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Spring 2019 Writing Contest: Seasons Ever Changing, Ever Staying

Seasons Ever Changing, Ever Staying
By: Moonbeau


Rise and shine. Rise and remain dull.

A sigh hurries out her mouth upon the glimpse of the of the golden gleam, peeking just shy behind the curtains. The sound is gentle but with no intentions of hiding. The sigh wants to engage in a conversation but no one is there to return a reply. There is no one but her alone. A Black Wuff sleeps by her feet.

“Ah, right. Spring is here.” She can simply tell; winter sunlight is different from spring sunlight.

It’s a routine for the ball of lustrous light in the sky to greet salutations to every inhabitant below but the calendar predicts the day for the vegetation to rise from its long slumber. The greens start to shine like a coat of freshly-bathed fur and the flower buds do not hold back to adorn their bold colours. There is no need for rainstorms to paint rainbows on the blue canvas above when the sun can start designing rainbows on the world below.

Every time Spring arrives, Mellachloe wishes she can shine brightly like the gorgeous sun and express an abundance of colours on her body. No matter how hard she tries, she could not break from who she is. The variety of flowers she harvested over many seasons are decorated in her dark den but fail to bring a smile to her face. Whenever she had to leave home, her paws always lead her to put on dark clothing that hid her away, sometimes swallowing her whole like the shadows of night. She felt odd in anything brighter than the dark shades of apparel she owns. Her ears always hung low, covering parts of her face.

Is this the haunting fate of this winter rabbit? The natural pattern of snowflakes frosting across her fur remains a plastered reminder that change is not fit for the likes of her. It has been with her since birth, it’s all she remembered feeling. This sadness just can’t get away.

With much force and any will power within her, Mellachloe crawls out of bed in order to fetch herself breakfast; a basket of steamed buns and carrot juice. The loneliness eats at her bit by bit when she stares at the few empty chairs unoccupied at the dining table. She tears her eyes away to stare elsewhere in the room, perhaps testing if the flowers still had their magic on making her raise the corners of her mouth like they did the first time. It’s hard to notice the presence of a Black Wuff nestled closely by her feet, for it does not provide anything to her.

The first day of Spring is one of the rare occasions she is able to bask in the sunlight. Other days it’d be too hard for her to leave home. There’d be nothing sitting on top of her but there is weight. Her eyesight just may not be too well to recognize that the lingering Black Wuff perched upon her lap, curled up graciously against her warmth. Before leaving the cozy but cold den, she protects herself with a black shawl and a blue scarf hugging around her neck.

Mellachloe begins her stroll within her village, the beautiful bright clouds of pink and white. She continues further, climbing down towards the bridge between Quetzal Palace and Olde Foxbury while the Black Wuff trails behind her without missing a step. Green sprouts from the horizon as intimidatingly tall trees extend from view, surrounded by beds of various plants and blooming flowers.

For once in her dark life, there was a little spark of joy that made her frozen heart leap. It surprised her just as much to even see ones that she has yet to touch, smell and treasure in her possession. This power of Spring made her feel a tiny bit of warm, like a little match girl travelling in the ferocious blizzard.

Not too far from her path, there is a bustling crowd of young foxes surrounding a much older and bigger fox off in the large field of flowers. They were loud, active and happy. The image of them seemed so foreign yet it made the rabbit’s heart thump with envy from observing their fun, desiring to join in. Her shame won over with over thousands of points and her with none. She did not wish to burden them with her winter, afraid to spoil, fearing to be judged too.

If she runs past them, surely they won’t notice.
If she runs past them, certainly they won’t judge.
If she runs past them, sadly she won’t experience that gift of joy.

“Hello!” The greeting made itself known before the winter rabbit made move to escape and she didn’t want to look rude to reject a warm address.

Just as the salute sounded chipper and bright, make no mistake that it came from someone who reflected every element to the noise. It came from the older fox out of the bunch, and surprisingly, with more than one tail. Her fur rivalled the colour of the morning dawn, glittering as the other moved or when the wind carefully brushed past. The smile paired with the greeting warms the rabbit more than she had anticipated, significantly than the flowers she had detected today.

“Hello, I’m Kyrie. Would you like to join us? The weather is beautiful and it’d be a shame to miss out on it so the other foxes and I are painting out here. We have more materials if you’d like to participate.” The shining multiple-tailed fox continued on, displaying the best of her intentions to the winter rabbit. Though it excited Mellachloe to feel wanted, she fails to comprehend that someone so joyful decided to invite someone like her. What kind? The cold kind.

“I’m sorry. I’d ruin it.” The smaller one hides her ears of purple fur towards her cheeks like curtains closing shut, for the light is too strong. Her feet briefly shuffle backwards to make it clear she is rejecting to the invitation. A slight frown appears on Kyrie’s face at the sound of those words which alarms Mellachloe for having the power to erase the beaming grin. It deepens her resolve to avoid their fun, stirring in her chest of a snowstorm of guilt and regret. “See! I told you I’d ruin it. I’m sorry.” Tears start to pool in her eyes, ready for precipitation.

“No no! That’s not it!” Kyrie jumps in quickly to rescue the rabbit from any more dark assumptions with her arms extended and her head shaking to dismiss. “It worries me you think that way. You don’t ruin anything at all. We could never have too much people. The more the merrier. Please come?” The fox now extends an open palm, giving Mellachloe the chance to reach out.

Doing anything out of the norm is scary for the cold creature, and that includes talking to people. This had been the first in months that she has been able to have a decent exchange of words other than purchasing groceries and necessities for the week. Even though how frightening it is to Mellachloe to be around others, she had also ached for the moment to bask in the company of someone so benevolent. She went onto grasp at that palm, feeling the warmth and how it journeyed on to thaw at her frozen heart.

