my feet.

"Can we go swimming?!" She asks jumping to her feet as fast as she could.

"I guess we could!" I say running to the chest across the room and grabbing a hand made bag my mum had made me when I was 9, my only swimming suit (a yellow and orange bikini), my sister only swimming suit (a purple and pink I piece swim suit) and two towels.

"Are you ready to go?" I ask her as I pack the towels in the bag

"Yes! Can we have fish for dinner?" She ask as she looks for her bathers in the chest.

"No... how do we catch them? In our hands? I'm sorry but not today. Maybe another time honeyglow"

"Ow. Ok!" She says running into the room next door to change into her swim suit. She comes back in her cute bathers that have a little cat or something on it. I think its called hello kitty? Maybe? "How do I look sis!" She does a little twirl then smile and looks at me.

"Cute as ever. In going to get changed be right back" I say taking my leave to the bedroom. I grab 2 apples to have for a snack while we are out.

'Fire can fly. Only if you could!' A voice says softly. I look at the bedroom door behind me to see if the soft voice was honeyglow. But honeyglow had gone outside already.

'Maybe... You can' the voice says again. I look around trying to find the owner of this soft whispering voice. I couldn't see anyone. And no one knows where we live either. What is going on!

'The gift of flight is what you deserve'. I didn't know what to do except listen to the voice as I got changed onto my bikini.

'Would you except? Would the gift if flight be something you want?'. It was something I would want. But it isn't something I can have. Without wings or a flying machine... flight was impossible

'Firefly... Its not impossible... If you knew what you could do right now... You would be suprised. I will help you catch flight'

Catch flight? How do you catch flight? And what can I do right now? It is so confusing! Suddenly a flash appears infront of me. A little white, black and gray feather with a orange tinge appears in the air and drifts softly to the ground. It sits there motionless on the floor of my bedroom.

I feel the temptation to pick it up. I walk to the feather that remains motionless on my floor still. I bend down and sit on the floor if my room and stare at the feather. I edge my hand closer to pick it up. But I dont. I hover my hand above the feather. I feel a sudden feeling of desperation and move my hand and pick the soft white, black, gray and orange feather.

'My job is complete. I will see you soon firefly. We fill... I promise' the voice says before I hear footsteps drain away. I can not tell where the footsteps came from. So I leave it be for now.

I look at the feather in my hands. Only to see it disappear from the palm of my hand. How strange. I remember that honeyglow was waiting for me and grab the bag and run out side. "You ready to go honeyglow?"

"Yea! But... What took you so long?"

"Dont worry about it lest go!" I say running into the woods beyond.

______________________________

'Here we go. Firefly will love what we have done!' The voice whispers softly as perusal. She holds a necklace with a shaded and orange feather attached to it. She hands it to the man next to her. 'will it work?'

'of course it will Tia. We just have to wait. As soon as she puts it on she will have the power of flight and light. But until then we must wait'.

'yes master'