A Little Bug's Life

A Boy's Broken Heart

It was cold, bitterly cold. Winter had arrived. Flik had been fascinated by the cold white stuff that had appeared out of the sky. This had turned out to be snow.

He and Atta were getting on better than before. Because Atta wouldn't except that he pushing her over had been an accident, he had lied and said it was on purpose and that he was sorry.

After a few days of being ignored, and Atta thinking he had something against him, they had made up. To Flik's relief. He wouldn't have been able to take another day of Atta hating him.

One of the good things about the winter was that he was getting more positive attention from the adults because they were worried about the children getting too cold.

But one of the worst things was that it was much harder to avoid Myrmica and his cronies because going outside was off limits and class had been canceled. He could meet him at nearly any time of the day.

For some reason or another, Hazel had been acting strange. He seemed, well, sad. It was very unlike Hazel to be like this. He was normally so cheerful. What was the matter with him?

Flik didn't have much to do. He felt very uninventive at present, he was cold, he was hungry, he was worried that Myrmica would find him and he was worried about Hazel!

He suddenly realized he had stopped outside Hazel's chamber. He looked in. Hazel was sitting on a large rock. He looked incredibly miserable. Flik had never seen him in such a bad state.

'I can't, I just can't forget her. She was everything to me. She's gone. I could've saved her. My Tuli . . .' Flik stared. 'Flik! What are you doing!' It was the first time Hazel had spoken harshly to him. Flik nearly cried. Hazel could see how unhappy he had made his little friend and felt very guilty.

'You said 'My Tuli'! What did you mean?'

'I didn't say anything of the sort!'

'Yes you did!'

'No I did not!' Hazel replied angrily.

'You're lying! You're hiding something from me!' Flik ran off crying.

'Flik! Wait!' Hazel called after him but he was gone. Hazel felt very ashamed of himself. How could he have been so mean? Was there anyway he could make it up to Flik?

The evening had fallen and the temperature had dropped. A group of workers had gone to block the entrance to try to keep heat in but they had got distracted by some kind of plant being stuck there. The Queen told them to pull it in.

With a large amount of effort and struggling, they managed it. It was a small branch of something (pretty large to the ants).

'That's mistletoe.' said Dr. Flora.

'It must've blown over from the other side of the riverbed.' replied Mr. Soil.

'It's ages since I've seen any,' the Queen said. Hazel smiled at her.

'Do you remember the last time this stuff turned up here?' Hazel asked her. Amadala smiled back at him.

'Oh, yes. I remember.'

'I'm sorry, Princess, I'm sorry!' The adults looked round to see Atta and Flik. They weren't getting on particularly well.

'You're so clumsy!'

'I can't help being clumsy! And I said I was sorry . . .' The princess scowled at him. Hazel felt worse. Not only had he had a go at Flik but now Atta was too. He didn't want to interfere because he was likely to make the situation worse and it wouldn't improve his daughter's opinion of Flik. And could possible do the opposite.

'Oh, Flik, no! Don't go. I didn't mean to make you cry!' But Flik had already disappeared again. 'Oh, dear . . .' Atta said to herself, sounding concerned. Hazel went and stood next to her. 'Oh, Daddy! I didn't realize how upset I was making him!'

'It's not really your fault, sweet pea. Flik was already having a bad day. It was my fault if anyone's.'

Even though Flik hadn't felt very happy, he would normally have been able to take Atta's complaints but moments after he had fled from Hazel's chamber, Myrmica and his cronies had found him. They had been even more unpleasant than usual. They had kept calling him a cry baby among other things, laughed at him endlessly, and started kicking and pushing him around.

When he had at last got away, he had met the princess. Well, to be more accurate, crashed into the princess, sending her tumbling across the chamber. When he had tried to help her, he had fallen on top of her. Not the best day he had ever had.

'Where should we put this mistletoe, Your Highness?' asked one of the workers.

'There's a passage in the West Tunnel,' Hazel told his wife, 'It has a particularly high ceiling. I would advise putting it there.' The Queen considered for a minute whether it was safe to put it there or not, then nodded.

'What's that stuff's name again, Daddy?' Atta asked, 'I didn't quite catch it.'

'It's mistletoe, Atta.'

A grin suddenly appeared on his face. He knew how to make it up to Flik.

