Oh dear… because I can and I loved Arrietty. That's why. Also, this is going to be an experiment in my writing. No steady updates, just when I can. I have never used first person before so critique away! I'm totally open to constructive criticism.


Forever

Chapter 1


It's so easy to talk about forever when you're young. It's easy to promise to never forget, to love, to be friends with someone forever. It's so easy at first. Then, life happens. Things that are out of your control spin around wildly, laughing and mocking your attempts at deciding things for yourself. Choices appear but you don't really get to choose. Someone else does. You're under iLife's/i thumb. Under iFate's/i thumb. You're forced into a situation you wanted to avoid, tried to avoid. But all your avoiding put you there anyway. Running around and ignoring the rules will do that to you.

It did to me.

I ignored my father's warnings to stay away from the human beans, to keep out of sight. I ignored the truth; I was actively putting my family in danger.

"But he didn't see me!" the words rang hollow the second time. He saw me the first time after all. Fourteen years of practicing "day and night" to hide when a human comes near doesn't count for much when they actually catch a glimpse. Human's curiosity is nearly insatiable once started.

Haru's was.

Sho's was.

Sho was different, though. He only wanted to help in his misunderstanding, egotistical human way. He wanted to protect me. That was a sweet notion but I could take care of myself. I was perfectly capable of avoiding humans. Except him. He was the only one who had ever seen me. Even Haru had never noticed me. She just got lucky that Mother was in the kitchen when she lifted the roof off.

Luck always wins, it seems. Too bad I didn't know that in the beginning. Or perhaps I did, I just didn't want to acknowledge it. Isn't there some enormous bird that sticks its head in the ground to avoid danger? I was doing that. Except I was trying to ignore reality. Beans and Borrowers don't mix.

But Sho and I did.

It always comes back to him. To Sho. He saved my life. He helped save my mother's life. I am deeply, truly grateful to have a friend like him. He didn't ask for anything in return. He didn't want me to be his pet, to sing and dance for my supper. He just wanted to help. To protect me like he said in the garden. He did protect me, after all. From the crow, from Haru and from despair when Haru took my mother.

He told me I gave him a reason to live. Well, he gave me a reassurance to trust. Papa once told me that I didn't always have to run when I saw a bean. I could stop and judge them first then decide. He told me that but didn't listen to my opinion on Sho. I was still too young then, I suppose. Fourteen doesn't amount to anything in the face of all the years of experience he had gained.

These long, drawn out eight years have given me some of my father's wisdom. Rather, I have earned it. I can survive on my own. I am capable of protecting myself. But I live with my parents because I love them. And I miss Sho's declarations of protection.

Call me crazy, but I do.

I don't tell anyone, though. My mother would worry and my father would scowl. He would disapprove. That is something I haven't seen from him since we left the bean house and moved into this abandoned spider's nest. The spider must have been a large one, for the single room he had created underground was bigger than our old living room.

We expanded on it over the eight years as my parents expanded our family. My little brother and sister look up to me. I suppose they should since I taught them a lot about scavenging. I haven't taught them about borrowing. There hasn't been a need to. We don't live near any human houses.

My sister adores Spiller. He drops by every now and then and I suspect he may have some affection for me, but doesn't know how to express it. It's just as well anyways, since I don't feel anything but friendship towards him. Right now, I just want to know how Sho is doing.

I go to sleep at night worry about him. I wake up wondering if his surgery went well. Obsessed? Probably. But I can't stand not knowing. Each time I scavenge I go out just a little bit farther, stay out just a little bit longer. There is always that vain hope that I will spot him. But it's vain, I know. We are too far from anything human. Besides, I was just a little borrower—no more than a few inches tall to him. My papa was tall for a borrower, though, so was Mother's papa. There is the secret hope I keep that I will be tall like them, too. Already I am taller than Mother. Still, not quite as tall as Papa.

Today, as the sun beats down on me through the canopy of those looming trees, I just sit and watch. I don't watch anything in particular. I just watch. I watch the buds of a pink flower slowly open to greet the late sun. I watch the bees flit from flower to flower. I watch the grasshoppers spring from grassy patch to grassy patch. I just watched.

And imagined.

I imagined I could hear Sho calling for me. I smiled, resting my chin on my arm. I imagined I could feel the ground shake with his steps. I imagined the joy on his face at seeing me again. But it was just my siblings calling for their sister and the river rushing a few yards away. The shaking ground wasn't rhythmic enough to be footsteps.

I sighed and stood, dusting off my red dress. I turned and waved to my siblings who were running towards me.

"I'm coming!" I yelled as they laughed and raced each other.