“The Best Feeling Ever”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

I always felt like I stuck out. No matter what I did, I just couldn’t fit in with everyone else.

They were all green and full and shiny.

I was brown and holey and dull.

They would laugh about how crackly I sounded whenever the wind tossed me around. They would point at my rough edges. They would tease me about how frail I looked.

I hated every second of it. I willed myself, day after day, to just let go of my branch and flutter to the ground, as I’d seen so many others do before me.

But for some reason, I just couldn’t. I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to be like them. I wanted to be one of them.

I tried everything. I tried maneuvering my body to capture the most water to rejuvenate my skin. I tried reaching toward the sun to drink in its warmth. I tried talking like them, acting like them, being like them.

Nothing worked. I was still me. Brown, holey, dull me.

Then, one day, a caterpillar came along. I’d seen them plenty of times before, but never up close. I guess they wanted nothing to do with old, crunchy ones like me.

But this one didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he walked straight up to me and introduced himself.

He said that his name was Barnaby, and he asked if he could sit with me for a while. I shrugged. It was fine with me.

The others laughed as Barnaby settled in on my branch. They snickered that I’d sunk so low that I’d needed to become friends with a caterpillar.

Barnaby ended up becoming my best friend. We talked for days on end. Well, actually, I did most of the talking while he ate. He ate, and ate, and ate, and ate. It was just incredible.

But even more incredible was that there was no more laughing or pointing or teasing. I was finally free.

And freedom is the best feeling ever.

Final Comments: This one got a bit weird at the end…

Overall Rating: 😳