Flik was happy that Hazel seemed to have reverted to his usual cheerful self. Yes, there it was. Hazel had told him to meet him by mistletoe, said he had a surprise for him. He stood under it. Where had Hazel got to?

'Flik! What are you doing here!' It was Atta.

'Waiting for Hazel. He told me to meet him here.'

'But that can't be right! Daddy told me to meet him by the mistletoe!' Hazel jumped out of hiding and hovered in the air laughing. 'Daddy, I don't understand! Why did you tell both me and Flik to meet you here?'

'You're under the mistletoe! Both of you!' They both stared at him blankly. Hazel's smile broadened, 'Don't you know what you have to do under the mistletoe?' They both just continued to stare at him and shook their heads. Hazel laughed again. 'You have to kiss her, Flik!'

'What!' they both said at once.

'Daddy! You set us up!'

'Yep!' Hazel replied, 'Go on, Flik!' Both children looked very embarrassed. Atta giggled and blushed. Flik tried not to show how pleased he was. He leaned towards her.

Suddenly, Flik was sent crashing into one of the walls.

'Opps! Didn't see you there, flick away!' It was Myrmica. Atta scowled at him. Myrmica was about to break into hysterics, when he noticed an incredibly angry Hazel. Myrmica yelled and ran as fast as he could down the tunnel.

Flik felt even worse than before. He couldn't believe it. Hazel had given him the golden opportunity to kiss the girl of his dreams and Myrmica had come along and ruined it for him. No, he mustn't cry. Not again. Not now! He looked up to see Hazel. Hazel picked him up and placed him under the mistletoe again,

'I think a kiss was in order here.' Hazel said brightly. Flik smiled at him, he then turned back to Atta. She stepped closer to him with a small embarrassed smile on her face. He leaned towards her and kissed her on the cheek.

They suddenly became aware of the sound of giggling. They looked around to see Ivy, Carlos, Fossil, Pondweed, Clarice and her three friends (two workers, one male) but they weren't the only ones; the whole council including the Queen had seen too. Atta ran to the other children.

'We had no choice!' she insisted, 'You have to kiss under the mistletoe! It was Daddy! He set the whole thing up!'

'Hazel! What have you been up to!' Amadala asked in a half serious tone. Flik looked up at Hazel,

'Let's just say it was a way of apologizing for earlier.' he whispered to him. Flik smiled at him. Atta was walking away down the tunnel being followed by Pondweed, Clarice and her friends. Flik gazed her as she left. Ivy ran up to Flik,

'You so fancy her!'

'Ivy! Keep it down!' Flik muttered urgently. Ivy laughed.

'I'm surprised she hasn't noticed it herself! It's obvious! I suspected it from the first day I met you! It was from the way you reacted to me referring to her.'

'Ivy! She might hear you!' Carlos and Fossil came over.

'She won't.' Carlos told him.

'She's too busy trying to escape from questioning about kissing!' added Fossil with a laugh.

'You guys, please, don't tell her! Please!'

'Don't worry,' Ivy replied, 'we won't.' The four of them walked toward the main chamber for dinner. Hazel remained, looking up at the mistletoe, his cheeriness gone. He sighed heavily,

'Oh, Tuli . . .'

'Hazel! Don't you ever, ever, stop thinking about her!' Amadala shouted.

'I can't help it!'

'Sometimes you give the impression you don't love me! It's always her you think about!'

'Amadala, you know I love you! Don't you understand how I feel!'

'What about me! How I feel!'

'I know how you feel about the situation! To me, it's obvious!'

Suddenly, Amadala flew into a terrible rage.

'SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S GONE! THERE'S NO POINT THINKING ABOUT HER ANYMORE! GET OVER YOURSELF! AREN'T I GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU!'

She stormed out of his chamber, leaving Hazel exceptionally miserable and depressed.

'You know, Amadala!' He yelled after her, 'Having a go at me only makes me remember how perfect she was!'

'Hazel . . ?' Hazel turned to see Flik by the chamber entrance.

'

'Hello, Flik . . .' he said in a depressed tone, 'How much did you hear?'

'All of it. Hazel, what's going on?'

'I think it would be more accurate if you asked 'what went on?''

'You mean, this whole thing is about something in the past? The reason you've been so miserable recently?' Hazel nodded.

