Story: Nala was a wee little ladybug who experienced love, life, betrayal and suffering. She started out as a homeless bunch of bones, going door to door for approval. “Sir! Can you please purchase my cheese? Why won’t anyone dare buy some?” She was adopted by Yalaio, a feisty old caretaker filled with resentment. “Oh, dear! No one bought your cheese! How are we going to make a living! I didn’t adopt you for nothing, you’d better try harder!” She always yowled, whipping Nala with a belt. “Oh, dear! I always try, but no one cares about me! Especially not my rude neighbors next door!“ Mitch and Twitch were her rude neighbors, who always tortured her, they took everything from her. Her friends, her family, her education and her sense of self. Why did they have to be so ignorant? They had once tempted her into leaping into the woods after some money when she had nothing. She craved for something, or someone to finally be hers….but no. They had trapped her and brutally tortured her old friends into exile. They couldn’t be seen again. Until Nala decided to embark on a journey to take back what was rightfully hers. No more anxiety, no more anger and no more hurt would dare follow her. The problem was that every time she’d attempted to call her friends through telepathic powers to see where they were and what had happened to them, Mitch and Twitch would always ruin it by yelling, shouting and being in the way. “I can’t hear them at all! My long lost friends that loved and cherished me, gone forever!” she couldn’t take it anymore. And so she shoved Mitch and Twitch down a well and dropped an anvil on top of them. Angrily, she sought out some other form of connection with someone who loved and cherished her….she could now communicate with her old friends, at least! And so, she snuck out of bed one night while her cruel caretaker was still asleep and went on a journey to regain her old relationships. As for nourishment, she had to eat forest berries and drink dirty water from the stream. It wasn’t much, but it was something. And she longed for some sort of nourishment, so it would have to do. She couldn’t believe her evil neighbors were finally gone, it took her a while to remember this after pondering deep in thought, suddenly recovering from her endless anger. “Hooray! Hooray! Hallelujah! No more misery, no more torture, no more I say! No more!” she cried, exclaiming with joy. She vowed to never look back in the old, rotting town in which she’d been adopted and was forced to stay in for twenty years. Her wings started to flap, the curse of stress and anxiety gently leaving like fairy dust. She travelled through forests of cranberries and cranes, hopping like mad. She used her telepathic powers to communicate with her old friends, asking them where they were. “I’m so sorry that I couldn’t hear you for all those years! But I’ve finally decided to break free! From torture, from the town of shame, from abuse, from it all! Hallelujah!” And so her wings practically flapped on their own, gliding her across as she sprang up with glee. She didn’t need luck, she needed love, compassion and to be truly free which was finally happening. Her friends had been kidnapped by an evil troll after the previous events, but she met a handsome wizard named Racksak along the way who helped her defeat it. He taught her how to summon giant gusts of wind and blow the troll away! Her friends had been located in its secret hideout. They defeated the troll and his evil minions together, and she finally felt love. Together, they all promised that they’d never lbs out of each other’s sight again and they regained glory, confidence and most of all security. No more anxiety, no more constant rage, no more I say, no more! They all built their own village out of bare sticks, stones, love and bones! But after a while, it had become a kingdom. Nala was the Queen and Racksak became the king. Her friends were always looking out for her and she could finally treat them with the love she’d resented and held back in her heart out of the fear of getting hurt again. It wasn’t perfect, but they all cared for each other and protected each other. And that was what mattered. They ate together, laughed together, cried together and sang together at every festival they’d host in which all the fairy friends and toadstools could dance along too. The made sure not to let ignorant trolls ruin their fun, they’d always ban electronics so they couldn’t dare ignore them with doom scrolling of devices and eye rolls. And whenever any forces of evil dared approach, they’d fight it together, like a family. THE END
