Follow the Sun
By: Naomi Lea
Once there was a girl who loved the sun. She had a friend who also loved the sun. It was warm and bright. It made them happy. They frolicked in the shimmering grass that shone in the beams, licking their legs as they played in the meadow. Spring and summer were the best because they could play all day out in the luscious green meadow. The girl and her friend would make crowns out of grass and flowers, and be princesses. They would go on ravishing adventures and save each other from the many beasts that crossed their paths. They were always able to pull each other up from the pits and slay the monsters for each other until the seasons changed.
In fall, the sky grew darker. There was not as much time to play outside as the moon chased the sun out earlier each day. The leaves became darker and the ground moist. Every now and then they could play in the fallen leaves, dancing in the orange, yellow, and red flutters. But then the real rain came, and they could not go outside at all. The girl was a little sad, but there were still days when the sun would come out and she looked forward to them longingly. Her friend yearned after the sun as well, but she was quieter. As the rain collected into puddles, it seemed that her friend was in her own pool of silence, growing wider and deeper as the rain fell harder. The girl understood that her friend was sad. She, too, missed the sun.
She thought that maybe she could be like the sun for her friend. She would shine so bright that her friend would dry up and be happy again! The girl told all her best jokes and made her funniest faces. She reenacted their adventures from the sunny meadow and tried to make her friend remember what the sun felt like. Her friend cracked a smile on her quavering lips, but like the ripples after a droplet falls in a pool of water, her mouth became flat and still.
Winter came, and the ground was covered in icy white. Everything was still, except for the girl. She had many plans for winter. She would build snow men, make snow angels, build an igloo, and burrow snow tunnels! It was time to play. She excitedly relayed her plans to her friend, but her glee was met with unresponsiveness. The girl did not understand. They could play again in the meadow, so why was her friend so sad? Well, she was not going to let her friend stand in the way of her fun. She left her friend and ran out to the meadow alone.
She put her whole self into rolling large balls of snow for her snow men and flopping on the ground to make her snow angels. She packed the snow firmly, stacked it to make her igloo walls, and burrowed a tunnel under it for an entrance. As she sat in her small igloo alone, she wondered if her friend was ready to come out and play. She decided to go check.
When the girl returned to where she left her friend, no one was there. She searched and searched, but could not find her. Where could she be? she thought. As she was shuffling along she tripped on a log and fell face first into the snow. She picked herself up, looked behind her, and realized that she had not tripped over a log, but her friend who seemed to be in the middle of making a snow angel. However, she didn’t seem to be finished, or plan on finishing. She just laid there, arms spread open in the snow.
The girl immediately knelt at her side and shook her friend asking her if she was alright. The friend was unresponsive. Her face was so pale her skin could have been mistaken for snow. The girl put her arms around her friend, dragged her to her tunnel, and pulled her into the igloo. There, she began rubbing her friend’s hands and feet, trying to restore circulation. Then, she ran in place until sweat began to bead on her forehead, stripped down to her undergarments, and lay against her friend’s bare skin, trying to warm her.
As she lay by her friend, the girl told the story of the brave princess who traveled through the icy land to find the sun. The princess was not sure where to go, so she needed the help of the beautiful Ice Angel to guide her. They traveled together and eventually found the sun, but the Ice Angel could not complete the journey with the brave princess, for if she did, she would melt. The brave princess bid her goodbyes and followed the sun and its warmth.
The girl’s friend slightly wiggled her body and began to wake. Her friend’s eyes slowly blinked, and then opened wide at the sight of the girl by her side. The friend asked in a small weak voice, “Are you the brave princess who found the sun?” The girl smiled back at her friend and replied, “No, the brave princess was you. You found the sun at last.” The friend nestled closer to the girl, realizing she needed the warmth. After a few long moments the friend said, “I wanted the Ice Angel to take me away. She made me so cold that I couldn’t feel anything; not my body or my sadness. I thought it would be better that way.” The girl hugged her friend closer and said, “Well, I’m glad you didn’t. Instead you’ve stayed here with me, and I’m so glad you have.” The friend weakly returned the embrace and said, “So am I. We’ll be like the brave princess. That’s why I’ll stay. We’ve got to find the sun again.”
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