© Emily Jonatan
All Rights Reserved
Hey there, everyone! So this is a collection of short stories I have written over time, and I thought I would share them with you! They were originally posted seperately, but they started to build up so I made them into one big story. I hope you enjoy them!
NOT EDITED
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~ Purity ~
Leaves and twigs crunched under the young girl’s bare feet. She looked not a year older than nine, and her face was covered in dirt. She was petite for her age, and wore a tattered dress of the darkest beige; caused from the constant use and treks through the forest. She had a sad face that always wore a look of wisdom – more wisdom than any girl her age should have.
She knew of the terrible things that happened throughout her town; starvation, thirst, sickness, and poverty were common in households. Her mother was currently very ill, and the girl was out in the forest looking for the herbs that may heal her mother’s sickness. The girl herself was becoming ill, due to the exposure of the virus that plagued her mother.
Despite all this, the girl refused to use any of the herbs, food, or drink that she came upon; only giving it to her mother in hopes to cure her. She believed that other people’s well being was above her own, and she helped anyone in need if she could. Once she had been lucky enough to have found enough bread for both her and her mother, but when she came across a half-starved boy on the street, she gave him her share of bread without a moment’s hesitation.
The girl had stumbled upon a spring a few years back, and was delighted to find that the water was pure and untainted. She brought back gallons of the sweet water back to her mother whenever she could.
Unfortunately however, this miraculous discovery did not go unheard of. She had only been using the spring for a couple days before a stranger approached her on the street.
He informed her that he had been observing the girl’s trips to and from the forest every day; each going with an empty pot and returning with a brimming one. He demanded to know where she was getting the water, and hoping that it would help another in need, she told him.
The next day the spring was contaminated and dirty. The once pure water that ran there was now an ugly shade of brown, and she knew that she could no longer rely on its much needed sources.
The girl’s life has mainly consisted of terrible disasters and bitter disappointments – the most significant of which occurred when she was first born.
When her mother gave birth to her the father became angry. He didn’t want children and said they were too much of a burden; especially in the conditions they were living in. He would never want the mother to feed the child because he believed that the food should not be wasted on the baby.
Finally, when the father went so far as attempting to drown the baby girl, the mother ushered him out of the house – and out of her life. The woman loved her child too much, so she knew she had to get rid of the love of her life to protect it. From then on the mother was an empty shell; devoid of emotion. She took care of the girl, Rayne, always filled with nostalgia for the easier times in life.
Rayne believed that she was a lesser being after her mother explained the lack of a fatherly figure. Thus, the reason she always gave up her own resources to others – even if they weren’t as in need of them as her.
She treaded lightly on the leaf strewn ground, wary of stinging nettle, prickers, and poisonous bugs. The skin on her feet was raw and bleeding already, and even though mud and dirt clogged the cuts, she was determined to find the herbs.
It seemed she was walking forever until she came across a small clearing. She was taken aback – for all the years she had been wandering the forest she had never come to discover any break in the closely knitted trees. Rayne knew the forest like the back of her hand and knew she had come this way before, so there couldn’t possibly be a clearing here.
Yet there it was.
Lush, green grass broke through the layer of leaves and dirt, and clumps of wildflowers grew in vibrant colors and textures. Weaved through the trees surrounding the clearing were tendrils of ivy; looping in elegant swoops and arcs in its dark green majesty.
Looming in the center of the meadow was the largest weeping willow that Rayne had ever seen. The huge tree seemed to give off a powerful vibe; radiating a mystical force.
Rayne took tentative steps, plucking wildflowers as she walked. She scanned the perimeter of the clearing for the herbs in vain. Making her way to the center of the small meadow, she sat down at the base of the willow to rest.
When she leaned her back against its trunk she felt a massive shock run through her. It shook her from the ends of her hair to her toes, and she sensed ancient magic course through her. She gasped in surprise and jumped up and away from the tree; startled and shaken.
Rayne stared at the willow in wonder when she heard a small sound behind her – like the faintest tinkling of a bell. She spun on her heel and faced a mist that seemed to be wrapping around a tall figure.
It murmured a quiet greeting and told her not to be scared. Its voice was strange – velvety yet gravelly, and Rayne could not tell if it was female or male. The figure advanced towards her in a single smooth motion; gliding across the grass. Rayne was surprised to see that as it passed over the flowers, they did not sway – or move at all for that matter. It seemed as if the mysterious being was not even there, perhaps it was a ghost.
When it was only a few feet away from Rayne it stopped. The mist billowed around them, pooling at Rayne’s feet. She was expecting the familiar dampness and cold like she had felt early on winter mornings during her walks through the forest, but instead the air around her felt no different. The mist was only an illusion. That is, if it was mist in the first place.
Then, the figure began to speak again. It uttered words in an ancient language that was unheard of to mankind, yet Rayne began to understand what they meant due to images that flashed through her mind.
They were of all things beautiful: fields of sunflowers, crashing waterfalls, herds of running horses, gurgling streams, and flocks of majestic birds flying gracefully through the air. Every image portrayed skies of the bluest color; littered with soft white clouds.
The words the being spoke sounded like poetry to Rayne, despite not understanding a single syllable. They flowed beautifully out of the unseen mouth like water, and seemed to dance in the air around them.
This all happened in a single second, and Rayne had become much wiser from it. She understood things that had never even occurred to her, and her young mind had blossomed into one with more knowledge then all the monks in a temple combined.
The figure told her that she was now blessed with the gift to heal, rehabilitate, and purify. Rayne, a small nine year old girl, was now immortal.
The arcane figure knew of Rayne’s good deeds, so it gave her this gift so that she could continue to help others forever.
Rayne left the clearing and went home to her ill mother. She healed her of her disease and went on to cure the rest of the town. She got rid of the sickness, famine, and thirst from the area, and the town never had another misfortune fall upon another resident ever again.
Rayne went on to travel the world, and where she was most needed she would do her best to help. She saved millions of lives a year, and became known as Curandeiro, which means ‘healer’ in Portuguese, since she started her journey in Portugal.
She later came to the realization that she had met a nature spirit that fateful day, and decided to go back to the forest where she gained her wondrous ability.
It had been years since, and a lot had changed on Earth over the centuries she had been gone. When she arrived at her old town she had a mind to find the clearing and thank the nature spirit for her gift.
However, what used to be her old home was gone. In its place was a new city, the tar streets bustling with activity. The air surrounding the civilized area was tainted and thick with the fumes of the cars that drove there. Where there had once been her beloved forest was now a maze of intersections and highways.
Rayne knew that the Earth was changing for the worse, and she would do everything in her power to help it stay as natural as possible. She left the city with her new goal in mind, bearing the knowledge that she had never gotten the chance to say goodbye to her mother.
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And to this day, Rayne continues roaming the Earth, doing all that she can to stop humans from destroying their home – and themselves.
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Hope you liked it!
Sylgrace