The Clockwork Toymaker and Other Fables

The Little Yellow Circle

And so the little yellow circle was happy for a while, content that she was special, now aware that different could also be something good.

But things were not completely right, because the little yellow circle was still feeling lonely.

After her conversation with the bunny rabbit, she spent a lot of time talking to the other children. But they always had to shield their eyes.

And she could never join in any of their games.

She was constantly aware of how different she was. She wished there was someone else like her that she could talk to.

She mentioned this to one of the children. He was busy playing, pretending to be a castle.

"I'm lonely," said the little yellow circle, "I know that I'm special and I don't mean to complain, but I feel so different from everybody else. There's nobody remotely like me anywhere."

The castle frowned.

"That's tough," he said. He clattered his drawbridge. "I feel sorry for you. That's got to feel pretty bad."

But then the castle started to dance.

"But do you know what?" he said. "There is someone else like you. At night, when you're asleep, a little silver circle appears. He drifts along just like you."

"Really?" said the little yellow circle. "He comes when I'm asleep?"

"Yes," said the castle. "He's here almost every night."

The little yellow circle was excited. "Do you think I'll ever meet him?" she said.

"I don't know," said the castle. "Maybe if you wish for it hard enough."

And so the little yellow circle wished. And time went by. But she never met the silver circle.

Her fluffy friends tried to help her. They told her stories about the silver circle, about what he did while she was asleep. And occasionally there would pass on messages. Apparently, he was lonely, too. Apparently, the silver circle wanted to meet her.

The little yellow circle was excited by this news, but she was also exceedingly frustrated.

Unfair that he only woke up when she was asleep. How could this be so?

Her frustration led to doubt. She began to wonder how similar were they really? The children had mentioned that the silver circle was a shape shifter. But he wasn't like the fluffy children; he changed regularly, like a gentle blink.

Still, he was the closest that she had to a perfect match and she was desperate to meet him.

Not that any of this mattered, because it seemed that it was never going to happen.

But then one day, a miracle occurred.

It was a day like any other – the fluffy children were playing and the little yellow circle was drifting aimlessly across the sky – when a ghostly shape appeared in the sky.

The shape was pale, almost transparent, but there was no mistaking his silver-grey colour, no denying his perfect round shape.

The silver circle had come to visit.

The little yellow circle watched him for a while. She could see that he was drifting towards her. She was very excited.

She called out to him across the sky.

"Hello," she said.

But the silver circle did not respond. He went right on drifting straight toward her.

"Hello," she said again, but less confidently this time.

The silver circle went right on drifting. He was coming closer and closer.

And suddenly, he was upon her. She could feel his touch. His silver skin was cold.

The little yellow circle shuddered.

The silver circle didn't stop. He kept on moving. He started to cover her up. He covered her face. And her covered her eyes.

He pushed himself on top of her until she was completely beneath him.

Everything was dark.

The little yellow circle cried out.

"Why is this happening?" she shouted. Her scream came out as a blinding flash.

The silver circle said nothing.

The little yellow circle was trapped beneath him.

"Why is this happening?" she said again.

But the silver circle did not respond. He stayed there, cold and grey on top of her.

And then he started to drift away. Without a word, and as if nothing had happened, he resumed his journey across the sky.

Soon he was no longer visible.

The little yellow circle was shaking. She had no idea what had happened. She was shocked and sad and felt more alone than ever.

She wanted to be somewhere else. She didn't like it in the sky. And with that thought, she started to shrink away.

As the little yellow circle shrank, it grew colder in the sky. The other children shivered.

They looked up and saw that the little yellow circle was leaving.

They called to her to come back. Some of them chased after her, but she didn't stop shrinking.

The sky became dark and grey. It was very cold.

"She's gone," said one of the children, a tear forming in his eye.

The other children nodded. One by one they were all starting to cry. Soon all the children were crying very hard.

"Come back," they sobbed. "Please come back."

But the little yellow circle was far away.

And all that they could do was hope that she'd return some day.

*********

Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this, please remember to vote and I'd love to hear your comments, positive or negative. Happy to receive feedback on corrections or clarifications, too.

I hope you also enjoy the other stories in this collection.  This story has a partner story called The Little Silver Circle.