Never

Chapter 32: Start Again

Clare's indications had been extremely precise even in their simplicity, it hadn't taken Orchid long to find the forest of thorns and after a careful observation, she found a path that allow to cross a huge lake of acid that would have otherwise been impossible to cross.

It was a long walk, when she finally saw the hut, she questioned the mental sanity of its occupants. Who in her right mind would live in such a distant place? Did they have something to hide?

She shook those thoughts from her mind, it was no good idea to prejudice without having the slightest foundation. In addition, that only increased the nervousness that she had. Going to knock on the door of complete strangers to talk about life made her feel strange and ashamed, but she had already experienced so many embarrassments in the last time that this was the smaller of all , so without giving it more thought she knocked on the door.

At the beginning she did not get any response, or they had not heard her, or they had ignored her. Maybe they thought that some twig or wild creature had knocked on the door by chance, so to confirm her presence she again knocked with identical results to the previous ones. She decided that if on the third attempt they did not answer she would leave the place, but this time she received an answer, although it was a weird answer, she heard a kind of groan of pain. Was there a wounded person or was it their way of answering?

Somewhat concerned she opened the door and entered on her own, being eaten by the gloom of the house, it was difficult to see something there inside.

"Hi, is anyone here?" She surveyed the vicinity of the room for signs of life.

"But what..."

The mantis directed her antennae towards the place from which the voice she had heard came from and she found two beetles hugging each other and with their faces completely red.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Orchid immediately left the hut slamming the door.

The insect was extremely confused, she did not really realize what was happening inside, but when they started screaming, she did the same with fright and without much thought she escaped. She now was breathing heavily with her back against the wall trying to understand what had happened, that was very strange.

After almost a minute the door of the hut slowly opened and a very large beetle dressed in a paint-stained apron peeked out shyly. The bug coughed a couple of times to clear his throat, or perhaps to scare away the nervousness, at least that's what Orchid supposed since he looked quite agitated, which encouraged her to talk with him.

"Good afternoon." The mantis stood up straight and bowed politely. After what happened she figured showing good manners would be best.

"Ah, you don't have to be so formal, seriously and..." The bug hesitated a bit before continuing. "I apologize for what happened inside, we don't normally receive visitors and it was rude of me not to answer. Are you coming for painting classes?"

"Painting classes? No, I... I've lost everything and I'm looking for a reason to move on, they told me that maybe my answer is here."

"A delicate matter from what I see. Come in."

Although Orchid had stated that she did not come for painting classes, they also sat her down in front of a canvas, gave her a brush, colors and an instruction as simple as it was complex: "Express yourself."

Art was something very foreign to the mantises, it is true that they had quite beautiful crafts, but it all served a practical purpose. They had very beautiful and very useful ceramics for storing liquids, fine tapestries to shelter the floor and very specialized precious tools. Perhaps the only "useless" decoration they kept in their homes were the claws of deceased relatives, but their presence was something symbolic, made for the family's spirit to protect the home, and not all mantis claws hung on a wall without doing anything . Some mantises had found a use for those vestigies making with them the levers and mechanisms that opened the doors of the houses and the corridors of the village.