Myth Land (unedited)

VII

I dragged all of the stuffs they left behind with my teeth until each of them was all safe from the rain. Then, I threw myself to the tree's stem. My chest felt so tight, and it was hurting as if there was someone stabbing me with a baseball bat. My hands were shaking out of anger. My eyes were burning. My soul was drowned by the rain that kept on falling. Each rain drop bathing my feet represented every single emotion that seemed to keep on changing. I couldn't even decide whether I should cry or be angry. Crying wouldn't solve anything, neither would with me being mad. But mad at whom? The rain for delaying everything? Chuckle for not fulfilling my expectation? Insulsus for insulting me? Hani for not saying a thing? Risum for not defending me?

At that time I was thinking about leaving to look for my friends from the cubicle. If only. If only I ran fast enough to group myself with them instead of being with a bunch of strangers.

But what would have been different if I were with Hyena or Sophie? Or Golden or Fronisi? Or Decorus or Philip? I was, too, just meet them for only a few days.

I only sat there with my tail on the ground and my back against the tree. My eyes were vacantly staring at all of the stuffs carried to this soon-to-be very muddy ground.

Muddy ground that washed away the blueprint. I looked at the ground and found Risum's claw-writing had already gone. I... I couldn't believe she left me. We worked together. We drew that magnificent blueprint together. We perfected the concept together.

But maybe. Maybe they were not the ones who let me down. Maybe I was the one. I was the one who let everybody down—including myself.

Yet at the lowest part of my life—at least at that time I thought so—the moon shone luminously. It lighted the small branches which Chukle had brought, and the golden liquid of honey was glowed by its light.

And just like what you might usually watch in human's cartoons, an idea popped inside my head.

'These can still be used...' I whispered and started to count how many branches we got. There were so many of them that I gave up counting.

I ran with hopes that they would listen. I ran to the nearest tree (although it was still far for my small footsteps). I ran to them for them. I ran to them because I was not the only one who cared about going to Myth Land. They were all, too. I knew it. I knew it by the looks in their eyes. I knew it from the cheers they made when we were just about to start. They would not give up on this. They would not give up on me.

When I got there, Hani was the only one who still awoke. Seeing me running out of breath, she made the slightest smile.

'I knew you'd do something, Pearl, and I bet you ran all the way here without empty-handed,' she said.

'Ran all the way?' I was wheezing, 'Not at all. It's just that my footsteps are small. Doesn't matter.'

She immediately woke the others up. Insulsus nearly killed me with her glance, but I believed in myself more than she could ever doubt me.

After Chuckle and Risum had their eyes fully opened, Hani let me start.

'Tell us your plan, Pearl.'

I took a deep breath.

'I am here to apologize. I'm sorry for caring more about the works than the efforts you have done. Each one of you has done a very, very great job so far. Thank you. Thank you for having such an ardor. And I know, I know we can't get any logs, but we have plenty—PLENTY—of branches. Thank you, Chuckle, for those countless branches. And you know what, I just found out that we can still make it happens.'