My Golden Life

Chapter 56

By nightfall, we were all sitting around a blazing fire. Donkey and Puss were sitting on the floor on one side while Shrek, Artie and I were situated together on a tree trunk. I was glad that we had something keeping us warm, the ocean breeze was definitely hitting us a bit despite us being quite far from the beach.

"Now, all of you," Mr. Merlin began. "Look into the 'Fire of Truth' and tell me what you see!"

He then threw a handful of dust into the fire, and it blew high into the air, changing the colour of the flames to a misty blue colour.

"Ooo! Charades!" Donkey said excitedly. "Okay, I see a dutch fudge torte with cinnamon swirls."

Of course, he would be thinking of food. I think that's all he ever thinks about, which is kind of funny. I was curious to hear what everyone would see and began thinking about what I would see, would it be bad or good? I had no idea.

"Okay. Monster, go for it." Mr. Merlin said to Shrek. He signed and peered into the flames. After a short moment, he started to blow at the smoke with a worried look on his face.

"Huh...I see a rainbow pony." He said nervously.

"Excellent work!" Mr. Merlin exclaimed before turning to Artie. "Now! The boy!"

"This is lame," Artie muttered. Mr. Merlin then went up to him and whacked him at the back of his head.

"Ow," Arite yelled.

"You're lame! Now just go for it." He then sighed and turned to face the fire.

"Okay... There's a baby bird and a father bird sitting in a nest."

Mr. Merlin then brought out a drum and began beating at it. Where he wiped that out from, I have no clue. More importantly, did he need to bring it out? It wasn't necessary.

"Yes! Stay with it! Stay with it!" He cheered.

"Wait, the dad just flew away," Artie said worryingly. "Why did he leave the little bird all alone?"

We all continued watching Artie become frantic the more he looked into the flames. I could see the sadness building up in his eyes.

"It's trying to fly, but it doesn't know how to." Artie panicked. "It... it's gonna fall!"

He then stopped and looked at the rest of us; we all had shocked looks on our faces.

"Whew, proper head case you are, aren't you?" Mr. Merlin said. "Really messed up... Whoa." He then went back into his house, leaving the five of us outside.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I get it. The bird's me." Artie snarled. "My dad left. So what?"

I placed my hand on his and did my best to comfort him. I knew Artie's relationship with his dad was terrible. Still, I didn't realise it was that bad to where his dad completely ditched him. I felt for him, I honestly did.

Shrek then shifted closer to him. I was glad he was trying to make an effort to bond.

"Look Artie...um-"

Just then, loud music began playing out of nowhere, we all turned around to see Mr. Merlin standing by his door.

"Just thought I might help set the mood!" He yelled over the music. "Y'know for your big heart to heart chat."

We continued to stare at him until he sheepishly turned off the music and headed back inside his house.

"I know what it's like to not feel ready for something," Shrek began. "Even ogres get scared...you know, once in a while."