'Flik, I have a confession to make. When I told you about my past, I only told you half of it. This is hard for me, you understand. I get like this sometimes . . . because, you see, well, um . . .' To Flik's horror, tears started to pour from Hazel's eyes. 'Me and Princess Tuli were . . . were . . . were in love.' Flik stared.

'In – in love?' Hazel nodded. 'But I thought you liked Amadala and weren't Tuli and Aribella . . .' He stopped. He now realized why Hazel was feeling so wretched.

'It was later I liked Amadala. The whole thing is quite hard on Amadala too, the situation with Tuli . . .'

'You mean because she was her sister . . .'

'Not just that, you could say, in a way, she's envious of how perfect my and Tuli's relationship was and she knows as well as I do that if Tuli had lived, me and her would never have had a relationship. As I've already told you, she told me that she was only grumpy and a little mean to me because she was trying deny to herself she liked me, so when I started having a relationship with Tuli . . .'

'She got jealous?'

'Not exactly. In a way, maybe. It's strange though. At the beginning of my relationship with Amadala, she comforted me when I told her I felt guilty, it was a hard time for me when I started going out with her, I felt such strong emotions, love for Amadala, and great happiness that she liked me too but also I felt I was betraying Tuli by doing it. But Amadala's attitude seemed to change, I'm not sure when it was but one day, when I brought the subject of Tuli up, expecting comfort, she turned sour on me. It wasn't until ages after that I brought it up again. Everytime it seemed to start arguments. The only time it hasn't is when I said that Atta looked quite like her . . .'

'Is Atta's personality like Tuli's too?'

'Not that much. I've noticed a couple of times, by something she says. Oh, and when she's concerned or grateful. I've noticed she's like her then too or when she's frightened.'

Flik nodded. 'I know one thing she gets from Amadala though!' Hazel said, cheerful for a few moments, 'Her argumentative tone!' Flik laughed. Hazel's smile quickly faded. 'Well, I guess I should tell you about Tuli. Anyway, it's not like I have anyone else to talk to about it anyway . . .'

Tuli was upset. Her sisters had been teasing her again. Amadala was still laughing but Aribella looked concerned.

'Oh, Tuli! We didn't mean to upset you! We were only joking!' Aribella told her. Tuli wiped the tears from her eyes. She was a very sensitive girl and was prone to crying. She began to walk away from her sisters. 'Amadala, stop laughing!' Aribella said, with the aura of genuine leadership. Then she noticed Tuli, 'Sis, come back!'

'Let her go. If she wants to go, let her go.' Amadala said in a rather bored tone. Aribella sighed.

Tuli knew her sisters didn't mean to hurt her feelings but they often did. Amadala had a tendency to become annoyed with her sensitive little sister.

Tuli was walking along when she heard a joyful cry above her. She looked up to see a slightly dark blue male ant, a little older than she herself, but younger than Amadala. Hazel was zooming around in the air doing somersaults and giving cries of delight. He suddenly became aware of someone clapping and cheering below.

He looked down and stared. Princess Tuli? He felt a bit embarrassed. That gorgeous princess was clapping and cheering for him! He swallowed, felling nervous, then flew down to her.

'H-h-hi . . .' he said nervously, not making eye contact with her.

'You're – you're – you're very good . . .' she said shyly, having the same eye contact problem, 'At flying, I mean.'

'Th-th-thank you . . . I-I practice a lot . . .' he told her. 'You're beautiful!' he blurted out before he could stop himself. He clapped his hands over his mouth, feeling incredibly embarrassed. Tuli blushed crimson and looked exceptionally pleased.

'You – you really think so?' Hazel gulped and nodded. 'You're so sweet! Oh, I'm sorry, what's your name?'

'Hazelnut, Hazel for short. No-one calls me Hazelnut though. Would you . . . would you like to go for a fly with me?' Tuli's smile faded,

'I . . . I'm not very good . . .'

'Oh, you can't be that bad . . .' Tuli started to cry.

'Oh, Princess! Don't cry! I . . .'

'It's – it's not your fault . . .' He put an arm round her. She stopped crying and gave a small smile. 'The – the truth is, well, I can't fly!' Hazel stared, 'I've tried many times b-but I never could! My – my sisters are always teasing me about it. I . . .'

'I'll teach you!' Tuli looked up at him.

'You'd – you'd teach me?'

