Forest of Imagination

Parting is Such Bitter Sorrow

Juliet: Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.

--William Shakespeare

Narrator: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness....

--Charles Dickens

Dumbledore: There are all kinds of courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.

                                                                                                                           --Joanne Kathleen Rowling

I think all those deep-and-great authors got it all wrong. William Shakespeare was wrong; parting is not sweet. Not at all.

Charles Dickens was wrong. It was ACTUALLY the worst of times, the age of wisdom. The epoch of belief, the epoch of incredulity, it goes on.... Can you believe it? Charlie D was wrong wrong wrong!

J.K Rowling? Nope. It takes more courage to stand up to your friends, which I guess was her point, but I learned that the hard way.

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"Being a fairy? Seriously?" one of the bullies staying in the verid, Veronica Bosedi from Mermaid Bay (there's a special Mermaid Suite in Malachite Horizon so that pure-blooded mermaids can stay here too), teased. "You used to be a half-mermaid, the greatest creature out of the greatest species! Can you believe it?!"

Veronica was apparently in a pool of some kind that the verid nicely put as "Flitol Mermaid Service; Underground Water Transportation." So yes, we were in the flitol, and yes, Veronica could go right under my feet and pound until I fall into the pool and break my wings, resulting in incurable wing damage due to wetness.

Her little croonies laughed hysterically. I suspected that was only because Veronica was bribing them.

"Yes, of course I can believe it," I replied, smirking. Katie and Ryan stood back, not wanting to get involved. "But are you blaming me for something that was not my fault? Are you just going to bully all mermaids-turned-fairies?"

"Let me think," Veronica said, tapping her chin. "....Nope. Just you."

I felt Ryan recoil behind me.  "Really? You think you're so high and mighty because you are PURE-BLOODED?"

Veronica's eyes landed on him. "No. Stop guessing it wrong, guys!" Ryan loosened up a little, coming forward to take a closer look at her; somehow, this made me angry and somewhat jealous.

"Do you have any qualms about the fact you're bullying?" I asked, glaring at Ryan inside my head.

Veronica's answer surprised me. "Yes."

"Huh?" Katie furrowed her brow, and bit her lip. "OUCH!" she cried, seeming to have forgotten her fangs for a moment there.

"I'm saying, I do have qualms," Veronica repeated.

"She does seem to have mermaide feelings," Ryan whispered into my ear. I had no idea what "mermaide" meant, but it had to be similar to "humane," right?