10. Something was changing forever.

I was in bed when I woke up, and Dad called me for breakfast. At first, I thought I was dreaming. I didn’t know how I had gotten home the previous night. But I was quickly convinced that everything was real and that I was wide awake in the nest.

Then I wondered if the day in the woods of adolescence had not been a dream. Whatever the case, it was getting late, and we needed to leave the house to go to school!

It took a lot of work to concentrate on my lessons. All I wanted was to look for my friend, who attended another school, and ask her if we had been together in the forest the day before and thus know once and for all if everything had been a dream.

Finally, it was time to leave school, and Dad picked us up for lunch. He and my brother chatted the entire trip, but my mind was still on the mysterious forest where I thought, almost certainly, I had been the day before.

«And how was it for you today?» Dad asked me when we were arriving home.

«Good!» I said, not wanting to talk.

He realized my mind was elsewhere and did not insist on speaking to me.

It was strange how I felt then: on the one hand, I was glad that he realized I didn’t feel like chatting and respected my silence. But on the other hand, I was annoyed by his lack of interest in what was happening to me! This last feeling increased as he resumed his cheerful conversation with my brother, and I felt jealous and unhappy.

Then, the dryad’s voice came to mind, saying that my poor father could never come out well if I insisted on always seeing something negative in his actions:

«Had he insisted on you chatting with them, you would have been angry because he won’t leave you alone with your thoughts. But when he respects your silence, you accuse him of indifference and not caring about what’s happening to you.» I thought I heard her say.

And after reflecting for a moment, I couldn’t help but agree with her.

So I pushed those negative emotions away and thought again about how I would ask my friend if we had entered the forest or not.

After lunch, I stayed in bed for a while, vainly trying to discover what had happened the day before. Until, tired of going around about it in my head, I decided to search for my friend so she could clarify it for me.

However, when her father opened their front door and told her I was looking for her, she came over, rather sleepy, and said she didn’t want to come out; she wanted to stay alone in her room, listening to music.

«Can I come into your room and talk to you briefly? I want to ask you something about the forest we were in yesterday.» I explained.

She seemed uncomfortable, and before answering me, she looked over her shoulder to make sure her father wasn’t listening. Seeing that no one was nearby, she said in a low voice:

«It was an unforgettable adventure! But I’m not ready to go back yet. I want to organize my thoughts and think about what happened in that clearing and Fantasy’s stories. That’s why I want to be alone in my room. Do you understand?» she asked me with pleading eyes.

«Yes, of course I understand! I have a lot to think about, too. I just needed to be sure that it wasn’t a dream. If you’re okay, we’ll talk about it another time.»

She agreed, and we said goodbye.

I came home without knowing what to do, and I finally decided to take my violin out of the case and practice a bit. The sound I managed to get out of it that afternoon was so

beautiful that it brought to mind the symphony at the muses’ spring, and for a moment, I had the impression that Terpsichore was nearby.

When it was time for an afternoon snack, I was already in an excellent mood, satisfied with my practice, and happy to be home. Music had renewed my energy, and after chatting happily with my parents and brother and playing a little with the babies, I started doing homework for school.

My mind was clear, and I soon finished, so I asked permission to play on the computer until dinner.

The next day, I was no longer so obsessed with my adventure in the forest; my life was like before that magical experience. Everything returned to normal in my childhood prairie, except my friend rarely came out to play with us. She had become a daydreamer and spent most of her free time listening to music in her room or chatting with her new school friends.

I often went to look for her, but she always said she didn’t feel like playing with me that day or riding our bikes together through the confines of the prairie.

One day, I invited her to play at my house with a new video game Dad had brought us from a trip. When she opened the door, I saw some of her visiting friends laughing, and my friend blushed. I didn’t understand what was happening, but something made me feel very uncomfortable, and I could tell she felt the same way.

However, what shocked me most was that she treated me in a way that I didn’t like at all; as if suddenly we were no longer the good friends we had been until then. She told me not to bother her anymore, that I was getting very fussy, and that she would look for me when she wanted to see me!

I left without saying anything, but it hurt me that she spoke to me that way, and I got the impression that her new friends listening to us had something to do with her strange and unpleasant behavior.

I came home in a naughty mood and locked myself in my room, slamming the door behind my back. Mom came immediately to see what had happened to me, so I told her how my friend had treated me.

«I don’t know what I’ve done to make her treat me like that! Since she hangs out with those girls from her school, she’s been acting very weird.»

«It’s because she’s growing up and starting to feel things she doesn’t understand. She most likely talked to you like that because her friends were listening. Maybe they were teasing her with you, and she felt embarrassed. These things are frequent at her age! Don’t take it too seriously.» Mom advised me.

«But why did her friends teas her? I don’t understand.» I asked.

«Well, at your friend’s age, girls fall in love with cute little bugs like you,» she said, laughing. And tickling me so that I would giggle too, she added:

«I don’t know if your friend is falling a little in love with you or not, but I’d bet that her friends were telling her that she liked you too much, and that’s why she mistreated you and kicked you out; to prove them wrong and they’ll leave her alone, do you understand?»

«Yes, I think that may have been it…» I agreed while I laughed and tried to defend myself from her tickling.

After that day, I didn’t look for my friend again. But soon, she was the one who came looking for me, wanting to go for a ride and talk. 

At first, we didn’t know what to chat about and felt uncomfortable. Then, she suddenly brought up the subject of the forest:

«Have you entered the woods after that afternoon?» she asked without preamble.

«No, I haven’t even been in the confines of the prairie. And you?»

«Yes, I have. I went to the butterfly’s clearing shortly after. That’s where I met my new friends.» she answered.

Hearing her mention her friends made me a little tense. I remembered how badly she had treated me the last time we met. 

She realized and apologized for having spoken to me like that:

«My friends were bothering me and put me in a bad mood. They are sometimes foolish and say things that upset me!» she explained.

«Like what, for example?» I asked.

But she remained silent, and I understood she didn’t want to tell me.

Afraid that she would be cross with me again, I preferred not to insist, and with the greatest of care, I limited myself to comment:

«My parents say we’re getting into an age where we say and do stupid things without meaning to…. The best thing you could do when they annoy you is not to go along with them.»

She smiled, and as if everything had returned to normal between us, she challenged me to play a race.

We spent a lovely afternoon together, and after riding our bike, she wanted to come to my house and play that new video game I had told her about.

A little later, Mom called us for a snack, and while we were chatting with my brother and a friend of his who was visiting, I couldn’t help but notice that Mom was spying on my friend while giving the bottle to my baby brother and talking to the baby girl; who was playing with

a spoon in her high chair.

I wondered if Mom could see in my friend’s gestures or eyes, whether or not she was a little in love with me. But it was only a fleeting thought, and soon I was immersed again in the conversation that we, the four preteen bugs, were having while drinking our milk and eating a delicious carrot cake that Mom had baked that morning while we were at school.

Everything seemed to be as it used to be in my childhood prairie. But I knew that sooner or later we would re-enter the forest of adolescence and that something in us was changing forever.

EVERY END IS AT THE SAME TIME A  NEW BEGINNING!

Destrouch and Hope