'Sure!' He took hold of her waist and rose slowly into the air. Tuli gave a whimper. 'It's okay, it's okay. I've got you.' Tuli nodded at him. 'I think you should get used to being in the air first. I'm going to keep hold of you for now. Try flapping your wings as we go along.' Hazel instructed her. Her lips were trembling.

'I won't let anything happen to you.' She nodded again. Hazel rose further into the air, carrying the princess with him. He began to fly around again.

'Wow!' Tuli exclaimed. Hazel grinned. He rose still higher into the clouds. 'Oh, Hazel! This is wonderful! Up here in the clouds! Just us two . . .' She gave a long happy sigh as they glided along together.

Hazel could feel her wings flapping below him. He slowly let go of her. She could fly! She was doing it! She looked back and realized Hazel had let go. She panicked. She screamed as she plummeted towards the ground. Hazel gasped and dived after her. He caught her.

'Are you alright, Tuli?' he gasped. She nodded, shaking a little. 'Listen, Tuli. You were doing it. When you realized I had let go you panicked. You can fly! You just need more confidence in yourself.'

'Hazel! I can't! I can't!'

'You can! I'm going to help you. I'll hold you up. You have to try to fly. I'll let go of you but I'll be right below you. I'll catch you if you fall. Trust me?' Tuli hesitated for a moment.

'I know I can trust you, Hazel.' she said smiling at him. Hazel smiled back. He did as he had said he would do but Tuli didn't fall. 'I'm flying! I can fly!'

'Well done, Tuli!' Hazel cried, 'Well done!'

'I can fly! I don't believe it! Oh, Hazel . . .'

'Let's give those wings of yours a bit of exercise, shall we!'

'Oh, yes! Lead the way, Hazel! And thank you, thank you so much.'

'It's okay. Hey, I'll bet your sisters are in for a big surprise!' Hazel laughed. Tuli laughed too. They dived down among the clouds and toward the ground. Tuli took Hazel's hand in hers.

'Hazel, that was so much fun! And did you see the looks on my sisters' faces!'

'Yep!' he replied before doing an impression. Tuli giggled. 'I could teach you how to somersault in the air tomorrow if you'd like.

'Oh, yes please!' she answered enthusiastically. Hazel grinned at her. 'I'd better go or Mom will get mad at me.' Tuli told him. He nodded. 'See you, Hazel.' She hugged him. He felt embarrassed but happy.

'Yeah, see ya . . .' he replied softly.

'It was then I knew I loved her.' Hazel told Flik, 'I mean, I knew I liked her before but . . . Well, it suddenly became so strong, it was like this feeling was taking over me . . .' Flik stared,

'That – that must be it then.'

'What's it?'

'The way I feel about . . . I thought it was more than a crush . . .' Hazel nodded. He understood. 'So, after that. Did your relationship just develop . . . ?'

'Well, yes it did. But not without a certain event . . . Do you remember me telling you Thistle bullied Tuli?'

'Hang on, you said a male stood up for Tuli! It was you, wasn't it!' Hazel smiled and nodded.

The sky was a magnificent shade of blue, without a cloud in sight. Tuli was sitting on the ground looking up at the clouds swaying in the breeze. She daydreamed and gave a happy sigh as she waited for Hazel to arrive. There was something she had to tell him.

Suddenly, she stopped and looked around her. The scene was no longer pleasant, and there was an eerie silence surrounding her. She got the suddenly got the feeling she was being watched. She began to shake. Someone was creeping up on her! Something was going to grab her!

'Tuli . . .' came a spooky, echoing voice on the wind, 'I'm going to get you!' The princess looked around fearfully, breathing deeply, and trying not to make a sound. 'There's no escape Tuli,' the voice continued, 'I won't let you get away . . .'

Sweat ran down the girl's back and forehead. Manic laughter echoed around her, fear was engulfing her, she couldn't stop herself. She screamed. She could hear cruel laughter. Laughter of another child. It was coming from the undergrowth and a figure quickly followed it.

Thistle emerged with a malicious smile plastered across her nasty face. Tuli shrunk against one of the clover stalks, staring in terror at the older and taller girl in front of her.

'How easy it is to frighten you! It's very amusing! I thought it was about time I came along and taught you a lesson.'

'I-I-I haven't done anything wrong!'