Kyrie escorts her towards the vibrant group of fox children, taking care of the introductions so that Mellachloe wouldn’t be too intimidated about being put in the spotlight. Upon asking for her name, the bright multi-tailed fox introduced the winter rabbit as Mel, to which the children received whole heartedly and swarmed up to the other mammal for welcome hugs. They were loud and bubbly, convincing and whining for the rabbit to come see their art and to help colour for them.

It was hard for Mellachloe to divide her attention to each of them individually as they were crowded right around her, asking for her opinions. Though she did her best to help each of them, getting all sorts of colours staining her paws and parts of her fur, until her own body glowed rainbows. The more time she spent with the fox children, the smile on her face gradually grew and the Black Wuff wandered further away in distance.

Eventually the children spent away their energy so their caretaker Kyrie suggested for them to take a quick nap. The elder pair watched over the snoozing children while cleaning up the paint tools and their own furs. Kyrie occupies their wait time by teaching the rabbit the art of constructing flower crowns with the surrounding flowers in their spot. The Black Wuff meanders close by.

“Did you have fun, Mel?” Kyrie prompts the question, curious to hear of the rabbit’s opinion.

“I did. To be frank, it tired me too.” The response arouses an exploding laugh from the interviewer, making it hard for her to twist the stems of the flowers. Mellachole looks up from her organization of flowers to catch the fox’s eruption of emotion, a little smile lurking on her.

“That’s what children do to you, ”Kyrie manages to utter her words as the laughter dies down. “since they’re roaming fur balls of excitement! It’s also why I’m babysitting them. Their parents are busy and exhausted to deal with their energy.”

“Are you like that too? Is that why you’re sparkling inside and out?” For once, the winter rabbit’s ears twitch up with curiosity, her head tilting to the side.

“Hm, probably it’s because I’m born from the sun so I exhibit qualities of the sun!” Such a fact intrigues the little rabbit to know Kyrie is some sort of celestial being. She recalls rumors and stories of all sorts of being roaming the world.

“So you’re always bright and happy? I’m envious. I’m born from the winter solstice.” The winter rabbit’s ears flop downwards once again, just as they always had been. It catches the fox’s attention, making her scoot closer towards the other and gently patting at her back to get attention again.


“Believe it or not, I am not. Like the sun on this world, there are days when the sun hides behind the clouds or the moon during the eclipse; feeling lonely, insecure, and helpless. It no means by competition. In a way, I understand how you feel.”

“So you have your sad days?” Curiosity strikes again. Kyrie responds with a nod. “So this menns it’s possible for me to happy?”

“If you want to be.” the fox simply states.

“I do, I want to so bad. I hate this.” Mellachole refers to herself with her paws demonstrating a hover of her whole frame from head to toe. “I hate that I’m always sad.”

“You shouldn’t force yourself. No one has ever achieved happiness in a single night. If it were so, there’d be a world record for it.” Kyrie looks towards her developing art piece, her gleaming magenta eyes studying the item. “Even though I’m someone who is bright and chirpy, but surely there are also people who are gloomy and melancholic. Someone important to me once said, that ‘one expresses emotions and moods like it is seasons. I think it’s fine to stay in your winter, though I don’t know why you keep looking on the bright side in order to bring out the spring in you. One can’t be consistently bright three hundred sixty five days per year.’ It’s how I’ve overcome many of my hardships.”

Mellacholoe concentrates hard on the deep words that the fox recited, letting them take meaning and for heart to memorize it. Those words were like seeds of a flower, now implanted in her memory to grow, sprout and bloom. They weren’t exactly the words she wanted to hear but it was one that gifted her a little glimmer of hope, the guiding light out of the darkness.

Kyrie speaks up once more. “It’s okay to be sad, even if others are illuminating with their happiness. Winter is not so bad. Even when it is Spring that allows us to paint rainbows on the earth and sky, Winter comes by to erase the beautiful artwork in order to allow us to repaint another divine masterpiece. There are endless chances for us to keep on going and going to anticipate for more.”

The shining one finally concludes the flower crown of peonies to plant on top of Mellachole’s head, eliciting a surprised squeak from her. She touches what was placed on her, feeling the gentle silky petals of flowers sitting upon her head.

“Will you help me paint more art onto this world, Mel? I can’t do it without you.” Kyrie’s radiating smile meant a lot more to the winter rabbit more than it did before. It makes her tear up, shedding the thawed liquid of her frozen heart out from her eyes in a form of joyful tears.

“Yes.” Her answer could be barely heard as she gently sobs while Kyrie gentle embraces her closely, chuckling softly that the little bunny’s response out of bliss while allowing her to express her overflowing emotions.

As the pair had to seperate ways with Kyrie taking the fox children back home, Mellachloe headed back home as well after promising to come back to the fields tomorrow to continue crafting flower crowns. She returns to the dens with a lot more than she expected the haul. The flowers she planned to bring back home were situated around her head like a new accessory from the apparel shop in town and the gifted artwork that were created from the joint effort of her and the children. She hung them on the wall along with her new flowers to brighten the dark den.

Though the den is dimmed with swallowing shadows, there is a light that keeps the winter rabbit from succumbing to the dominating cold. The candles burned with a new meaning to warmth to her body while the newly born friendship between her and the shining fox Kyrie. As Mellachloe prepared to hit the hay for the night, she is finally able to retire in a better mood than all the Springs previously as she can now look forward to spending more day of light producing art for the world in collaboration with Kyrie.

The Black Wuff that once lingered close to her now sleeps outside her den.

Rise and shine. Rise and smile.