“Honey Bee”

by Aiden Kummerle

Honey Bee could feel the crunch of the dry leaves under his feet. It hadn't rained in weeks and the heat of the sun was making the town go into a drought. The path that he walked down had been worn down (only by him, he assumed) and he was starting to worry about the plants drying up. It was in a deeper part of the woods than most people would go. He had only seen a handful of people there before, most of them hunting. Unexpectedly, a gust of wind whisked by him and with it the sweet smell of rain. Honey Bee looked up, there was not a tuffet of cloud in the sky, which was starting to glow blue. He heaved a sigh, knowing that soon he would have to start heading to school, but he waved that thought out of his mind as he took another step forward. He noticed a path of wet leaves following in the direction the wind took. Confused, Honey Bee followed the wet leaves and his gut told him to change his light walk into a frantic run. His legs flew and his mind raced trying to figure out what could be filling the path with water.

The trail of soaked leaves stopped and he looked around, even more confused than before. Then he saw someone in a tree, leaning over on a branch. They looked back at him and slowly lowered onto the ground; their skin was made from tufts of clouds and the only other human feature was their eyes, which were filled with yellow lightning running through them. Honey Bee was baffled and excited. This must have been a weather spirit. He had never seen them before. He actually hadn't seen any spirit before, only heard stories or seen them in pictures. He just stood there confused and intrigued, and it seemed the spirit felt the same way as their head tilted with curiosity. 

“Can you bring rain to my town?” Honey Bee asked. The question blurted out of him, not stopping to think if it would be rude. The spirit took on what Honey Bee knew was a smile, but without the mouth part. They walked up to him, hugging him and giving a reassuring nod.  Then they transformed into a mist that Honey Bee could just barely see as it darkened the sky from the blues and yellows of the morning to the harsh gray of a thunderous storm.