'Exactly why I need to punish you!' she replied, her eyes glittering as she advanced on her victim who was starting to cry,

'You – you wouldn't hurt me, would you?' Thistle laughed,

'I've hurt you plenty of times before. Just not as much as I'm about to. I'm going to make you suffer! Oh, what fun!' Tuli gulped. 'Now let's see, where shall we begin, hum?'

'Please don't hurt me! Please have mercy, Thistle, please! I know there's good in you somewhere!' Thistle just laughed and was about to punch poor Tuli in the face when she got a cruel idea. She smirked,

'Alright then, Tuli; if you give me something of yours, I won't hurt you.'

'What – what do you want?' Tuli asked miserably through her tears,

'Your necklace.' she stated with a nasty grin. Tuli stared. She touched the object hanging around her neck.

'My – my necklace?' Hazel had made that necklace especially for her and had given it to her on Valentine's Day. He had taken ages over it. It was Tuli's most prized possession and Thistle knew it. How could Tuli hand over something so precious!

'Either that, or I give you hell, Princess!' Thistle replied with a wicked laugh.

'I-I . . .'

'What's the matter, Tuli? Don't you want to give it to me?'

'N-n-no,' Tuli trembled, 'I-I-I don't . . .' and then, more bravely, 'I w-won't!'

'You won't? Okay then. Fine with me.' Thistle said exceptionally calmly. Tuli stared. What was Thistle up to? Why was she being so light all of a sudden? This couldn't be good news! Thistle took an object out from behind a clover stalk.

'Where'd you get that thorn?' Tuli asked nervously.

'Found it.' she said simply, tossing it from one hand to another.

'That thing's dangerous! You could really hurt someone!'

'I know!' Thistle replied, her sparkling eyes set on her victim. Tuli suddenly understood. She gasped in horror and ran. 'Oh, no you don't, Tuli!' Thistle spat, pursuing her.

Tuli ran, ran as hard as she could.

'That's right, Tuli, run. But you can't run forever! You're doomed!'

'Hazel!' Tuli screamed, tears flooding down her face, 'Oh, Hazel, help me!'

'I'm going to get you, Tuli!'

'Hazel! Help, help!'

'I'll make you unrecognizable!'

'Hazel! Hazel! Help me!'

'I'll rip you to shreds!'

'No!' Tuli shrieked, 'Leave me alone! Oh, Hazel, save me! Save me!' She tripped up and fell to the ground. She tried to get up but she couldn't. She was too exhausted from running. She looked up in terror at Thistle who was towering above her, smirking in triumph.

'Looks like the hunt is over, Tuli! Say your prayers!'

'HAZEL!' Tuli covered her face.

'I'll save you, Tuli!' shouted a voice. Tuli looked up to see Thistle being knocked to the ground by a furious Hazel. The two children glared at each other. Oh, wasn't he brave!

'So, you wanna fight me then, ha! Wanna fight for your precious Tuli!' Thistle snarled.

'If that's what it takes!' Hazel replied, gritting his teeth and raising his fists. Tuli felt scared for Hazel's sake. She didn't want him to get hurt! The two young ants started fighting, although they couldn't really hurt each other they began punching and kicking as hard as they could. They tried pulling each others antennae. Hazel kicked Thistle hard in the stomach, making her let go of his. She aimed a punch at his head which only just avoided. Tuli watched them nervously. Hazel turned his back for a moment.

'Hazel, look out!' Tuli yelled. Hazel turned to see Thistle about to jump on top of him. He zoomed out of the way, into the air and kicked Thistle hard into one of the clovers. She turned and snarled at him. Hazel thought she was going to attack again but suddenly she turned and ran into the Clover Forest!

'Well,' Hazel said to himself, 'I hope that's taught her!'

'Hazel!' cried Tuli, running towards him, 'My hero!' She hugged him and, without warning, placed a kiss on his cheek. Hazel grinned broadly.

'Are you okay, Tuli? You're not hurt are you?' Tuli shook her head.

'No, thanks to you. I'm just a little shaken up, I guess.' she said trembling. Hazel put his arms around her,

'Don't worry. She'll think twice before picking on you again. Did she frequently . . .'

'She's been bullying me for ages and ages but never like this before! I know why she bullied me though, I worked it out. She's jealous of me. She kept calling me a snob and stuff like 'miss perfect', 'perfect princess' and 'Mama's favorite' which now are, now I think about it, are not really insults at all.'

