Elodie Combes // d9 fin

5.

"Mom, can you check again? I think I saw something move under my bed.”

I had sprinted out of my room when the shadows began to move, hugging my teddy bear tightly on my chest. Heavy breaths accompanied my panicked voice scared of the monsters that lived beneath the comforting sheets.

There was a moment of reassurance in her soothing voice, a sound that made all of the worries and woes go away.

”There’s nothing there, you must have scared them away”

I started to stand a little taller, believing every word she had said. The angst had resided with the slip of the light switch as we both peered beneath the bed. Nothing but a few dust bunnies had made themselves comfortable in the glooming dark space. Giggling as my mother hoisted me up into bed, carefully tucking the blankets tight around my body. I did not want her to leave me alone, for it was not me who scared the monsters away, but I was sure it was my mother’s protection for she never left me alone in the dark.

”Can you stay? At least till I fall asleep. What if they come back.”

She ran her fingers through my thin dirty blond hair before making herself comfortable next to me. ”Only for tonight my sweet Lilly, tomorrow you’ll be brave enough to face the monsters on your own”

Lilly. The common name for the pink flowers she had named me after. Beautiful and bright. Still never bright enough to face the monsters lurking where you would least expect them.

8.

I had pleaded for weeks now, asking for new colors. Ones that surpassed the standard colors of the rainbow, ones with deeper tones to and brighter energy. Slowly I had grown out of the watercolor set that laid on my own little desk. A corner of the flower shop that was mine alone. My teddy bear sat with me, watching as I would paint the different flowers causing the air to become sweet.

”Hey Mr. Honey…”, I started the conversation with my oldest companion knowing that my mom and aunt were a few feet away listening. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure I had caught their intention for this conversation was meant for them to be heard. ”Don’tcha think that I could paint those petunias over there a whooole lot better if I had some magenta to paint with? ”

I picked my teddy bear up of his spot from my desk. It was clear as day that I would not go anywhere without him. Not even to school, Mom had at first allowed it on my first day hoping it would give me some comfort amongst the mass of new faces. Slowly she had tried to urge me to let Mr. Honey stay at home, arguing that he would keep watch over my colors. Still every morning I would slip him into my backpack on my way out. Fearful that he would think I was leaving him behind, it was my job to keep him safe the way my mom kept me safe.

”Why yes Elodie, Magenta would make your painting a whole lot better.” I lowered my voice as I spoke for Mr. Honey. Carefully I turned around to face my mother who was just finishing with the cash register for the day, a matter of fact look on my face awaiting her response.

”Well tomorrow is your birthday, and I was hoping you would be able to wait till then but if Mr. Honey also thinks your painting needs magenta then I guess I might as well give this to you today.”

Mom took out a neatly wrapped box from underneath the counter placing it on my table. My eager eyes unable to contain my excitement as my fingers tore through the wrapping paper. Underneath a wooden box when opened, filled with all the colors I could have hoped for.

I wrapped my arms around my mother squeezing her as tight as I could with excitement. Thank you thank you thank you thank you” words rapidly firing out of my mouth before I turned back to my project.

The next day, on my ninth birthday my mother and aunt had proudly hung up the paining behind the counter for all the costumers to see. In the years to come a collage of my paintings would be displayed, each one better than the previous.

12.

Bailey Grant said that I was too old for teddy bears. She had ripped Mr. Honey from my fingers during lunch and I had shoved her into a muddy puddle in retaliation.

Now we were both sat in the principal’s office waiting for our parents to come pick us up.

”I was just doing you a favor.” She huffed with her arms folder over her chest, hair still dripping from the puddle. ”You need to grow up, Elodie...No one is going to want to be your friend if you’re always carrying that teddy bear around with you.”

Bailey Grant had a point. No one ever wanted to sit with me at lunch, but it was okay because I was content with my own company. Mr. Honey was the only friend I needed.

Mom did not agree with me, she also was not very happy to have to pick me up from the principal’s office.

”I don’t care what Bailey Grant said, you cannot push other people because they were mean to you.” she argued on our walk home as I sulked with both embarrassment and anger. My mom came to halt, turning me around by my shoulders before kneeling down to meet my eyes. ”There is a lot of cruelty in this world, I do not want you to add towards an already burning flame.

”But…but..I…, my lips quivered as I avoided my mother’s eyes unable to find the words to match the feeling of shame forming in my chest. Shame that I had let my mother down, guilt because I had hurt someone else and most importantly something I could not quite identify. A feeling that made the world feel grey, in dire need of the colors from my wooden box. Yet I struggled to find a way to bring color into my life.

”No buts, you are going to apologies to Bailey tomorrow. Maybe she is hurting, people tend to lash out when they do not feel like themselves. Show her that you are the kind, warm hearted, bright spirited Lilly flower I raised you to be. I think all Bailey needs is a friend.”

The next day, mom had kept Mr. Honey in her desk promising me that he would be waiting for when I returned home. During lunch I sat next to Bailey and without any other words, gave her a hug. For all the monsters I have ever face, there was none that could not be defeated with my mother’s warm embrace.

On that day I had made my first friend at school, no longer fighting our monsters alone.