Red
Daisy hunched over her marbles to ponder each whirring on the floor. This was her favorite activity. She would spin them over and over in circles on her little race track. Watching them zoom around was so mesmerizing. Such striking colors. Sitting behind her was Amos, an Elder, “I remember when I was your age, I had a dozen marbles. What endless fun! But at my initiation, I had to give all that up and become an adult. Daisy looked annoyed upon hearing the last words. She hadn’t been looking forward to the initiation. But it was her people’s way and that was that or that was what she had been taught ever since the dawn of her memory. Amos was an amiable old codger. His countenance was all whitened with advanced age and he had shrunk considerably from his glory days, about which of course he would always reminisce. “You have been a child long enough” Amos continued, “Everybody has to go through the ceremony, it is the most important transition in life.” She could feel her face getting hotter. She did not want to grow up, she was quite fine continuing as a bright and shiny child. Why would she want to be some dim old adult? All they did was sit and talk to each other all day. To her youthful ears, their subjects of conversation seemed sooooo boring! They gossiped about everybodys' goings-on in the town. She knew her ceremony was to be later that day. Already some of her friends had already gone through the rites. She thought to herself “we’ll see” and got up and started walking through the neighborhood along the spiral path which wended itself around the whole town. As she whimsically drifted along the path, she overheard 2 adults prattling on.
“Did you hear about Dave, the one that lives downtown? He was quite overweight and he ate like a giant.”
The other one replied “Yeah, I had heard from Steve about it but didn’t get the full story. What happened?”
“Well, he just collapsed. Such sad news. It sent a shockwave through the whole community.”
“That is sad news.”
“Do you know if he became a Shadow?”
“You know that is nonsense, there are no such things as Shadows”
“Shadows DO exist, I felt the presence of one once when I was a kid. Gave me the creeps.”
“Yes, but you didn’t SEE it, so how do you know they exist. You can’t just go on feelings, you need evidence.”
These 2 continued on with their argument while Daisy continued. She had heard of these Shadows. Some Elders, such as Amos, would always scare the neighborhood kids with tales of Shadows who could not be seen but would eat children if they got too close. They would chide the children not to be greedy since greed in one’s heart turns one into a Shadow in the afterlife. She wasn’t quite convinced, but thought there had to be something to it.
Soon, she heard behind her “It’s time.” She knew it was the priestess Helene waiting to perform her initiation rites. She wimpered “But I don’t want to!” “But child, you can’t wait forever. You have to grow up sometime.” Daisy knew deep down the truth, even if she wanted, she couldn’t forestall the inevitable. “Ok” she whispered, a tear rolling down her face. The priestess asked Daisy for her sacrifice. Daisy reluctantly held forth her beloved marbles. The priestess put them in an urn and gave Daisy a sip of a red liquid. She felt a tingle in her gut. “Now destroy them!” bellowed the priestess. Daisy turned a bright fiery red and felt her body expand manifold until the heat of her body completely vaporized all of her marbles. Her mind roiled. Helene asked her “How do you feel now that you are a Red Giant?”
Copyright 2014
