Author note: This short story about Fraggles is based on real events that I experienced. Written as a warm-up, don't expect a lot.
"We've come a long way. Is there end to our journey?" Red was so impatient. She grabbed a handful of dirt with her fingers, squashed it with anger and let the wind blow it away. But the dirt didn't go away with a help of slight, gentle breeze of a warm spring day. The wind, the shimmering sunlight going through clear sky wouldn't matter down in the caves, but here up in the Outer Space! Ah, the Outer Space.
"As if you were weak and tired, eh?" Gobo replied supposedly indifferently, provoking in Red a surge of anger to stand for her self-confidence and strength. Seeing her arising rage, Gobo smirked, trying not to laugh at her.
"Me? You're insane, Gobo! I'm worrying for Boober. Look, he's so tired, right?" passionately asked Red, touching shoulders of absent Boober with her muddy hand. Boober was wearing a warm knitted sweater – what if here, in the Outer Space, it would be really cold and he would get sick? After all, the Fraggles were going uphill, and though it was not a mountain for a Silly Creature, it is a mountain for a Fraggle. In the mountains, it's windy. And cold. And we are all going to die as we fall from the cliff. Yes, Boober, yes, you guessed it.
"What? And you're questioning it? Of course I'm tired, cold, and hungry!" cried Boober, dramatically as always, trying to get off his sweaty outfit as he shouted "cold", obviously realizing that it's actually… hot. Yes, the weather was amazingly good! The nature throve: the grass and the leaves on the trees were dazzling green, the sky was saturated blue, and the sun violently melted the last left snow in the shadows of ledges and mounds of the hill. Water was flowing down the hill and subsequently there was a lot of dirt to walk through. It made climbing more difficult, especially for short-legged Boober.
"Come on, Boober, it's alright! We are going, going, going!" cheerfully sang Wembley, another short-legged yet less doubtful little Fraggle with kind heart. He was covered in mud up to his banana tree shirt, which he tried to save from getting dirty. But his enthusiasm was yet to fade away.
Only Mokey Fraggle didn't take part in the conversation. She was pondering her thoughts. She was dreamier than ever, not even watching the nature: no wonderful plants, no beautiful white, red, blue and yellow flowers, no song of a bird attracted her today. She was deep in her own universe. The day when she came here alone.
It was a sunny day like this one, when Mokey firstly tried to go here to enjoy the nature, and when a strong, sharp feeling of that she should go home stroke her. She didn't tell anyone about her trip to the peak of the hill. Nobody could find her. She was scared, so scared that she couldn't move. Suddenly, the sunlight disappeared. Mokey was in the shadow of something big, something so big to cover the sun all around her. She was paralyzed with fear.
"Oh! Gobo, I'd never agree to go up here just to watch… this," said Red as the ascent was done and the Fraggles could relief from climbing. They sat by the cliff to watch the landscape of the valley, stretching across the little fast river. No matter what Red said, her face could tell that she was actually fascinated by the view from such height, even though she tried to make a grimace. Inconvincible. For Gobo, at least. He smirked once again observing Red's expression. The Fraggle group was relaxing by the edge of the cliff. Wembley let his legs down and made a sound of excitement, something between "Whee!" and "Whoopie!" as the wind met his happy, grinning face. Wind, yes, there comes some real wind. Boober tried to put his sweater on, but Red grabbed it and threatened, "Don't do stupid things, or I'll throw it from the cliff, cut in little pieces! It's warm!" Gobo wondered why it annoyed her so much, for Red was wearing a red shirt, not as warm as a knitted sweater, but any way. He didn't know the story behind this sweater: it was a gift for Boober, from a Fraggle who just shouted on him for being not careful enough with the gift. The only thing Gobo wasn't aware of. Or not the only one.
The only Fraggle in the shadow, an outcast in this world, was sitting much farther from the edge, not even bothered to climb to the peak. Thinking it over and over again. That scary day when she was going to die… Never would she tell it anyone. Nobody should know how she faced an attack of a weird, big scruffy creature with sharp white teeth ready to tear her to pieces, like Red wanted to tear Boober's sweater. And how she escaped just thanks to that she fought back and… She has done some serious damage to that creature, unwillingly. She has put the creature's eye out. Only because of her stupidity, as her Fraggle friends told her not to go alone here. Poor creature! But it was going to kill her. What did she need to do in this situation? She didn't listen to the friends. She could die. The creature could die, thanks to Mokey's unwarranted rebellion and desire to be the first one to go here, to have time to observe the plants and the animals around… But it was a serious risk to Mokey's life. And it starts again, her endless train of mind, spinning around the circle of never ending fear, uncertainty and depression.
"Oh!" she only sighed. But Gobo noticed it. He notices everything what happens around.
"Mokey, what's up, eh?"
"I can't tell," mumbled Mokey, looking at her barely muddy feet. She knew the path. She knew how to avoid the mudflow. Oh, she knew. It's her fault.
"Well, maybe you can tell something, not everything?"
Oh, if she could, if she only could!
"I… had been here, a week ago…" reluctantly murmured Mokey, hoping that this is serious enough to remain the whole situation behind. But Gobo, Mokey can't fool him.
"… and?" comfortingly asked Gobo, approaching her and waiting patiently for more explanation.
"Oh, if I could take it off my chest…"
"Then do it. You can. Rely on me. I won't tell anyone," suggested Gobo with much confidence in his voice, covering Mokey's hand with his own, setting it against the warm, wet ground with few grasses under layer of dirt. This feel of fresh warmth decided for her.
"Gobo… A creature, there was a big, snarling creature that tried to kill me! Imagine, now I could be dead… and…" sobbed Mokey and broke off.
"Oh!"
"… and I tried to fight it back. And…"
"You've escaped Mokey. You're alive!"
"… and I damaged the creature, putting his eye out," Mokey finished, took a deep breath and emitted a painful groan filled with fear and self-hatred.
"Wow! Gee!" was cheerful Gobo's reaction. It amazed Mokey who thought that she did something really, really awful. She looked at him with astonishment, with eyes wide open and lip corners down, what is unusual for Mokey, even sad Mokey.
"But… I was going to die!" – "And you're alive." – "But creature! I hurt him! It's bad!" – "Hey, he deserved it: how he dared to try to attack you?"
Mokey stopped it and looked into Gobo's eyes. They were friendly, kindly letting her in. Gobo smiled, not with his smirk for Red's play, but with a genuine smile, slightly opening his mouth, but he didn't pretend to be happy. Instead, it was a smile with some inner grief. This is what Mokey was thinking about.
"Don't be upset. It's all gone now, eh? Let's go up, and look at the landscape, Mokey! You'll love it," said Gobo, earnestly inviting her uphill to the peak. His arm coiled around Mokey, gently pulling her up.
"Oh." – "Don't be upset, do you hear me?"
Alright. She gave in, still feeling guilty, but safe. Safeness! My goodness! Nice to feel needed and guarded by somebody stronger than you. Still Mokey wanted to tell everything: how she was bitten, tossed around, how she crawled back home to the rock, trying to hide her injuries… How she tried to steal some herbal medicine from Boober, not to be a thief, in her opinion, but to be a good friend to such a sensitive Fraggle, not worrying him. Anyway, she's still respected by Gobo. Gobo approves of her. Still. Always. Whatever she does. With a helping hand from him.
The wind hit her face, her wavy hair flapped. Oh, these wonders of nature! Now she sees it again from her familiar view of a curious child who wants to grasp everything in this world. Or not? She tries hard to return this feeling, concentrating on the nature, on the green leaves and grass…
Mokey looks at the valley and sighs. "Who hides under the reed?" she wonders.