'Well, I can see why she'd be jealous of you.' Hazel told her, 'You're sweet, clever, have a lovely voice, you look stunning . . .' Tuli put her finger to his lips to silence him. They drew closer, gazing at each other. Hazel put his hand on her cheek,

'Tuli, I-I-I love you,' the boy confessed, 'I would never let anything happen to you.'

'I-I love you too, Hazel.' Their lips met. They put their arms around each other and closed their eyes, feeling a sensational bliss.

'I half expected you to laugh, Flik!'

'N-n-no.' he replied in a day-dreamy fashion. Hazel nodded. 'Do you think that Thistle would've . . .'

'I don't think she would've killed Tuli. Thistle just wanted to torture her. She probably would've seriously hurt her though. It's a very good question to ask though, and one worth pondering on, especially in the circumstances Thistle's seeming madness began and her hatred for Atta party due to her looking like Tuli . . .'

'Partly? I thought . . .'

'I'm quite certain it isn't just the fact Atta looks like Tuli. I think there's more to it than meets the eye. And there's more to Thistle than meets the eye. You'll never believe this, but Thistle used to adore Atta.'

'You're kidding!'

'She did. In fact, Amadala and I made her Atta's Godmother.'

'She's Atta's Godmother! And she wants to kill her!'

'Yes and I think she preferred Atta to her own children . . .'

'Really?' Hazel nodded.

'Thistle saw me and Tuli kiss actually. In fact,' he said in an embarrassed tone, 'So did Queen Acorna, Aribella and Amadala.'

The two children drew apart, gazing into each others eyes.

'Eh! Yuck!' The two children turned. It had been Amadala who had spoken but she wasn't the only one who had seen. To their embarrassment, Tuli saw both of her sisters, her mother and Thistle. Thistle was glaring fiercely. Aribella stood by her mother, her mouth open, staring at her little sister and Hazel in each others arms. Acorna looked shocked and delighted at the same time, smiling.

'Mother!' Tuli cried out in surprise, feeling dreadfully embarrassed. Acorna and Aribella giggled. Thistle was still glaring but Tuli was too happy having just kissed Hazel, and embarrassed by her mother and sisters seeing that she didn't notice but Hazel saw. He put his arms tighter around Tuli, as if he was trying to protect her incase Thistle tried anything. She didn't.

'Tuli, darling. Um, if you've finished,' her mother said giggling a little, 'I would like to talk to you and your sisters . . .'

'Okay,' she replied, 'I'll see you as soon as Mother's finished speaking to us.' Hazel nodded. He gazed at her as she and her sisters (Thistle had run off somewhere by this time) walk towards the anthill.

'No fair, Tuli!' Aribella was saying, 'How come you're younger than me and yet you've got a boyfriend and I haven't!' Amadala gave an impertinent snort. Tuli gave a little giggle. 'Wow, what's kissing feel like Tu?'

'Do you think if Tuli had lived, Thistle would've tried to kill her later on? I mean, it sounds like she hated her with a vengeance.'

'Hum, that is a very good question. Hum, I get the distinct feeling that she probably would've tried.'

'How much time did you and Tuli spend together?'

'Oh, we did so much. We spent almost all our time together. It's amazing how much we did. We had our own hideaway, we secretly left the island sometimes at night, avoided a bird attack once! That was exciting! Got a very long lecture from Queen Acorna afterwards though . . . Oh, and when we danced . . . We even learned another language together. Everyone else thought we were crazy, don't know why . . .' Flik gave a laugh. 'We even started to try to reform Thistle and it sorta worked actually. Tuli believed that Thistle needed love and friendship in order to improve herself.'

Hazel lowered his voice suddenly, 'Whatever you do, don't tell Amadala this but I actually asked Tuli to marry me. Not for then, of course. But for in the future, when we were old enough.' Hazel sighed, 'We were perfect. Life couldn't have been better. We never had disagreements or anything. It was the chance of one in a million to have a couple as perfect as us. Many thought it was a miracle. We were practically made for each other.' Hazel sighed again.

