Swarm

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Being born out of a chaotic family; Swarm felt no urge to be like his siblings, no need to be loud, or fight for the spotlight, or even to look like them in any way. He was the only child of No and Proserpina to ever look like him, the only child out of all nine to be so quiet, so calm, so.. Unusual. Despite his unusual looks he still acted like his siblings, in some ways. Whenever he could he would find a way to escape, to get away from my chaos. He found a peaceful lake in the dark yet glowing wood. For days he would just sit in front of this lake, days turned to weeks and weeks into months. Eventually his siblings never worried about him being gone for so long, maybe it was that they didn’t care? Or were too busy fighting to notice him.

Being alone here for all this time could get a little boring, that is, until he saw something. It shimmered in the lake, drawing his eyes towards it. Suddenly as Swarm gently reached for it he tumbled into the lake towards the bottom. Thrashing around under the cold and magical water he saw the shining object. Swarm tried to swim to it and just as he reached for it, it shone so brightly that he couldn’t see anything. The next thing he knew he could see everything, eleven times it to be factual. He rushed out of the water and shook the water off his damp mane. A small ‘Rurrpit’ came from his skin. Swarm looked with his eyes and saw a small frog clinging to his moist skin, along with many lily pads and a few soft pink flowers.

Swarm wandered through the forest until he found a small glade area of grass, sun peeking through the dark canopy of trees and rocks stood watching over the land in tall manners. He sat on the patch of grass near one of the guarding rocks and sighed.
“What am I going to name you?” Swarm said, holding him in his claws.
“Rurrpit” the small green frog replied, looking up at him.
“Jerico? No, Uh. Oh, what about Hiderford?”
The frog looked up at his half annoyed and half disappointed.
“Okay okay no need to be harsh. What about Bumpkin?!” Swarm said, his eyes gleaming.
“Rurrpit! Ruuupirrt!!” The frog smiled.
“I like it too”

The two of them sat on the patch of grass for what seemed like hours, they talked, laughed, even Bumpkin gave some disappointed annoyed looks as if he was parenting Swarm every now and then. As the sun slowly fell, Bumpkin yawned, Swarm smiled and sat up. The fireflies were coming out from their slumbers, owls saying goodbye to their cozy homes and small forest animals settling in for the night. The wind gave them a kiss goodnight as they fell asleep. Swarm and Bumpkin arrived at home where the noisy siblings of Swarm didn’t even notice he was home. Bumpkin groaned in annoyance to their loud noises and Swarm hurried inside to his area of the house. It was quiet, calm, and peaceful. Small flowers and dried leaves were taped to the wall with a few wind chimes here and there. Bumpkin smiled and yawned as Swarm settled down for the evening.

All his life he had felt alone, like nobody understood him. Now, it feels like he has someone, someone to help him, guide him, laugh with him and even parent him. Swarm was now home, with his best friend and the only person who made him feel wanted and special. He would never be alone ever again.

Written by Blackstar1981