Change isn't something that happens instantly. More a decision to change that does that.
It seeps away at our very cores. The problems that plague away into us until we finally make the snap decision. I better do something about this!
That's how Zoe felt this afternoon. A tide of emotions and issues that flooded her finally ebbed away with her final decision. And she forgot everything...
The star let her see into a world she had no knowledge of and no preconceived perceptions. She was a child and this world was her parent. It would teach her the ways and she would make many more mistakes but she would be free to make them without pressures of rules that were made up by millions of others like her.
This world was different. There were no other humans around and the silence was very peaceful. She could hear much more in fact. Nature was overwhelmingly busy but also beautifully peaceful.
She turned and found herself facing a beautiful orange tree. The colours were lovely and welcoming against the warm blue sky. She wanted to reach up and take one. She was suddenly so hungry and she wanted to taste the sweet citrusy juiciness of that gorgeous colour.
Something jumped out at her though and startled her to the ground. The grass was soft under her touch and she recovered quickly. She found a strange little creature protecting some nuts. It had a little pile of them just under the spot she had almost trodden. She looked at it apologetically hoping it didn't try attack her again.
She lifted a hand out to see if the creature might be friendly but soon realised it was facing its back to her.
She shook her head and slowly got up carefully avoiding the creature. She got to the trunk of the tree and tried to reach up to the first branch. It took a bit of a leap but she grabbed hold of it and managed to lift herself, her arms wobbling a little. She was exhausted after the first part of the climb and had to sit down on the branch.
She saw a few oranges but they weren't as ripe as the ones further up. So after a breath or two she climbed further. As she went up, the branches were a bit closer together and she found it easier to manoeuvre and came to an almost spherical brightly glowing orange. She wrapped her hand around it, tugged at the branch, then twisted it off and started peeling away the outer layer.
Each peel she dropped to the grass like a finality that bespoke the end of the fruit's life.
She bit into it and it was all she imagined. The sweet bursts and pops of flavour filled her mouth and dripped down her chin. She found another and another and after 3 decided that was quite enough.
She looked down and saw the orange peels far below her and felt a little dizzy. The climb had been easy when she was looking up but getting down was suddenly making her feel a little queasy. She gripped the branch she was on a little tighter and found herself calling out to see if anyone was around. She saw some small movement down below but realised it was the same creature she had seen before shuffling around with a few nuts. It was so tiny now and her head felt a little waver-y and slow. She quickly looked up and breathed slowly and then tried looking down again but the dizziness was getting worse.
Her fingers were slipping and her legs were unsure of what they were doing. There was something shiny glinting from in her pocket and she quickly grabbed hold of it and let go of the tree altogether. Instead of falling to the ground though, she floated down with the dazzling object in her hand leading the way.
Her body felt light as she ended up in the soft grass once again. She hid the star away in her pocket again and felt herself slip into dreams far beyond conscious thought.
The little creature eyed her body suspiciously and then went back to collecting the orange peels to carry its stash of nuts. Later the creature discovered the orange peel had flavoured the nuts in an interestingly new flavour.
The girl, it noticed, had disappeared as suddenly as she appeared and it wondered how it could find her and get her to drop some more orange peel again.