'It wasn't to last though. I know why Hopper did it. Me and Acorna used to get on quite well.' I could tell she was the rebellious type deep down and was planning to one day get rid of the grasshoppers for good. Unfortunately, Hopper seemed to have worked this out too. He would've gone for her husband if he hadn't died in an accident in Tunnel 19. It was partly bad luck as well.

It was a foggy night, and Aribella and Tuli had been left outside, not knowing which direction it was to the anthill. I was asleep. I thought that Tuli was just having a late dinner or something. Oh, if only . . ! I'll never forget it. It was nearly dawn when I woke. My head panging. I looked around. 'Where's Tuli?' I asked myself. I rushed around the whole anthill. Searching, searching for her. I soon hurried outside.

By this time, I knew something was very wrong. I ran, screaming her name. I screamed and I screamed. I-I-I found her body . . .' Flik gasped. Hazel nodded solemnly, tears pouring down his face again. 'You really can not imagine how I felt when I saw her. Her gaze fixed in terror, her mouth open in mid scream, blood smeared across her beautiful face . . !'

Hazel stopped for a moment, catching his breath and trying to deal with his uncontrollable emotion. 'At first, I just screamed, shouting her name and denying to myself that she was dead. Then I felt the fall impact of emotion and I shouted and yelled and cried and screamed. Screamed to the heavens . . .

I put her body in a coffin in our hideaway. It had originally going to be a box we kept our most treasured possessions. I kissed her for the last time and slowly placed the lid on. My soul just couldn't part with her. I could see her in my head. Smiling, waving. Rushing up to me. Saying she loved me. Saying she'd always be with me and nothing would tear us apart . . .

I don't know whether it was part of the memory of when I heard her screaming when she was running away from Thistle or if I'd actually heard her screaming for me. I lost so much. I'd always looked to the future before, seeing us two together forever, getting married, having kids . . . But all I could see then and can see now is how all my hopes and dreams were dashed. How my happiness was gone.

I cried myself to sleep and when I woke, I cried more. Days must have passed before I emerged in a state of misery, not caring what happened to me anymore. A large part of me wished I had died too. Died at her side. Died together, seeing each other for the last time being able to at least say goodbye and telling each other how much we cared.

No-one noticed me. They were all too busy trying to comfort Acorna. I've never told anyone that I found her body. I couldn't bring myself to. And I never wanted anyone to know anyway. I carved a picture of her on her coffin. We had made that box together. While we smiled and laughed together.

I never wanted anyone to know anyway. I never got over Tuli and I never will. Most of my childhood up until I started looking after Thistle I can't actually remember. Everyone's mourning for Tuli went on for a long time. There's only small parts after I started looking after her that I can remember. That was probably why I didn't notice that Thistle liked me. I just hadn't been able to get over Tuli and I was unable to think about anything else.

That's what Amadala doesn't seem to understand. I lost my happiness, my innocence, my life . . . If there's anything I can remember during that period it was powerful emotions of sadness, anger, resentment, depression, hatred, guilt; the feeling of having no soul, being an empty shell.

I still think about her now, I can't help it. And I feel ashamed. I should've waited, I should've looked for before I went to bed, I could've saved her. And Aribella too . . .'

'But Aribella might not be dead, she could've . . .'

'No, Flik. I'm certain I saw her body at the bottom of the dry riverbed. That bird probably picked it up later . . . I'm sorry, Flik, I've probably made you very depressed now . . .'

'No, no! You need to talk to someone! And I'm prepared to listen! Please stop crying, Hazel! It's not your fault! And you probably wouldn't have been able to do anything anyway. Not against all those grasshoppers!'

'Flik,' Hazel said weakly, 'thank you.' They hugged.

'H-Hazel? May I . . .? May I talk to you . . ?' It was a very tearful Amadala. Flik headed for the chamber entrance in order to leave them alone, 'Hazel, what was I thinking having a go at you like that? I'm sorry! I-I should've been more understanding. I mean . . .'

Flik walked down the tunnel towards his sleeping chamber. As he walked, he made a promise to himself that he would always be there for Atta. Whenever she needed him. He would help her no matter . . .

'Flik! Where are you? I need you to help me with something!' It was the princess. He rushed down the tunnel. 'Flik! Why are you never here when I need you!' Flik rushed round the corner.

'Here I am!' he shouted, crashing right into her.

'Flik!' yelled the irritated princess.

'Sorry!' He gave a sigh; this was not the start he had been hoping for.