As We Flutter On

by Stephen Cloud

new beginnings

This place is a hole. The pavement is littered with trash, living and inanimate. People are sharing their depression with everyone they come into contact with. The only thing bright and colorful is the graffiti, half of which is my work. The best part of my day is when I get to go home, triple lock the door, and stare at the pretty colors on my monitor like a possessed moth.

I live in an apartment building, by myself. In fact I own the place. Before my grandparents died, my grandfather would always tell me to get into the rental business. “It’s hard at first,” he would say,” but it’ll pay for itself with time.” My grandfather was a great investor and an even greater man, it was because of his investments that I was able to buy this building.

I had it all planned out. I would buy this place, have it refurbished, and paint it beautiful colors! People would flock to my beacon of light and we would turn this town around for the better. The entire city would become a tribute to my grandfather! But that didn’t work out.

I had purchased the building with plenty of cash left to have it refurbished and painted. I was on my way to the bank when a stray bullet from a drugstore robbery hit me in the gut. Soon all of the money I had set aside for my dream was lost, the med boys had a hard enough time keeping me breathing. They took every dime for their services. But I can’t complain, they did their job. I’m still alive, living inside a dead dream.

I still gave that building color though. Every inch of that place is covered in intricate graffiti. Murals I like to call them, graffiti seems a bit demeaning to me. Soon my “murals” spilled out into the rest of the town. What can I say, it was my stress reliever.

I came home one day to see a giant, amateur, poorly drawn, name sprayed all over my murals. Sammy, with s replaced with $. Man was I ticked. The one thing I really took pride in was now ruined. I shouted curses at the perpetrator for a solid twenty minutes. I needed to let off some steam, I grabbed my spray paint and went for a walk.

Block after block, I walked on. Finally I came up to a good spot on a clean house, and pulled out my spray paint. But before I could get down to work I heard a soft cry. I just ignored it and began to lay a base pattern for my new “mural”. Then I started smelling gas. The cries stopped. “Oh god,” I thought, “whatever’s in there must have passed out!”

I knocked on the door to no avail, there was no response. Everything was starting to blur, my adrenaline was pumping, I knew something had to happen now. “Jesus Christ!” I murmured,” I’d better not get arrested for this!” I took a step back and launched myself at the door shoulder first. Before I knew it I was on my back staring into a newborn’s fading eyes. Before I could think I grabbed the infant and took off, trying to escape the fumes.

Block after block I raced on. Finally I found a good spot in an abandoned parking lot. I stopped to get a better look at the child that I “technically” abducted. What I saw I couldn’t comprehend. Behind all the long pastel pink hair (that I somehow didn’t notice) was a little yellow snout, and two deep blue eyes that gazed into my soul. What was this thing?! It looked more like a cartoon character rather than a real living thing. Yet here it is, breathing heavily, heart beating, and body warm.
After a few seconds of peace and wonder, the little creature began to stir lightly in my arms. It opened its eyes and stared at me in a questioning sort of way. It seemed to come to the conclusion that whatever was happening was bad, and began to cry. “Shhh shh, no crying!” I whispered to her as I wagged my finger about in a “shush” motion. She let out a loud giggle at the movement, and latched onto my finger with her undeveloped teeth. It didn’t really hurt, but it was kind of annoying. Anything to keep her quiet I guess.
I walked home with her, shielding her from the view of the other people with my jacket. It’s kind of hard to do though when you have a giggling infant suckling on your finger. I think a few people even thought I was nursing!
Finally we got home, after an hour of walking my finger was getting pretty pruned. It was late at night and both of us were tired. I set her down and triple locked my door as I normally do. When I turned back around I saw the little creature yawn and stick out what appeared to be wings! I tried to gasp, but her yawn was contagious. The result was apparently the funniest face ever. She toppled over with laughter, and soon she had me laughing too! Soon we were both on the floor laughing uncontrollably.
Finally we stopped when I heard her stomach growl. “Is the little miss hungry?” I asked. She jumped up at the remark and started prancing about. I went to the kitchen and sifted around for something to eat. “Well,” I said, “she kind of looks like a horse, and horses like oats!” I grabbed a few packages of instant oat meal and poured it into a bowl. My logic is unmatched!
We sat on the couch eating oatmeal and watching the news. That’s when I saw the house where I rescued the little critter. It was ashes on the ground, nothing remained. Some unfortunate soul got a free cremation when he lit a cigarette near the gas leak. Poof, the gas ignited and they were history. I got a little choked up after seeing that. That could’ve been her, life is too precious to waste. I gathered my little friend up in a hug. She seemed a bit annoyed at my interruption, she wanted to get back to her meal. I let her go and she resumed eating.
I started channel surfing, no one likes the news anyway. After a few clicks I saw an almost exact version of her on the T.V. .Except the one on the screen was orange with blonde hair, and said she was applejack and something about a fritter. I pulled out my laptop and looked up the name of the show. On the image results I saw a yellow Pegasus with pink hair, along with that applejack character and four others. “That’s you isn’t it!” I said to her, “you’re fluttershy, and those are your little friends!”
She smiled at me and yawned. “Ok, ok I can take a hint.” I said. “Oh well, my theory isn’t that crazy if you take into account everything else that happened today.” She just stared at me and yawned again. “All right, bed time flutters.” I murmured. I picked her up and took her over to an old dog bed I had and set her down. I made sure she was all tucked in and said goodnight. Ten minutes later I felt her crawl onto my bed and snuggled up under my chin. That really touched my deep inside. I shed a few tears and whispered “good night angel”. I realized that this had been the best day I’ve had in a long time.

Comments

[ZAKARI]

"Murals,I call them"
Funny, I call it vandalism.Hope the character learns from Fluttershy's good behavior.